TU is trending UP!

This is about the overall program rating and not the past season per say, although that enters into it. A program rating includes its historic success and its infrastructure as well as general perception on the national scene. IMO One of the things that the league has to work on is getting more FB infrastructure "on campus" which shows commitment. Memphis, USF, Temple and UCONN don't have stadiums on their main campus' even though Temple soon may have. Also, there is still a "bowl history deficit" where some programs just haven't had a long history of bowl success. But things are definitely looking up for the AAC and it is currently the best G5 in the nation, even though we had some teams stink it up in the bowls.

My ratings: On campus stadium* - and (bowl numbers)
1. Houston* - (24)
2. Navy* - (21)
3. Tulsa* - (20)
4. Cincinnati* - (16)
5. East Carolina* - (15)
6. SMU* - (15)
7. UCF* - (7)
8. Memphis - (8)
9. Tulane* - (11)
10. UCONN - (6)
11. Temple - (5)
12. USF - (7)

A slight quantifier in my rating would be "recent success" which would be success over the last 8-10 years, but that isn't as important - as on campus stadium and bowl history which shows the long term strength of the programs. IMO

Now that all the AAC programs are done in the NCAA MBB Tournament, it might be time to take a retrospective look at how we did as a major college conference. Secondly, it is probably time to rate our (TU's) performance this year within the AAC and even categorize teams within the conference into a top, middle and bottom. The criteria I will use is FB and MBB. I won't include Navy in this because they are a FB only program in the AAC. I rate the schools by a point system that may or may not be fair, but at least allows a way to divide the schools according to level of success wo getting too complicated.

Bowl Teams (Awarded 3 points)
Houston
Tulsa
Memphis
UCONN
Temple
USF
Cincinnati

NCAA Tournament Schools in the Dance (Awarded 2 points)
Tulsa
UCONN
Temple
Cincy

NIT (Awarded 1 point)
Houston

Teams not making a post season appearance (0 Points).
SMU (ineligible in MBB although conference regular season champ)
ECU
UCF
Tulane

So these would the the 2015-16 Success Ratings

Tier I (5 Points)
UCONN
Cincinnati
Temple
Tulsa

Tier II (3/4 Points)
Houston (4)
Memphis
USF

Tier III (Less than 3 Points)
SMU
UCF
Tulane
ECU

UConn may have more Bowl Games than us, but we've had nearly 30 more players get drafted.

JHG722 thanks for stopping by again. I'm just doing this for comparability purposes in the long, long off season until FB starts up. Cetrtainly not trying to diss the other schools. Its a way of gaging the success of this season. Both Temple and UCONN had very good years IMO.

What I'd like to see every year in the AAC is 8 bowl teams and probably as many MBB teams in post season and also some of those teams in Tier 3 moving up.

Being the smallest college in D-1......I think Tulsa has done quite well over the years. If we could avoid disappearing for several years at a time in both football or basketball it would help our overall image. We are good for 5 or 6 years.....which is great......then we aren't very good for 5 or 6 years and people forget about the 5 or 6 we were pretty good. That's been our biggest problem over the last 25 years. Everyone has a down year or two, once in a while, but when it extends beyond a couple of years for a school like Tulsa, the good years are seen more as a fluke.

Sustained success is the goal imo. And how do we achieve it? IMO we have some advantages and disadvantages, but we can still improve the program intelligently. Our advantages are our location in a fairly large metro area that doesn't have to compete with major leaugue pro sports. We have a growing sports infrastructure on-campus with room to grow even more. We have a recognized high academic school with a very good history of success in every sport we play. We have a very beautiful campus in the middle of the metro area, not a rural one in a small cowtown. On and on. IMO our strengths trump our weaknesses.

I'd like to address this in the off season - just my hopes, opinions and thoughts in our long off season between the end of basketball and beginning of FB. It will include my ideas (from the comfort of my couch) and how we can economically grow the program even more through facilites and smart strategies. Please feel free to post your thoughts as well. Maybe we can come up with some nice ideas and start something that improves the athletic programs at TU.

Posting on the internet has become a hobby I now embrace to keep me busy in semi retirement. But I really hope this little site stays respectful, knowledgeable and friendly while I and we communicate. I know thats my goal. So lets please keep it clean and on task good people. Thanks.