If SMU Is Invited to Pac 12 . .

[cajun_lannister]

I firmly believe that we are low-hanging fruit in the conference realignment discussions. Arizona State, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oregon State and Washington State will eventually be part of the Big 12. We do not have the resources to make that jump. Mountain West leftovers will merge with PAC-12 leftovers. Oregon and Washington will go to the Big 10. We stay where we are. American is the only move we might have. Sorry to burst your bubbles.

Pac-12 TV contract will decide all of this. Rumor out there Apple is a likely landing spot. That would likely force Oregon and Washington to bolt

[ManAboutTown]

One thing no one has mentioned is leadership. Apparently, Aresco doesn't have the power and/or trust that he once had as AAC Commish. When you build a conference solely based on market size, this is what happens. Keith Gill has proven to be a dynamic, proactive Commissioner. This matters, imo.

Unless a P5 situation opens up for UL, I'm in favor of staying put, especially considering our budget crunch at the moment.

We can foster rivalries with LaNeck, Tulane and Houston outside of conference membership. That's where relationships and savvy scheduling come in handy.

[JamesTheJeweler]

One thing no one has mentioned is leadership. Apparently, Aresco doesn't have the power and/or trust that he once had as AAC Commish. When you build a conference solely based on market size, this is what happens. Keith Gill has proven to be a dynamic, proactive Commissioner. This matters, imo.

Unless a P5 situation opens up for UL, I'm in favor of staying put, especially considering our budget crunch at the moment.

We can foster rivalries with LaNeck, Tulane and Houston outside of conference membership. That's where relationships and savvy scheduling come in handy.

This is a great point. And honestly there are good arguments for both. However, there are too many moving parts and unknowns before we could even consider that move, or even be chosen for that move. But one thing is true....in the meantime, we PUSH as hard as we can to elevate the program. Because regardless how it shakes out, we will have put ourselves in a prime position. We CANNOT just sit idly by and wait. No one likes stale bread. GEAUX CAJUNS!

[ManAboutTown]

This is a great point. And honestly there are good arguments for both. However, there are too many moving parts and unknowns before we could even consider that move, or even be chosen for that move. But one thing is true....in the meantime, we PUSH as hard as we can to elevate the program. Because regardless how it shakes out, we will have put ourselves in a prime position. We CANNOT just sit idly by and wait. No one likes stale bread. GEAUX CAJUNS!

And let's be honest.. There are probably 2-3 schools in THIS CONFERENCE that are more attractive to the AAC or Big 12-lite than we are. We have plenty of house keeping to do before we start looking out of the window, wondering what's out there. We can elevate our profile in this conference and I'm not sure that was the case just 5 years ago.

[Boomer]

Pac-12 TV contract will decide all of this. Rumor out there Apple is a likely landing spot. That would likely force Oregon and Washington to bolt

……It is just time for a Louisiana team to go p-5……We now have/will have the needed facilities over Tulane which would be the other choice for moving up…..their H School FB stadium and basketball gym don’t cut it…..their academics are great along with endowment……all they have is one year of very fortunate football success and moderate baseball…..we need to keep pushing the Louisiana name and increase our enrollment and endowment along with RCAF and sports attendance…..the scheduling would definitely add people and the affiliation would bring in the bucks…….the recruiting would quickly jump to our highest ever!

[cajun_lannister]

……It is just time for a Louisiana team to go p-5……We now have/will have the needed facilities over Tulane which would be the other choice for moving up…..their H School FB stadium and basketball gym don’t cut it…..their academics are great along with endowment……all they have is one year of very fortunate football success and moderate baseball…..we need to keep pushing the Louisiana name and increase our enrollment and endowment along with RCAF and sports attendance…..the scheduling would definitely add people and the affiliation would bring in the bucks…….the recruiting would quickly jump to our highest ever!

If Tulane can continue its football success will be interesting. We certainly failed at it to an almost comical level. How can you sell the fact you had the most successful run in school history to 7k people showing up to a Saturday night game the next year? oh, btw the way we are 5 mill in debt, and the basketball team has made the dance once in 18 years and hasn't won a game in 30 years. We have a LOT of work to do before even being glanced at.

[CajunNation]

We want the Big-12? Really?

Why didn't we schedule Baylor a few weeks ago?

I have always been a proponent of treating our non-conference schedules as our de facto Big-12 schedule. We should be scheduling them at every opportunity. Start learning to compete with them as much as possible. Start nurturing relationships as much as possible. Solidify business and personal connections with these people.

The more they know us, the more that they will see us as a peer, and an invite at a later date will just be making the relationship official.

This strategy should have been in place at least since the RCAF was started.

[ManAboutTown]

We want the Big-12? Really?

Why didn't we schedule Baylor a few weeks ago?

I have always been a proponent of treating our non-conference schedules as our de facto Big-12 schedule. We should be scheduling them at every opportunity. Start learning to compete with them as much as possible. Start nurturing relationships as much as possible. Solidify business and personal connections with these people.

The more they know us, the more that they will see us as a peer, and an invite at a later date will just be making the relationship official.

This strategy should have been in place at least since the RCAF was started.

That's the other elephant in the room. We'll never advance as an Athletics Department, financially speaking, without complete separation of the RCAF and the foundation. And that won't happen with any of the current leadership in Martin Hall.

[cajun_lannister]

That's the other elephant in the room. We'll never advance as an Athletics Department, financially speaking, without complete separation of the RCAF and the foundation. And that won't happen with any of the current leadership in Martin Hall.

We have had relatively the same number of RCAF members for the last 10 years.. How is that even possible

[JamesTheJeweler]

We have had relatively the same number of RCAF members for the last 10 years.. How is that even possible

USL mentality

[ManAboutTown]

We have had relatively the same number of RCAF members for the last 10 years.. How is that even possible

Continuing to milk the same legacy donors? Not investing the time, money and effort into a sales force, phone team and ground team? Eliminating blue collar events? Lack of exposure? Bad brand? Giving donors zero reason to join other than charity? Lack of student and new graduate involvement? God awful leadership hires? Unclear and constantly changing "perk" structure?

We could have an 8 hour conversation on each of these. Yantko and I didn't see eye to eye on plenty of things, but I could argue Nico and Hud were the only people that ever "moved the needle" as far as RCAF goes. Hopefully, Frazier and his new team learn from history and fix all of these things asap.

[angeleast]

We have had relatively the same number of RCAF members for the last 10 years.. How is that even possible

T slow aka ( T joe), Ray Jr, and his cronies. The fossil is smiling in the afterlife.