[scottditzen]

Colo St.
Wyoming
UNLV
New Mex
So. Mill
Marshall
E. Carolina
UAB
Tulsa
Rica
Tulane
UTE

Hmm, I'm not too excited by this conference.

p.s. your Zips buttons are way cool.

Since Memphis is going to BE, what about replacing them in a CUSA-MW merger?

[lance99]

Colo St.
Wyoming
UNLV
New Mex
So. Mill
Marshall
E. Carolina
UAB
Tulsa
Rica
Tulane
UTE

Hmm, I'm not too excited by this conference.

Yuck. Even I had go go back to a thread that I started 3 years ago to see what teams I said

[Zipmeister]

Not a pipe dream by any stretch of the imagination. It looks like to me - a basic outsider, new to the program - is that the President is really trying to use UF's "model" of success. They have invested in their athletic programs, and in 20 years or so (or less, really) became an elite educational institution (before you moan about this - unfortunately it is just the truth - this incoming class has 29,000 freshman applications for 6,400 spots - they've got about 50,000 total students). They took the amazing sums of money raised from successful basketball and football and spent it appropriately to keep athletics on top, while continuing to become a better University. 95% of all of their professors has PhDs. That's just impressive to me. And I hate Gators.

I'd be interested to know exactly what a basic outsider who is new to the program sees that makes them think that the President is trying to use UF's model of success. Will you elaborate?
As for Florida being an elite educational institution, I do not hate Gators, but I have noticed that the farther south I go, the smarter I become.

[akzipper]

Colo St.
Wyoming
UNLV
New Mex
So. Mill
Marshall
E. Carolina
UAB
Tulsa
Rica
Tulane
UTE

Hmm, I'm not too excited by this conference.

p.s. your Zips buttons are way cool.

and all of them are better than the MAC teams

[ZachTheZip]

and all of them are better than the MAC teams

I would take NIU, Temple, Ohio, and Toledo over most of those teams, except for Southern Miss and Tulsa. In fact, Temple, who has never beaten a winning MAC team, waxed Wyoming only two months ago and Toledo beat Air Force in a shootout.

[zippy5]

East Carolina is a solid program with a GREAT fanbase. Check out their stadium...even on gameday, it's full.

[Keener'92]

and all of them are better than the MAC teams

Congratulations! You just made the most absurd statement of the year! Tell him what he's won Bob!

[SeeTeeZip]

Congratulations! You just made the most absurd statement of the year! Tell him what he's won Bob!

Call me crazy, but if I had to choose between staying in the MAC or joining that list of teams in a conference I'd take the latter in a second. The MAC is just dead flat boring in every way. That league would at least bring a few strong programs into the mix. At the very least there would be some great road trips every year to really interesting places. The MAC is just the worst there is. I would LOVE to see Akron get out of it as soon as possible.

[Spin]

Good points. Toledo has been a leader in the MAC for a long time now. It takes more than facilities to have a good football program. Toledo has a history of winning, good coaches, talented players, institutional support and community support. I wish we had the program Toledo does. On the upside, we could be better than Toledo.

One thing Akron has over Toledo is being in a major media market.

[NewZipsFan]

Colo St.
Wyoming
UNLV
New Mex
So. Mill
Marshall
E. Carolina
UAB
Tulsa
Rica
Tulane
UTE

Hmm, I'm not too excited by this conference.

I agree with the other poster below. I can see some rivalries developed easily with a couple of these teams. To me, Marshall is a no-brainer. Terry and Doc Holliday grew up together (Doc is a year or two older) in West Virginia - went to/played at WVU together (along with Tommy), and have known each other for years. I know probably 5,000 hillbillies from West Virginia that would travel to Akron to see that one!

E. Carolina has been up and down, but I really like their head coach, and the OC is a very very bright young offensive mind who trained under Mike Leach (Terry spent a lot of time with Mike Leach over the past 4 years learning his offense)

UAB - well -- it IS Alabama -- and honestly, they're just overboard on anything college football.

Tulane? If they could get their act together (Tommy Bowden led them to an undefeated season in 1998 - oh and Rich Rodriguez was on Tommy's staff then) - might be a stretch...

UNLV and Colo State are both programs that could potentially improve substantially..

And a little travel always makes thing more exciting

[Zip Watcher]

Let the western C-USA teams go shore up the MWC. Take the remaining Eastern C-USA teams and some MAC schools who invest in athletics and you get:

North:

U@B
Toledo
Temple
UMass
Akron
Marshall

South:

So. Miss
E. Carolina
UAB
Tulsa
Rice
Tulane

All sports for all teams & there's some historically good teams there for both sports. Travel isn't out of control, and there's a good mix of urban and traditional campuses.

If the travel is too wide, you could let Tulsa and Rice go west , and try and get WKU and MTSU in from the Belt. Then the hoops in the league would be immediately a 2+ bid league most years.

It's tough with all of the flux to take a flyer on something like this. It really is. I want UA to keep pushing itself and make the most of it's investments in athletics. Those investments can benefit the entire campus if they yield results. Not sure if I would jump at this or risk staying pat where they are. The investment in FB tells me that LP & the Board would probably go for a transition like this.

I think we would need to bring a rival with us .. so hopefully UT would see it the same way.

[72 Roo]

Let the western C-USA teams go shore up the MWC. Take the remaining Eastern C-USA teams and some MAC schools who invest in athletics and you get:

North:

U@B
Toledo
Temple
UMass
Akron
Marshall

South:

So. Miss
E. Carolina
UAB
Tulsa
Rice
Tulane

All sports for all teams & there's some historically good teams there for both sports. Travel isn't out of control, and there's a good mix of urban and traditional campuses.

If the travel is too wide, you could let Tulsa and Rice go west , and try and get WKU and MTSU in from the Belt. Then the hoops in the league would be immediately a 2+ bid league most years.

It's tough with all of the flux to take a flyer on something like this. It really is. I want UA to keep pushing itself and make the most of it's investments in athletics. Those investments can benefit the entire campus if they yield results. Not sure if I would jump at this or risk staying pat where they are. The investment in FB tells me that LP & the Board would probably go for a transition like this.

I think we would need to bring a rival with us .. so hopefully UT would see it the same way.

Watcher, I think this is the only realistic outcome for Akron if we are going to join a better conference. We will not get into the Big East and C-USA as it now stands is not a good marriage. But take some of the schools as you have suggested and join them to a few MAC schools and you have a conference we could get excited about. Any conference realignment that will be advantageous to Akron will have to follow this path IMHO. Nice idea Watcher!

[Keener'92]

Something along the lines of what ZW suggests would actually start to make some sense. Replacing the departing Memphis in the depleted remnant of C-USA would not. In my opinion. Blind hatred for the MAC may make it seem like C-USA is a big step up. However, if you look closer at the reasons why you are dissatisfied with the MAC, you may discover that C-USA would actually present the same list of dissatisfiers only at a larger budget and footprint. At least that's what I have concluded, but I realize I am in a small minority that actually (for the most part) likes the conference we are in now.

Like the rest of you, I want the University to live up to its maximum potential. Assuming that the BCS sticks with the notion of AQ conferences, inclusion into one of those is the real goal. Joining a cherry picked C-USA won't get the Zips any closer to that goal. Building a powerhouse football program will. Even if it competes in the MAC.

[Blue & Gold]

Something along the lines of what ZW suggests would actually start to make some sense. Replacing the departing Memphis in the depleted remnant of C-USA would not. In my opinion. Blind hatred for the MAC may make it seem like C-USA is a big step up. However, if you look closer at the reasons why you are dissatisfied with the MAC, you may discover that C-USA would actually present the same list of dissatisfiers only at a larger budget and footprint. At least that's what I have concluded, but I realize I am in a small minority that actually (for the most part) likes the conference we are in now.

Like the rest of you, I want the University to live up to its maximum potential. Assuming that the BCS sticks with the notion of AQ conferences, inclusion into one of those is the real goal. Joining a cherry picked C-USA won't get the Zips any closer to that goal. Building a powerhouse football program will. Even if it competes in the MAC.

This is exactly where I'm at in my thinking, Keener.

Of course I'm for anything that maximizes the UofA. I don't care what it is. But I don't hate the MAC. I think we'd find ourselves in a nice position if we'd come to dominate this conference - much like what Boise does/used to do in the WAC.

I have a handful of rivalries that I really enjoy: Buffalo, K.e.nt, Ohio, Miami. Plus budding rivalries with Toledo & WMU.

But I've been an Akron fan for so long that my thinking may really be clouded. If Joe Akron isn't at all interested in those rivalries, no matter how much I may enjoy them, then okay, let's get out of the MAC.


But presently, I'm not too hip with joining C-USA. As presently constituted, I don't think C-USA is much better than the MAC - just extremely spread out.

[GP1]

Of course I'm for anything that maximizes the UofA. I don't care what it is. But I don't hate the MAC. I think we'd find ourselves in a nice position if we'd come to dominate this conference - much like what Boise does/used to do in the WAC.

Or Marshall when they were in the MAC.

The question really is what is in store for college football? If conference shake-ups result in BCS schools having their own division in a few years, none of this will matter. In fact, if they don't, I don't see how any of this matters. At this point, teams below the BCS/remaining Big East teams are jumping from one bad conference to another. I don't see the point. We can have it really good where we are right now. We have a national soccer program, a basketball team that is dominating the conference and a football team that can easily be turned around with the current staff. Everything else is Title IX compliance or general nonsense. We can dominate the MAC in the three major sports we have invested or looking to invest. Let's get this right before we make a move that might damage momentum. The MAC survives like a cockroach after a nuclear holocaust. It isn't going anywhere so let's make certain we have the three major investments showing results, not potential results, before we do anything.