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C-USA's blueprint for the future falling into place
Bonesville.net Staff Report
©2003 Bonesville.net With several of
its schools expected to depart for other homes in the near future,
Conference USA is seizing on the losses as an opportunity to transform
itself into an all-sports league of like-minded schools.
Days after Western Athletic Conference
members Rice, Southern Methodist and Tulsa said they would move to what
would become C-USA's new Western Division, the first major piece in rounding
out the future Eastern Division has fallen into place.
Marshall University's Board of Governors
voted unanimously on Friday to authorized Dan Angel, the school's president,
to sign a membership agreement with C-USA. The agreement is conditioned upon
the anticipated configuration of the league after the current round of
inter-conference shuffling subsides.
"A move to Conference USA affords Marshall
University the opportunity to extend its championship image to a wider
market of potential students and supporters," Angel said. "This move places
the institution in a competitive mode in many areas and will benefit both
athletics and academics."
Marshall has been a member of the
Mid-American Conference since 1997. The Thundering Herd football team has
appeared in all six MAC Championship games and in six consecutive bowl
games. The squad has also won five MAC titles and currently owns a five-game
winning streak in bowls.
In its present alignment, C-USA spans half
of the continental U.S. and counts among its members 15 schools with a wide
divergence of interests, including several which do not field Division I-A
football teams.
Media reports have indicated that C-USA is
about to lose as many as seven schools, including all of those which don't
sponsor I-A football.
According to various accounts, all-sports
members Cincinnati, Louisville and either South Florida or East Carolina
appear headed to the Big East along with non-football-playing schools DePaul
and Marquette.
Two other non-football-playing C-USA
schools — Charlotte and Saint Louis — are expected to wind up in the
Atlantic 10 Conference, although the Billikens may join the Missouri Valley
Conference instead.
Army, a football-only member of the league,
announced last summer that it would be leaving the conference to rejoin the
independent ranks, though there has been speculation that the Black Knights
and Navy may become "allied" members of either the Big East or C-USA for
football only.
C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky issued
a statement on Friday confirming that Marshall will be brought into the fold.
"In anticipation of pending conference
realignment, I’m pleased that Conference USA has reached an understanding
regarding Marshall’s future involvement as a member of C-USA," Banowsky said.
"Marshall has done an excellent job building a quality athletic program and
we view the Thundering Herd as a real asset to the conference.
"The commitment from their administration
and the entire Huntington community makes Marshall truly one of the rising
stars in college athletics."
Banowsky's announcement indicated that the
Herd's move to C-USA is a sign the league's blueprint for reinventing itself
as a two-division, all-sports league is taking shape on schedule.
“With the commitments from Marshall, Rice,
SMU, and Tulsa, we have made substantial progress toward the completion of
our future membership plans," he said. "We hope to fully complete this work
in the weeks ahead.”
Those future plans appear to envision
Eastern and Western divisions designed to reduce travel expenses and foster
regional rivalries.
The Western Division appears
to already be locked in, with WAC defectors Rice, SMU and Tulsa expected to
be grouped with current C-USA members Houston, Texas Christian and Tulane.
Marshall appears destined to link up with
present members Memphis, Southern Mississippi, UAB and either East Carolina
or South Florida — depending upon which one bolts for the Big East — to form
the bulk of the Eastern Division.
A sixth team — most likely Central Florida
— would be targeted to complete the Eastern alignment. If UCF is snatched up
by the Big East, Louisiana Tech is a possible fallback choice.
02.23.07 11:20 AM
©2003 Bonesville.net. All rights reserved.
This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bonesville.net staff
member Danny Whitford contributed to this report.
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