Allow me to introduce myself....

Hey there, I am Adam Shafer, but since the CC boss is also an Adam, I’ll just use the Shafer part. I graduated from UTSA in 2000 and am proud of that. You know how a lot of UTSA haters like to call us a commuter college? Yeah that’s me. In fact I am a second generation Roadrunner commuter with my mother getting both her bachelors and masters at a “non-traditional” age. That is all part of the cultural evolution of the school. Current students will have a totally different experience than I did attending the school, but I am just fine with that. In fact, I am very happy to see it.

For many years, I was a fantasy football dork, I didn’t have a college football team to root for, with football all I cared about was NFL statistics. In fact, I grew up in a Cowboys house, but never fully bought into them being “my” team; after all, they are 300 miles away. I held out hope that San Antonio would get an NFL team, but realized after the Saints stabilized in New Orleans that this dream will never be realized.

Football at UTSA was always something hoped for, but never expected. I have been following the journey of the program since the students voted to raise athletic fees back in 2007. This isn’t when the baby was born, maybe it was the ovary releasing the egg. Months later, impregnation occurred when the Board of Regents approved UTSA’s plan to pursuit football. Since then this story has been a whirlwind, with so much falling into place. If I was a beat writer, I would have journaled the entire process, it would make for a great book. I swear, if UTSA was playing in the Southland I still would have been there for every game, excited to see my school finally playing football. Amazingly, this is not how the story has gone. Despite being so young, the ride has given so many thrills. I am absolutely in love with the story.

You will see my perspective more focused on the experience of being a fan and what the athletic programs do for the profile of the school.

The game day experience has quickly become my favorite pastime, getting up early to tailgate and enjoying seeing my team play. The first game was absolutely incredible, tailgating was insane, and there was just a great atmosphere. Walking into my section for the first time and seeing the upper deck with thousands of people, almost made me emotional. This gave us a view of what we need to shoot for. If we can make that first Saturday, every Saturday, we will have made it.

It is good for people outside of Texas to know what UTSA is; it just makes my degree worth more! Who we align ourselves with in athletics gives a certain perception of the school, whether that is appropriate or not is for someone else to decide. This is why I find the realignment game so exciting. Trying to figure out what kind of opportunities present themselves, analyzing the domino effect and trying to figure out where UTSA will end up is all very interesting to me. The idea of your town your team is something I am really big on. It is this concept that will decide how far this star can rise(geeze, it has already risen so much). If UTSA can harness the power of San Antonio’s T-shirt, bandwagon fan base, watch the hell out. And there is no reason to think they can’t, not a single person can look at what the program has done and say, “oh well, they will just always be a small time program.” The conferences see it, the TV execs see it, and the reported upcoming invite proves that.

So I will be chiming in regularly, I won’t be diagnosing the 4-2-5 defense, but I will have plenty of opinions to share, both on and off the field (or court).

P.S

A couple of thoughts on what is going on right now. Curious to see what happens with UTEP. I had been banging the drum that we needed them to move to MWC for our chances to get in to one of the conferences. Now that it looks like we are in, I hope they are staying in CUSA. That would put us in a division that would include 4 Texas schools, that is bad ass. There is some speculation that Tulane will move to CUSA east to facilitate this. Very surprised to hear that, as the ECU admin have been clamoring about becoming more regional. FIU would be only team added in the East, and it’s pretty far from both ECU and Marshall. So as of today, this may be what it is looking like…

West- UTEP, UTSA, UNT, Rice, Tulsa, La Tech

East- Tulane, Southern Miss, UAB, FIU, ECU and Marshall

If this is how it works out, I will be very excited.

Word today is that SJSU and Utah St are to be added to MWC. This gets them to 10, which makes me think UTEP may indeed not move. 11 is a funky number. Comments by UTEP coach makes it sound like they are moving, but as the two conferences appear to be doing their own thing maybe this is no longer the case.

UTSA to CUSA

Editor's Note: This is a post from The Barry Coker, whom you can find on twitter @TheBarryCoker

Tonight of all nights. Tonight had to be the night that the news finally broke. Tonight had to be the night that big rush pulsed through the veins of the self admitted conference junkie. Only problem was this junkie wasn’t ready for it tonight. Let me tell you quickly about a typical evening with Barry Coker. Usually about 10:00 Barry starts winding down. He pulls out his tablet and scours the internet for any realignment info, rarely finding much. He watches twitter throughout the day, just waiting for some news to break. He does his rounds hourly, checking all the message boards, fan sites and beat writer blogs. Usually, nothing happens and he just waits.

Imagine the frustration that occurred this evening. Enjoying Fiesta by drinking too many beers, I found myself waiting for a chicken on a stick when I got a message from @mac78251. As I try to find out exactly what happen, my phone starts bitching about battery life.

Are you effing kidding me?

The big story I have been waiting for going back 6 months or so was breaking, and I couldn’t see it. I wanted to get high, but could not find a vein. Ha ha, oh well, it still happened!

So there it is: We are going to Conference USA. It looks like we will be in a western division in a configuration that I have been hypothesizing about for a few weeks: UNT, Rice, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech and Tulane. I am sure along with FIU, another team will be added in the east, but honestly, I really don’t care. My concern is more with our division, and it’s a nice one. Geographically UTSA couldn’t ask for better. Travel-accessible rivals for the fans to show up. There's the two Texas rivals just to make it fun, even if one of them isn’t Texas State.

There were some cool things that would have gone with a MWC invite, though I won't get into that here. The main thing MWC has over the CUSA side is stronger basketball. However, our basketball team could use some room to grow, so perhaps this division will allow that.

A few years back, Lynn Hickey stated that Conference USA was her ideal conference for UTSA. I wonder if in any of the scenarios she dreamt of, if this quick ascent ever occurred to her. She has reached a height that could never have reasonably been expected.

UTSA isn't at the AQ-level like the Big XII. Conference USA or Mountain West is the pinnacle of possibility. Now that this looks to be happening, who knows what 20 years will look like? The important thing to keep in mind is not necessarily how this glob of a merger will end up being configured, but that UTSA is now aligned with these schools. Maybe in 10 years, there is a move back to regional conferences, UTSA will be at that level where they will be considered as a serious candidate, it’s a status thing.

I am a bit all over the place, excited and still drunk, but what’s happening next? Looks like CUSA is going to go to a 12 team conference, two divisions as they have been for a few years now. UNT, La Tech and UTSA to group with the three private schools in the west, Rice, Tulsa and Tulane. The east will have UAB, Southern Miss, East Carolina, Marshall and add FIU. The sixth team is a mystery. There have been some rumors about Middle Tennessee State and even more about UNC- Charlotte. Problem with Charlotte is they can’t play CUSA football until 2015. How would that work?

Based on the UT BOR agenda, it sounds like Utah State and San Jose State will get added to Mountain West with UTEP sliding over. This gets them to 11 football schools, which is undesirable. You would think they would get to 12 so they could create divisions and a conference championship. I don’t know who they would add. This was why I thought UTSA might fit here, but the document clearly state Conference USA.

The only other FBS candidates would be Idaho and New Mexico State. I doubt any of the higher level FCS teams have received interest, i.e. Montana.

So what happens to our good friends in San Marcos? It seems pretty clear that the Sunbelt is in their future. Not the preferred option, but not terrible, either. It looks like they will be stuck without any Texas rivals. Playing an out of conference game each year would be cool, but not likely for a while. Not to go all UT-re:A&M, but we are booked for a few years.

These are all just a scattering of thoughts, my excited brain unable to organize them.

I do need to say one thing, thank god for Lynn Hickey.

None of this would have happened without her. She has played every hand correctly; she couldn’t have possibly done a better job. Be thankful for her, Roadrunners, it’s my guess she won’t be with us much longer. Over the last three years her resume has gone from impressive to completely amazing. I know she loves it here, but it is only a matter of time before someone steps up big and woos her away.

That’s okay, she’s accomplished her goal.

Realignment Junkie: Where's My Dealer?

Editor's note: This is another post from The Barry Coker, whom you can find on twitter at @TheBarryCoker

It has been a rough week or so for us realignment junkies. The dealers have been hard to find, no matter how hard we look for them. However, indications are that a fix is coming soon.

Where UTSA sits in all this is still questionable. It is really start to look to me that what happens with UTEP will determine if UTSA gets included in the MWC/CUSA glob. There seems to be this number of 22 bouncing around that just makes no sense to me. The only conclusion I can reach is that the MWC desires to be at 10 and Conference USA at 12.

There have been some rumblings that the MWC wanted to keep 2 slots open for Boise State and San Diego State in case the Big East cross country setup did not work out. I had heard this a few months back, I believe it was actually written in an article. Some fuel was added to this today, when Jon Wilner from the San Jose Mercury News tweeted that SDSU and MWC were having discussions on keeping a spot open for them, just in case. This was laughed out through the tweetisphere and actually refuted by the SDSU AD, but it’s not totally out of the blue. SDSU and Boise State have the best basketball and football programs in the MWC, respectfully, in fact the best in the entire alliance. So I could see the MWC working this angle and moving up to 10 and staying there. Going the other way, keep in mind, there is also the threat of Air Force moving to the Big East as Navy finally came on board.

As for Conference USA, it has been assumed by many that they would like to return their configuration of 12. This would keep a conference championship game and preserve the regional desire that divisions provide. Conference USA is pretty stable at this point, no more defections are expected, and no one is anticipated to come crawling back.

Alright, so this is where UTEP comes into play. As we know, UTEP is currently a member of Conference USA, which is down to eight teams. It had been widely suspected that they would be shifting over the MWC side, which in my opinion is no slam dunk. So let’s cover that scenario. UTEP to MWC gets them up to 9 football playing schools. Adding San Jose State or Utah St rounds this out at 10, and that may be where they stop. A seemingly less likely scenario adds all three to get to 11. Eleven makes no sense, so here is an opportunity for UTSA to get it to 12. This makes a lot of sense, there would be two clear geographic divisions, but I just don’t think it will go this way. With UTEP in the MWC, Conference USA West opens up and it seems really clear that UNT, Louisiana Tech and UTSA could be joined with Tulsa, Rice and Tulane for a division.

However, if UTEP stays in Conference USA, I think MWC adds Utah St and San Jose State. This gets them up to 10, now UTSA’s bid is in trouble. The west would have UTEP, Rice, Tulsa and Tulane. They would only need two schools on the western side. UNT is a given, and I think the second school is questionable. It would come down to La Tech and UTSA. The pros and cons of the two programs are inverse of each other, with La Tech being a more sentimental choice. They were already passed over for the conference and have been keeping close ties. The advantage UTSA has is TV market, so is that money enough to screw over the school that has been waiting patiently, upgrading facilities and being the outlier in the WAC?

As UTSA fans, I believe we need to be rooting for UTEP to move west. What this entails is unclear. Because of the alliance, could Conference USA waive exit fees? Does that open up any legal issues? If there is a buyout is it worth it for travel cost savings? I am starting to get a feeling that UTEP staying in Conference USA means UTSA to the Sunbelt.

Regarding the Sunbelt, don’t be too upset if we end up there. It’s not a terrible thing, heck it’s better than the rickety WAC, but after getting a sniff at the alliance it would be a bit of a letdown. At the end of the day being in a division with Texas State, New Mexico State, Louisiana Monroe, Louisiana Lafayette and Arkansas State isn’t so bad. Hey it’s FBS and it’s regional.

Regarding that upcoming fix, according to the Tulsa AD, the presidents are meeting at the end of the month. Not sure if that means this week, weekend or Monday, but either way word should start coming out. Hopefully membership will be voted so we can all move on. Oh and hopefully that UNT source of Adam’s that says UTSA is now out is wrong!