Our brand is longer than yours:
Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders

(08-19-2018 08:53 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  For instance. If you were really good at something (think yesteryear or back in the day) e.g. wkcc basketball or Rice football in the Big 12 but have since been relegated to second class citizen in that sport there isn't much helping you there in the brand category.

Brand, otherwise, will have been driven by two things. Aptitude in football and basketball, sustained success and national notoriety from it and largely needs to have occurred in the modern football era (post 1980 and I would even argue over the last 20 to 25 years. Anything beyond that time frame for any us is pointless. The world is driven by the 18 to 35 year olds. If you are still living off Terry Bradshaw and Mean Joe Green - then umm - times have changed.

For almost all of us we are talking about having to go from nothing to something. Boise fits that category. None of us have achieved that to that level so we're debating a topic here that there is very little separation from the top 10 or so. The schools that didn't even have football 15 years ago - have no brand to speak of (at least not yet). That said I will say Marshall probably has the best brand because of the Chad Pennington, Randy Moss era, the plane crash and the movie. Recognizable logo helps too. The rest of us are just rearranging the deck chairs.

Agreed. Unless you’re ancient or living of the ghosts of CFBs past, the only relevant history is the Pennington/Moss Era. If Marshall doesn’t capitalize and move up, that too will be archived as Ancient history.

based on sports alone, let's divide into the three majors....

football - Southern Miss and Marshall

basketball - UAB and WKU

baseball - Rice and Southern Miss

I can tell you this much....when i traveled the country during my corpshite 'murica years, I always wore my colors.....

I had many a folk at the many bars I frequented strike up a conversation knowing where Southern Miss was.....

to be honest, it was surprising and humbling.....

(08-19-2018 01:02 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(08-19-2018 12:03 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 11:37 PM)Ourland Wrote:  1. Southern Mississippi 2. Louisiana Tech 3. Rice 4. Marshall 5. UTEP

No offense to anyone not on the list, but all the others are mostly unknowns. IMO, these are CUSA's only brands.

No offense but brands in the sense talked about in this thread is sports related.

Rice is known as a great school...nothing else that sports fans care about (baseball is way down the list). Outside of being a great school what is Rice's brand ? I'm not being a smartass but when it comes to a sports brand Rice is as unkown as the rest of us. Hell I will bet Big Red by himself has more espn press over the last 20 years than 3 of the 5 on your list.

I see fans without much (most not any) basketball history that only looks at football as a brand. Lets be completely honest...

a few decent years and when I say few, that's it for most. Doesn't build a brand....

hell being known because of a movie is not a brand. It's a event that happened in history that a movie was made of. It might make more people know the name. But it's not branding from winning, year after year. Neither is smart people going to class at a school.

Most of the people fans are listing for their "brand" sports fans 35 or under don't even know who they are. Does anyone think people 35 or under knows who Mean Joe Green is? or that the movie Necessary Roughness is for UNT?

Most sports fans know who the Mailman is but out of that not many could tell you he played at Tech. Nothing against Tech or UNT...sports fans (or a very large %) dont care and dont spend the time to find out.

The movie about Marshall is still being shown and it's something people remember and so is the "We are Marshall" that's a brand that people actually do remember. The chant "We are Marshall" is the biggest branding item in this conference and it's not close. The movie on UTEP winning over a all white uk team not so much. Most sports fans dont know that was UTEP

Rice has been playing intercollegiate athletics at the Division 1A (now FBS) level for over 110 years. Everyone knows of and recognizes Rice. A lot of that has to do with being associated with the SWC for 85 years. It was the best conference in the nation for many years, and until the late 60's, Rice resided toward the top of it, beating A&M, Texas, and Arkansas regularly.

I'm not certain, but I venture to guess that seven or eight schools in CUSA haven't even had a football program for 40 years, and much of that time was spent in FCS obscurity.

Nothing but football really matters in the state of Texas. That's what we hang our hat on. Baseball is second, and we've won a national championship in that sport, and been to the CWS several times over the past 20 years. We won about twelve consecutive conference titles.

And let's not forget about The MOB. Everyone knows and loves those guys.

Put all this together with the academic reputation, and I think it's safe to say that the brand is pretty solid.

I have no idea what you’re talking about and all the people who do are dying of old age.

(08-18-2018 04:17 PM)SouthernMiss3613 Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 04:02 PM)XYZ Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 12:19 PM)HERD1 Wrote:  A good way of looking at it is what school would sell the most T-shirts on a National level? Or what teams in conference is a person in Idaho or South Dakota most likely to have heard of. Winning is probably the biggest factor in getting "known" of course and helping build a "brand".

1. Southern Miss - Long mostly steady winning tradition in I-A football. Favre. Has been in CUSA with some very, very good programs.
2. Marshall - WAM. Winning-est team in the 90's. Moss, Pennington, Leftwich, Troy Brown, Hassan Whiteside.
3. La Tech - Nearly a tie with Marshall. Rich Football history. Duck Dynasty. Terry Bradshaw. Karl Malone. Trace Adkins. Kix Brooks. Good Basketball.
4. Rice - A school that I picture is out of our league in academics. Long time Baseball power.
5. ODU - Long time Basketball success.
6. UTEP - Usually leads CUSA in attendance in most sports. 1966 Basketball National Champions.
7. Western Kentucky - Long rich tradition in Basketball. Quality sports across board as of late (overall last decade).
8. MTSU - Quality Programs across board (overall last decade).
9. FAU - On rise as of late. Kiffin helps "the brand" tremendously.
10. UAB - Fought to get football back.
11. North Texas - Good football program.
12. Charlotte - Good Basketball program.
13. FIU - To me, still building their programs...but doing very well at it.
14. UTSA - To me, still building their programs...but doing very well at it.

I agree with this list for the most part but being a top brand in a league like CUSA is probably not something very positive. It basically means that the program has been around longer compared to others in the conference but has not been good enough to move up beyond this level. Programs with strong pasts but which are still in CUSA have bleak futures ahead. Just my opinion as much as that's worth.

I think the two programs with the most promise in this league to develop strong future brands and to move far above CUSA are UNT and FIU. It is up to both school's leadership whether they amount to anything.

Ha! UCF will still be in the AAC in a decade from now. Y'all aren't going anywhere. A person in Idaho or South Dakota wouldn't know the difference between UCF or USF. You aren't a brand name.

It’s a good thing Idaho and South Dakota are irrelevant flyover states. They are still quite the upgrade from the drive around state that is Mississippi.

(08-18-2018 11:22 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  I'll take a shot at this...


6. Western Kentucky - Long respected basketball history & an ugly mascot

Congrats SSJ. You finally made a post that I like. That's funny right there.

(08-19-2018 09:47 AM)Seminowl Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 04:17 PM)SouthernMiss3613 Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 04:02 PM)XYZ Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 12:19 PM)HERD1 Wrote:  A good way of looking at it is what school would sell the most T-shirts on a National level? Or what teams in conference is a person in Idaho or South Dakota most likely to have heard of. Winning is probably the biggest factor in getting "known" of course and helping build a "brand".

1. Southern Miss - Long mostly steady winning tradition in I-A football. Favre. Has been in CUSA with some very, very good programs.
2. Marshall - WAM. Winning-est team in the 90's. Moss, Pennington, Leftwich, Troy Brown, Hassan Whiteside.
3. La Tech - Nearly a tie with Marshall. Rich Football history. Duck Dynasty. Terry Bradshaw. Karl Malone. Trace Adkins. Kix Brooks. Good Basketball.
4. Rice - A school that I picture is out of our league in academics. Long time Baseball power.
5. ODU - Long time Basketball success.
6. UTEP - Usually leads CUSA in attendance in most sports. 1966 Basketball National Champions.
7. Western Kentucky - Long rich tradition in Basketball. Quality sports across board as of late (overall last decade).
8. MTSU - Quality Programs across board (overall last decade).
9. FAU - On rise as of late. Kiffin helps "the brand" tremendously.
10. UAB - Fought to get football back.
11. North Texas - Good football program.
12. Charlotte - Good Basketball program.
13. FIU - To me, still building their programs...but doing very well at it.
14. UTSA - To me, still building their programs...but doing very well at it.

I agree with this list for the most part but being a top brand in a league like CUSA is probably not something very positive. It basically means that the program has been around longer compared to others in the conference but has not been good enough to move up beyond this level. Programs with strong pasts but which are still in CUSA have bleak futures ahead. Just my opinion as much as that's worth.

I think the two programs with the most promise in this league to develop strong future brands and to move far above CUSA are UNT and FIU. It is up to both school's leadership whether they amount to anything.

Ha! UCF will still be in the AAC in a decade from now. Y'all aren't going anywhere. A person in Idaho or South Dakota wouldn't know the difference between UCF or USF. You aren't a brand name.

It’s a good thing Idaho and South Dakota are irrelevant flyover states. They are still quite the upgrade from the drive around state that is Mississippi.

ewe done screw'd da pooch now.....

(08-19-2018 07:55 AM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(08-19-2018 12:21 AM)Doots4Dawgs Wrote:  

(08-19-2018 12:03 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 11:37 PM)Ourland Wrote:  1. Southern Mississippi 2. Louisiana Tech 3. Rice 4. Marshall 5. UTEP

No offense to anyone not on the list, but all the others are mostly unknowns. IMO, these are CUSA's only brands.

No offense but brands in the sense talked about in this thread is sports related.

Rice is known as a great school...nothing else that sports fans care about (baseball is way down the list). Outside of being a great school what is Rice's brand ? I'm not being a smartass but when it comes to a sports brand Rice is as unkown as the rest of us. Hell I will bet Big Red by himself has more espn press over the last 20 years than 3 of the 5 on your list.

I see fans without much (most not any) basketball history that only looks at football as a brand. Lets be completely honest...

a few decent years and when I say few, that's it for most. Doesn't build a brand....

hell being known because of a movie is not a brand. It's a event that happened in history that a movie was made of. It might make more people know the name. But it's not branding from winning, year after year. Neither is smart people going to class at a school.

Most of the people fans are listing for their "brand" sports fans 35 or under don't even know who they are. Does anyone think people 35 or under knows who Mean Joe Green is? or that the movie Necessary Roughness is for UNT?

Most sports fans know who the Mailman is but out of that not many could tell you he played at Tech. Nothing against Tech or UNT...sports fans (or a very large %) dont care and dont spend the time to find out.

The movie about Marshall is still being shown and it's something people remember and so is the "We are Marshall" that's a brand that people actually do remember. The chant "We are Marshall" is the biggest branding item in this conference and it's not close. The movie on UTEP winning over a all white uk team not so much. Most sports fans dont know that was UTEP

It certainly helps that in “We Are Marshall” MU is known as Marshall University. Unlike “Glory Road” (I sure hope thats the correct movie I am remembering) where UTEP is known as another name.

Texas Western university...but that was not a made up name.

Wasn’t saying it was. Texas Western is not the UTEP brand, so those who don’t pay attention won’t realize. Its just given to them with Marshall.

History is important and as fans we should be proud of it. I've pointed out how Western use to be a National Brand but that was long ago.....

there's only so many checks you can cash on history

At some point you have to build off it or it becomes something just the fans of that school knows about. That is the problem with CUSA schools with some very good history. None of us built off those golden years to a point it's paying off today.

We talk about wanting to play a national schedule with home and away games against ranked schools. There was a point in Western's history....

Western was that school other wanted a home and home with. All of east coast power houses tried to schedule Western and Western played them.

But that's history and not branding, today. I'm very proud of it but realize it's just long ago history that wasn't built off of.

Its entertaining in these slow last few weeks of fall camp to read these polls of who's the best team in sport ___, rank CUSA's 'best brands',... The responses are so predictably geographically slanted.

Typical fan from the east lists predominantly CUSA East teams
Typical fan from the west lists predominantly CUSA West teams

Some guy in Kentucky is trying to convince a fan in Texas that "nobody remembers Rice from the old SWC days". LMAO! That's like trying to convince someone in Kentucky that there is no Western Kentucky University; a LOT of people living west of the Mississippi River would 100% believe that.

(08-19-2018 10:39 AM)Dogluva Wrote:  Its entertaining in these slow last few weeks of fall camp to read these polls of who's the best team in sport ___, rank CUSA's 'best brands',... The responses are so predictably geographically slanted.

Typical fan from the east lists predominantly CUSA East teams
Typical fan from the west lists predominantly CUSA West teams

Some guy in Kentucky is trying to convince a fan in Texas that "nobody remembers Rice from the old SWC days". LMAO! That's like trying to convince someone in Kentucky that there is no Western Kentucky University; a LOT of people living west of the Mississippi River would 100% believe that.

I think you are mistaken because I wasn't trying to convince anyone about what fans in Texas thought.....

to have a brand or at least in the context of what I believe the OP meant. You need to go outside of that region. What you described is LOCAL. But even then most Texas fans under 40 dont associate Rice with the SWC.

How can they?

(08-19-2018 12:03 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 11:37 PM)Ourland Wrote:  Everyone knows of and recognizes Rice.

Rice is known for being a school smart kids go to. Hey that's not bad but that it

Being "known" is what makes a brand a brand. The thread title does not specify football, basketball, or athletics.

(08-19-2018 09:47 AM)Seminowl Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 04:17 PM)SouthernMiss3613 Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 04:02 PM)XYZ Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 12:19 PM)HERD1 Wrote:  A good way of looking at it is what school would sell the most T-shirts on a National level? Or what teams in conference is a person in Idaho or South Dakota most likely to have heard of. Winning is probably the biggest factor in getting "known" of course and helping build a "brand".

1. Southern Miss - Long mostly steady winning tradition in I-A football. Favre. Has been in CUSA with some very, very good programs.
2. Marshall - WAM. Winning-est team in the 90's. Moss, Pennington, Leftwich, Troy Brown, Hassan Whiteside.
3. La Tech - Nearly a tie with Marshall. Rich Football history. Duck Dynasty. Terry Bradshaw. Karl Malone. Trace Adkins. Kix Brooks. Good Basketball.
4. Rice - A school that I picture is out of our league in academics. Long time Baseball power.
5. ODU - Long time Basketball success.
6. UTEP - Usually leads CUSA in attendance in most sports. 1966 Basketball National Champions.
7. Western Kentucky - Long rich tradition in Basketball. Quality sports across board as of late (overall last decade).
8. MTSU - Quality Programs across board (overall last decade).
9. FAU - On rise as of late. Kiffin helps "the brand" tremendously.
10. UAB - Fought to get football back.
11. North Texas - Good football program.
12. Charlotte - Good Basketball program.
13. FIU - To me, still building their programs...but doing very well at it.
14. UTSA - To me, still building their programs...but doing very well at it.

I agree with this list for the most part but being a top brand in a league like CUSA is probably not something very positive. It basically means that the program has been around longer compared to others in the conference but has not been good enough to move up beyond this level. Programs with strong pasts but which are still in CUSA have bleak futures ahead. Just my opinion as much as that's worth.

I think the two programs with the most promise in this league to develop strong future brands and to move far above CUSA are UNT and FIU. It is up to both school's leadership whether they amount to anything.

Ha! UCF will still be in the AAC in a decade from now. Y'all aren't going anywhere. A person in Idaho or South Dakota wouldn't know the difference between UCF or USF. You aren't a brand name.

It’s a good thing Idaho and South Dakota are irrelevant flyover states. They are still quite the upgrade from the drive around state that is Mississippi.

Comments like this don't bother me in the least. Keep thinking Mississippi is terrible. We don't want this beautiful place to be ruined by Northerners like Florida has been. I get worried when I meet people from the north vacationing down here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and they tell me how much they love it and how nice the people are. I jokingly tell them to keep it a secret. We don't want it to be ruined like Florida.

(08-19-2018 10:51 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(08-19-2018 12:03 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 11:37 PM)Ourland Wrote:  Everyone knows of and recognizes Rice.

Rice is known for being a school smart kids go to. Hey that's not bad but that it

Being "known" is what makes a brand a brand. The thread title does not specify football, basketball, or athletics.

Really? Rice is a great school (with a nice campus...loved the laid back feel and the trees overhanging the streets) but I say the odds are the OP was talking sports.

Like Western, Rices best years are too far in the past for the average sports fan to care about. I'm not trying to disrespect Rice or anyone in CUSA, that's not my intention. I'm just trying to separate history that wasn't built on from actual branding today

(08-19-2018 09:06 AM)TruBlu Wrote:  Our brand is longer than yours:
Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders

University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners

We're tied at 46 characters. lol

(08-19-2018 10:57 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-19-2018 10:51 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(08-19-2018 12:03 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 11:37 PM)Ourland Wrote:  Everyone knows of and recognizes Rice.

Rice is known for being a school smart kids go to. Hey that's not bad but that it

Being "known" is what makes a brand a brand. The thread title does not specify football, basketball, or athletics.

Really? Rice is a great school (with a nice campus...loved the laid back feel and the trees overhanging the streets) but I say the odds are the OP was talking sports.

Like Western, Rices best years are too far in the past for the average sports fan to care about. I'm not trying to disrespect Rice or anyone in CUSA, that's not my intention. I'm just trying to separate history that wasn't built on from actual branding today

It is on a sports board, so I can see your assumption, but it IS an assumption.

Our "brand" is not built on 60 year old Orange Bowl victories. That is not what people think of when they hear "Rice University". They think of academics, baseball, bench tackle, and Marching Owl Band. But they think of something other than "never heard of them". They know us. That's what a brand does.

If the "best" brand is determined by the breadth and depth of recognition, then we are OK. Ask a kid in Boston or Casper who we are, and he may well know something of us. He may not. But his parents damn sure will. And we will have their attention.

I think all of us need to expand our individual brands, and in doing so we will expand our collective brand.

(08-19-2018 09:33 AM)Seminowl Wrote:  

(08-19-2018 01:02 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(08-19-2018 12:03 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-18-2018 11:37 PM)Ourland Wrote:  1. Southern Mississippi 2. Louisiana Tech 3. Rice 4. Marshall 5. UTEP

No offense to anyone not on the list, but all the others are mostly unknowns. IMO, these are CUSA's only brands.

No offense but brands in the sense talked about in this thread is sports related.

Rice is known as a great school...nothing else that sports fans care about (baseball is way down the list). Outside of being a great school what is Rice's brand ? I'm not being a smartass but when it comes to a sports brand Rice is as unkown as the rest of us. Hell I will bet Big Red by himself has more espn press over the last 20 years than 3 of the 5 on your list.

I see fans without much (most not any) basketball history that only looks at football as a brand. Lets be completely honest...

a few decent years and when I say few, that's it for most. Doesn't build a brand....

hell being known because of a movie is not a brand. It's a event that happened in history that a movie was made of. It might make more people know the name. But it's not branding from winning, year after year. Neither is smart people going to class at a school.

Most of the people fans are listing for their "brand" sports fans 35 or under don't even know who they are. Does anyone think people 35 or under knows who Mean Joe Green is? or that the movie Necessary Roughness is for UNT?

Most sports fans know who the Mailman is but out of that not many could tell you he played at Tech. Nothing against Tech or UNT...sports fans (or a very large %) dont care and dont spend the time to find out.

The movie about Marshall is still being shown and it's something people remember and so is the "We are Marshall" that's a brand that people actually do remember. The chant "We are Marshall" is the biggest branding item in this conference and it's not close. The movie on UTEP winning over a all white uk team not so much. Most sports fans dont know that was UTEP

Rice has been playing intercollegiate athletics at the Division 1A (now FBS) level for over 110 years. Everyone knows of and recognizes Rice. A lot of that has to do with being associated with the SWC for 85 years. It was the best conference in the nation for many years, and until the late 60's, Rice resided toward the top of it, beating A&M, Texas, and Arkansas regularly.

I'm not certain, but I venture to guess that seven or eight schools in CUSA haven't even had a football program for 40 years, and much of that time was spent in FCS obscurity.

Nothing but football really matters in the state of Texas. That's what we hang our hat on. Baseball is second, and we've won a national championship in that sport, and been to the CWS several times over the past 20 years. We won about twelve consecutive conference titles.

And let's not forget about The MOB. Everyone knows and loves those guys.

Put all this together with the academic reputation, and I think it's safe to say that the brand is pretty solid.

I have no idea what you’re talking about and all the people who do are dying of old age.

I don't think so. History and success reinforces and legitimizes "brand." In some instances, history actually creates it. How recognizable would the Old English "R" be if it weren't for Wayne Graham and all the baseball success? Not very much. How well known would The MOB be if it hadn't given everyone hell for the last 45-50 years during their halftime shows? It wouldn't be. Our football stadium is known as Historic Rice Stadium for reason, because of all the great games played there for over 50 years, and because of a speech John F. Kennedy gave there in the early 60's. Academically, Rice is known as the "Harvard of the South," so there's another brand for you. When people see our football team on television, they recognize it because we've played football for over 100 years at the highest level, most of that time in a historic conference, not in FCS or the Sun Belt. So yes, history is a big component of brand.

FAU probably best brand right now.

I think to most objective outsiders (including myself), Marshall Football is the clear #1 CUSA brand.

(08-19-2018 01:04 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  I think to most objective outsiders (including myself), Marshall Football is the clear #1 CUSA brand.

objective.....and you live where?

that's what I thought....

coos-coos is dead.....just like the AAC

this stupid shite isn't gonna mean dick when the flagship schools consolidate into the NFL minor league....

lmmfao at lack of insight how this plays out.....