Is C-USA Serious About Expansion? Yes.

Know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em.

And know when to go for the throat.

This bit of news might be a footnote anywhere else, but for UTEP fans wondering if Conference USA was going to be proactive or reactive through college football realignment's rough waters, it is huge.

We've confirmed that, for the second time in seven years, one of the most powerful men you've never heard of in college sports has been hired by C-USA to help it stay afloat.

Chuck Neinas, the head of Neinas Sports Services, former Big 8 Commissioner and former lead dog of the College Football Association, is once again hunting heads for C-USA as he did in 2003.

Why? Realignment's riptide will suck a few schools out to sea. Neinas will be playing lifeguard.

As the Big XII waits to get a binding commitment or a Dear John letter from Nebraska and Missouri regarding their flirtations with the Big Ten, as Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott has been given license to kill conferences by his school presidents, there are those schools that are dreading the nights of long knives that might begin Friday.

Scott and Big Ten commish Jim Delany are a couple of Freddy Kruegers, slashing away in the nightmares of athletic department officials at Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor and Colorado, not to mention the Big East's conference offices.

Scott was given permission to invite at will any school he thinks will help the Pac-10 out of its geographically-imposed isolation on the left coast.

Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and either Colorado or Baylor are in his sights; and we'll see who wins the tug of war between Rocky Mountain longhairs and Texas Baptists.

There is still no firm word from Delany that he has invitations for Nebraska and Missouri. If those schools re-commit to the Big XII, this changes things drastically and the Mountain West might want to find a cave in the Wasatch Range to hide Utah and Brigham Young.

This is why the MWC declined to invite Boise State, a ticket the Broncos thought they were a Statue-of-Liberty play away from getting.

But C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky doesn't appear to believe that the Big XII will reconcile. Says here that he thinks the Big 12 is chum for Delany's and Scott's cutlery.

How would we know? Because he hired Neinas.

This is the man who ran the College Football Association, which negotiated national television deals for member schools (and everyone was a member except, notably, the Big Ten and Pac-10) before conferences took up that role.

He is an old and extremely well-connected hand, and has successfully paired schools with coaches, conferences and contracts for years.

Perhaps the most significant -- and telling -- piece of his resume is in the fifth paragraph of this blog: former Commissioner of the Big 8 Conference.

Remember the Big 8? Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Missouri...Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado and Iowa State.

Those last four schools should tell you all you need to know about why Banowsky has hired Neinas Sports Services again.

Time for C-USA to make a play.

To backtrack a bit, when Delany caused the earthquake that has created this growing tsunami by saying the Big Ten was considering expansion, the speculation was that the Pac-10 might start by going after Colorado and Utah and the Big XII would lose Nebraska and Mizzou, replaced by TCU, Houston and another.

But OU admitted that there have already been discussions with the Pac-10 and CU said the invitations were in the mail.

By extension this means Texas because the Longhorns drive the Big XII's boat. None of the other schools would jump ship without Texas' money and power along for the ride.

Which means if six Big XII schools leave for what becomes the Big-Pac-16, the Mountain West is left unscathed.

If Nebraska and Missouri leave for the Big Ten, that leaves four schools from the Big XII adrift in a sea of uncertainty.

In sails the MWC, right? Life vests all around because the Mountain West has the best reputation, and suddenly C-USA is bait as the Big East comes to replace some of its teams with Memphis, East Carolina and who knows what else, right?

Not so fast, commodore.

Banowsky has been building on his Texas-centric vision for Conference USA for the sake of the sport that drives viewership and dollars in college athletics -- football.

Moving not only the league's mentality but its headquarters from big city basketball territory to the capital of the football universe in Dallas, TX, has positioned C-USA for this day -- a day the conference might not have known would come, but will certainly benefit C-USA now that it's near.

Conference USA has a larger demographic footprint than the Mountain West, and they have the television contracts to prove it with both ESPN and CBS-College Sports.

The MWC has Salt Lake City and Vegas and can say they have San Diego -- which would probably surprise San Diego. But it's hard to leave a footprint on mountain granite. The MWC would need weight it does not possess.

It's also burdened by a television deal that the MWC signed in part to spite ESPN, which wanted the league to play those odd-hour, odd weeknight games they're famous for doing to keep the live sports tap open all week. The end result was The Mountain -- their television network -- which has been slow to be picked up by cable and satellite companies.

The difference between the tepid reception for The Mountain in its own television markets and the Big Ten's $20-million-per-school payout -- largely from the Big Ten Network -- is telling.

Say what you will about BCS berths for TCU and Utah, but Banowsky can still boast of a superior television package simply because more people live where C-USA schools are.

And it has schools in large Texas recruiting bas...uh, cities.

Kansas and Kansas State have built good football teams on the Texas talent they have recruited since joining the Big XII. Colorado and Iowa State recruit here, too. All would probably like to keep recruiting in the Lone Star state.

The MWC does have TCU, but it's the outpost school in the southeast corner of the conference.

The signs are good that C-USA is making an attempt at what could be a big catch.

If anyone was concerned the conference -- and, by extension, UTEP -- could get swept away because they might not be ready for rogue waves...well, there are no sure bets in rough seas.

But they have an old hand at the wheel, ready to set sail with the rising tide.

Comments

[haha]

This is exactly what I've been telling my friends. C-USA NEEDS to be proactive in these potential realignment scenarioes. To be honest, we can do without UCF or ECU if the ACC/Big East merger comes and raids the conference. I fully expect once the Pac-10 and Big Ten expand to 16, that the SEC will scoop up Clemson, FSU, GT, and Miami(FL). That way C-USA can invite Iowa St, Kansas, Kansas St, and Baylor. That makes the conference members at 14. LA Tech becomes an additional member and for the final choice, TCU. I strongly believe that TCU can be enticed to rejoin its former SWC rivals and have the possibilty to dominate the West division (football wise). As for the East division imagine Kansas, Kansas St, and Memphis as the basketball powers. If all of this actually comes to fuition, I can see all the UTEP fans FINALLY getting the last laugh over the Mountain West.

[MinerMike]

Well done Duke. I too have been spouting this scenario (more in a wishful manner) for C-USA as well. You've seemed to connect the dots a bit better with the inclusion of Chuck Neinas role in this endeavour. Very interesting indeed.

[Steve]

Very interesting read. Hard to find well-researched articles on CUSA.

A Texas-centered CUSA could be legitimate. UCF and ECU leave? No worries... dump UAB, Tulane and grab the big 12 leftovers.

I'll be keeping my eye on this blog.

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