RIP UAB

[DCFRANKLIN]

The late Gene Bartow's athletic program has finally run out of gas. The Blazers, darlings of ESPN's infant years and onetime marquee program of the late lamented Sun Belt Conference will join the ranks of defunct sports programs. The Sun Belt was the first Conference to succomb to relegation through realignment. It wasn't to be the last.

 

[planocat]

The whole program or just football?

 

[qwe005]

Just football. Similar to what temple is going to do.

 

[DCFRANKLIN]

UAB is being cashiered out of C-USA.

 

[DrunkJakeRoberts]

CUSA's probably going to boot them if they drop the program. That might hurt CAA if whoever replaces UAB isn't already playing FBS football.

 

[DCFRANKLIN]

CUSA has 13 football schools. Subtracting UAB makes more sense than adding 2 more wanna-bes. Believe it or not, the Sun Belt still exists and has 11 football playing members, including New Mexico State and Idaho. CUSA and Sun Belt are holding pens for FCS escapees. IMO, they should all be returned to FCS.

 

[DrunkJakeRoberts]

The footprints for these non-major FBS conferences make me wonder how viable it is to even exist as a program. The AAC, CUSA, and Sun Belt have very common regions where the only differences are the school names. All three have holdings in TX, LA, NC...itself a testament to just how ridiculously stretched the conferences are. There's no way these programs can last for very long with that kind of travel and what little money networks are giving them. What happened at Temple, shuttering all of those programs, that's the new reality. UAB was/is inevitable. I know these non-majors want more exposure...but they still only make enough to operate like a bus league.

And, to even remain viable, these "have not's" are going to have to pitch in additional funds to ensure full scholarships and other cost of living matters? Ok then...

I still think you're going to have takers, though. Big time athletics, which, unfortunately, people assume anyone with a FBS program has, is said to do certain things for schools' enrollment numbers. And let's not kid ourselves, we think Villanova, as members of the ACC, would push this school's reputation to greater heights. Other schools just have people on the sidelines looking to throw money "just because." I don't think any of what's happened over the last year with player compensation, major conference autonomy, etc. has thinned the ranks any. Even at the FCS level, you still have the likes of Liberty, Eastern Kentucky, Missouri State, and James Madison looking for a way in.

James Madison, I think, really wants to join the likes of Old Dominion, UMass, and Georgia State. But, it wants the sort of geographic safety net that it's had with CAA, as well as being with other schools that it can institutionally tolerate. I think it really wants to be in whatever conference Old Dominion's in, and that's got me concerned for what could happen to CAAF, especially considering the vitriol that exists between its football schools, non-football schools, and affiliates. I wouldn't blame JMU for peeling off from that, and it's not like others within CAAF haven't gotten phone calls, either.

 

[DCFRANKLIN]

I think the AAC is leaps and bounds ahead of most non-BCS leagues. About on par with Mountain West. Being the best of a bad lot is not enough to justify a $100 million dollar investment, especially if they already have a nationally prominent hoops programs as is the case with UCONN and some others (Memphis?). Nor do I think those schools' football programs add an iota to the sustainability of their hoops programs, although they might have thought so as recently as 2010. VU was fortunate to avoid the problem they would have had if Temple had not stepped up to take the bullet for us.