Meeting Conference USA

With the upcoming move to Conference USA, we've decided to profile each school a little bit to make fans more familiar with each program. We'll be splitting up posts to be (hopefully) daily and come from all three of us on the crew.

THE DEARLY DEPARTED:

I'd suspect many fans that don't spend their spring weekends lurking college football boards are unsure about which teams are still in the conference and which aren't. Memphis, Houston, Central Florida, and SMU are all gone to the Big East. That's the conference's best basketball school, a perennial football championship contender, and solid teams in huge media markets with lucrative recruiting grounds. Oof. While C-USA may not be as depleted as the WAC that UTSA just stuck a dagger into, the conference took a huge blow this fall after being poached by the Big East.

THE OLD HEAD:

Conference USA only has three founding members left-- UAB, Southern Miss, and Tulane. Tulane and Southern Miss came from the Metro Conference while Birmingham hailed from the mighty Great Midwest Conference. These three schools helped charter a merger between the two aforementioned conferences that didn't sponsor football.

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB Blazers)

Interestingly enough, UAB shares a birth date with UTSA. Both became four year universities in 1969 as UAB received autonomy after years of being an agriculture extension center. UAB is a public institution under the University of Alabama system and has over 17,000 students. The Blazers started football as a club sport in 1989 before transitioning to a Division III team in 1991, where they would compete until 1993. UAB was forced to move to (then-called) I-AA until meeting reclassification requirement for I-A for the 1996 season where they would join their C-USA allies as a football school. UAB plays in a municipal, off-campus, 86 year old dump called Legion Field (71,594). I feel comfortable calling the place a dump since UAB's own fans constantly talk shit about it. UAB's stadium controversy is the most under-reported story in sports, in my most humble opinion. As Blazers fans watch Legion Field fall apart, UAB's administration and boosters have taken measures to secure funding for an on-campus stadium, even reaching an agreement with local corporations to have every luxury suite in the proposed stadium to be leased for the immediate future. After taking their stadium plans to the Alabama system, the proposal was shot down before the board even voted on the measure. #FreeUAB

In UAB's 16 season of playing FBS football, they have only reached post-season play once, losing to Hawai'i 59-40 in the Hawai'i Bowl. The Blazers went 3-9 in 2011 with first year coach Garrick McGee. To give UTSA fans an idea of the road ahead of them, it took UAB five years in Conference USA before they sniffed a bowl game. On the upside, the Blazers upset #17 East Carolina in their first year as an FBS schools in 1999. They then went on to beat LSU by a field goal the next year. Former Blazer Roddy White was drafted in the first round in 2005. You can check him out chopping it up here. Outside of that, there really isn't much to comment on. UAB has never really seen success at a large level in their 20 years of football. Will some asshole bloggers be saying the same about UTSA in 2031?

Here's a good UAB blog called Off the Vine and their Rivals site. The Blazers only had three 3* recruits last year, with two kids from Texas in their class. The class of 2011 was more kind to UAB, with nine 3* recruits. No Texas kids in that class, FWIW. Head over to Blazer Talk for your fair share of trolling. There are disappointingly few weed jokes on that board. Step your game up, "blazers". Although they're lacking in the 420 lulz department, many of them are cool with adding UTSA, unlike most of Conference USA.

Facts about Birmingham:

Southwest Airlines flies to Birmingham. Flights for under $200.

Birmingham itself is pretty small-- around 200k folks. Metro area goes up over a million. That's a lot of suburbia. I can smell the Walmart, Starbucks, and upper mobility from here.

Interestingly enough, Birmingham hosts the SEC headquarters.

According to the U.S. Census, only 22.3 of the city's population is white.

Birmingham has the tenth highest crime rate in the United States.

If UTSA ever plays UAB late in September, be sure to check out the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

UAB has no local competition from professional sports, besides their AA minor league baseball team.

The conspicuously named Birmingham News is the lone newspaper in the metro area. A ctrl+f for "UAB" on their sports home page returned one result. You can bookmark their UAB coverage here.

28: CUSA Bound!

This week we introduce Shafer as the newest Coker Chronicles member. We talk CUSA, rivals, Texas State to the Sunbelt,  travel distances, Lynn Hickey being a goddess, the future, and more!

contact us at podcast@cokerchronicles.com


You can find the links to the episode on the iTunes on Stitcher or just subscribe directly to the podcast.

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Link to a terrible Aggie related video.

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.

4.25.12 Realignment Speculation Update

I really don't like this stuff very much. You may have heard me complain about it on the Deranged Pengwin Podcast. Anyway I've inadvertently involved myself in this thing so I'll let you know what I know.

First, you may remember that I do/did Mean Green Nation before I moved back home to San Antonio and started this blog. That is important.

I was looking for info on who the new guy to replace the departed-to-LSU Johnny Jones when  someone DM'd me again the day of the UTSA Spring Game and mentioned that UNT was going to CUSA and that an announcement was coming very soon, possibly May 1st if not sooner. Well his timing is pretty damn spot on. The U of North Texas Board of Regents just allowed UNT's president Lane Rawlins to negotiate/move over to a new conference. This was a special session. Hurm. Everything is pretty much spot on with this guy. The info looks legit.

So I ask him if he knows anything about UTSA. I know everyone, including Barry Coker, is dying to know the latest information. He says he'll know more post-UNT Spring Game (April 21).

A week passes and on Monday (while letting me know the details of the Tony Benford hire) he DMs me that UTSA is unequivocally not getting into CUSA (didn't mention any other conference).

I passed it along via the Coker Chronicles twitter because I was still slightly unsure how legit this was. Tonight, after seeing predictions come pretty damn close to true, I'm even more inclined to believe this guy. He also passes along this gem:

"FIU is definitely in, the last two spots are/were down to LaTech, MTSU, and & UNCC -- but that last part is from a second-hand source."

Other little birds (Roadrunners) are saying that UTSA is planning a significant announcement next week that will require some pretty legit fanfare.

Here are your scenarios if it is a conference announcement:

1. Move to the Sun Belt -- this has long been the most likely coice ever since Benson moved to the SBC. It would also mesh with the Source's info.

2. Move to the CUSA-- the Source may not know everything and/or his source may be wrong.

3. Move to MWC -- Sure, why not?

4. Other -- We are totally off and it is just a birthday party or something.


Discuss.

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!

MWC/C-USA Officials Visit UTSA

According to Inside Roadrunner Sports, officials from both the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA were on campus this week to evaluate UTSA. This coincides with rumblings that I heard yesterday, and frankly, just makes sense given Brad Parrott's recent meeting with the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. It's likely that while making donation pitches, Parrott was also recruiting local businessmen to present to MWC/C-USA officials. Even if both members of the Alliance opt out of inviting the Roadrunners to their respective leagues, it's hard to imagine Craig Thompson and Britton Banowsky not taking a trip out to San Antonio to check out what the Roadrunners have to offer. At worst, UTSA would be about the fifth option for the merged mega conference that will look to add, at minimum, three schools. Today we learned via Tony Jones of the Salt Lake City Tribune that the brain trust of the Alliance visited Western Athletic Conference members Utah State and San Jose State last month, with sources strongly indicating that Utah State (and likely SJSU) will receive invitation to the MWC before July 1st. These two additions would bring the conference to 10 full members, however it has been widely speculated that Air Force will be departing for the Big East shortly.

A nine team conference could work if the merger falls through, but I feel that it is most likely that Craig Thompson will aim for a larger conference if the proposed merger falls through into a mere scheduling alliance due to a lack of large markets in the Mountain West Conference (see Cheyenne, Reno). This scenario seems most plausible at this point since a full-sports merger between C-USA and the MWC would result in 18-24 teams sharing a sole NCAA auto-bid for basketball. The Alliance scenario certainly plays into UTSA's favor. Would a nine team conference consisting of the Denver, Las Vegas, Albuquerque/Santa Fe, Honolulu, Colorado Springs, Reno, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, and Bay Area markets demand a wealthy TV contract? The addition of the nation's #36 media market (San Antonio) would likely be a nice boon for the conference in their upcoming negotiations with CBS, following the death of The Mountain network. UTSA would bring the conference its fourth highest market ranking. Alternatively, the MWC could invite North Texas to add the nation's fifth largest market, however it's most likely that the Mean Green will end up in C-USA. I think the best way this thing ends up is with UTEP moving to the MWC to bring the conference to nine full members with USU and SJSU and 10 for football (Hawaii). C-USA then invites North Texas and Florida International to come to nine members. The next round of invitations would be UTSA to the MWC and Florida Atlantic and Louisiana Tech to C-USA. Two 11 team conferences with reasonable footprints, strong markets, and a scheduling agreement for a de facto in-season playoff. Count me in. How could that in-season playoff work? Stay tuned as I sketch out a plan.