44 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

I’d like to see a list of every school who has been in Conference USA at some point. Gotta be pushing forty schools at this point, right?

It’s 28 for full time members, and add Army for an additional that spent time playing football. Sourced from the conference Wikipedia page. 
 

Southern Miss is the only original member left. 

20 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

It’s 28 for full time members, and add Army for an additional that spent time playing football. Sourced from the conference Wikipedia page. 
 

Southern Miss is the only original member left. 

Much appreciated. It tells much of the transitional nature of the league that it's 25 years old and only has one original member remaining. From memory, I believe C-USA basketball was originally divided into Red, White, and Blue divisions.

21 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

It’s 28 for full time members, and add Army for an additional that spent time playing football. Sourced from the conference Wikipedia page. 
 

Southern Miss is the only original member left. 

I saw Army mentioned by someone as a possible replacement but Army's first foray into C-USA was a disaster and I've heard them mention they'd never go back to a conference. That might not be 100% true, but I can't imagine Army being in play in this round of realignment.

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, Walter said:

 

How does Western not get snagged when that is the batch of schools you're taking? 

17 minutes ago, ChickenWyngz said:

How does Western not get snagged when that is the batch of schools you're taking? 

Nobody is recruiting Bowling Green, Kentucky. Everybody is recruiting Birmingham, Houston, Dallas, Florida, Charlotte, and Birmingham. Right or wrong, for the American Athletic Conference access to talent seems more favorable than quality programs.

5 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

Nobody is recruiting Bowling Green, Kentucky. Everybody is recruiting Birmingham, Houston, Dallas, Florida, Charlotte, and Birmingham. Right or wrong, for the American Athletic Conference access to talent seems more favorable than quality programs.

I'd say that is the wrong approach, but I'm a nobody. I guess one way to keep your conference from being poached is to just go snag a few scrubs no one else wants due to a lack of success. WKU is no world beater, but c'mon...

31 minutes ago, ChickenWyngz said:

I'd say that is the wrong approach, but I'm a nobody. I guess one way to keep your conference from being poached is to just go snag a few scrubs no one else wants due to a lack of success. WKU is no world beater, but c'mon...

I tend to be in the same boat as you on this issue. I've seen several sportswriters questioning the approach of the AAC. It appears they are casting a hopeful net on weak programs in strong areas, something Conference USA did in the last realignment (with minimal returns). The Sun Belt approach, however, was to get good football teams. I don't think it is a coincidence that the Sun Belt is the superior football conference when compared to the C-USA and the way things are projecting, I think the Sun Belt may very well pass the AAC once Cincinnati, Houston, and Central Florida are officially in the Big 12.

The AAC is trying to block Mountain West expansion into Texas but in my view are making a big mistake because they want to emphasize markets more than schools that perform or invest in their teams.  I don't think that's going to help their conference profile in years to come or their next television deal.  Like, the problems the AAC poached are pretty terrible at football and basketball so this is a big "L" for them if you just look at on-field performance of those teams.

There are rumors that Marshall will head to the Sun Belt with Southern Miss.  Also rumors that ODU will go with them and the Sun Belt will offer JMU.  If true, that puts Conference USA in a bad spot because there are also rumblings that IF that takes place that WKU and Middle Tennessee might explore MAC membership.

WKU is in a bad spot because of a weak media market.  Also, some Sun Belt members don't want it back because of how WKU left the conference almost a decade ago.

 

3 hours ago, Walter said:

 

Hey @Walter, I appreciate your posts on this. Things seemingly change every hour. Your links are awesome. Thanks again!

 

On 10/23/2021 at 9:34 AM, gchs_uk9 said:

Hey @Walter, I appreciate your posts on this. Things seemingly change every hour. Your links are awesome. Thanks again!

I agree @gchs_uk9 and was just thinking the same thing right before I read your comment.

Thanks @Walter!!