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| CONFERENCE USA COMMISSIONER BRITTON BANOWSKY SPEAKS TO REPORTERS DURING MEDIA DAY YESTERDAY
Original G5 Blog Content
Twitter: @GFiveConf
Conference USA held their annual Media Day in Irving, Texas yesterday. Among the parade of Head Football Coaches and Conference USA star football players, Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky addressed the media with a few important conference details. Among them were:
*COMMITMENT TO COST OF ATTENDANCE FEES: Conference USA is committed to paying the so called cost of attendance fees that have been strongly pushed for by the Power 5 in the last 18 months. Although Conference USA is in support of the extra fees, Banowsky indicated that each school in the conference will have to decide if they can afford the new costs associated with these new fees. It is not entirely clear at the moment what schools , if any , will choose not to pay the new cost of attendance rate hikes.
*"THE SECOND FIVE" Britton Banowsky was asked what the 5 non power conferences should be called.( This blog refers to the five as the G5 or Gang of 5) Banowsky indicated that the 5 should be called,'The Second Five".
*THE POWER 5 NEED US: MTSU Head Coach Rick Stockstill, speaking to the media noted that, "There’s no doubt in my mind that all of us are going to co-exist together" and "“I don’t see this complete separation where it’s them ... and we’re the little boys trying to take their ball from them. I think we’re set in Conference USA, set better than some of the other conferences that aren’t in that top five.” (SOURCE: Charleston Gazette )
*WKU LAST PIECE OF REALIGNMENT PUZZLE: Banowsky made the point that Conference USA was at a "pivot point" and that WKU was the last piece of the realignment puzzle for the conference.
CONCLUSION
As I have written before,(Conference USA faces difficult challenges ahead)there are few conferences in the FBS that have experienced as much dramatic change due to realignment as Conference USA has. Listening to the press conference yesterday however, one gets the sense that Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky understands these changes and is ready to lead Conference USA to better days.
The challenges for the conference however, are many, including finding one or two teams that can make national headlines for winning in College Football. Conference USA, also faces the difficult task of learning to assimilate the many new programs that now fly under the Conference USA flag.
Still, if you are a fan of Conference USA, or one of the teams in the conference, you have to feel good about what Britton Banowsky said yesterday as well as the optimism portrayed by the coaches and players in attendance at Media Day. The next few years for Conference USA will be of utmost importance as it works to recapture some of the magic and respect it enjoyed from years past . Stay tuned.
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I think your comments demonstrate a reasoned approach to the future of the conference. I was pleased with yesterday's media day as well. It won't surprise you to know that I like this conference as it is (with no disrespect to who we were...but that's history). I think the conference has 14 very solid, like-minded members that, given the chance and the commitments of their administration and staff, can cohesively move this conference forward.
ReplyDeleteI do think you are right on target with the need for a handful of our teams to be on the national radar in each season. It takes a STRONG upper tier, not a top to bottom smash, and that upper tier can change yearly IF that upper tier can make the "national headlines" you suggest.
That comes through scheduling and winning a fair share of reasonably competitive OOC games with the P5 and winning the majority of scheduled G5 OOC games. Teams must also consistently stay on top of their respective divisions and compete annually for conference championships. Winning bowl games has to be in that mix as well. To gain national respect, we simply have to win the challenges presented to us. We don't need to be perfect...we just need to be better.
But the job is completely do-able, but it will take time, and the other G5's aren't going to just let us do that. We have to earn our way to respectability. I like our chances with this group of teams.