C-USA presidents approve expansion plan 05:11 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 14, 2003 By KEITH WHITMIRE / The Dallas Morning News Conference USA's presidents approved an expansion plan Tuesday and authorized commissioner Britton Banowsky to extend invitations to schools. SMU has had talks with C-USA regarding expansion and speculation is high that the school could receive an invitation along with fellow WAC members Rice and Tulsa. Tulane president Scott Cowen said C-USA had three objectives in expansion. The first is a tighter geographic fit. Second is to add schools with similar academic objectives, and third is to develop a conference where all schools play football. Cowen would neither confirm nor deny schools included in C-USA's expansion plan, but did speak positively about SMU. "You have to ask yourself, does an SMU fit that profile?" Cowen said. "And from my perspective it does." Calls to SMU officials have not been returned. In a statement, Banowsky said no members have formally withdrawn and no new members have been added. The Big East is expected to announce Nov. 4 its addition of C-USA members Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville and Marquette. South Florida has also been mentioned as a Big East target with Sunday’s announcement that Boston College is leaving for the ACC.
Baylor, Rice, Houston, Tulane, TCU - that would be an AWESOME baseball conference!! Certainly better than the Big XII.
I'm glad they're coming to the realization that if you cannot be a Top Tier national conference, it makes sense to be a regional conference. I can guarantee that I'm more interested in a SMU vs. Houston game than I am an SMU vs. San Jose State game, for example. Even when both SMU and Houston aren't all that good.
well SMU is downright AWFUL and going nowhere fast.....the Coogs on the hand are somewhere around medicore and moving quickly towards above average.
The "Death Penalty" has never killed a program as badly as SMU's, they used to have a quality football program. Alabama is very lucky they didn't get the same punishment - SMU probably served as an example of why that shouldn't happen again.
I was just saying that even if both teams were 0-10 coming into the theoretical match-up, I would be more interested in the game than I would be an 0-10 SMU vs. a 9-1 San Jose State team. Regional rivalries can be more interesting even when both teams aren't very good.
UT, Nebraska, OSU, A&M aren't too shabby. I wouldn't say certainly since Tech and OU have both been good in the past.
Agreed. Baylor, Houston, Tulane and TCU don't get the credit they deserve. Rice obviously does as they are the National Champions. The Big XII is severely overrated in baseball.
Yup, Rice was the "unofficial" Big XII champ last year. 8-0 versus Big XII teams. And those were the top teams in the Big XII. 3-0 versus UT, 2-0 versus A&M, 2-0 versus Baylor and 1-0 versus Nebraska.
UH and Rice being in the same conference would go a long way in heating up the burgeoning rivalry between the two schools. The UH band vs the MOB at the football games is turning into a tradition. Operation Spotted Owl - Reloaded What is this?!?!_ Did UH students manage to successfully infiltrate the Rice Marching Owl Band (MOB)?_ Indeed, Cougar Neil Sangalang and his friend Manuel pulled off what had never been done before. On Saturday night, August 30, 2003, history was made._ The MOB had dished out their own brand of "humor" at the expense of their opponents for years._ In 2001, the MOB went too far when they spelled "GED" on the field at Robertson stadium._ UH students simply had too much school pride to let that insult go without retribution._ In 2002, UH alums and students executed the first "Operation Spotted Owl (OSO)" whose purpose was to give some payback to the MOB for their rather inappropriate insults at UH's expense._ Thus, an airplane advertising company was hired and the following two banners were flown over Rice Stadium during the first half of the game:_ The MOB thereafter claimed that they weren't impressed by OSO's antics._ As such, the stakes were raised._ In 2003, OSO-Reloaded was planned._ Two UH students were sent to MOB open house wearing Rice hats and t-shirts, claiming to want to join the band._ They were accepted with open arms, and issued band uniforms._ Our two "moles" practiced with the MOB all week, and even gave the MOB its idea for one of its show punch-lines (spoofing the NEW Cougar logo with the cartoon "Hello Kitty")._Neil and Manuel took the field... and the rest is history._ Check out the pictures of Neil and Manuel serving the MOB some humble pie. _Who says UH students don't have spirit... Neil and Manuel just proved otherwise. The UH guys who had infiltrated the mob then took off the Rice gear to reveal their UH colors and unfurled a banner that said: "Operation Spotted Owl - Reloaded Just say 'Uncle' HELLO KITTY THIS !!!" Operation Spotted Owl It's about time that we had a good cross town rivalry.
I totally agree...Once I heard BC left, the rumors Marquette, Louisville, etc. started flying...I wish they wouldn't, but everyone's following the money... Co Coogs!!!
Baylor, Rice, Houston, Tulane would be much better than the remaining big XII baseball teams. UT obviously has it going again under Burrito, but OU sucks, OSU hasn’t been much better, Mark Johnson has completely let A&M baseball turn to crap. How does A&M go 3 years without making a Regional? Nebraska was/is good, but their coach just left for a better job. Coach Hayes at TT hasnt done much in several years. Outside of UT, Big12 Baseball is filled with a bunch underachieving over bloated ego's. Baylor, Rice, UH, and Tulane would stomp a mudhole in every big 12 team outside of UT. I think OSU will rise back up with Johnson running the show, but it will take a couple years.
Actually A&M was in a regional last year (hosted, in fact) before getting punked by UH at Olsen. The program I think will really take off is that of TCU. They have a new coach (Schlossnagle) from UNLV and have already gotten off to a great start in recruiting.
I was referring to the 3 years prior to that. There is no reason for a school like A&M, with their facilities, great fan support, and more money than they know what to do with....to go 3 straight years without getting into at least a regional. It is not difficult to be one of the top 64 teams in the country. That falls squarely on Mark Johnsons shoulders, he is stealing when he cashes his checks. Yes, UH did punk A&M last year and has won like 9 straight games at Olson…..with ¼ of the fans, 1/10th the budget.
