I don't think Southern Miss would "jump" at defecting. But I do think, after some assurances are made regarding stability, we would go. Even if the money and prestige are considered roughly the same, even if everyone in the country including ESPN pundits consider it horizontal at best, the truth is, our fans, our program, have a solid history with nBE schools that it doesn't have in the nCUSA. Southern Miss is one of the few schools who cares about history and tradition; who cares about friendships and alliances. This was our argument for forming CUSA. This was our argument for keeping other programs from leaving CUSA in recent years. But now that most of have, this will be our argument for joining them. In a sense, however weak it is, the move would be seen as a chance at returning to our tradition (Metro/Early CUSA). Hate to break it to La Tech and UNT, but I think I'm right.

Now, why should other the nBE want us to join them? Because we are a safe decision. We offer a commitment and history of success in athletics (basketball recently), not an indecent market (especially given tv ratings), and rival play for fans of current BE schools like ECU and UCF; we also offer stability given the desire of Cincy and UCONN to split and our history of being a loyal committed conference member (something you would think the BE is looking for at this point). Plus, who else is there? Western teams like UNLV and Fresno will stay put, especially when Boise and SDSU decide to go off and anchor an all sports MWC or something similar. Who else is there in the East? ODU? Charlotte? We may get passed up once, but not twice or three times, and without BSU or SDSU, the BE sits at 10.

Besides, ECU wants us in and they run the show in the Big East.

(12-13-2012 02:21 PM)EagleProf Wrote:  I don't think Southern Miss would "jump" at defecting. But I do think, after some assurances are made regarding stability, we would go. Even if the money and prestige are considered roughly the same, even if everyone in the country including ESPN pundits consider it horizontal at best, the truth is, our fans, our program, have a solid history with nBE schools that it doesn't have in the nCUSA. Southern Miss is one of the few schools who cares about history and tradition; who cares about friendships and alliances. This was our argument for forming CUSA. This was our argument for keeping other programs from leaving CUSA in recent years. But now that most of have, this will be our argument for joining them. In a sense, however weak it is, the move would be seen as a chance at returning to our tradition (Metro/Early CUSA). Hate to break it to La Tech and UNT, but I think I'm right.

Now, why should other the nBE want us to join them? Because we are a safe decision. We offer a commitment and history of success in athletics (basketball recently), not an indecent market (especially given tv ratings), and rival play for fans of current BE schools like ECU and UCF; we also offer stability given the desire of Cincy and UCONN to split and our history of being a loyal committed conference member (something you would think the BE is looking for at this point). Plus, who else is there? Western teams like UNLV and Fresno will stay put, especially when Boise and SDSU decide to go off and anchor an all sports MWC or something similar. Who else is there in the East? ODU? Charlotte? We may get passed up once, but not twice or three times, and without BSU or SDSU, the BE sits at 10.

Besides, ECU wants us in and they run the show in the Big East.

You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

Yeah. A conference with NO bowl tie-ins and NO Bball tournament slots.

Not to mention NO TV contract. Thus no conference payouts.

That is a huge money pit, especially for a school that is having to sell off home games to balance its budget.

I presume your administration is smarter than that.

The only team of those that left to the nBE that I cared that much about was Memphis. I'd love to see CUSA try to bring Memphis and Cincinnati (or Temple or UConn) in. As for the others that decided to leave us, I'm pretty much indifferent.

I sure hope that our administration finds a way to get us in whatever conference ECU and/or Houston finally join.

I think it's unlikely that moving would ever cost us a bowl bid or TV exposure. But even if it did, I wouldn't care.

(12-13-2012 02:31 PM)Noodles Wrote:  You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

When Louisville and Cincy left in 2005, it wasn't because they didn't want to be in a conference with Memphis, it was because the Big East offered far better opportunities than the CUSA.

Same thing this go around. I don't think SMU, Houston, UCF, or Memphis scrambled out to get away from USM at all.

(12-13-2012 02:38 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:31 PM)Noodles Wrote:  You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

When Louisville and Cincy left in 2005, it wasn't because they didn't want to be in a conference with Memphis, it was because the Big East offered far better opportunities than the CUSA.

Same thing this go around. I don't think SMU, Houston, UCF, or Memphis scrambled out to get away from USM at all.

Oh, so tell us about those plans you surely had for adding us soon... I'm sure we'd have been right after, ECU....er, Tulane...., er, Alaska-Anchorage...., er, Bethune-Cookman.

(12-13-2012 02:31 PM)Noodles Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:21 PM)EagleProf Wrote:  I don't think Southern Miss would "jump" at defecting. But I do think, after some assurances are made regarding stability, we would go. Even if the money and prestige are considered roughly the same, even if everyone in the country including ESPN pundits consider it horizontal at best, the truth is, our fans, our program, have a solid history with nBE schools that it doesn't have in the nCUSA. Southern Miss is one of the few schools who cares about history and tradition; who cares about friendships and alliances. This was our argument for forming CUSA. This was our argument for keeping other programs from leaving CUSA in recent years. But now that most of have, this will be our argument for joining them. In a sense, however weak it is, the move would be seen as a chance at returning to our tradition (Metro/Early CUSA). Hate to break it to La Tech and UNT, but I think I'm right.

Now, why should other the nBE want us to join them? Because we are a safe decision. We offer a commitment and history of success in athletics (basketball recently), not an indecent market (especially given tv ratings), and rival play for fans of current BE schools like ECU and UCF; we also offer stability given the desire of Cincy and UCONN to split and our history of being a loyal committed conference member (something you would think the BE is looking for at this point). Plus, who else is there? Western teams like UNLV and Fresno will stay put, especially when Boise and SDSU decide to go off and anchor an all sports MWC or something similar. Who else is there in the East? ODU? Charlotte? We may get passed up once, but not twice or three times, and without BSU or SDSU, the BE sits at 10.

Besides, ECU wants us in and they run the show in the Big East.

You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

That is total BS. I'll never believe that those teams left because they didn't want to be in a conference with us. Our history goes way back with most of them. They left because they saw an opportunity to better their program. It didn't work out, but we would have left them in a heartbeat had we had the choice.

I don't think USM should jump ship yet.

We don't know what's the stability is going to be like in whatever conference it is.
We're not sure if those folks ain't going to jump ship to another conference or come back to C-USA.

Our best move is to wait and see what happens then react accordingly. We shouldn't jump out of C-USA until we know whatever conference it is will be stable and if the level of competition will be higher than what we'll experience here.

Just my thoughts.

(12-13-2012 02:45 PM)Up2stuff Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:31 PM)Noodles Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:21 PM)EagleProf Wrote:  I don't think Southern Miss would "jump" at defecting. But I do think, after some assurances are made regarding stability, we would go. Even if the money and prestige are considered roughly the same, even if everyone in the country including ESPN pundits consider it horizontal at best, the truth is, our fans, our program, have a solid history with nBE schools that it doesn't have in the nCUSA. Southern Miss is one of the few schools who cares about history and tradition; who cares about friendships and alliances. This was our argument for forming CUSA. This was our argument for keeping other programs from leaving CUSA in recent years. But now that most of have, this will be our argument for joining them. In a sense, however weak it is, the move would be seen as a chance at returning to our tradition (Metro/Early CUSA). Hate to break it to La Tech and UNT, but I think I'm right.

Now, why should other the nBE want us to join them? Because we are a safe decision. We offer a commitment and history of success in athletics (basketball recently), not an indecent market (especially given tv ratings), and rival play for fans of current BE schools like ECU and UCF; we also offer stability given the desire of Cincy and UCONN to split and our history of being a loyal committed conference member (something you would think the BE is looking for at this point). Plus, who else is there? Western teams like UNLV and Fresno will stay put, especially when Boise and SDSU decide to go off and anchor an all sports MWC or something similar. Who else is there in the East? ODU? Charlotte? We may get passed up once, but not twice or three times, and without BSU or SDSU, the BE sits at 10.

Besides, ECU wants us in and they run the show in the Big East.

You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

That is total BS. I'll never believe that those teams left because they didn't want to be in a conference with us. Our history goes way back with most of them. They left because they saw an opportunity to better their program. It didn't work out, but we would have left them in a heartbeat had we had the choice.

Yeah. 2 things. We NEVER have a choice, do we? Greed takes care of that for us every time. And since we don't have a history of putting greed ahead of loyalty and tradition, I guess you can't really say that, can you?

(12-13-2012 02:42 PM)Noodles Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:38 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:31 PM)Noodles Wrote:  You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

When Louisville and Cincy left in 2005, it wasn't because they didn't want to be in a conference with Memphis, it was because the Big East offered far better opportunities than the CUSA.

Same thing this go around. I don't think SMU, Houston, UCF, or Memphis scrambled out to get away from USM at all.

Oh, so tell us about those plans you surely had for adding us soon... I'm sure we'd have been right after, ECU....er, Tulane...., er, Alaska-Anchorage...., er, Bethune-Cookman.

What are you talking about? Memphis is a member of CUSA and never voted on any invitations to anyone in the BE. We had no vote at all in inviting ECU or Tulane.

(12-13-2012 02:32 PM)dchi72 Wrote:  Yeah. A conference with NO bowl tie-ins and NO Bball tournament slots.

Not to mention NO TV contract. Thus no conference payouts.

That is a huge money pit, especially for a school that is having to sell off home games to balance its budget.

I presume your administration is smarter than that.

If conference realignment has taught us anything, it's that what may make sense to us as fans, isn't what school or conference officials are thinking.

The evidence supporting this fact is insurmountable.

(12-13-2012 02:48 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:42 PM)Noodles Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:38 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:31 PM)Noodles Wrote:  You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

When Louisville and Cincy left in 2005, it wasn't because they didn't want to be in a conference with Memphis, it was because the Big East offered far better opportunities than the CUSA.

Same thing this go around. I don't think SMU, Houston, UCF, or Memphis scrambled out to get away from USM at all.

Oh, so tell us about those plans you surely had for adding us soon... I'm sure we'd have been right after, ECU....er, Tulane...., er, Alaska-Anchorage...., er, Bethune-Cookman.

What are you talking about? Memphis is a member of CUSA and never voted on any invitations to anyone in the BE.

But surely there were plans on your part? No?

(12-13-2012 02:31 PM)Noodles Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:21 PM)EagleProf Wrote:  I don't think Southern Miss would "jump" at defecting. But I do think, after some assurances are made regarding stability, we would go. Even if the money and prestige are considered roughly the same, even if everyone in the country including ESPN pundits consider it horizontal at best, the truth is, our fans, our program, have a solid history with nBE schools that it doesn't have in the nCUSA. Southern Miss is one of the few schools who cares about history and tradition; who cares about friendships and alliances. This was our argument for forming CUSA. This was our argument for keeping other programs from leaving CUSA in recent years. But now that most of have, this will be our argument for joining them. In a sense, however weak it is, the move would be seen as a chance at returning to our tradition (Metro/Early CUSA). Hate to break it to La Tech and UNT, but I think I'm right.

Now, why should other the nBE want us to join them? Because we are a safe decision. We offer a commitment and history of success in athletics (basketball recently), not an indecent market (especially given tv ratings), and rival play for fans of current BE schools like ECU and UCF; we also offer stability given the desire of Cincy and UCONN to split and our history of being a loyal committed conference member (something you would think the BE is looking for at this point). Plus, who else is there? Western teams like UNLV and Fresno will stay put, especially when Boise and SDSU decide to go off and anchor an all sports MWC or something similar. Who else is there in the East? ODU? Charlotte? We may get passed up once, but not twice or three times, and without BSU or SDSU, the BE sits at 10.

Besides, ECU wants us in and they run the show in the Big East.

You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

^^^^THIS^^^^^

(12-13-2012 02:48 PM)gdunn Wrote:  I don't think USM should jump ship yet.

We don't know what's the stability is going to be like in whatever conference it is.
We're not sure if those folks ain't going to jump ship to another conference or come back to C-USA.

Our best move is to wait and see what happens then react accordingly. We shouldn't jump out of C-USA until we know whatever conference it is will be stable and if the level of competition will be higher than what we'll experience here.

Just my thoughts.

That's exactly right, there's no ship to even jump to yet, and won't be for a year or so down the road.

The new BE schools will all be playing in the BE next year and making plans which imho will probably include USM.

(12-13-2012 02:57 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:48 PM)gdunn Wrote:  I don't think USM should jump ship yet.

We don't know what's the stability is going to be like in whatever conference it is.
We're not sure if those folks ain't going to jump ship to another conference or come back to C-USA.

Our best move is to wait and see what happens then react accordingly. We shouldn't jump out of C-USA until we know whatever conference it is will be stable and if the level of competition will be higher than what we'll experience here.

Just my thoughts.

That's exactly right, there's no ship to even jump to yet, and won't be for a year or so down the road.

The new BE schools will all be playing in the BE next year and making plans which imho will probably include USM.

I wouldn't be so sure about it. I mean USM is a founding member of C-USA. If anything we might would try to pull in those that have left. Including in the new invites, we might would have a nice little conference.

If USM has shown me one thing, they're not going to do something that jeopardizes the university... Said the guy who was enrolled when Shelby Thames dropped the ball and we damn near lost accredidation.. And was still cheering til the bitter end of the Johnson era.

I honestly believe we won't go anywhere unless it's in our best interests, just like ECU, Tulane, SMU, UH, UCF, Memphis, etc. have done.

(12-13-2012 02:50 PM)Noodles Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:48 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:42 PM)Noodles Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:38 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  

(12-13-2012 02:31 PM)Noodles Wrote:  You're proposing a lateral move to join teams that didn't want to be in a conference with us. I would hope we would have more self-esteem than that.

When Louisville and Cincy left in 2005, it wasn't because they didn't want to be in a conference with Memphis, it was because the Big East offered far better opportunities than the CUSA.

Same thing this go around. I don't think SMU, Houston, UCF, or Memphis scrambled out to get away from USM at all.

Oh, so tell us about those plans you surely had for adding us soon... I'm sure we'd have been right after, ECU....er, Tulane...., er, Alaska-Anchorage...., er, Bethune-Cookman.

What are you talking about? Memphis is a member of CUSA and never voted on any invitations to anyone in the BE.

But surely there were plans on your part? No?

Ok, you can win the argument--Memphis obviously blackballed USM, didn't want to be associated with USM one bit, and far preferred ECU and Tulane.

I read it on the internet, and now you have too.

Truth is southern Mississippi has stated that it would like to have moved to the big east, however it was not selected because of the small TV market, so the decision was never there but we know the feelings that were. It is my opinion that Southern Mississippi was fortunate to be overlooked considering the current situation with the Big East. What's going to happen with the Big East in football remains to be seen, but I suspect a new conference could be formed and could change the Big East and conference USA, but time will tell as things settle into a pattern.

USM can, without being cocky, afford to sit tight.

If the Tulane-to-nBE situation taught us anything, it is that a TV market with lots of "potential" viewers is not valuable without content that those potential viewers actually want to watch. And to the extent that new content dilutes the competitiveness of the entire league, it can have a negative effect on the value of the entire league's media rights.

Despite 0-12, USM provides content. There will be a good opportunity for USM somewhere in the Gang of Five.

(12-13-2012 03:05 PM)billyoregon Wrote:  Despite 0-12, USM provides content. There will be a good opportunity for USM somewhere in the Gang of Five.

I'd love to think if we had a shot in the "Gang of Five", I truly believe we'd be there by now.

I'm not sure what has held us back for so long.

We're going to have to come out and win more titles and try to be ranked in the Top 15 every year to get a look.