I'm just going to go ahead and tell you guys that Jackson State is not leaving the SWAC. Not sure if you're joking about that, but that is not financially viable for them with or without Deion. In fact, leaving the tradition of the SWAC would probably be a terrible thing for the school overall.

Tarleton State currently has an $8.9 million athletics operating budget. They've got a lot of ground to make up to make FBS football happen. At an enrollment of 13,000, they cannot make up the gap with student fees like many large urban universities do. They are in a city of 20,000, so corporate sponsorships & partnerships will likely be hard to come by. It's pretty much a Ruston.

NMSU is already FBS Independent with a budget of $21 million. They have a tradition in D1 and a pretty good basketball program. They are a good fit.

Missouri State is FCS with a budget of $18.1 million. They are a break-even operation, so they would likely need time to transition to meet FBS standards. Their enrollment is 23,000+, so they could probably boost their numbers some by increasing student fees. Springfield is no metropolis, but large enough to have good support. They also have a good basketball history... which may be the biggest challenge for a C-USA pitch. MVC has a good thing going as a basketball conference, only likely to improve with the addition of Belmont in 2022 and I could possibly see UALR jumping into that conference as word is they are being nudged out of the Sun Belt for the incoming all-sports members.

C-USA's best hope is essentially to scalp the attempted WAC league and convince a large contingent to make the FBS jump at the same time - Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Lamar, and Abilene Christian.

1. Florida International - Miami, FL
2. Louisiana Tech - Ruston, LA
3. Middle Tennessee State - Murfreesboro, TN
4. UTEP - El Paso, TX
5. Western Kentucky - Bowling Green, KY
6. New Mexico State - Las Cruces, NM
7. Sam Houston State - Huntsville, TX
8. Stephen F. Austin - Nacogdoches, TX
9. Lamar University - Beaumont, TX
10. Abilene Christian - Abilene, TX

#1-3 and #5 in this list would understandably be looking for other viable options, but this is my best take at a surviving C-USA. It aligns with Judy's (sad) Friday afternoon statement about a "geographic footprint". I think that for #11 & #12, if you can get Southern Illinois & Missouri State to bite and work out the move to FBS, you add a little more value.

(10-24-2021 08:24 PM)MusicEagle Wrote:  I'm just going to go ahead and tell you guys that Jackson State is not leaving the SWAC. Not sure if you're joking about that, but that is not financially viable for them with or without Deion. In fact, leaving the tradition of the SWAC would probably be a terrible thing for the school overall.

Tarleton State currently has an $8.9 million athletics operating budget. They've got a lot of ground to make up to make FBS football happen. At an enrollment of 13,000, they cannot make up the gap with student fees like many large urban universities do. They are in a city of 20,000, so corporate sponsorships & partnerships will likely be hard to come by. It's pretty much a Ruston.

NMSU is already FBS Independent with a budget of $21 million. They have a tradition in D1 and a pretty good basketball program. They are a good fit.

Missouri State is FCS with a budget of $18.1 million. They are a break-even operation, so they would likely need time to transition to meet FBS standards. Their enrollment is 23,000+, so they could probably boost their numbers some by increasing student fees. Springfield is no metropolis, but large enough to have good support. They also have a good basketball history... which may be the biggest challenge for a C-USA pitch. MVC has a good thing going as a basketball conference, only likely to improve with the addition of Belmont in 2022 and I could possibly see UALR jumping into that conference as word is they are being nudged out of the Sun Belt for the incoming all-sports members.

C-USA's best hope is essentially to scalp the attempted WAC league and convince a large contingent to make the FBS jump at the same time - Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Lamar, and Abilene Christian.

1. Florida International - Miami, FL
2. Louisiana Tech - Ruston, LA
3. Middle Tennessee State - Murfreesboro, TN
4. UTEP - El Paso, TX
5. Western Kentucky - Bowling Green, KY
6. New Mexico State - Las Cruces, NM
7. Sam Houston State - Huntsville, TX
8. Stephen F. Austin - Nacogdoches, TX
9. Lamar University - Beaumont, TX
10. Abilene Christian - Abilene, TX

#1-3 and #5 in this list would understandably be looking for other viable options, but this is my best take at a surviving C-USA. It aligns with Judy's (sad) Friday afternoon statement about a "geographic footprint". I think that for #11 & #12, if you can get Southern Illinois & Missouri State to bite and work out the move to FBS, you add a little more value.

I don't recall anyone mentioning Jackson State. I've heard lots of folks talk about Jacksonville State tho.

Missouri State is pretty much a no....at least from the words of their fans about what their leaders have said.

Haven't really heard anyone talk about Lamar or Abilene Christian. There has been talk of EKU and UT-Chattanooga.

Granted, all of this is talk from message boards and little from any official sources.

If you could grab a few basketball schools, like Lipscomb, Murray St, FGCU, then maybe MO St. would be more amenable.
Pretty salty with MT, WKU, UTEP, NMSU. That's a good basketball league.
But those schools probably wouldn't jump, as they're already in good places.

(10-24-2021 08:31 PM)WKUApollo Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 08:24 PM)MusicEagle Wrote:  I'm just going to go ahead and tell you guys that Jackson State is not leaving the SWAC. Not sure if you're joking about that, but that is not financially viable for them with or without Deion. In fact, leaving the tradition of the SWAC would probably be a terrible thing for the school overall.

Tarleton State currently has an $8.9 million athletics operating budget. They've got a lot of ground to make up to make FBS football happen. At an enrollment of 13,000, they cannot make up the gap with student fees like many large urban universities do. They are in a city of 20,000, so corporate sponsorships & partnerships will likely be hard to come by. It's pretty much a Ruston.

NMSU is already FBS Independent with a budget of $21 million. They have a tradition in D1 and a pretty good basketball program. They are a good fit.

Missouri State is FCS with a budget of $18.1 million. They are a break-even operation, so they would likely need time to transition to meet FBS standards. Their enrollment is 23,000+, so they could probably boost their numbers some by increasing student fees. Springfield is no metropolis, but large enough to have good support. They also have a good basketball history... which may be the biggest challenge for a C-USA pitch. MVC has a good thing going as a basketball conference, only likely to improve with the addition of Belmont in 2022 and I could possibly see UALR jumping into that conference as word is they are being nudged out of the Sun Belt for the incoming all-sports members.

C-USA's best hope is essentially to scalp the attempted WAC league and convince a large contingent to make the FBS jump at the same time - Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Lamar, and Abilene Christian.

1. Florida International - Miami, FL
2. Louisiana Tech - Ruston, LA
3. Middle Tennessee State - Murfreesboro, TN
4. UTEP - El Paso, TX
5. Western Kentucky - Bowling Green, KY
6. New Mexico State - Las Cruces, NM
7. Sam Houston State - Huntsville, TX
8. Stephen F. Austin - Nacogdoches, TX
9. Lamar University - Beaumont, TX
10. Abilene Christian - Abilene, TX

#1-3 and #5 in this list would understandably be looking for other viable options, but this is my best take at a surviving C-USA. It aligns with Judy's (sad) Friday afternoon statement about a "geographic footprint". I think that for #11 & #12, if you can get Southern Illinois & Missouri State to bite and work out the move to FBS, you add a little more value.

I don't recall anyone mentioning Jackson State. I've heard lots of folks talk about Jacksonville State tho.

Missouri State is pretty much a no....at least from the words of their fans about what their leaders have said.

Haven't really heard anyone talk about Lamar or Abilene Christian. There has been talk of EKU and UT-Chattanooga.

Granted, all of this is talk from message boards and little from any official sources.

I believe it came from this piece of crap article:

https://fifthquarter.net/fcs/2021/10/23/...mp-to-fbs/

Conference USA had a chance of being a respectable league. Judy needs to go because she isn't a leader. The league took a gamble on teams with potential and the AAC is taking them before CUSA got a chance to see their seeds bear fruit. I'll forever hate ESPN (directly) and UT (indirectly) for being the main driving forces behind CUSA's demise.

(10-24-2021 08:24 PM)MusicEagle Wrote:  Missouri State is FCS with a budget of $18.1 million. They are a break-even operation, so they would likely need time to transition to meet FBS standards. Their enrollment is 23,000+, so they could probably boost their numbers some by increasing student fees. Springfield is no metropolis, but large enough to have good support. They also have a good basketball history... which may be the biggest challenge for a C-USA pitch. MVC has a good thing going as a basketball conference, only likely to improve with the addition of Belmont in 2022 and I could possibly see UALR jumping into that conference as word is they are being nudged out of the Sun Belt for the incoming all-sports members.

Basketball is the biggest concern for Missouri State. It is the only program where we make money (currently) and has the best history. It is also likely the reason why we have not gone "all in," at least publicly, to this point.