Oh, I move to the Big East even if it cost us money!!!

Hate to burst your bubble but the Big East is now the Catholic 7, plus the addition of five other basketball schools over the next few years. And the Catholic 7 owns the Big East name.

(03-02-2013 09:34 PM)Green Menace Wrote:  Hate to burst your bubble but the Big East is now the Catholic 7, plus the addition of five other basketball schools over the next few years. And the Catholic 7 owns the Big East name.

Wow!! Thanks for the info - we had no idea!!

The only way our bubble will be burst is if we have to stay in the dumpster fire that C-USA has become.

Just FYI - today on the 1430 the Buzz, Blankenship more or less admitted that TU to the Big East was a done deal. Just waiting for the TV/C7 stuff to pan out first.

I haven't figured out why the Big East commissioner is letting the C-7 schools take(buy) the Big East name......A group of schools decide to leave the conference they are in.....and oh, by the way we're taking the name too......they are the ones leaving the conference!!! If the football schools were being kicked out, I could understand it......but it would be like some fans deciding to leave the Golden Hurricane Club and taking the name with them......they are the ones leaving.....they are jumping ship, why should they be rewarded. If the commissioner thinks giving a few million dollars to Conn and Cincy is going to keep them around he is crazy.......but I guess it will pay his salary for a few years!!!

This sounds like how the negotiations for the Big East name and money went, "C-7 talking....we don't have enough votes to get the Big East name and much money.....well let's get some more votes...but how......MONEY." " We'll get Cincy, UConn and USF in the back room and tell them if they vote with us, we will vote with them to get them $30 million apiece in the deal." Hell, they don't care they're going to get out of the Big East(?) as soon as possible any way. Cincy, UConn and USF talking....." let's get this straight, we vote with you for you to keep the Big East name, tournament in Madison Square Garden and a few million dollars and you will vote to give us $30 million a piece....you got a deal, we aren't going to be here in a couple of years any way so we don't care about the name.

The more I hear UCONN and Cincy talk about the new Big East, the more I wish they would leave the conference if we are going to move in that direction. They are unbelievable, you would think they have Alabama and USC's football history. Both of them combined don't have 1/10 the football history as Tulsa. I hate to say it but if the MWC said to wait around a year or two and we will invite you......I just might do it!!! I'm already missing the previous CUSA after hearing the a-holes at UCONN and Cincy. I might move to that new conference if I was guaranteed those two were going to leave. They were in the BCS because of a couple of teams, that are now long gone, when it was formed......it sure the hell wasn't because of Cincy or UCONN....they just got to tag along.......but now you would think they are some great football powers.

The nBE is our only viable option at present IMO. I originally wanted to go west like you say, but that was discarded when UH and SMU decided to stay in the east. IMO we have to stick with them.

Now if UH and SMU (along with UTEP) were to accept invites to a 16 team MWC that included us, that would suit me fine. But I doubt that is going to happen at this time. The only thing we can do right now is go east. I think the odds on makeup of the nBE within a couple of years will be an east/SW configuration of:

East

Navy
Temple
ECU
Marshall
UCF
USF

West

Tulsa
SMU
Houston
Memphis
Tulane
So Miss

That would be a geographically acceptable league with plenty of power in CFB and MBB. So we could potentially get multiple invites to the NCAA MBB tournament and a good shot at an expanded BCS opportunity in CFB. That is something we would not have in the nCUSA.

TU needs a long range plan as we adapt to the changing landscape of DI athletics.

As long as the nBE invite is there, we are in much better shape than our old "friends" UTEP, USM, Marshall etc.


IMO

(03-13-2013 10:03 AM)jfisher Wrote:  The more I hear UCONN and Cincy talk about the new Big East, the more I wish they would leave the conference if we are going to move in that direction. They are unbelievable, you would think they have Alabama and USC's football history. Both of them combined don't have 1/10 the football history as Tulsa. I hate to say it but if the MWC said to wait around a year or two and we will invite you......I just might do it!!! I'm already missing the previous CUSA after hearing the a-holes at UCONN and Cincy. I might move to that new conference if I was guaranteed those two were going to leave. They were in the BCS because of a couple of teams, that are now long gone, when it was formed......it sure the hell wasn't because of Cincy or UCONN....they just got to tag along.......but now you would think they are some great football powers.

Those guys have the holier that thou attitude, but we can't let that cloud our judgement of our movement up the food chain.

The Big East (Metro) will be the #6 league more times than not, even without UCONN or Cincy. Tulsa needs to focus on doing what's best for Tulsa. Everything seems so negative right now, but there are way more positives than there are negatives at this point (there are just some that like to focus on the negative aspects of everything). In fact, most of the negativity on these boards are purely speculation - not fact. They focus on the possibility of negativity rather than focus on facts or on the possibility of positivity.

But when you take a step back and look at the entire situation (all of college football or college athletics for that matter) from top to bottom, it's pretty easy to see why TU needs to make this move. Perception is reality and we need to change the perception of casual sports fans' minds in Tulsa. I think a conference change is a step in the right direction, along with a few other changes, you could see a whole different atmosphere at TU games - it shouldn't be hard to get 30k in the stadium 6 or 7 times each year in a metro area of nearly 1 million.

There will be some changes and this will not be the Big East that it used to be, but it is still without a doubt a better option than what C-USA has become.

The official TU site will have (evidently) the official announcement of TU entering the BE at 10:30am inside the Reynolds Center. It will also be carried live on the official TU site. The new AD, Sted, Buck and probably BB, DM, Matilda M and other coaches will be included.

Its been a long haul, but is our very best option. Thank goodness for our fine coaches and athletes. IMO

Go TU!

(04-01-2013 07:18 PM)rabidTU Wrote:  The official TU site will have (evidently) the official announcement of TU entering the BE at 10:30am inside the Reynolds Center. It will also be carried live on the official TU site. The new AD, Sted, Buck and probably BB, DM, Matilda M and other coaches will be included.

Its been a long haul, but is our very best option. Thank goodness for our fine coaches and athletes. IMO

Go TU!

What time will Tallgrass speak? After or before the AD?

(04-01-2013 07:35 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(04-01-2013 07:18 PM)rabidTU Wrote:  The official TU site will have (evidently) the official announcement of TU entering the BE at 10:30am inside the Reynolds Center. It will also be carried live on the official TU site. The new AD, Sted, Buck and probably BB, DM, Matilda M and other coaches will be included.

Its been a long haul, but is our very best option. Thank goodness for our fine coaches and athletes. IMO

Go TU!

What time will Tallgrass speak? After or before the AD?

I'm hoping Tallgrass gets mad enough to quit following (bothering) Tulsa & our conference mates !

(04-01-2013 08:15 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  

(04-01-2013 07:35 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(04-01-2013 07:18 PM)rabidTU Wrote:  The official TU site will have (evidently) the official announcement of TU entering the BE at 10:30am inside the Reynolds Center. It will also be carried live on the official TU site. The new AD, Sted, Buck and probably BB, DM, Matilda M and other coaches will be included.

Its been a long haul, but is our very best option. Thank goodness for our fine coaches and athletes. IMO

Go TU!

What time will Tallgrass speak? After or before the AD?

I'm hoping Tallgrass gets mad enough to quit following (bothering) Tulsa & our conference mates !

I love telling panic stricken he is Tallgrass

(04-01-2013 07:18 PM)rabidTU Wrote:  The official TU site will have (evidently) the official announcement of TU entering the BE at 10:30am inside the Reynolds Center. It will also be carried live on the official TU site. The new AD, Sted, Buck and probably BB, DM, Matilda M and other coaches will be included.

Its been a long haul, but is our very best option. Thank goodness for our fine coaches and athletes. IMO

Go TU!

+1 Rabid ! It appears our long wait is finally over. This took 3-4 months, but it sure seemed like 3-4 years ! Now we can start looking at how to grow this Tulsa program. It really is great timing to have a new AD coming in at this time. Hope he has new ideas to market TU sports.

I think just the fact that Tulsa is moving to this new conference will give Tulsa some marketing momentum. Even though Tulsa had a good football season, it was a buzz kill to hear "Tulsa plays it's last conference game with Houston (UCF, SMU, etc.) before they move on to the Big East". Those constant reminders were not great for drawing in new fans. Tulsa can now market to bigger & better things ahead.

I think this announcement will help in attendance & recruiting. Danny Manning can tell recruits today that you will play against UCONN, Cincy, Temple & Memphis in conference games ahead. It sure can't hurt football recruiting either.

Exciting days ahead for TU !

(04-01-2013 08:24 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  

(04-01-2013 07:18 PM)rabidTU Wrote:  The official TU site will have (evidently) the official announcement of TU entering the BE at 10:30am inside the Reynolds Center. It will also be carried live on the official TU site. The new AD, Sted, Buck and probably BB, DM, Matilda M and other coaches will be included.

Its been a long haul, but is our very best option. Thank goodness for our fine coaches and athletes. IMO

Go TU!

+1 Rabid ! It appears our long wait is finally over. This took 3-4 months, but it sure seemed like 3-4 years ! Now we can start looking at how to grow this Tulsa program. It really is great timing to have a new AD coming in at this time. Hope he has new ideas to market TU sports.

I think just the fact that Tulsa is moving to this new conference will give Tulsa some marketing momentum. Even though Tulsa had a good football season, it was a buzz kill to hear "Tulsa plays it's last conference game with Houston (UCF, SMU, etc.) before they move on to the Big East". Those constant reminders were not great for drawing in new fans. Tulsa can now market to bigger & better things ahead.

I think this announcement will help in attendance & recruiting. Danny Manning can tell recruits today that you will play against UCONN, Cincy, Temple & Memphis in conference games ahead. It sure can't hurt football recruiting either.

Exciting days ahead for TU !

I really believe this is the best move we've made since the collapse of the 16 team WAC when we were playing Utah, BYU, Boise, TCU, Fresno etc. TBH, the problem with CUSA was that there were teams (most notably Rice, UAB) that simply didn't have the commitment level in their sports programs to keep up with their competitors. Now, CUSA is loaded with those programs.

(04-01-2013 08:50 PM)rabidTU Wrote:  

(04-01-2013 08:24 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  

(04-01-2013 07:18 PM)rabidTU Wrote:  The official TU site will have (evidently) the official announcement of TU entering the BE at 10:30am inside the Reynolds Center. It will also be carried live on the official TU site. The new AD, Sted, Buck and probably BB, DM, Matilda M and other coaches will be included.

Its been a long haul, but is our very best option. Thank goodness for our fine coaches and athletes. IMO

Go TU!

+1 Rabid ! It appears our long wait is finally over. This took 3-4 months, but it sure seemed like 3-4 years ! Now we can start looking at how to grow this Tulsa program. It really is great timing to have a new AD coming in at this time. Hope he has new ideas to market TU sports.

I think just the fact that Tulsa is moving to this new conference will give Tulsa some marketing momentum. Even though Tulsa had a good football season, it was a buzz kill to hear "Tulsa plays it's last conference game with Houston (UCF, SMU, etc.) before they move on to the Big East". Those constant reminders were not great for drawing in new fans. Tulsa can now market to bigger & better things ahead.

I think this announcement will help in attendance & recruiting. Danny Manning can tell recruits today that you will play against UCONN, Cincy, Temple & Memphis in conference games ahead. It sure can't hurt football recruiting either.

Exciting days ahead for TU !

I really believe this is the best move we've made since the collapse of the 16 team WAC when we were playing Utah, BYU, Boise, TCU, Fresno etc. TBH, the problem with CUSA was that there were teams (most notably Rice, UAB) that simply didn't have the commitment level in their sports programs to keep up with their competitors. Now, CUSA is loaded with those programs.

Agree - I respect Rice as an institution, but they went 6-6 last year and it was such a huge deal, they gave their head coach a contract extension... That basically says it all - "If you don't completely suck, you've got a job here for as long as you want!!" And you're right, we'll be seeing a lot more of that from C-USA over the next few years.

10:30 Tuesday.....it is official, on the TU site!!! Finally......I think it's the best possible move at this time!!!!!!

Go to tulsahurricane.com site and watch live.

This is why moving from CUSA to the AAC was good, and why realignment can be a good thing. It gets rid of some of the dead weight.

By that I mean that certain programs have not kept up over the years and consisitently fallen behind. Some of the programs simply accepted losing and accepted mediocrity. It pulled down the rest of us to that level since we were aligned with them as conference "brothers". So its a good thing for them to stay where they are and us to go where we are now.

"Ah, but there's the rub". Now it behooves us to take another step. We won't have it quite as easy - fewer sure wins, fewer easy road victories. Also, it is imperative "NOT" to be viewed as one of those schools who've accepted AAC mediocrity. "There is no substitute for victory".

We will have a new, fresh set of fans and teams visiting our school. Those fans and teams don't have any idea what the place is like or our teams are like. So its time to keep going and not stop. So what I'd like to see occur is the idea that TU isn't this little small sleepy school in the heart of a city that ignores it for the most part. To give that perception, we need to have some campus building occurring every season. There needs to be a masterplan in place and that needs to be "visible" to the people that will be here on game days.

So we have a great opportunity to grow with the new AAC, not just to survive in the old league. We are going to have to step up to the level of the "new" competition. Lets keep building or we'll be perceived as a Rice is - not good!

Good points Rabid. It is also a very good time for a new AD at Tulsa.

Mr. Gragg continues to say improving attendance with better marketing & promotions is one of his first goals. I hope he follows through with this & thinks "outside the normal TU box" in this area. There is no reason Tulsa can't average upper 20s in football (with 50 % sellouts) & over 7,000 in basketball (with occasional sellouts).

If our 2014-15 home basketball schedule includes UCONN, Cincinnati & Memphis, we should have at least 3 home sellouts guaranteed. 18 of our first 23 home games at the Reynolds Center were sellouts. That seems like such a long time ago. I hope we see a day where we play a few of our top games in the BOK. I know some Nolan & Self era teams could've filled up the BOK. But, first things first, we need to start filling up the Reynolds Center again !