News, Analysis and Opinion from Bonesville's Denny O'Brien

Pirate Notebook No. 131
Thursday, July 24, 2003

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

MEMPHIS — When Conference USA coaches and players gathered with the media in the City of Elvis this week to discuss the 2003 football campaign, the talk quickly veered away from the standard agenda.

The Atlantic Coast Conference's recent pillage of the Big East has left a cloud of uncertainty over C-USA, which expects to have its foundation rattled in the next round of conference shuffling.

With Miami and Virginia Tech headed for greener pastures, there has been wide speculation that the Big East will dip into C-USA to replenish its departing football kingpins.

For the most part, first-year C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky has operated silently in the background, though he continues to discuss the issues openly with Big East boss Mike Tranghese.

"To a certain extent, we've got to understand how the Big East is going to go forward for us to be in a position to react," Banowsky said. "I don't think we can be in a position to pre-empt anything relative to the Big East, and I'm not sure it would be appropriate, anyway, given where our members are.

"We'll just have to wait and see. I think we're prepared to do what we need to do to make the league stronger and that would include adding teams to the conference."

Many of the league's coaches would prefer to see C-USA take a more aggressive approach. Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower feels C-USA has a solid corps of gridiron schools that, at the very least, equals the top remaining Big East football offerings.

East Carolina coach John Thompson agrees and thinks C-USA is in a position to lead the next round of conference dominoes.

"We've got strong leadership in our conference and we've got strong leadership in our coaches. There are going to be some musical chairs. There are going to be some people who maybe find a different home. Let's hope nobody gets left out."

Though Banowsky insists that neither the Big East nor C-USA has finalized an expansion playbook, that hasn't stopped observers from speculating.

One of the more common scenarios has Louisville and Cincinnati joining the Big East beginning in 2005-06. Another has the two leagues horse trading schools, then splitting into basketball and football divisions. There have even been rumors of the two merging to form a super conference, an idea which Banowsky doesn't seem to think is feasible.

"We've looked at virtually every conceivable scenario and tried to identify the strength and weaknesses for Conference USA," Banowsky said. "Certainly an approach like that has some merit for many, but our membership is fairly full right now, so it's hard to contemplate a complete merger of both conferences, given the size of both conferences."

For Thompson and his counterparts at Louisville (Bobby Petrino) and Cincinnati (Rick Minter), whose schools are the most often discussed in Big East expansion conversations, the nationwide reorganization of the I-A landscape could result in more lucrative league affiliations.

"I don't know what's going to happen," Bower said. "I'm a little tired of talking about it, hearing all the speculation. Obviously, I have no control over it."

Many feel Southern Miss could be one of the bigger losers when the dust settles. The Golden Eagles have been the most consistent program in C-USA, winning three titles and establishing themselves as fixtures in the postseason.

But because of its geographic incongruity with any likely Big East footprint and a small television market, many feel Southern Miss will get left behind in the expansion derby.

"To me, how well you've done probably isn't the most important reason why your stock is up," Bower said. "The location seems to be the most important."

In this time of looming upheaval in conference alignments, Bower knows better than most that what's fair and what's right isn't necessarily what's real.

"Well, we're the only school in this league that has won a championship in football, basketball, and baseball. We've won three in football," he said, highlighting the breadth of USM's competitive achievements in C-USA.

Alluding to athletic programs which have had less overall success, he indicated that other factors, perhaps even a specific sports, shores up their positions.

"When you look at some of the other schools out there, they maybe haven't had as good a football program as we have," he noted, "but maybe basketball drives them."

The uncertainty for C-USA will persist for awhile, because the Big East's fundamental plan for the future remains unknown.

Adding only Louisville and Cincinnati, as is often discussed, would make it clear that Big East expansion will be basketball driven. Super-sizing to 12, which could become an attractive concept if the ACC's petition to host a title game with 11 members is denied, would suggest a heavy concentration on football.

Regardless of what occurs when the next nudge of the dominoes occurs, Banowsky insists he's prepared to take all the necessary steps to keep C-USA strong, but he refuses to speculate about strategy.

"I'm going to do whatever I can to preserve the interest of this league and the institutions," Banowsky said. "I'm going to fight for this league, that's my job.

"But I'm really not going to get into details of 'If this happens, what will you do? What if this happens, what will you do?' Because until you see those pictures more clearly, you end up with a lesson in formed analysis. It's also counterproductive in some respects."

Even so, it seems inevitable that C-USA will have a new makeup for the 2005-06 season, one that will likely is to include a few new members. Marshall, Central Florida, and Southern Methodist are three schools that may eventually appear on the league's radar.

Banowsky says the league will be mindful to not be impulsive when that time comes.

"In all of these decisions, you balance a lot of interests," he said. "You balance geography. You balance the opportunity to create rivalries.

"Ultimately, geography makes a lot of sense. Academic compatibility is important. Strengths of athletics programs from top to bottom are important. Market issues relative to television are important. It's a variety of things.

"So, in some circumstances, it might make sense to develop 12-team conferences, or conferences with more than 12 teams if that structure matches up with the institutions within the conference. I don't think that is the only structure."

What he does believe to be the optimal setup is a league that is strong in all sports, which is a foundation on which he hopes C-USA will continue to stand.

"I think the league balances the interests of the quality of its football and the quality of its basketball," Banowsky said. "My hope is that we will continue to balance those interests. Don't misconstrue anything that I say as to suggest that we are moving in the direction of a football structure. It's way too early.

"If we were in a situation where the change was going to occur effective next football season, you would see a great amount of volatility right now. Fortunately, we've bought ourselves a period of months to work through some of these issues."