Hot Corner: Conference USA-Mountain West merger unlikely to work - al.com
I have to say I'm skeptical at best of the possibility of a Mountain West-Conference USA merger, which really appears to be nothing more than a matchup of the two leagues' football winners in a postseason "conference" championship game. Oh, there may be some TV contracts involved, but it all hinges on convincing someone that this affiliation of 20 to 24 teams merits a BCS berth.
Meanwhile, everybody -- including the one real marquee football program the Mountain West has, Boise State -- is trying to get into the Big East. East Carolina has applied. UCF is negotiating an invitation. SMU and Houston have been mentioned. Memphis' AD says not only do the Tigers want in the Big East, they deserve to be in the SEC.
I don't hear much coming from the UAB camp. I would hope that's simply because the UAB administration has the good sense to negotiate quietly instead of embarrassing themselves with "SEC" kinds of comments.
UAB's basketball history trumps ECU's and UCF's by miles, so why wouldn't UAB be considered? Football?
If it's all about football, then, you can point back to the failure to hire Jimbo Fisher as the greatest blow to UAB athletics. Even if Fisher had stayed but three seasons, I believe he'd have gotten UAB into a couple of bowl games and energized the fan base. Watson Brown got the program to a bowl game and on the cusp of bowls several other times. Why couldn't Fisher have done at least that? The next coach would have something to build on. I'll leave it to you to point the finger at why that didn't happen.
Of course, if those crickets coming from the UAB camp are because the administration is sitting back and hoping C-USA and the Mountain West manage to wangle a BCS bid, I'm not sure I'd agree with that approach. I think we'll see multiple BCS bids going to those conferences that already have automatic qualifiers first.
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14 Oct, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEwIdQVHMJziSKYtyuO9BFEhFAiGQ&url=http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/10/hot_corner_conference_usa-moun.html
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