(04-10-2015 06:47 PM)Noodles Wrote:  TV will decided who, if anyone, is added.

^This right here.^

Hey guys... I didn't come on here to pimp my school, but for some reason a lot of people don't know a lot about USA and what we have to offer. So I wanted to clear up some things.

On CUSA:
I don't know that USA is making the push some people claim. Yes we've been in contact. Yes there's a lot of smoke here. Yes this the most serious that talks have ever happened with C-USA, but I'm not sure it's fair to say USA is pushing. That's not to say USA might not be proactive.

As far as I know, USM is no longer opposing USA, which has been our Achilles' heel. Apparently losing UAB and replacing them with USA isn't enough to drastically affect their recruiting. In fact, it could be that they are in our corner so to speak. As has been mentioned... TV money will probably be the driving force here.


To those that question USA I offer this...

Baseball:
-- 25 NCAA Tournament appearances (the most of any Sun Belt team)
-- Has been ranked #1 in the country 2 different seasons (1972 and 1975)
-- We have had some down time recently, but we were close to hosting a regional in 2013 (our RPI at the end of the regular season was 17)
-- We consistently rank in the top 50 attendance

Basketball:
-- 8 NCAA Tournament appearances (the most of any Sun Belt team)
-- 4 NIT appearances
-- Looking at this past season isn't indicative of our program. We had a new coach and no depth. We only played 7 guys. That problem is resolved next year.

Football:
-- Program started in 2009; fully transitioned to FBS in 2013.
-- Bowl-eligible in both FBS seasons (2013 and 2014)
-- Fastest team to ever reach a bowl.

Softball:
-- Program started in 2007
-- 3 straight NCAA tournaments (2012-2014) and will make it 4 in a row this year.
-- Hosted a regional in 2013.
-- Ranked in top 25 since 2013 season.

Budget:
-- For the JMU fan calling out USA's budget... JMU reports their budget differently. It's apples and oranges.
-- USA has a taken a tiered approach to budget with the addition of football instead of drastically changing it in one swoop.
-- USA's football budget is 1.7 million more than the Sun Belt average, and will continue to grow.
-- USA's men's recruiting budget is #1 in Sun Belt and would be #1 in the MAC, #2 in CUSA (Old Dominion), # 5 in MWC, and #7 in the AAC.

Facilities:
-- USA has the largest and is arguably the nicest baseball facility in the Sun Belt (Stanky Field, capacity 4,500)
-- USA has one the largest and nicest basketball facilities in the Sun Belt (Mitchell Center, capacity 10,041)
-- Check out USA's football fieldhouse. It's top of the line. Recruits are often amazed at our facilities considering we are a Sun Belt team.

Other:
-- USA has a $459 million endowment, by far the largest in the Sun Belt (would be 2nd only to Rice in CUSA)
-- USA has a nice history at a few other sports such as men's and women's tennis, women's soccer, golf, and track and field (have a few individual national championships)
-- Mobile is a decent sized city that brings a respectable TV market; we are near the beaches and are projected to be one of the fastest growing cities over the next decade.
-- The GoDaddy Bowl is in Mobile, and they've often hinted that they would have interest in following USA if conference affiliation ever changed; with that said they've been extremely happy with the Sun Belt support.
-- Can't hurt that we are home to the Senior Bowl.

(04-10-2015 07:19 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  Hey guys... I didn't come on here to pimp my school, but for some reason a lot of people don't know a lot about USA and what we have to offer. So I wanted to clear up some things.

On CUSA:
I don't know that USA is making the push some people claim. Yes we've been in contact. Yes there's a lot of smoke here. Yes this the most serious that talks have ever happened with C-USA, but I'm not sure it's fair to say USA is pushing. That's not to say USA might not be proactive.

As far as I know, USM is no longer opposing USA, which has been our Achilles' heel. Apparently losing UAB and replacing them with USA isn't enough to drastically affect their recruiting. In fact, it could be that they are in our corner so to speak. As has been mentioned... TV money will probably be the driving force here.


To those that question USA I offer this...

Baseball:
-- 25 NCAA Tournament appearances (the most of any Sun Belt team)
-- Has been ranked #1 in the country 2 different seasons (1972 and 1975)
-- We have had some down time recently, but we were close to hosting a regional in 2013 (our RPI at the end of the regular season was 17)
-- We consistently rank in the top 50 attendance

Basketball:
-- 8 NCAA Tournament appearances (the most of any Sun Belt team)
-- 4 NIT appearances
-- Looking at this past season isn't indicative of our program. We had a new coach and no depth. We only played 7 guys. That problem is resolved next year.

Football:
-- Program started in 2009; fully transitioned to FBS in 2013.
-- Bowl-eligible in both FBS seasons (2013 and 2014)
-- Fastest team to ever reach a bowl.

Softball:
-- Program started in 2007
-- 3 straight NCAA tournaments (2012-2014) and will make it 4 in a row this year.
-- Hosted a regional in 2013.
-- Ranked in top 25 since 2013 season.

Budget:
-- For the JMU fan calling out USA's budget... JMU reports their budget differently. It's apples and oranges.
-- USA has a taken a tiered approach to budget with the addition of football instead of drastically changing it in one swoop.
-- USA's football budget is 1.7 million more than the Sun Belt average, and will continue to grow.
-- USA's men's recruiting budget is #1 in Sun Belt and would be #1 in the MAC, #2 in CUSA (Old Dominion), # 5 in MWC, and #7 in the AAC.

Facilities:
-- USA has the largest and is arguably the nicest baseball facility in the Sun Belt (Stanky Field, capacity 4,500)
-- USA has one the largest and nicest basketball facilities in the Sun Belt (Mitchell Center, capacity 10,041)
-- Check out USA's football fieldhouse. It's top of the line. Recruits are often amazed at our facilities considering we are a Sun Belt team.

Other:
-- USA has a nice history at a few other sports such as men's and women's tennis, women's soccer, golf, and track and field (have a few individual national championships)
-- Mobile is a decent sized city that brings a respectable TV market; we are near the beaches and are projected to be one of the fastest growing cities over the next decade.
-- The GoDaddy Bowl is in Mobile, and they've often hinted that they would have interest in following USA if conference affiliation ever changed; with that said they've been extremely happy with the Sun Belt support.
-- Can't hurt that we are home to the Senior Bowl.

(04-10-2015 07:24 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

Haha. A lot of people just do not know a lot about USA because we don't really pimp. It's been a moot point really. But, that doesn't mean I don't want to clear up any misinformation that gets repeated quite frequently. For instance, the other day I saw someone question our facilities. Our facilities are pretty good, and it was just someone talking without knowing.

The hang up may be conference championship game deregulation. If divisions are no longer required, a 13-team C-USA could go to a system of four fixed rivals and four rotating opponents, and everyone would play each other home and away over the course of four years. The four Texas schools could be guaranteed to play each other ever year, the only question would be who would be the fourth permanent rival for each school.

(04-10-2015 07:19 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  Hey guys... I didn't come on here to pimp my school, but for some reason a lot of people don't know a lot about USA and what we have to offer. So I wanted to clear up some things.

On CUSA:
I don't know that USA is making the push some people claim. Yes we've been in contact. Yes there's a lot of smoke here. Yes this the most serious that talks have ever happened with C-USA, but I'm not sure it's fair to say USA is pushing. That's not to say USA might not be proactive.

As far as I know, USM is no longer opposing USA, which has been our Achilles' heel. Apparently losing UAB and replacing them with USA isn't enough to drastically affect their recruiting. In fact, it could be that they are in our corner so to speak. As has been mentioned... TV money will probably be the driving force here.


To those that question USA I offer this...

Baseball:
-- 25 NCAA Tournament appearances (the most of any Sun Belt team)
-- Has been ranked #1 in the country 2 different seasons (1972 and 1975)
-- We have had some down time recently, but we were close to hosting a regional in 2013 (our RPI at the end of the regular season was 17)
-- We consistently rank in the top 50 attendance

Basketball:
-- 8 NCAA Tournament appearances (the most of any Sun Belt team)
-- 4 NIT appearances
-- Looking at this past season isn't indicative of our program. We had a new coach and no depth. We only played 7 guys. That problem is resolved next year.

Football:
-- Program started in 2009; fully transitioned to FBS in 2013.
-- Bowl-eligible in both FBS seasons (2013 and 2014)
-- Fastest team to ever reach a bowl.

Softball:
-- Program started in 2007
-- 3 straight NCAA tournaments (2012-2014) and will make it 4 in a row this year.
-- Hosted a regional in 2013.
-- Ranked in top 25 since 2013 season.

Budget:
-- For the JMU fan calling out USA's budget... JMU reports their budget differently. It's apples and oranges.
-- USA has a taken a tiered approach to budget with the addition of football instead of drastically changing it in one swoop.
-- USA's football budget is 1.7 million more than the Sun Belt average, and will continue to grow.
-- USA's men's recruiting budget is #1 in Sun Belt and would be #1 in the MAC, #2 in CUSA (Old Dominion), # 5 in MWC, and #7 in the AAC.

Facilities:
-- USA has the largest and is arguably the nicest baseball facility in the Sun Belt (Stanky Field, capacity 4,500)
-- USA has one the largest and nicest basketball facilities in the Sun Belt (Mitchell Center, capacity 10,041)
-- Check out USA's football fieldhouse. It's top of the line. Recruits are often amazed at our facilities considering we are a Sun Belt team.

Other:
-- USA has a $459 million endowment, by far the largest in the Sun Belt (would be 2nd only to Rice in CUSA)
-- USA has a nice history at a few other sports such as men's and women's tennis, women's soccer, golf, and track and field (have a few individual national championships)
-- Mobile is a decent sized city that brings a respectable TV market; we are near the beaches and are projected to be one of the fastest growing cities over the next decade.
-- The GoDaddy Bowl is in Mobile, and they've often hinted that they would have interest in following USA if conference affiliation ever changed; with that said they've been extremely happy with the Sun Belt support.
-- Can't hurt that we are home to the Senior Bowl.

I think you left off the excellent Shrimp in Mobile. Some of those big, juicy gulf ones down there.

mmmmm, shrimp gumbo.

Serious question here. Given all the changes that have occurred after CUSA went to 14 (payouts based on 12, TV contracts, payouts based on performance, deregulation of conf championship game, new established FBS members etc) do you think CUSA would look the same if you could start all over today based on what you now know?

(04-10-2015 03:15 PM)jmusuperfan Wrote:  

(04-10-2015 02:40 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Looking more and more like USA slide over to replace UAB..Kind of wish conf. would downsize to 12 teams..

I'd be surprised it is USA...doesn't look like they have the resources for CUSA

Most recent USA Today Athletic Budget #'s:
South Alabama $21,115,562

we are already double that number in FCS.

From a budget standpoint, the athletics budgets at Texas St and JMU both fit right in line with the upper half of CUSA. My guess is both would get a long look for precisely that reason.

(04-10-2015 08:45 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(04-10-2015 03:15 PM)jmusuperfan Wrote:  

(04-10-2015 02:40 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Looking more and more like USA slide over to replace UAB..Kind of wish conf. would downsize to 12 teams..

I'd be surprised it is USA...doesn't look like they have the resources for CUSA

Most recent USA Today Athletic Budget #'s:
South Alabama $21,115,562

we are already double that number in FCS.

From a budget standpoint, the athletics budgets at Texas St and JMU both fit right in line with the upper half of CUSA. My guess is both would get a long look for precisely that reason.

Agreed. It's odd though that JMU has struggled in FCS the past 10 years despite having such a large budget.

I will say this....There is a scenario in play that "IF" it happens.....UAB stays in CUSA. If it don't work out, we have to go another direction. That's all I can say for now.

(04-10-2015 07:28 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(04-10-2015 07:24 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

Haha. A lot of people just do not know a lot about USA because we don't really pimp. It's been a moot point really. But, that doesn't mean I don't want to clear up any misinformation that gets repeated quite frequently. For instance, the other day I saw someone question our facilities. Our facilities are pretty good, and it was just someone talking without knowing.

Don't worry about what anyone says...

if CUSA adds a school 75% chance it's going to be USA because it fills voids

the state of Alabama
closest team that can fit in the west with enough eastern schools votes

Eastern school will not vote for another TX team and adding UL-L gives the western part of the conference another vote. USA will likely vote with the eastern schools on any change to CUSA.

there's aways that 25% chance CUSA goes back to a market and adds GST

Plus it's another reason to move the conference tourney to the gulf coast where it should be if CUSA want a NC that will draw fans. Wasn't uncommon for the SBC championship to have 5000+ fans even if the two schools playing were muts and Western

(04-10-2015 08:43 PM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Serious question here. Given all the changes that have occurred after CUSA went to 14 (payouts based on 12, TV contracts, payouts based on performance, deregulation of conf championship game, new established FBS members etc) do you think CUSA would look the same if you could start all over today based on what you now know?

Probably. All of the things you mentioned are either 1. Not significant (like the payout being capped at 12 or payouts based on performance) 2. Unknown (TV contracts) or 3. Actually working in CUSA's advantage (new FBS members & championship deregulation).

JMU's budget is calculated a different way than everyone else. Bottom line is JMU has the following budgets:

Football - 7,811,552
M Basketball - 2,661,679
All Other M Sports - 2,783,673

(04-10-2015 07:28 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(04-10-2015 07:24 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

Haha. A lot of people just do not know a lot about USA because we don't really pimp. It's been a moot point really. But, that doesn't mean I don't want to clear up any misinformation that gets repeated quite frequently. For instance, the other day I saw someone question our facilities. Our facilities are pretty good, and it was just someone talking without knowing.

You have pimped many times. But towing all those cars with southern miss stickers a year ago at a baseball game sealed your doom on getting our vote. Or should i say sealed what little chance you ever have had.
We dont take kindly to your attempts to cross the state line or pulling the bowl from us.

(04-10-2015 02:55 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  WKU's Beat writer has said on Twitter he thinks USA will be the replacement and has heard USA is making a push to join CUSA...He has been right before and would think his sources at WKU would be pretty strong on this matter..

He is not right on this one.

If USA is invited, it'll be to replace USM, because there's absolutely no way we will allow that to happen.

(04-10-2015 03:33 PM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  Hate it for UAB. Love it for selfish reasons. I have heard from USA folks (donors) that they were in on the ground floor of CUSA1 then backed out at the last minute. Second chance?

Now that is funny. they were never on the ground floor. Your sources are dead wrong.

(04-10-2015 09:38 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  

(04-10-2015 07:28 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(04-10-2015 07:24 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

Haha. A lot of people just do not know a lot about USA because we don't really pimp. It's been a moot point really. But, that doesn't mean I don't want to clear up any misinformation that gets repeated quite frequently. For instance, the other day I saw someone question our facilities. Our facilities are pretty good, and it was just someone talking without knowing.

You have pimped many times. But towing all those cars with southern miss stickers a year ago at a baseball game sealed your doom on getting our vote. Or should i say sealed what little chance you ever have had.
We dont take kindly to your attempts to cross the state line or pulling the bowl from us.

USM fans that were towed were parked in a private lot with signs saying not to park there at the risk of being towed. USA also had signs up showing where to park on campus. USA fans that parked there got towed as well; believe me, people on our board were livid. But nothing USA could do if you didn't observe the signs.

(04-10-2015 09:40 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  

(04-10-2015 03:33 PM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  Hate it for UAB. Love it for selfish reasons. I have heard from USA folks (donors) that they were in on the ground floor of CUSA1 then backed out at the last minute. Second chance?

Now that is funny. they were never on the ground floor. Your sources are dead wrong.

We absolutely were. USM blocked USA. But Louisville wanted USA and got the votes needed for USA to join. USA's AD was at the airport to accept the invitation but USA's then president called the airport and told our AD he wasn't to accept the invitation, because he would rather be a "big fish in a little pond." For the good he did in getting us a medical school against University of Alabama's wishes, he set us back in athletics with that decision.