Though I wish you were correct for my own reasons, it has been rare that a part-time membership did not eventually blossom into full membership... and often, not even due to a large upheaval in the rest of the conference world. In fact, I can't think of any part-time school that got passed up by other schools when their related conference expanded. Can you?

Agreed!! :D
The stepchild assessment is very accurate here.
Why be a 2nd class citizen in a first class league, when you can be a 1st class citizen in a second class league?
Besides, it is suspect whether or not BEast remains "first class"...then you become a 2nd class citizen in the 2nd class league.
Full membership gives long term stability!
8-)

Temple in the Big East.
(Given time I could find more, but that's a quick easy one)
8-)

That's inaccurate.

Temple had already been given their walking papers before the Big East decided to invite UConn for football.

Keep trying for one...

Meanwhile, I can think of ECU.

I can think of USF.

I can think of UCF.

I can think of UAB....

either way, the earlier assessment of the Once-Big East is very accurate. Louisville, Cincy, and USF do not make up for Miami, Virginia Tech, and BC. Matter of fact, throw in Army, Navy, keep Temple and hold a championship game. that new Big East would not be on the level of the Big East today.
I dare say it wouldn't make the New Big East any stronger than the new look C-USA will have, or the MWC will have if it decides to take Fresno and Boise State.
but with just what the big East ('b' intended) has now, it doesn't make up for even the loss of Miami.
remember, the logic behind the BCS is that for the past 20 + years only teams from those conferences played for National Titles.
Well, the big East just lost its two. And Cincy, Louisville, and the USF Bulls don't have that.
If the big East keeps its BCS over other conferences, it will be a travesty, and a testament to the keep it in the family good ole boy network. For them to keep it, they should at least add a BCS bowl, and give two other conferences a shot as well.
;)

UCF will accept all-sports invite into Conference USA
By Alan Schmadtke
Sentinel Staff Writer

November 4, 2003, 12:41 PM EST

UCF will receive and accept an all-sports invitation to Conference USA today, multiple sources in the Golden Knights' football program confirmed.

C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky told UCF he would not issue an invitation until after the Big East's planned 2 p.m. announcement that it was bringing in five C-USA schools --- South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette.

Shortly after the Big East's unveiling in New York, UCF President John Hitt will accept C-USA's offer after informing the school's two current leagues, the Mid-American Conference and the Atlantic Sun. UCF's acceptance will come later today. The school will have a news conference Wednesday on campus.

The Knights will join C-USA for the 2005-06 season for an expected entry fee of $2 million. Their exit from the MAC and the A-Sun will cost them another $600,000.

Sources in the Golden Knights Club, the fund-raising arm of the UCF Athletics Association, said Hitt has already lined up donors to cover the entry and exit costs.

UCF had held out hope through the late summer and early fall that the Big East, in the midst of replenishing itself after Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College left for the ACC, would consider it for all-sports membership or at least football-only membership. Football-only was still a consideration, Big East athletic directors confirmed, but the timing wasn't not going to come as quickly as the Knights had hoped.

Also factoring into the mix is Hitt and Orsini's stated goal.

"Our long-term goal is to put all our sports under the same national conference umbrella," Orsini said.

The MAC, which accepted UCF as a football-only member in late 2001, offered a conditional all-sports membership to UCF last month. Hitt and Orsini were appreciative. Ultimately, they decided they could not pass up C-USA's more regional appeal to the Knights' fans.

UCF joins fellow MAC member Marshall in a jump to Conference USA, which now grows to 12 members and likely will split into two six-team divisions. UCF and Marshall will join East Carolina, UAB, Memphis and Southern Miss in the East. The West will be made up of Tulane, Houston, TCU, SMU, Rice and Tulsa.

SMU, Rice and Tulsa are the other new invitees, each coming from the Western Athletic Conference.

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sturt,
I do believe you are manipulating the facts to fit your needs in this regard.
Temple has been a part time member of the BigEast that has not been offered full membership!
That was your question, was it not? ???

Saying they've been given their walking papers BEFORE the invitation of UConn does not change the fact that they are a part time member NOT being invited for full membership. If you recall VaTech started this way in the football BigEast along with Rutgers, and both got full membership offers later in the manner you've described. Temple was bypassed in this process the first time around.

I fully agree with your assessment that part time membership USUALLY equates to a full-time offer down the road. However, you requested examples where it didn't happen. This is one! Your assessment that is inaccurate is essentially inaccurate. ;)
8-)

Okay. Temple is the only one, then. And they're cancelled out by UConn's part-time membership that got upgraded to all-sports.

hey sturt,

If the dominoes hadn't started to fall, I bet I could've given you another example...

The SunBelt would love to jettison La-Monroe! ;)

However, as things now stand they need everybody they can get their hands on!!!

But if MWC doesn't steal from the WAC, and FIU and FAU and/or W.Ky decide to move to 1A look for the Belt to jettison the Indians from Monroe! :D

If they do, I want back credit from you here. ;)

I'll reinforce again here, that I do agree with you that partial membership is usually a ticket in the door toward full membership.
8-)

Sturt & Daddywags, you're both right on this Temple issue.

Temple was not passed over during Big East expansion, as Sturt points out. The net effect was that Temple was replaced by UConn to maintain the status quo.

However, the two moves were independent of each other. All non-football Big East members were given the opportunity to upgrade to I-A football within a 5-year period & be guaranteed football membership if they did so. Temple was dismissed for failing to meet attendance, facilities, & performance criteria that the Big East had laid out for them & gave them a timeline (5 years?) to comply.

So Daddywags is also correct. Had Temple met its targets, they would have retained membership & UConn would also have joined regardless of any decisions on Temple's status. In this case, there would have been expansion to 9 members. The bottom line from this point of view is that Temple failed to receive an upgrade to full membership at a time when the Big East was considering expansion.

Keep up the repartee, boys. :)

The fans of Louisiana-Monroe in the Sun Belt are nervous because they're concerned that if Louisiana Tech doesn't get into CUSA or the WAC breaks up (if they lose one more member they lose their automatic bid--you have to have six members for five straight years to maintain it, or the WAC can't find a travel partner for them) they may have join the Sun Belt. ULM is 30 miles away from LTU and a football only member, and some wonder if LTU will join only if ULM is out. To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever happened before. ???

It should be noted that ULM was offered all-sports membership last year but their president didn't take it because of attendance and financial concerns.

LA Tech is in an odd situation. They could lose, gain, or end up near the same. If TCU goes to the MWC, then LA Tech may be selected to replace them in C-USA. With in-state Tulane in C-USA, and schools to the east and west, LA Tech could be in a nice situation geographically.
If TCU stays in C-USA, then LA Tech probably stays in the WAC. The WAC may add North Texas State as a bridge to LA Tech, its eastern most member. Other than NTSU, there may be only two other real possibilities for a LA Tech partner in the WAC, that would be other SunBelt teams, LA-L and/or Arkansas State.
I believe the WAC will survive, even if the MWC raids the WAC of up to 4 teams. Schools such as UTEP, SJSU, Nevada, etc. can still hook up and add Idaho along with USU and NMSU that already have been selected. Unless the WAC ended up without any Texas teams i. e. UTEP, NTSU; LA Tech would want to stay with the WAC. If LA Tech is 880 miles to UTEP, it is obvious some bridge would be preferred. NTSU would help with this.
The WAC may end up weaker, but survives. The MWC can get stronger by taking a couple of the best from the current WAC. C-USA, though losing a lot to the BE, and changed considerably, has potential to be on par, and improved with more regional identity and more resonable geographic rivalries. Plus, going "all sports" will help with stability.
It is the SunBelt that will be gutted with the ripple effect. Depending on how much the MWC takes from the WAC, and how big the WAC will want to be, will impact the shape and survival of the SunBelt. The SunBelt will still have schools such as Arkansas State, MTSU, LA-L and/or LA-M, Troy State, and potentially the Florida schools wanting to move up---FAU, FIU, and FA&M. Then down the road, schools such as Western Kentucky could move up. There is going to be some place that "left overs" (don't mean that offensively) and new southern 1-As' will want to call home. The MAC may not necessarily want any of them.
With Army and Navy seeking some "associative" C-USA arrangements with schools such as Rice and SMU may help with scheduling, but we know Army's history with C-USA. Temple? No football home for them yet.

How does Tulane feel about La Tech?

They have fought tooth and nail to keep UL out of the Metro/Conference USA for 20 years, so I would suspect that it would be no different for another in-state school. >:(

If you look at the locations of both schools, I think it is a lot more likely Tulane would be cool with LT joining if a spot became available. LT is in N. Louisianna, Tulane and UL are in S. Lousianna. It is essentially a close (but not too close) opponent.