Your thoughts on further CUSA expansion...

UTEP and NMSU go west. They are gone, Leaving us with 7. I Pitch to JMU, E Carolina, Ga State, UAB, Ark State, ULM, FAU , UCF, and Ga SOuth. This gives you 16 with 4 regional "pods".

LIBERTY, WKU, JMU, E Carolina.
JSU, MTSU, GA State, UAB
La Tech, SHSU, ULM, Ark State
FAU, UCF, Ga South, FIU

This would present decent travel and regional rivalries.

Like you say, this is living in a dream world.

I would like to see us get at least one more right now to give us a buffer in case anyone leaves. I’m not going to speculate who might leave as that is beyond our control. Yes, it would be great to unload the far west members but I don’t see the MWC expanding unless they lose a couple. It would be great if the AAC decided FAU needed a neighbor but I don’t expect that to happen.

First, who I don’t want.

Non-football members. It is a CUSA rule you must sponsor football and I don’t want that to change. It is a way of life to have mixed leagues in FCS but we have left that behind. The Sun Belt has run off UALR and UTA is looking for a home. No, Stevo, I don’t hate basketball, I just want everyone to sponsor football.

I also don’t want football-only members. Navy and Hawaii are football affiliates in their leagues but both are special cases. Notre Dame is a partial football member of the ACC and I think they may eventually be forced to join full time.

That leaves three true independents.

Army-They were a football affiliate in CUSA 1998-2004 and went 9-41 in league play and had an 0-13 season in 2003. Their fortunes have improved lately but seem to like being independent. If they ever join a conference again it would probably be with Navy. Not to sound un-American, but I’d rather not have them but if we had to have an affiliate, it would be them.

UMASS-They were in the MAC for football but got kicked out because they wouldn’t go all in. Outside of the Calipari years, their basketball isn’t that great. And their football (once an FCS power) is even worse. I could live with them as a full member but I’d rather not and definitely not football only.

UCONN-A former G5 power, they have also declined in recent years. They pissed off someone in the ACC as they got left behind. They definitely wouldn’t come here for Olympics and their football doesn’t add much. I would be fine with them as a full member but not an affiliate.

I don’t see any current FBS schools coming here. It doesn’t hurt to ask but I expect everyone in the Sun Belt would turn us down.

That leaves our options in the FCS. How many should we get? I would prefer going with nine for a year or two to get the new league settled and let us and Sammy finish our transition. Then take one to get to ten and then a couple more and stop. Twelve should be the max for a one bid league anyway.

As spread out as we are, it at least helps if everyone has a travel partner. That gives you a close rival for games and makes it easy to get a pair of games in on a road trip without a second plane flight or a long bus ride. Let’s go through the list and see what we can do.

My suggestions for new members are just guesses. I have no idea if any of them have the desire or the ability to move up.

NMSU/UTEP-They are 42 miles apart and probably thrilled to be conference rivals at last. They’d probably leave as a pair if the MWC lost two members but that’s a discussion for another day. Unfortunately, both are over 700 miles from Sam Houston. That sucks for everyone but they have each other, which is more than the rest of the league can say.

Sam Houston/LaTech-They are 260 miles apart. Not close, but not too far away, especially for this league. Tech is stuck here as the other Louisiana schools seem to hate them, based on message board chatter. To help them out, I would invite Stephen F. Austin. They are 98 from Sam and 162 from Tech.

WKU/MTSU-They are 89 miles apart but a 2:39 (!) drive. WKU wanted to go to the MAC but MTSU wouldn’t go with them. So maybe some bad blood there. If UMASS ever agrees to full MAC membership (or if Buffalo goes to the AAC) WKU is probably gone. But they are here for now and they are a pair.

Jacksonville State-We are 191 miles from MTSU and 273 from WKU. Not too bad if you only can make one road trip per season. But to help us out, I would go after Chattanooga. Only 114 miles apart. They are also 104 from MTSU, which would be an incentive to keep them around. I honestly don’t think they want FBS, so my second call would be to Kennesaw. They are 84 miles from JSU and puts the league in Atlanta. Nobody in Atlanta cares, but they do have a major airport. Chattanooga doesn’t sponsor baseball. This is actually a point in their favor as UTEP doesn’t have baseball so it keeps that at an even number.

Liberty-They are up there a ways. They are 479 from MTSU, 493 from WKU, and 509 from us. They are 290 from Delaware but just 107 from NC A&T. I would call A&T first. Taking in an HBCU would be good publicity for the league.

FIU-Not much we can do for them. They are 806 miles from us. The only other FCS in Florida are Florida A&M (525 miles) and Bethune-Cookman. A&M tried FBS for a year once and it was a disaster. As I said above, our best hope is the AAC takes them, but that is unlikely. Or maybe they drop to FCS or drop football altogether. But we are stuck with them.

So this gives us these divisions:

NMSU
UTEP
Sam Houston
La Tech
FIU
Stephen F. Austin

JSU
WKU
MTSU
Liberty
NC A&T
Chattanooga/Kennesaw

I put FIU in the West as they are a long haul for everyone as it is.

I know this post makes whup’s look short but I hope you enjoyed it. I tried to keep it as realistic as possible.


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Maybe my first reply on this board? Was on the last one. Good to see y’all, hope all is well!

On Kennesaw and UTC, I do have some *limited* insight.

My uncle is on the board at Kennesaw and an alum. My dad is a large donor and supporter at UTC. And here I am, an alum of Jax State. The holidays are a joy.

Kennesaw is going through some struggles on expanding. They are essentially “land locked”. They’re trying to decide on how to continue to build the main campus, but do not see a path to expand the football stadium without building a brand new one off campus. They won’t go FBS until they can build a fan base to fill as 20,000+ new stadium.

UTC is in the process of exploring options. Still trying to get their attendance back to the Huesman days. Starting to get better, attempting to be on a 5 year plan with Sunbelt hopes. They would be a good target for CUSA. Chattanooga is starting to modernize, and is a great place to live now. Would also be our instant rival.

All that to say, don’t hold out hopes for Kennesaw. It’s going to be a long while for them.

Best to remember (IMO) to pick the best fits whether you have the option of FBS or FCS. Unless you could luck up and get Army/Navy then none of the prospects have any brand value. As soon as JMU, Sam and JSU hit the FBS our brand value will be on par with 90% or better of the G5 schools. Amazing how many of the people I know from around the country still consider troy state, UAB, App, Marshall and several other low level FBS schools DII. Folks are not putting them in the same level as UAT and UGA no matter how much we or they scream.

Kennesaw st pups easily add another level to their football stadium. Plenty of space out there. KSU always needs to purchase office buildings and Townscenter mall area. They are struggling to put a competitive product right now. Baseball has been struggling, basketball has the right coach but still building and they are not good at anything else yet.

Probably need to get to 14 teams and split into two divisions eventually. All the other conferences are going to be bloated too. I'm finally coming around to the FBS for JSU. We're not ever going to be competing for a national championship until the ACC or SEC start calling after a nuclear apocalypse, but I realize that the FCS is dying outside of NDSU and bowl games are exciting. Winning our conference will be on the table and I think we will have the ability to win against schools with well known helmets.