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UTEP Miners get preliminary nod from C-USA
Bonesville.net Staff Report
The University of Texas-El Paso has
apparently cleared the first of two hurdles in its quest to leap from the
Western Athletic Conference to Conference USA, according to reports in the
New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Orlando Journal Sentinel.
An agreement was reached at a meeting of C-USA athletic directors this week
in Irving, TX, to recommend to the presidents of their schools that UTEP be
issued an invitation to join the league as an all-sports member, said the
papers.
The ADs also have reportedly decided to aim
for a configuration of 12 members aligned into two six-team divisions, an
arrangement that would meet the NCAA-mandated minimum requirement for
staging what could be a lucrative, nationally-televised conference
championship game in football.
Previous speculation had focused on the
league expanding to as many as 14 all-sports members. Louisiana Tech, North
Texas and Temple, among other schools, had also been mentioned prominently
among the mix of candidates for league membership.
C-USA has been undertaking its second
effort in recent months to redefine itself since league member Texas
Christian announced in February it would bolt for the Mountain West
Conference.
Last fall, Mid-American Conference members
Central Florida and Marshall and WAC schools Rice, Southern Methodist and
Tulsa accepted invitations to join C-USA in 2005-06.
That mass movement took place in the wake
of decisions by several programs, including all-sports linchpins Cincinnati,
Louisville and South Florida and football-only member Army, to depart the
conference.
Non-football schools Charlotte, DePaul,
Marquette and Saint Louis also announced their intentions to move to other
leagues.
Under the current scenario, C-USA is
expected to transform itself from a conglomeration of 15 schools, only 11 of
which play football, into a 12-team confederation of all-sports members.
C-USA presidents, whose approval of the ADs' latest plan is not a foregone
conclusion, are expected to conduct their own meeting later this month to
consider the recommendations.
If the presidents accept the proposed
expansion strategy, the following table offers an example of how the new
12-team alignment, which would span three time zones with the addition of
the Miners, might be split into two divisions:
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Potential C-USA
Divisions with Addition of UTEP |
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Time Zones: ET Eastern;
CT Central; MT Mountain. |
Eastern Division:Central Florida ET
East Carolina ET
Marshall ET
Memphis CT
Southern Miss CT
UAB CT
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Western Division:Houston CT
Rice CT
Southern Methodist CT
Tulane CT
Tulsa CT
Texas-El Paso MT
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02/23/2007 01:11:24 PM
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