Memphis AD's thoughts on shakeup...

[davidnark]

The following is the transcript from a radio interview with the Memphis AD:

GL – would you recite to me the names of the teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference?

RCJ –What a mess George. I talked to some of our key donors yesterday and I told them that I think I‘ve got what is going to happen. I knew the ACC presidents were meeting last night and I really thought they would bring Miami in. Then the question would be would the Big East bring in one more school. And the general consensus was that the probably would and that would be Louisville. And then we in CUSA were having an informal meeting to see what we were going to do.

GL – Are you going to sue? Seriously

RCJ – Yeah. I think all those options are there to look at. I was stunned when I saw what they did this morning. I don’t think anyone out there had that projected. I think what they are trying to do is appease Virginia, defuse as much of the lawsuit as possible and I think they feel that by adding those 2 schools, from a football standpoint, they strengthen their position to get 2 schools in the BCS. What the Big East will do will be interesting. I’m sure the AD’s at Syracuse and Boston College, who are very good friends of mine, I have talked to the AD at Cincinnati this morning. He is in Florida for a NCAA Cabinet meeting, and it will be interesting to see what the reaction is. My understanding is this will all be done this week. And I don’t know, the last I heard, the Connecticut people were very strong about their lawsuit and they didn’t care what was going to happen, they were going to file it. That will probably delay the process a little bit and then we will go from there. I was just absolutely surprised by this George. I thought I had all the bases covered and obviously, I didn’t.

GL – Something has to be done, doesn’t it, by Monday

RCJ – It doesn’t have to be. It costs them another million dollars if it isn’t and to Miami and Virginia Tech….

GL – But they are doing this for money. Why would they want to pay $1 million more?

RCJ – I think they probably wont. If Memphis had the opportunity to go by Monday, I guarantee that Dr. Raines would have us gone, so I think that’s true, it will be decided by then. Then I think what happens depends on what happens between the Big East and Conference USA. I can tell our listeners that our 2 commissioners, Britton Banokowski and Mike Trangesse, have had conversations. And Linda Bruno, commissioner of the Atlantic 10 has been involved in some of those conversations because Xavier keeps being thrown around, Dayton has been thrown around a bit…as members of a possible Big East basketball collilition. And they keep saying that no action has been taken. I can also tell you that there seems to be a thought out there that Louisville is a slam-dunk to leave. That is not the case. I think they would probably be the leading candidate, but there has been no under the table or behind the scenes deals done. We have that from all sources involved. I think also the fact that there is a lawsuit pending has slowed the train down considerably from an action standpoint. I think everyone is very nervous about what they are going to do. I assure you if something shakes out that we don’t like, we will file whatever lawsuit we need to file. We have had conversations as high up in our state as our governor, and he is ready, willing and able to help us in any way needed.

GL – Well, what can he do, seriously?

RCJ – Well, within the state, there is probably not a lot for us to do, as the governor of Virginia had more – uh – he had to convince the president of the University of Virgina to bring along Virginia Tech. Within our state, there’s not another school involved, but I think from the governor’s standpoint, his ability to communicate with the governors of other states, and help to try to put your case forward would be critical for you. When we added TCU, not only were we impressed with their athletic programs, but also the united effort out of Texas to help them get on board. Regardless of what happens, and I think George, being very candid with our listeners, if there is some sort of Big East/Conference USA merger or Big East/Conference USA taking of teams….

GL – Is that really possible

RCJ – I think so.

GL – It is possible that the Big East will take some teams.

RCJ – Yeah. I think a merger is possible too. But the direction I was going in, and I want to be honest about it, the downside of us all along has been location. Well, now if Virgina tech and Miami leave and BC and Syracuse stay, that doesn’t help our position one bit. We’re more removed now than ever. If there are 6 Big East football schools – Uconn who begins next year, Rutgers, West Virgina, Syracuse, Pitt and BC. And if they want to add football schools, which we think they will, we want to be in that mix. I think we’ve got plenty to offer. The only negative, and we talked about this last month, is our location. But I say negative, but I don’t perceive it as a negative because you can get in and out of here. It would be a negative if you were in some remote community where you had to fly in somewhere then bus in.

GL – like Blacksburg

RCJ – well, yeah, there you go. Something like that. Or East Carolina or Hattiesburg. Those are just hard to get to. I think we have a real plus from that standpoint. So what I will continue to do is what I have been doing. Every day I make sure I do one thing, be it a phone call or contact, to try to better our position. I will pick up the pace now a little bit because I think we’ve go to be prepared for any eventuality. There have been conversations about splitting CUSA and the Big East into a football division and a basketball division.

GL- Is that possible?

RCJ – I think its possible. I don’t know how strong the Big East football bid will be any more. I think for BCS, their strongest position is from a political standpoint, they don’t want to take it away. Now to be honest about it, in football, they’ve lost their 2 big wheels, Virgina Tech and Miami. If they go, they have been the dominant force in Big East football for the last 4 or 5 years. So I thought by now this would be done. I really did. I thought this would be put to bed and we would be moving on and getting ready for football, which is just around the corner, but now we’ve got to keep moving forward.

GL – Well, there are some things you have to question, if they only take 2 – the ACC… that doesn’t give them enough under current NCAA regulations to have a championship game in football. What is the advantage of just taking 2, and what is the likelihood of the NCAA altering its rule on a championship game?

RCJ – Well, that’s a good point George. And I think the reason they are going to take just 2 is they think they will be able to get a championship game. The process is to go through the football issues committee, then the cabinet meeting, which is going on right now, then the management council, of which I am a member, and we make the recommendation and send it on to the presidents. I got a call yesterday, no – the day before, from NCAA staff about our management council meeting next month, and in the course of the conversation brought up the issue. I asked if on our agenda would be a championship game for less than 12. And he said not at this time, but we might because there had been talk about that. Personally, it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t think 12 is a magic number. We in CUSA had toyed with that idea before about expanding and adding a championship game, but it doesn’t matter the number, there’s no sense in it if you cant get a crowd and a nice television package to go with it. You’re just spinning your wheels. I don’t think the ACC stopped at that number for any reason except they thought they could get the change done. And they could eliminate the lawsuit. They got enough votes to do that from the presidents I understand, and they did it. Now it will be interesting to see how it shakes out from here.

GL – Now if I heard you correctly, I think I heard you say that CUSA could consider some litigation.

RCJ – If somebody leaves, absolutely.

GL – Let me ask you this. Lets say Louisville leaves, and the Big East takes them. Is not the Big East doing to CUSA exactly the same thing they are raising the roof for and having litigation filed for what is being done to it?

RCJ – Exactly

GL – Is that hypocritical?

RCJ – Yes, it is. And I think George, it is the one main window we have for why there may be some sort of coalitions of joint movement of both conferences. I think particularly because the Big East has been so vocal about what the ACC is doing that, they would be very hesitant to take one school from our conference. I think though they think they could get away with taking one school and wouldn’t really break up the conference. I think though, if they try to take away 2 schools…from our standpoint, if someone made an overture to Louisville and Cincinnati, and we lose both of them, that would be a death knell to us and we would fight that tooth and nail and do everything possible. And our argument would be the same argument that the Attorney General of Connecticut is using: you’re taking away from the league, taking away from earnings and on and on and on. And if we have to George, that’s what we’ll do.

GL – But, and I have to ask this question, if the invitation was issued to Louisville and Memphis and not Louisville and Cincinnati, wouldn’t you jump at it?

RCJ – Absolutely

GL – Is that no also….

RCJ – Yes. Sure it is, but it’s the way it works. You know that. Virginia Tech right now – and I’m getting this second hand – is trying to decide what to do. Well, I think they are gone. They feel they have bettered their position and they are gone. And you are right, if anyone asked us and we would better our position, we would be gone in a heartbeat. But the main reason for a lawsuit, and I hate this stuff, you play the game and walk off the field and you don’t do all that stuff, but in this day and age, I spend as much time with the legal staff of the university as much as I do with anybody else, and it is what it is.

GL – And also RC, these leagues have provisions…for getting out and lawyers I have spoken with say, if there are provisions written into the bylaws and you meet those conditions, there’s really no basis for a lawsuit.

RCJ – Well, I’m not a legal, but I’ve talked to our people and I think that’s right. They are just doing it to slow down the train. I don’t think they really and truly believe its going to win, I think they are doing it to salvage what they think they need to do to keep the Big East intact. And if that’s what you need to do, that’s what you need to do. And we would do the same thing. We have 7 I think steps in our constitution by-laws if you want to withdraw from the league. Lane Rawlins, Joel Stiggers and John Shoemaker were instrumental in writing them and they made them stringent and expensive. You pay through the nose to leave Conference USA. So there is a lot there, and schools would probably fight some of those. You have to pay the difference in television loss if you lose a Louisville or Memphis. I don’t know how you would figure that, but it would have a huge impact particularly on the basketball television contract. And you know that will cause legal problems.

GL – What have you done to get various entities in the corporate community behind the university as it relates to a possible new league, merged league or move to the Big East?

RCJ – We early on, sat down and I tried to identify the corporations in our community that had the biggest impact nationally. No secret FedEx and AutoZone. FedEx has been awfully good to us and their staff and officers have been incredible… Things are kind of in limbo, waiting to see what has to be done, be it calling people in other communities, or calling corporations in other communities. We’ve got a plan in place and we are just waiting. We have – I have primarily- talked to other athletic directors to talk about us just a little bit and we are just preparing. I said before that my role is to get us prepared to go into the game and have a plan in place. I think we have one, it’s a good one, and we are prepared to execute it. I have been told by an athletic director of a Big East school that he didn’t know what was going to happen, but we are far ahead of where everyone else is as far as preparation and being ready to present our case, so we’ll see.

Go to break. Afterwards, a short discussion of meeting with Mayor Herenton and his staff regarding improvements to the Liberty Bowl stadium including, new Press Box, 50k chair back seating, new locker rooms.

[davidnark]

It sounds like the Big East, CUSA, and possibly A10 are going to get together and re-work their respective conferences. I wouldn't be surprised to see our mostly catholic conference after all.

[Basketbill]

it ought to be interesting, thanks for the post!

[kshoe]

most ADs, including our own, seem to prefer going the route of giving no details at all but this guy basically spelled every scenario and what Memphis would do in each.

Far and away, I think our best chance of improving ourself in this whole deal is if the three conferences get together and split up the basketball only schools and the football schools. I'm not sure what the A-10 has to gain by just letting Xavier and Dayton walk away but hopefully they have no choice in the matter.

The outcome of this shake-up is far more important to the long term success of the Billikens then any recruit or even the arena. We need to get in the right conference.

[cheeseman]

I absolutely agree- ending up in the wrong conference would be a diaster for SLU. Hopefully these three conferences will use some common sense and do what is in each of their best interest. A division of football schools and a division of basketball only schools or some combination of playing some games between the two (bb) on a rotation basis would be plus.

[tseugnekillib]

While I would prefer to be in the best possible conference, I'm not so sure that being in a top seven or eight rated conference is a "life and death" matter to a bball program's success.

At this time, fellow Jesuit institutions such as Creighton (Missouri Valley), Gonzaga (West Coast), Xavier (Atlantic 10) and Saint Joseph's (Atlantic 10) are all significantly higher rated programs than SLU, simply because they consistently win 20+ games a year. Again, consistent winning is the answer to most issues.

[Basketbill]

There are many things a recruit will look at.....

1. Coach

2. facilities

3. Conference

4. Location

5. tradition/success

6. Strength of schedule and TV exposure

If SLU wants to continue to be good they need to develop success year in and year out, keep the coach who achieves that success, improve the facilities and keep them uptodate, and keep the team in the press and on TV. The strength of their conference allows them to do that. Look at last year, if they were in the MVC last year, and were having a mediocre season would they have been talked about getting an NCAA Birth at all at the end of the year....no way. (granted their record might have been different)

The biggest problem for teams like Butler and Creighton is making sure their non conference schedule is strong, and if they do well then they are set but if they have a poor year, than a stumble or two in their conference could put them out of the NCAA. Fair or not it happens. The flip side is Mizzou, quin got the team in the NCAA each year, but that was because of their conference two of those years not because of their overall record. I would call this winning ugly.....it might not have looked great during the season, but looking back now Mizzou can say they were in the tourney three straight years or whatever. Butler can't their strengtt of schedule has hurt them, two years ago they were left out because the sos sucked even though they were deserving. Two years ago Creighton almost missed out too.

Sure you can site teams that have done well recently, but in order to build (not maintain) a tradition....a school has to keep their coach long term, have the facilities, have the support of their school, get on TV, recruit well, and play hard. A Strong conference is the one tangible thing that helps a school do all of it.

[davidnark]

Along those lines, there is no way teams like Arizona, Kansas, K-State, Mizzou, etc. would give us a home and home if we were in the MVC or Horizon instead of CUSA. As a result, if we were in the MVC our SOS would be killed by both a poor conference and non-conference schedule.

[slu72]

Let's face it, we either come out of all this b**l s**t in a top rated conference, say top 6 or 7, or the program is in jepoardy of becoming mid major. So much depends on this, it's frightening to think what unfolds if we don't. First, why build Biondi dome if we're going to be playing MVC schools? Worse, if that's our conference,what kind of atmosphere is going to exist at Savvis when you have 3,500 fans in a 20,000 seat arena? I can see West Pine being used. Home and homes against top teams are history with little or no tv exposure. UB sees himself, and rightly so, as a top 50 program coach, he'll check out at the first hc opportunity that gives him this. No games against Mizzery (hell, its' hard enough to get them to show up now) what would it be like if we are a SMS class program. I'm hoping the powers that be in CUSA and Big East have us in their sights. But if there was a merger, how many teams would be in this super sized conference? I appreciate the Memphis AD's candor. Especially when he said, they'd jump in a heartbeat but will sue anyone who tries to jump if they aren't included. He's telling it like it is. I wonder if VTech is still party to the suit against the ACC? My guess is they've dropped out.

[kshoe]

where the small-market teams can field a winner for a few years (Minnesota and Oakland) but at some point those teams will fall back and maybe another small market team will step up...but in general most small market teams are losers and most high-payroll teams are winners. To get in a major conference makes you a high payroll team and in general you will win more than you lose. Plus, in lower conferences there is more or less a ceiling on the type of success you can have. When was the last time a team not named Marquette or Umass made it to the final four from one of the non super six conferences.

[tseugnekillib]

nark, I agree with you on the home and home games with Arizona, UCLA etc. However, I do believe Doug Woolards'contacts were a big reason those games happened. Keep in mind that I did not mention the Horizon League. By the way, the Valley's SOS's ranged from a best for Indiana State (7-24) at #16 and a worst by Creighton at #220 (29-5). So much for being proud of your SOS! (SLU at 16-13 was ranked #54.)

[cheeseman]

Being in a good conference is a very important. You can not keep a good coach or attract one if you are not. Coaches worth their salt want to be in a conference where they can be high profile and succeed with recruiting. Every thing the others have said about this is absolutely correct. All those schools that are mid-majors that you have talked about would jump to a higher profile conference in a second if they could - even they know how important it is.

[kwyjibo]

Yes, Virginia Tech dropped out of the lawsuit (that stopped doing conference calls last week and that was a good sign of where things ended up).

The interesting thing about the lawsuit (being heard in Tolland County where Storrs/UConn is located--I recommend Willington Pizza if you are ever there!) is that BC and possibly Syracuse are now going to be providing evidence of backroom dealings that is alleged in the UConn+ suit. Heaven hath no fury like a Jesuit scorned (or something like that ) .

And on a nearly complete digression it would have been nice for my beloved Billiken Soccer team to schedule a game in the northeast. Going to UConn last year (and Rutgers the year before)was fun and I had hoped they would continue that--maybe in the future.

[tseugnekillib]

I agree that every university wants to be in the best conference possible, who wouldn't. However, I don't believe Creighton's current MVC scenario is "disastrous" for them. I also agree that great coaches are hard to keep at the mid-major level (i.e., Dana Altman to Iowa next year). I feel SLU will come out as well or better in upcoming conference changes.

[tseugnekillib]

If the money is donated, the SLU mid-town campus facility will be built regardless of our conference affiliation. By the way, go easy on negative shots at SMS. SMS has beaten SLU in five of our last six games and SMS will be the favorite when our Bills travel to Springfield this season.

[StLouBlue]

Don't scare me, I don't think Dana will be going to Iowa after Alford is finally run off. I agree though that SLU will be fine once all of the conference shakeup runs its course. At worst SLU would end up in a similar situation as Creighton in the Valley--not as bad as everyone thinks.

[cheeseman]

If we end up in the Valley it will be a step down and a step down is not good - I don't care how you window dress it. Creighton wants out of the Valley and has been looking for a way out for sometime. The problem is they have not been able to get an invitation to a top tiered conference so that is why they have stayed. As soon as they can get an offer they will be gone in a New York minute.

[cheeseman]

You are missing the point - it is not about who won the most recent game(s) or not. It is about a long term picture and teams like SMS will never be able to escape their limitations. SLU can be big time because of being in a top tier conference - we maybe have not done that yet but we stand a better chance then SMS. I am not being critcal but good gracious, SMS has been picking up the players we pass over so naturally, when we play them, it is like their super bowl. If Marque was not hurt we easily win at SMS 2 years ago - should have won anyway but that as I said before is not the point. As far as the arena is concerned, if we end up in a lower conference, then raising the money will be harder. If an announcement could be made right now that we are going in a high profile bb only league - the money shows up real quick.

[tseugnekillib]

I agree that SLU's longterm bball picture has much more growth potential than SMS's, and yes SMS does sign players we passed on (i.e, Blake Ahearn). My minor issue was, let's not take negative shots at another bball program that has beat us consistently in the past six years.

Regarding fund raising for our new arena, I'm not sure the guys, or gals, families or foundations that are capable of donating in the multi-million dollar range really care, know or understand the differences in basketball conferences.

[billiken_roy]

i totally agree with what tseugnekillib is saying. until we are beating the likes of siu and sms on a regular basis, we have no right to assume or act like we are a superior program.

i also do not like the double standard talk that we hear on occasion. for example, we rip away when a tiger fan makes an excuse for the reasoning behind the competitiveness of our series with missouri being "our super bowl", but just in this string i see that as an excuse for why sms plays us so tough. fine, that may be true, but if we allow that talk for sms, then we gotta let the tiger fans use that excuse as well. i prefer that we leave the "super bowl" excuse in the closet.

the other double standard is the approach we have nothing to gain by playing the siu's or sms's. b.s. we have nothing to gain by playing the 320th ranked teams, but those tough teams like sms and siu are games that we should be playing on a regular basis. again, if we dont expect them to play us, then why should the tigers or the illini play us? cant have it both ways.

[jjray]

>>i prefer that we leave the "super bowl" excuse in the closet.

the other double standard is the approach we have nothing to gain by playing the siu's or sms's. b.s. we have nothing to gain by playing the 320th ranked teams, but those tough teams like sms and siu are games that we should be playing on a regular basis. again, if we dont expect them to play us, then why should the tigers or the illini play us? cant have it both ways.<<

Roy makes a good point. Mizzou used the "super bowl" excuse last time we beat them and again after the "thrill'a at savvis" when stokes knocked down a rare jumper at the buzzer. I thought it was bogus when Mizzou used it against us and it should go both ways. Likewise, as long as SMS can stay consistently above 100 in the RPI, then there is no reason not to schedule them (unless it means dropping a quality out-of-conference opponent from the schedule). If SLU b-ball can't get to the point in the near future where we beat SMS regularly, year in, year out, then we are having delusions of grandeur. We are no better than them.

[cheeseman]

Actually, I understand the Tiger fans posistion so I have no qualms about using it for not playing teams like SMS or SIUC. You either are going to run with the big dogs or not.

[cheeseman]

Talking about playing them is different then being in the same conference. You want to play them then fine but I do not want to be tied to their status by being in the same conference. As far as Mizzou position is concerned - I said I understand it - I did not say that I like it. My overall position is that CUSA is a better conference overall than the Valley and so Mizzou not wanting to play us is about SLU but not about CUSA. If SLU gets better then they have no excuse but no matter how good a Valley team gets, they less conference affiliation will always keep them on the outside.

[jjray]

>Talking about playing them is different then being in the

>same conference. You want to play them then fine but I do

>not want to be tied to their status by being in the same

>conference. As far as Mizzou position is concerned - I said

>I understand it - I did not say that I like it. My overall

>position is that CUSA is a better conference overall than

>the Valley and so Mizzou not wanting to play us is about SLU

>but not about CUSA. If SLU gets better then they have no

>excuse but no matter how good a Valley team gets, they less

>conference affiliation will always keep them on the outside.

A reasonable position that I shall not argue with. The one Valley team that it would not trouble me to be in the same conference with is Creighton. I have no desire to be in the same conference with SMS; however, there should be room for regional out-of-conference rivalries with such teams.