AAC 1 fan who is happy with it

[Btown Bearcat]

Am I the only fan that thinks the AAC is actually set up perfect for uc in basketball and football? Yes getting in acc or big 12 would be great but if not this league will be perfect for us for football you got schools like ucf uconn houston smu all these schools can only get better and they will now they can recruit better players. Basketball im positive we will be fine we got the obvious Memphis, Uconn, Temple twice every year and we got teams like houston, UCF and smu recruiting top notch talent now SMU signed the top 5 player next year not to mention we will be nationally televised way more then we were in the big east. Dont think of it right now but what this league will be in a year or 2 or even 3 years down the line were talking alot of like minded schools that are going to be able to put way better products on the field i think its actually gonna work out if we dont goto the acc or big 12

 

[Cataclysmo]

The problem with the AAC is perception. I have no doubt that schools like UCF, Houston, and SMU are actually better than Cuse, Pitt, and even WVU this year. However, the effect ESPN has on the collective thought of the common fan is very detrimental to the league. Despite the fact that a bunch of our conference mates are starting to win, expand stadiums, and play top notch competition touch, the writers on ESPN choose to write about stories such as Jameis Winston being blind. Remember the fiasco when they took the blog away? Now, due to the lack of coverage of the conference, people look at our bottom feeders and scoff at the quality of the rest of us. The common fan DOES NOT do the same when observing the SEC and the likes of Kentucky, or even the big ten. It seems the tradition that every sports writer grew up with is more important to ESPN than up-and-coming teams, and thus, they refuse to accept the facet that there are some horrible teams in other conferences as well. The BIG 10 is God awful this year, but they are helped by media pundits dubbing some of their top teams as worthy of being ranked. I mean hell...Notre Dame is ranked and they struggled to beat Purdue...

 

[bearcat jeff]

I think it could be huge for the Bearcats IF they perform on the court/field.

 

[Btown Bearcat]

if we win they cant hide the perception in basketball they wont be able hide fact were gonna be better then alot of conferences i think we will get more respect then people expect considering were gonna be on espn when other conferences are starting to sign else where fox sports 1 and things i dont think espn perception matters as much as you think

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

The American will give Cincinnati a better opportunity to get marquee OOC games/tournaments. Getting more out of conference games on ESPN will help get Cincinnati back into the national spot light. Basketball wise, UC will be solid shape.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

Basketball wise it won't matter. Might even help if we can dominate the conference or at least win 25 plus games a year with a softened schedule. Football wise it could be a slow death. Fans on this own board have already written this team off because we struggled against a weakened schedule. The national perception of this conference is not good (nor should it be). We no longer are part of the power conferences, which clearly spells out the haves and have nots of college football. The only way we stay relevant in football is if we go 12-0 or 11-1 year in and year out and honestly without a strong, loyal fanbase that will be tough to do. Another chance would be for the rest of the conference to really step up their games so even your worst teams aren't considered horrible. That's counting on a lot. And even if that happens we're still on the outside looking in and will just have a harder time winning. This city's fans does not accept mediocrity and winning in a bad conference is mediocrity. We'll never be OSU or the Bengals to most in town and that won't change playing in the AAC.

 

[Nomadic1]

... Recruiting will fall behind, our tv deal will leave us with basically no exposure. This is a fabricated conference with no history and we'll be running an athletic department on a shoe string budget, which means we'll have no coaching continuity.


*#$% the AAC.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

... Recruiting will fall behind, our tv deal will leave us with basically no exposure. This is a fabricated conference with no history and we'll be running an athletic department on a shoe string budget, which means we'll have no coaching continuity.


*#$% the AAC.

I hate to agree with such negativity, but it's true. We might be "lucky" and hold on to Tuberville for several years to come, but this will not be a destination school for coaching. It wasn't in a BCS conference so it definitely won't be in a lesser conference. We need to hope Tuberville brings in the recruits he's capable of and we win and the city at least keeps some interest in the team to make gameday exciting. Most of our games this year haven't been on TV. TV money is everything in college sports these days.

 

[JumpinJack5]

Basketball wise it won't matter. Might even help if we can dominate the conference or at least win 25 plus games a year with a softened schedule. Football wise it could be a slow death. Fans on this own board have already written this team off because we struggled against a weakened schedule. The national perception of this conference is not good (nor should it be). We no longer are part of the power conferences, which clearly spells out the haves and have nots of college football. The only way we stay relevant in football is if we go 12-0 or 11-1 year in and year out and honestly without a strong, loyal fanbase that will be tough to do. Another chance would be for the rest of the conference to really step up their games so even your worst teams aren't considered horrible. That's counting on a lot. And even if that happens we're still on the outside looking in and will just have a harder time winning. This city's fans does not accept mediocrity and winning in a bad conference is mediocrity. We'll never be OSU or the Bengals to most in town and that won't change playing in the AAC.

I disagree with your football reasoning. Our attendance has grown substantially this year and the fan base is more excited than it has ever been (which shocks me, as Butch had to pull teeth to get people to show up). Considering the weak schedule, the attendance has been top notch. Also, we don't need to go 12-0 or 11-1 to stay relevant. We need consistency, in both our record and staff. If TT can go 8-4 or 9-3 year in and year out, if they work on getting a stronger schedule, etc., we can have a nice program. Nobody expects us to be playing for the National Championship, we just need solid bowl games and a few headliner non-conference games. The problem with scheduling is that it is done so far in advance that you have no clue how good you or your opponent will be. Illinois was solid when we scheduled them and we were supposed to get OSU this year. The AAC will have a few good teams every year even without U of L and Rutgers, and if we can be in the mix for conference championships, we should be fine. Also, I just read a story saying that a UC assistant told a recruit that we would be in the Big 12 next year. I'm not saying we will or that what he said will come true, but it is interesting that an assistant would tell this to a recruit if it wasn't true. I'm not counting on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if we moved either.

 

[Btown Bearcat]

I hate to agree with such negativity, but it's true. We might be "lucky" and hold on to Tuberville for several years to come, but this will not be a destination school for coaching. It wasn't in a BCS conference so it definitely won't be in a lesser conference. We need to hope Tuberville brings in the recruits he's capable of and we win and the city at least keeps some interest in the team to make gameday exciting. Most of our games this year haven't been on TV. TV money is everything in college sports these days.

ya that is what it is no matter where we go but that goes for almost every school anymore no one is safe look at saban talking with texas thats the last of my worries

 

[Btown Bearcat]

I disagree with your football reasoning. Our attendance has grown substantially this year and the fan base is more excited than it has ever been (which shocks me, as Butch had to pull teeth to get people to show up). Considering the weak schedule, the attendance has been top notch. Also, we don't need to go 12-0 or 11-1 to stay relevant. We need consistency, in both our record and staff. If TT can go 8-4 or 9-3 year in and year out, if they work on getting a stronger schedule, etc., we can have a nice program. Nobody expects us to be playing for the National Championship, we just need solid bowl games and a few headliner non-conference games. The problem with scheduling is that it is done so far in advance that you have no clue how good you or your opponent will be. Illinois was solid when we scheduled them and we were supposed to get OSU this year. The AAC will have a few good teams every year even without U of L and Rutgers, and if we can be in the mix for conference championships, we should be fine. Also, I just read a story saying that a UC assistant told a recruit that we would be in the Big 12 next year. I'm not saying we will or that what he said will come true, but it is interesting that an assistant would tell this to a recruit if it wasn't true. I'm not counting on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if we moved either.

ya i agree you got schools like houston and ucf in particular that will get better in football and lets face it all these schools will be recruiting better players alot schools playing bad will get better like uconn and usf and smu and temple

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I disagree with your football reasoning. Our attendance has grown substantially this year and the fan base is more excited than it has ever been (which shocks me, as Butch had to pull teeth to get people to show up). Considering the weak schedule, the attendance has been top notch. Also, we don't need to go 12-0 or 11-1 to stay relevant. We need consistency, in both our record and staff. If TT can go 8-4 or 9-3 year in and year out, if they work on getting a stronger schedule, etc., we can have a nice program. Nobody expects us to be playing for the National Championship, we just need solid bowl games and a few headliner non-conference games. The problem with scheduling is that it is done so far in advance that you have no clue how good you or your opponent will be. Illinois was solid when we scheduled them and we were supposed to get OSU this year. The AAC will have a few good teams every year even without U of L and Rutgers, and if we can be in the mix for conference championships, we should be fine. Also, I just read a story saying that a UC assistant told a recruit that we would be in the Big 12 next year. I'm not saying we will or that what he said will come true, but it is interesting that an assistant would tell this to a recruit if it wasn't true. I'm not counting on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if we moved either.

First off, my response is to the topic of the thread which is that the AAC is perfectly set up for us in basketball and in football. While I can agree with your points, I think your points reflect to if the program can still win and draw fans not to if the AAC is good for our football program. I think we're talking different things. My point is that going 8-4 and 9-3 will bring us mediocrity on the national stage. Maybe slow death was the wrong choice of words as I don't believe that we will revert back to the pre-Dantonio days of only a few thousand fans in the stands and complete disinterest by the city and local media. But from a national standpoint we won't stay relevant going 8-4 or 9-3. You said yourself we won't be playing for national championships. Tell me anyone who is relevant that doesn't have a chance in theory at least to win a national title. And while attendance might be up this year, drawing 28,000 yesterday is laughable compared to any major university's attendance figures. Plus there is talk of in the future the big 5 conferences not scheduling anybody outside of those 5 conferences in non-conference scheduling and talk of these super-conferences breaking away from the NCAA altogether. While that is speculation, saying we are in a perfect situation in the AAC is just not sensible to me. We won't draw big TV money in this conference and as time moves forward I'm guessing the big networks further push conferences like the AAC into little dog status.