NCAAbbs

With the two teams from the old CUSA joining and the percieved special relationship with the Big East. What is the future of the A10? Any expansion of lose of teams or what? Especially with the CAA trying to hurt the A10 in IAA football?

huh? did not understand the special relationship part.

Ask 10 different people about the future of the A10 and you'll get 10 different answers. But the top half looks good. As of today, http://www.rpiforecast.com projects five A10 teams in their "Dance Card" bracket this year (URI #15, Xavier #16, Duquesne #39, Dayton #40, UMass #48). URI has its best team since their Elite Eight in '98, Xavier expects a favorable seed, Duquesne has emerged from the ashes and picked up a good coach and, perhaps, the best transfer class in the country, Dayton is 10-1 against decent teams (including Louisville), and UMass has surprised so far.

St. Louis (Coach Rick Majerus), Charlotte, Temple, and Richmond also have bright futures. St. Joe's still has Martelli and a good frontcourt.

14 teams is about as big as you can sustain a conference. Does the conference get smaller? Possibly - there has been discussions of implementing conference-wide standards - either meet standards or leave. Schools most concerned with the idea are La Salle, Fordham (tiny gyms) and St. Bonaventure (stuck in a serious rut). But you can spin it positively as well - maybe fans of the schools will look back years from now and realize that standards were needed to 'jolt' them into properly funding and maintaining their programs.

I think you might be a little confused with the football question. The A10 commissioner (who has announced her resignation recently) gave up running the A10 football conference last year. The CAA took control of it. It was one of but a series of mis-steps by the conference. Someone looked at tournament brackets from exactly 10 years ago and 8 schools from the current A10 were given bids. Now, the conference has regressed to the point where we're looking foward to the possibility of 3(4?) bids. With the right commissioner, I think the conference could be strong in basketball again.

Hope that helps answer some of your questions!

Didn't know about the commissioner resigning. Was that due in large part to giving up on IAA football and everyone playing in the CAA league?

What future do you personally see the A10 going? As an ECU fan, you hear rumors of us having a football only membership in Big East and rest of sports in CAA or A10 due to past relationships with old CAA teams in A10 or the CAA itself.

I always thought the A10 and Big East Conferences were pretty close to one another.

Not really. The vast majority of the A10 member schools did not belong to the A10 football conference anyway, so no one felt particularly effected. It was mostly due to not getting basketball games on tv. The commissioner decided to disband the A10 tv network (it was losing money) and sold a tv contract to CSTV that, while it may have saved a few dollars, turned into a total disaster. No tv means no exposure, no exposure means your recruiting suffers.

She was also the type of commissioner that kept her job for so long by avoiding confrontation and not trying to rock the boat. As a result, the conference grew stagnant and regressed.

I think the future will depend on how pro-active the new commissioner will be.

I'll put it this way: A school like Dayton is selling 13,000 tickets per game and is in the Top 10 in the country right now in RPI (#20 in the AP poll). They are questioning why they are in a conference with La Salle - a school that is uncompetitive and has difficulty selling 1300 tickets.

A school like Saint Louis is spending money to hire a future hall of famer like Rick Majerus as their coach - and they are questioning why St. Bonaventure's athletic budget is so low. Xavier is a small private school that sells 10k+ tickets and goes to the tournament annually - they wonder why Fordham lacks the interest to do the same.

Eventually, something is going to give. I see 4 scenarios (or combinations of each): the big basketball schools are going to find new homes, the small schools are going to find new homes, the small schools will make stronger efforts to make their basketball teams better, or the small schools will fold their arms across their chests and say, "We won't leave and you can't make us." while the big schools continue to complain.

To answer your question, I think that the smaller schools with interested administrations will stay in the conference and get better. Duquesne, for example, found the right leadership and are really making some noise this year. Uninterested administrations have no desire to find the right people or to spend the money - and some have the notion that strong athletics hurts academics. It would not surprise me if a couple schools leave on their own to the America East or Patriot League - to the chagrin of its fanbase.

Meanwhile, I think the majority of the conference will get even better in basketball in the next few years. Conference USA usurped the A10 as the best non-BCS basketball conference - but all of that has changed after C-USA got gutted by the Big East and put its emphasis toward football. What you are seeing right now is the A10 winning with players who might have ended up on a C-USA basketball rosters had the realignment never occurred.

ECU is in a weird spot. It can't be fun trekking a volleyball team or a softball team all the way to Texas to play against conference rivals - just to maintain an affiliation for a dozen or so football games a year. The Colonial would make the most geographic sense. To join the A10, you'd have to make a convincing argument that you can build yourself up towards winning 20+ games and get an at-large bid every once in a while in basketball - while selling close to 8,000 tickets for big games. But I always got the impression from ECU fans that you are much more of a football school.

I've also heard interviews of the Big East commish and he sounds totally uninterested in expansion for the sake of expansion and would only add a big-time football program like a Notre Dame. ECU could develop into a big-time football program in the Big East but I get the impression that the Big East doesn't even want to consider the possibility. I hear talk about the Big East breaking up all the time - and it's always from those that stand to benefit from such a conference shake-up - never from the Big East themselves. The Big East could maintain its current form for a long time.

And I wonder if Conference USA would again become victimized by another shake-up. If the Big Ten ever starts calling, I could see Memphis jump ship (especially with Calipari as head coach in basketball). Why not a football-only membership with C-USA?

UMass is on the rise, and could be stepping up their football program.

DePaul, Marquette, and Notre Dame, as basketball programs, fit better with the likes of Xavier, St. Louis, and Dayton. Though Notre Dame has a very strong east coast following.

A trip from Milwaukee to New York City for a conference game is very dumb.

If Charlotte adds football and goes FBS wouldn't they leave for another conference.

I heard a rumor on the WAC board that Temple is looking at becoming a full member of the MAC in 2010.

There will probably be a tug-of-war by the top football conferences to grab an FBS-ready Charlotte - probably between the Big East and the Big Ten. City of Charlotte = growing TV market = $$$. But it's still years away. Charlotte will probably be IAA in '12 and IA in '16. A lot can happen until then.

I have not heard the Temple rumor - but it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense for Temple to leave the Philadelphia-based A10. During the John Chaney era, the Big East often tried to secure Temple in all-sports - but Temple would always refuse. Why would they suddenly now be open to all-sports membership in the MAC?

Charlotte has no shot at the Big 10 or BE, they would be C-USA if anything.

MAC will end the FB only membership in 2010 with Temple. Temple will then decide to stay for all sports in the MAC or be A-10 and FB Indy.

Hey, you're right! There IS a MAC/Temple rumor:

http://temple.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid...18&style=2

No thread about the topic on Temple's scout.com board. It doesn't sound like anyone is losing much sleep on it. I wouldn't think that it would be good business practice by the MAC to force membership onto a school that doesn't want it. Temple fans seem to consider the MAC to be a short-term solution anyway and are looking towards another shake-up.

Speaking of shake-ups, I really thought Charlotte was more of a favorite to make the Big East over schools like DePaul, USF, and Marquette. I was wrong, of course, but I sure didn't feel alone in my thinking at the time. Why "no shot" w/ a football program?

If the Big East split. the top of the list would be 1. Memphis, 2. UCF. that would put them at 10. I guess if they went to 12 you could look at ECU, Marshall, UMass(if they go 1-A) and Charlotte (with FB) so I guess they have a small shot. Big 10 no chance in hell. I know Temple sucks but I like to follow all conference movement.

I guess when you read my post it made me sound like a dick. My bad.

sound like a dick? Where'd that come from? Not the case at all. I figured, if anything, I sounded like a dumb know-it-all. It's a good conversation!

I think ncaabbs.com is generally football-centric and I'm definitely more basketball-centric. So, for instance, I'll have a higher regard for NCAA Tournament historical powers Charlotte and Temple (five Elite 8s under John Chaney doesn't suck to me) that can get basketball attendance in the 7-10,000+ range. But I can totally understand if a college football fan thinks well of ECU and Marshall.

A basketball columnist (I forget who) called the current Conference USA "Memphis and the 11 Dwarves" last week. And I also heard a rumor about Arkansas being courted by the Big Ten. To me, Memphis to the Big Ten makes the most sense for both parties - the conference gets a big market along the Arkansas border (in their footprint) and Coach John Calipari is guaranteed 8 home games (and 16 total) vs. BCS conference opponents in addition to their non-conference sked. I know most people are thinking Memphis to the Big East - but I personally don't think it makes much geographic sense (I know, I know ... maybe I'm still naive).

UMass and Charlotte have high speculative stock value. If they follow the UAB/South Florida blueprint in football and maintain strength in basketball - they can both be of great value ($$$) to a conference in the near future. My hunch is that the high-profile conferences will open up recruitment talks sooner rather than later. Sort of like how a coach will keep an eye on a freshman high school athlete with potential - they'll recruit but they might not offer the scholarship immediately. We'll have to see how it plays out.

I found this article on the AGS board today.

http://www.charlotte.com/sports_breaking...64640.html

They think like you survivor, of course they should have BE hope for Charlotte since its their team

I always Charlotte would be great for the ACC, but we have BC now so it doesn't look good, but things change. I also was talking about anew FBS conference on the Big East board that had:
ECU
Marshall
UMass
Delaware
James Madison
Temple combining with A10 bball schools to form a superconference. It is the only region without two FBS conferences.

The ACC doesn't need UNC-Charlotte unless if some combination of UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, Wake Forest, and NC State leave-all of North Carolina is pretty well locked up for the ACC.

Yeah it is locked up, but we should bring our troops home.

America East (2020)
Albany
Binghamton
Boston University
Hartford
Hofstra (from A-10)
Maine
Massachusetts (from A-10)
New Hampshire
Northeastern (from CAA)
Rhode Island (from A-10)
Stony Brook
Vermont

Atlantic 10 (2020)
Drexel (from CAA)
Duquesne
Fordham
George Washington
Georgetown (from Big East)
La Salle
Providence (from Big East)
St. Bonaventure
St. Joeseph's
St. John's (from Big East)
Seton Hall (from Big East)
Villanova (from Big East)

Big East
Buffalo (from MAC)
Cincinnati
Connecticut
Louisville
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
South Florida
Syracuse
Temple (from MAC football, A-10 Basketball)
West Virginia

Colonial Athletic Association
Charlotte (from A-10)
Delaware
George Mason
Georgia State
James Madison
Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) (from A-East)
North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW)
Old Dominion
Richmond (from A-10)
Towson
Virginia Commonwealth
William & Mary

Pioneer League
Butler (from Horizon)
Dayton (from A-10)
De Paul (from Big East)
Marquette (from Big East)
Notre Dame (from Big East)
St. Louis (from A-10)
Valparaiso (from Horizon)
Xavier (from A-10)

[quote=survivor]
[quote=Fresno St. Alum]
I

I have not heard the Temple rumor - but it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense for Temple to leave the Philadelphia-based A10. During the John Chaney era, the Big East often tried to secure Temple in all-sports - but Temple would always refuse.


Temple was never offered full membership in the big east. Villanova would never allow that. They were a FB only member along with VaTEch, Rutgers and WVa . Rutgers and WVA became full members the same year ND joined for al sports but FB and Vtech a few years after that.

The Temple issue is that they have a contract with the MAC for football-only membership that runs through 2010. I think they chose 2010 because, back when they made that agreement, that was when the Big East deal was going to expire and a split (if any) would most likely happen. The Big East has since renegotiated their TV contract to end in 2013, so that may impact any potential split. What will happen in Temple's case then is that, when 2010 comes around, they'll have to negotiate a new deal with the MAC or go independent. The MAC may say they won't let Temple back in unless they bring basketball too. Then Temple will be forced to make a difficult choice: damage your football program or damage your basketball program (and really every other sport)?

That is a sticky issue for the Owls. I have no idea how it will all shake out, but I can say just for myself that if Temple were willing to join for all sports, I would be glad to see them in C-USA. Of course, whether Temple or C-USA would want that is another matter.

Interesting idea, not sure why I didn't think of it. They're a bit outside the CUSA's geographic footprint, but I think all their MAC trips are by air travel anyway. Most of the big travel cost you pay as soon as you get on the plane, the additional mileage after that doesn't add as much. I think they'd at least be willing to use that as a bargaining point with the MAC. "Look, if you try to force us in, we'll just go to the CUSA instead if it has to be all-sports." In a weird way it's sort of like Notre Dame with the Big East. If the BE ever tried to give them an ultimatum to join in all sports, they could just go to the Big Ten in all-sports instead. Of course, Temple football is nothing like Notre Dame football.

If you take Temple, could you take us too? We need a place to play FBS football. If Temple's there, at least we'd have a local program to partner with. Plus they're an old rival, just not in football.

I would personally like to see C-USA have a strong Eastern presence. And even though the experience of the 16-team WAC in the 90s was not positive for most of its members, I think the logistics of a "huge" league can be made to work if the people in charge really are committed to it. I don't even think you would necessarily have to stop at 16.

But I'm not the one making these decisions. And I don't think the people who are making these decisions -- the C-USA school presidents, trustees, donors, etc. -- really have too much interest in the idea. There is essentially one member of C-USA (East Carolina) that keeps trying to stir the expansion-pot. And ECU is looking more in the direction of Charlotte/Atlanta than the Northeast.