(02-08-2013 06:31 PM)Tallgrass Wrote:  I always considered the C-USA name as clever, starting with Conference rather at the ending the name with Conference...and then the USA.

Coming up with the name "Moutain West" was also well done.

I also like the conference name, "Gateway." Featuring St. Louis's arch, it brands the conference geographically and recalls its historical heritage.

If invited, Tulsa will be in the goofiest poisition in all of college football, if names are to recall heritage, history, or geography. For Tulsa, a hurricane in Oklahoma is as absurd as being in the "Big East," a 12 team conference with only 2 eastern teams, one of which was previously kicked out.

All the over hyping and exaggeration have created a public relations disaster for Nbe. A low modest profile and tone at the start would have been helpful. Keeping the name "Big East" is a public relations disaster.

Isn't a "golden" Hurricane a tornado? Isn't Oklahoma famous for those? Why is that a bad name? I always assumed a tornado that ran through the fields was golden and that is where the name came from.

C-USA is 2 generations of the Sun Belt under one roof:

Old Dominion (1982-1991)
Charlotte (1976-1991)
UAB (1979-1991)
Louisiana Tech (1991-2001)
North Texas (2000-2013)
FAU (2005-2013)
FIU (1998-2013)
MTSU (2000-2013)

If WKU is next, the Toppers joined the SBC in 1982. The last real anchor of the Sun Belt is South Alabama - USA is the only member to have been in the Sun Belt for its entire existence.

Here's a weird way to look at conference affiliation over time. It's a pie chart breaking down the total number of team years in each conference historically. If you had a 12 team conference and 10 teams played in conference A for 45 years (450 team years) and two teams that played in conference B for 25 years (50 team years) you'd have a pie chart that was 90% Conference A and 10% conference B.

Here is the ACC for example: You can see that the major contributions are years as independent, Big East, Southern, and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. But really, there are only about 30% of the team years of the current teams played in the ACC.

The Big East is even more heterogeneous with the Big East piece of the pie being smaller than the Yankee conference due to UCONN's long affiliation. (Note: this was when SDSU and Boise were joining hence the WAC, MWC, and California conference wedges).

The PAC is more homogenous (about 60% of team years played in the Pacific/PAC conference) with Utah/ASU/AZ contributing the orange WAC wedge, and Utah/Colorado contributing the Rocky Mountain Conference wedge.

(02-08-2013 07:41 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 06:45 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Ive begun to reach the conclusion that while a good name may not help a conference much---a bad name can definitely hurt a conference. The rinky dink gimmicky C-USA name may be the best example. Its an absolutely dreadful name.

CUSA always seemed like a hodge-podge to me, rather than a group of teams with shared history who belonged together.

I agree with both of you. C-USA may be the worst name for a conference ever. There is absolutely nothing clever about it, there is no regional association and worse yet it sounds like the name of a show that should be on the Cartoon Network.

To answer the OP: no.