Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, UTSA

[tulaneoutlaw]

Weird thing I just realized. There are 17 private schools playing fbs football. Not counting Liberty as a newcomer, only four are not in P5 conferences: SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. Now all of them will be in the new AAC. Is there enough commitment/revenue at this level for any of them to survive long term? SMU seems determined to find a way upward, but the other three are pretty much adrift at this point. Would it shock anybody if they just folded and dropped levels or programs? I hate what I just typed so much, but only because I'm afraid it's true.

[tulaneoutlaw]

As a last ditch effort, just go independent again. Bolster the schedule with money games. Get something out of nothing should be the motto. Can make a helluva lot more money.

BYU has put together some pretty decent schedules doing this. But they are also competitive and an attractive SOS opponent. My fear is we'd just end up with schedules like NMSU or UMass. We'd get paid a little to lose to 4-5 of P5 also-rans every year and the rest of the schedule would be other miserable independents. I wish we could go back to that ecosystem from the 1980s because those schedules were good, but I don't see it.

[tjtlja]

Weird thing I just realized. There are 17 private schools playing fbs football. Not counting Liberty as a newcomer, only four are not in P5 conferences: SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. Now all of them will be in the new AAC. Is there enough commitment/revenue at this level for any of them to survive long term? SMU seems determined to find a way upward, but the other three are pretty much adrift at this point. Would it shock anybody if they just folded and dropped levels or programs? I hate what I just typed so much, but only because I'm afraid it's true.

The other three have zero fan support and zero interest in investing any of their own money. The closest we will ever come was the past three years. Time for Tulane to move in a different direction. Either take the independent route or pull the plug. No reason to throw bad money after no money.

[long green]

We sold ourselves out for a guarantee of the payout, which I bet ESPN somehow wriggles out of after a few years.

[purplehaz3]

We sold ourselves out for a guarantee of the payout, which I bet ESPN somehow wriggles out of after a few years.

I’m hopeful Dannen has bigger things planned. Dannen and Fritz came here to change the program. They would fail if we don’t leave this new conference. It’s a disaster long term and I’m sure they know it. It’s interesting how we haven’t even seen a press conference from Fritz or anyone in the program during a short game week. I haven’t even seen a single quote. Something might be coming

[tulaneoutlaw]

Weird thing I just realized. There are 17 private schools playing fbs football. Not counting Liberty as a newcomer, only four are not in P5 conferences: SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. Now all of them will be in the new AAC. Is there enough commitment/revenue at this level for any of them to survive long term? SMU seems determined to find a way upward, but the other three are pretty much adrift at this point. Would it shock anybody if they just folded and dropped levels or programs? I hate what I just typed so much, but only because I'm afraid it's true.

The other three have zero fan support and zero interest in investing any of their own money. The closest we will ever come was the past three years. Time for Tulane to move in a different direction. Either take the independent route or pull the plug. No reason to throw bad money after no money.

I wish I could disagree, but I can't. As others have mentioned, this really quashes my interest in college football as whole and supporting Tulane specifically.

Our endowment is listed at $1.45b. I wish just once the people in charge would take $75-100m out for athletics capital projects and see which big donors would be willing to chip in some match money. That would send a strong signal. But if we haven't done that before, why would we now? It feels like our already small tribe is on its way to becoming extinct.

[tulaneoutlaw]

We sold ourselves out for a guarantee of the payout, which I bet ESPN somehow wriggles out of after a few years.

I’m hopeful Dannen has bigger things planned. Dannen and Fritz came here to change the program. They would fail if we don’t leave this new conference. It’s a disaster long term and I’m sure they know it. It’s interesting how we haven’t even seen a press conference from Fritz or anyone in the program during a short game week. I haven’t even seen a single quote. Something might be coming

You made mention of Memphis to the ACC earlier. Any insider information there or just speculation on your part?

[FW]

I’m so sick of this “adding_____ school brings in the ____ market.” No one, and I mean, no one in South Florida cares about FAU. No one in Charlotte cares about Charlotte. No one in Dallas cares about North Texas. Rinse, repeat.

while not disagreeing with you.....the same would be said of us if the Big 12/AAC added us for the Louisiana market....

We don't add anything, and anyone who says we do, would be lying

[FW]

I’m so sick of this “adding_____ school brings in the ____ market.” No one, and I mean, no one in South Florida cares about FAU. No one in Charlotte cares about Charlotte. No one in Dallas cares about North Texas. Rinse, repeat.

And please add no one in New Orleans cares about Tulane.

You're not wrong, but that's not the point

[tjtlja]

I’m so sick of this “adding_____ school brings in the ____ market.” No one, and I mean, no one in South Florida cares about FAU. No one in Charlotte cares about Charlotte. No one in Dallas cares about North Texas. Rinse, repeat.

And please add no one in New Orleans cares about Tulane.

You're not wrong, but that's not the point

The point is we are done. The dominoes have fallen and we shouldn’t hang around to the end. It will cost way too much money. Let’s see if the gurus in the Tulane administration can get this one right.

[visualmagic]

We sold ourselves out for a guarantee of the payout, which I bet ESPN somehow wriggles out of after a few years.

I’m hopeful Dannen has bigger things planned. Dannen and Fritz came here to change the program. They would fail if we don’t leave this new conference. It’s a disaster long term and I’m sure they know it. It’s interesting how we haven’t even seen a press conference from Fritz or anyone in the program during a short game week. I haven’t even seen a single quote. Something might be coming

They did change the program, they got us 3 straight bowl games. That’s the best they could do.
Quite a huge leap to think that’s something is coming because we haven’t heard anything from anyone in the program, that along with your bandwagon comment earlier makes me think you may not be in touch with reality at the moment

[tulaneoutlaw]

If the new 6 were ok taking $2m to join, why wouldn't we just down select to UAB and give them a full share? Or UAB and UTSA and give them full shares? Does ESPN need low-quality inventory that badly? Does anybody feel better about adding these six vs. just a couple?

[ml wave]

Weird thing I just realized. There are 17 private schools playing fbs football. Not counting Liberty as a newcomer, only four are not in P5 conferences: SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. Now all of them will be in the new AAC. Is there enough commitment/revenue at this level for any of them to survive long term? SMU seems determined to find a way upward, but the other three are pretty much adrift at this point. Would it shock anybody if they just folded and dropped levels or programs? I hate what I just typed so much, but only because I'm afraid it's true.

The other three have zero fan support and zero interest in investing any of their own money. The closest we will ever come was the past three years. Time for Tulane to move in a different direction. Either take the independent route or pull the plug. No reason to throw bad money after no money.

I wish I could disagree, but I can't. As others have mentioned, this really quashes my interest in college football as whole and supporting Tulane specifically.

Our endowment is listed at $1.45b. I wish just once the people in charge would take $75-100m out for athletics capital projects and see which big donors would be willing to chip in some match money. That would send a strong signal. But if we haven't done that before, why would we now? It feels like our already small tribe is on its way to becoming extinct.

This is not how endowments work.

[tulaneoutlaw]

Weird thing I just realized. There are 17 private schools playing fbs football. Not counting Liberty as a newcomer, only four are not in P5 conferences: SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. Now all of them will be in the new AAC. Is there enough commitment/revenue at this level for any of them to survive long term? SMU seems determined to find a way upward, but the other three are pretty much adrift at this point. Would it shock anybody if they just folded and dropped levels or programs? I hate what I just typed so much, but only because I'm afraid it's true.

The other three have zero fan support and zero interest in investing any of their own money. The closest we will ever come was the past three years. Time for Tulane to move in a different direction. Either take the independent route or pull the plug. No reason to throw bad money after no money.

I wish I could disagree, but I can't. As others have mentioned, this really quashes my interest in college football as whole and supporting Tulane specifically.

Our endowment is listed at $1.45b. I wish just once the people in charge would take $75-100m out for athletics capital projects and see which big donors would be willing to chip in some match money. That would send a strong signal. But if we haven't done that before, why would we now? It feels like our already small tribe is on its way to becoming extinct.

This is not how endowments work.

Yeah, I know. that doesn't mean I can't wish for it. We're all just shouting into the abyss anyway.

[ClearWaterWave]

[GretnaGrn]

If the new 6 were ok taking $2m to join, why wouldn't we just down select to UAB and give them a full share? Or UAB and UTSA and give them full shares? Does ESPN need low-quality inventory that badly? Does anybody feel better about adding these six vs. just a couple?

It's not about adding inventory for ESPN, it's about destroying it for competitors. ESPN is willing to spend the money (which isn't a huge amount to them) to essentially end CUSA, a primary source of content for CBSSports channel.

[GretnaGrn]

Obviously, this is all about as bad as can be, and some depression is understandable and entirely appropriate, but the attitude of "oh well, I quit" in here is disgusting. Tulane has, unfortunately, been dreadfully bad for a long, long time, other than brief flashes. We have been in worse conference situations than even this one--which, to be clear, is indeed horrible.

I enjoy Tulane sports, as I would think anyone posting here must, or must have in the past. I admit I'm a die-hard; I would watch regardless of conference. I would much, much rather that conference not be garbage, but I'm watching either way. I thought more of us were the same way. I thought that was one of the things that made us different from LoSer-U, where it's just fashion and not real passion, generally.

[GSx]

Tulane has been in a worse conference than this once, and that was for one season, 2013-2014. Otherwise, this is rock bottom.
It's disheartening because it appears that a multi-billion dollar institution(s) sold out for a few million a year. Nothing that Dannen (or Fitts) has done in 6 years suggests that they can make this horrid situation any better.

And what is to be gained from destroying C-USA. Heck I'm not sure they are destroyed; heck, the move MIGHT be for us, Memphis and SMU to mover there. The bottom of AAC is so terrible that it may be behind C-USA; we are terrible and lost to UAB at home by a TD; UNT lost by 5 TDs!
And ESPN couldn't find a spot for Marshall in the AAC?
My fear is that SMU and Memphis have silent "next man in" Big 12 arrangements and they took this deal for the cash until then. And expanding by 6 suggests that there is concern over future losses.

As for Dannen, he's been here 6 years. What's he done? What's he got cooking? What about Fitts? I hope they just aren't starting on this.

[WaveProf]

Obviously, this is all about as bad as can be, and some depression is understandable and entirely appropriate, but the attitude of "oh well, I quit" in here is disgusting. Tulane has, unfortunately, been dreadfully bad for a long, long time, other than brief flashes. We have been in worse conference situations than even this one--which, to be clear, is indeed horrible.

I enjoy Tulane sports, as I would think anyone posting here must, or must have in the past. I admit I'm a die-hard; I would watch regardless of conference. I would much, much rather that conference not be garbage, but I'm watching either way. I thought more of us were the same way. I thought that was one of the things that made us different from LoSer-U, where it's just fashion and not real passion, generally.

The feelings you describe are how I once felt watching people lose interest because of bad records. I'd had an entire life of following losing college teams, and it made me strong, I thought. Don't leave when it gets bad, I thought. And, as for W/L, I'm still in that mindset, though it'd be better for my health if I wasn't. But add in dropping to competition where it doesn't even really feel like it matters if we win? In a changing college football landscape where the divide is only going to keep gettin wider? That's a horse of a different color for me.

Maybe we have a backdoor deal to the B12. Or even the MWC. It's possible. But it's about the only lifeboat to semi-relevancy I can imagine at this point.

[waverider]

Obviously, this is all about as bad as can be, and some depression is understandable and entirely appropriate, but the attitude of "oh well, I quit" in here is disgusting. Tulane has, unfortunately, been dreadfully bad for a long, long time, other than brief flashes. We have been in worse conference situations than even this one--which, to be clear, is indeed horrible.

I enjoy Tulane sports, as I would think anyone posting here must, or must have in the past. I admit I'm a die-hard; I would watch regardless of conference. I would much, much rather that conference not be garbage, but I'm watching either way. I thought more of us were the same way. I thought that was one of the things that made us different from LoSer-U, where it's just fashion and not real passion, generally.

I was one of several dozen (not several hundred) fans at games in the Dome and I will be one of however many continue attending once this new conference is created.

[WaveProf]

Tulane has been in a worse conference than this once, and that was for one season, 2013-2014. Otherwise, this is rock bottom.

This


And we did fairly well in it because it was year one and we still had players recruited for the stronger version of CUSA. If we had stayed there, we would have sunk to the middle or the bottom in a hurry. Getting better was only possible BECAUSE of the AAC

[GretnaGrn]

nm

[ml wave]

My fear is that SMU and Memphis have silent "next man in" Big 12 arrangements and they took this deal for the cash until then. And expanding by 6 suggests that there is concern over future losses.

This is definitely the biggest concern.

[tjtlja]

I don’t think this is an overall knee jerk reaction. Our football program and university is wasting money. We are in no position to to do anything other than go independent and maybe make some money. Run a poll to see how many will actually be interested in CUSA 2. Very few are interested in the AAC when we are losing. Instead of taking shots at each other, take shots at the people who are cumulatively responsible for where we are today. No shots should be aimed at any of us because we are the only ones left. I think there are only two paths - go independent, go home.

[Poseidon]

Obviously, this is all about as bad as can be, and some depression is understandable and entirely appropriate, but the attitude of "oh well, I quit" in here is disgusting. Tulane has, unfortunately, been dreadfully bad for a long, long time, other than brief flashes. We have been in worse conference situations than even this one--which, to be clear, is indeed horrible.

I enjoy Tulane sports, as I would think anyone posting here must, or must have in the past. I admit I'm a die-hard; I would watch regardless of conference. I would much, much rather that conference not be garbage, but I'm watching either way. I thought more of us were the same way. I thought that was one of the things that made us different from LoSer-U, where it's just fashion and not real passion, generally.

The feelings you describe are how I once felt watching people lose interest because of bad records. I'd had an entire life of following losing college teams, and it made me strong, I thought. Don't leave when it gets bad, I thought. And, as for W/L, I'm still in that mindset, though it'd be better for my health if I wasn't. But add in dropping to competition where it doesn't even really feel like it matters if we win? In a changing college football landscape where the divide is only going to keep gettin wider? That's a horse of a different color for me.

Maybe we have a backdoor deal to the B12. Or even the MWC. It's possible. But it's about the only lifeboat to semi-relevancy I can imagine at this point.

To whether this is terrible or not will play out in the details of the new contract. If the money stays about the same and the TV slots stay the same we evry well may come out better in the long run than if the former teams would have stayed. As a brand we move from bottom 5 program of an 11 team league to the top five of a 14 team league. We will get more ESPN and ABC tv slots and we are no longer the new guy. I am not asserting we dumb down the schedule, but the reality is the AAC over the last 4 years was much better than it got credit for. The SBC seems much stronger than it actually is. The bottome half is terrible and f our 6-6 teams from 20 and 19 were in that conference we would have been right there with ULL, Coastal, and App state at the top. The bottom line is this will be agood thing for Tulane if we coach well, recruit well, play well and win. We'll have just as much access to the expanded playoff as any other G5 with ESPN on our side.

This move is a proactive move against the sunbelt and mwc. We have grabbed the best Texas programs from the MWC's radar. We have grabbed the best CUSA programs that the SBC would grab. You think this move waters down us. Anyone, outside of Marshall, that the SC would take from the CUSA leftovers water's down the SBC even worse.