The identity of the AAC is Large Public School (or private in rare cases like a BYU) in mid to large metros with a proven commitment to development in ALL areas. That is our direction.
We do have a few outliers in the AAC but the majority of the schools fit this description.
With that said, Navy brings respect, pride and attention to the Conference but their "connection " to the Conference is the weakest. They bring Navy vs Army attention…not Conference attention like a UH, UC, or UCF does.
They are a ‘never here’ sibling whereas the other fan bases are trying to build this Conference together. Navy fans are the least active bunch on AAC Conference forums.
Keep Navy but NO x INFINITY for ever bringing in another service academy. It just doesn’t fit what we are trying to do in the American.
I got two appointments to both Navy and USAFA, ended up going to AFA and flunking out.
At the same time, candidates can get a Letter of Assurance, this is kind of like being admitted before finishing the requirements. A soccer recruit in my district had one for the class that my brother is in, and mentioned that to the nomination committee. He got it.
Half of every class at an academy is recruited athletes. A majority of them, a huge, huge majority of them, want to attend the academy. Not many of them seek to go pro, they are there for the education, and used their athletics as a BONUS to get in. And some of those teams can be really, really, good.
Its unique to imagine all the service academies in a conference and any year one broke out they’d be a media darling. That said, why spend the energy right now?
Stat focused on BYU is my wish. That’s a brand elevator right there.
American Athletic Conference…Not American Armed Forces Athletic Conference.
We should keep Navy ( who doesn’t even want to be a full membe BTW)…but it is silly to think their fans support OUR conference as well as the fans from Houston, Cincinnati, Memphis, UCF, SMU, etc.
In fact, their fans rarely, if ever, visit the AAC forum and I doubt they have the same type of passionate discussions about expansion candidates and what is best for OUR conference as the others.
We have to think about programs that bring VALUE to the AAC and help it grow…we don’t need to be giving charity invites for patriotic reasons ALONE.
I don’t visit the AAC forum, didn’t even know their was one. I know there’s an AAC website with info put out, but never noticed a forum. I also don’t go onto other teams’ websites except in very rare instances. I may have gone onto another team’s site about 4 or 5 times total in all these years. But I am interested in how the other teams in the conference do.
I do think that a lot of Americans would tune into games including the academies against our conference members. I know I have watched their games before they were ever associated with any conference we were in. I also know a lot of Americans tune in for the annual Army-Navy games which I have watched every year since I was a child.
Navy, while a patriotic member, is a bad conference mate. The type of student/alum that attends a service academy has far more important things to worry about than how to raise the staure of a G5 conference.
IF we add another member, we have to be smart about it and think of everything they bring to the table. And not just because they are service academies because those institutions are the worst type of conference mates FOR WHAT WE ARE BUILDING.
Some Boise State followers saying the AD will announce full capacity for fall home games, others saying a stadium renovation/expansion project, others believe it could be a conference move. We’ll find out soon enough!
We had that invite once, but we chose to go the SWC instead. If only…
As for the $60M in the SEC and in last or $10 in 1st in the AAC question:. quoting Milton" * “Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven” Which would you rather have?
You mean like ATM has done the past 10 years with their SEC recruits, a 100,000+ seat stadium and a $200,000,000.00+ athletic budget? Remind us of how many times ATM has played in an SEC Championship game or has been invited to the college FB playoffs?
ATM will always have far better fan support, far better facilities and much, much better financial support than UH can ever dream of having. Heck, UH has no realistic chance of even matching Arkansas in any of those categories and look at their track record in the SEC. Arkansas has won a grand total of 3 SEC games during the past 3 seasons.
The SEC and B1G are probably regarded as the two best P5 conferences.
If we get in one of those two we are golden. We will have financial security to support out athletic department long term (not a given now), would have access to great recruits , and COULD be best in the nation type good IF we make smart decisions because the resources will be there.
So, if that is the Hell option…I think we will all gladly sign up for that!
I think the hell option is that these don’t materialize. And while we are rich we never get past being an Arky or Vandy in the SEC or a Rutgers in the B1G
Obviously we can never go back in time. IMO due to our geographical location and the fact that we were one of the first school to integrate African-American athlete I have no doubts that we would have become a National powerhouse.
College station vs Houston? This is not even comparable.
Our goal is to get back into a P5 any which way we can.