Who should they take? Assume no BCS automatic bid conference schools are available. The likely suspects appear to be the following (in alphabetical order):

• Arkansas State - fits well between Tulsa and Memphis (assuming both schools stay)


• Appalachian State - rival (possible replacement) for East Carolina, would have to upgrade to I-A


• Delaware - not that great geography, and would need to upgrade to I-A, but a perennial I-AA power


• Florida Atlantic - rival (possible replacement) for Central Florida


• Florida International - rival (possible replacement) for Central Florida


• Georgia Southern - would have to upgrade to I-A, fits footprint really well


• Louisiana Tech - fits the footprint of the league well, would gladly leave the WAC, possible replacement if Tulane leaves


• Miami (OH) - rival for Marshall, and a new market for C-USA


• Missouri State - would have to upgrade to I-A, but perennial basketball power and opens up a new market for C-USA and a rival for Tulsa


• North Texas - increases exposure in DFW, could replace SMU if they left, plenty of early success in Sun Belt football


• Ohio - rival for Marshall, and a new market for C-USA


• Western Kentucky - would have to upgrade to I-A, good basketball, varying degrees of access to Nashville, Evansville/Owensboro/Henderson, and Louisville markets

Its tough to say with CUSA for expansion. I think it depends if Memphis stays or goes. This time if they lose schools from the east save Memphis I think they go with a more bb oriented route instead of football. More than likely Louisiana Tech would get the next bid, but some of the I-AA schools might bring more to the table than the Sun Belt schools.

Bad idea. Arkansas State is basically in Memphis' metro area. While this does make travel convenient, it makes no sense to get another team for a market that is already covered. See Pittsburgh to Big Ten rumors.


Team has solid football, but what about other sports? Market??
ECU has similar demographics to Appalachian, but there are two key differences that separate the two. East Carolina is a well-known name in I-A. Appalachian is not. East Carolina had relationships with many C-USA schools before joining. Appalachian State has very little, if any history with C-USA.


proximity to other C-USA teams does concern me, but other than that, Delaware would be a good addition.


IMO, one thing will make or break Florida Atlantic: the new domed stadium proposal. The proposal must pass, and the dome needs to have at least 40,000 seats. That's the fewest seats C-USA will let them get away with, and FAU better be filling them with FAU fans also. Do this(as well as demonstrating an interest in joining C-USA), and FAU is probably a shoe-in for C-USA

Personally I think Western Kentucky and Missouri State would be good choices for CUSA.

If that many schools are going to be listed as possible replacements, I think a few more need to be listed. It seems like an exercise in exploring the choices, then more probably need to be included.

If the CUSA would like to emulate a modern day mid-major Southwest Conference Orientation, then these should be added:

New Mexico State: a statewide team that claims about 1/3 of the NM market which = ~650,000 -- a good sized market for CUSA in comparison and in comparison to other choices.

I think La Tech and UNT would be considered more if a SWC-like orientation. Also, ULL, as they are also in a mid-major market of Lafayette which has about 350,000. That's a better market than Western Kentucky. Tulane is far enough away not to take in the Lafayette and South Central LA market. One only needs to look at the attendance of Tulane games when they played at ULL and La Tech's fields.

An eastern orientation would mean you should also not count out these:

Troy: a great performer except last year, and they do have some claim on the Montgomery, AL, Dothan, AL and Mobile, AL markets. UAB is not listed as a linked team in those communities newspapers but Troy is along with Bama and Auburn. Troy is a Southeastern AL/Southern Alabama followed school. Montgomery is 300K and Mobile is 550K and Dothan is 150K. It fits the role of the mid-major school of Southern AL and UAB is that for B'Ham and northern AL, while UA and AU are statewide.

I also wouldn't count out MTSU, and they can claim the Nashville-Davison-Mufreesboro Metro market better than WKU as they mid-major school for that area. Nashville doesn't follow Memphis. Its a separate market that is separated by the Tennessee River on I-40 between Nashville and Memphis. Sure Vandy and UTenn are big here, but its a third team and would be a new market for CUSA.

For a more northern orientation, then these should also be considered:

Toledo: performance and a shared market of 750,000 for the Toledo MSA
BGSU: Same as UToledo and performance is pretty good as Toledo, slightly below however.
Akron: They won the MAC last year and 750K market shared with Kent
Temple: Though performance and attendance are lacking and geography would be poor (worse than the MAC teams listed in this thread) but Philly market.

Metropolitan I think you are missing the boat with some of the selections here.

UTEP was selected by CUSA mostly for support reasons rather than MSA. CUSA is now looking at a situation where pretty much every candidate has low support levels. They want to brand themselves as a southern conference, and they need to build the league together.

UTEP does not like NMSU. They blocked NMSU's entrance into the WAC for years. They will not let the Aggies into CUSA.

No matter who leaves CUSA be it UTEP, Memphis, East Carolina, or UCF, the replacement school is almost certain to be east of Louisiana. And the replacement school will be a current 1-A member.

So I think you are looking at this list

MTSU-Good replacement for Memphis
Temple-If they are willing to bring their basketball.
Miami-Biggest Budget in the MAC. May be enticed if CUSA turns out to be a strong basketball league
Ohio-Could go in a package deal with Miami, both schools have the academics that would appeal to the private schools
FAU-Could replace UCF down the road if they build the dome.
WKU-Appears to be angling for a move to 1-A by 2009. The best choice to build around Marshall. Strong basketball following and tradition.

Toledo and BG aren't going to be considered over Miami and Ohio because they are further from Marshall and don't have the academic reputations. Akron doesn't have much of a following and even worse academics than Toledo and BG.

The silent and often unnoticed 1AA school who has not sought to move up but could do so is Georgia Southern. The school has elevated itself in growth and facilities. Doctoral programs in Education are offered. The Statesboro campus is one of the most beautiful in the country. It lies inland from the metro Savannah area and is not far from South Carolina or northern Florida. There are only two 1-A schools in Georgia, a relatively large state in both population and geography, and neither is in south Georgia.
They possess multiple 1-AA fb championships and did not renew football until well into the 80s' after multiple decades of not sponsoring the sport. This school follows the tradition of a normal school to teacher's college to state university. It is not an urban, commuter campus. A lot of residence hall there, with students from all over Georgia, plenty from S.C. and Florida, as well as elsewhere.
They could easily handle the SunBelt, and a Georgia school in C-USA would be a very nice locale.

Metro, I had completely forgotten ULL, who I just refer to as "Louisiana." They actually like being referred to as just plain "Louisiana," as opposed to UL-Lafayette. Louisiana has some decent facilities (not great, but decent), and the Lafayette market is certainly nothing to sneeze at. If Rice had dropped down to D3 awhile back, I would strongly favor having Louisiana take Rice's place. Since Rice did not drop though, that puts Louisiana in a bit of a bind. Louisiana has ok fan support (better than Louisiana Tech's, but not by much), but it's not enough to seriously warrant an invite should a member from the east division leave.


Somewhat agree on Middle Tennessee Metro, but they have some growing to do, IMO.


Main problem with these teams is their location. Toledo and BGSU are in close proximity to Detroit, and that's pretty far away from most C-USA teams. Akron's pretty close to Cleveland, and that's also a long distance from most C-USA teams.

Having grown up in Mobile, I'd say Troy is the #4 of the in-state I-A programs there. That may change in the next 5 years, but while UAB was the third banana in the state for a number of years, they became the darling of many in the Mobile media who were pressuring South Alabama to start a football program. Also, with UAB having one of two public medical schools (even if it really is run by Tuscaloosa), the university as a whole has been more visible than Troy in the Mobile market.

If Louisiana gets in Conference USA before Louisana Tech, there will be some unhappy campers at LTU. They would also do the Sun Belt a huge favor (an "all-sports slot" would be open for Georgia Southern, Louisiana Tech, or Texas State) if they can get past the SBC can get past the immediate crisis of having only 7 I-A members since Wright Waters has publicly poo-pooed on expansion.

These are the schools that will be considered:

North Texas, La. Tech., Troy, UL-Lafayette, MTSU, Florida Atlantic and Florida International.

That's it, end of story.

CUSA is not interested, nor do they have the time to invest in 1-AA schools moving up. The conference needs competitive D-1 programs that have upside.

From my limited sources, the top 3 candidates would be North Texas, La. Tech and FAU. Don't look for CUSA to expand northward, that won't happen.

I think you have one thing completely correct, CUSA will only be looking at established 1-A schools as replacements. CUSA has to have 12 full members and doesn't have the time to wait on a transitional member.

If you look at the SBC, certain schools are going to be blocked from joining because of competitive reasons.

North Texas/Must be blessed by SMU
La.Tech/ULL/ULM/Must be blessed by Tulane
FAU/FIU/Must be blessed by Central Florida
Troy St/Must be blessed by UAB
ASU/MTSU/Must be blessed by Memphis

The school that doesn't have to worry about being blocked is Western Kentucky. With WKU you are also talking the best hoops option available. WKU is just moving up to 1-A, good thinking on their part so they can be ready for CUSA in a few years if an opening occurs.

Ranking the candidates
1.Western Kentucky- If anyone leaves
2.Florida Atlantic- If UCF leaves
3.MTSU- If Memphis leaves
4.Ohio/Miami Oh- Perhaps if there are 2-3 slots open.