Short of committing a crime, we should do anything to get into the MVC. Best conference in the country.

Best? Maybe for mid-majors depending if you consider A-10 mid major or not... Also we have no connection with the other schools and some people will complain about extra driving, loss of rivalries, etc... A move to the MVC would not be in our best interest. Who would be our main rival? Indiana State? Wichita? Not to mention Creighton is on the way out...

I thought Alden's xision was toward being a Big Ten school. That is  wholly different footprint.Maybe I am wrong on that but I thought that was what I have read in a couple of places rlelated to the building of the Convo over the years

Both Ohio Football and Basketball have appeared in the Top 25 within the past 12 months.  Multiple MAC Conference teams have appeared in both football and basketball in the past 12 months.  In the past 12 months the MAC was one foul shot from the elite eight and played in a BCS Bowl game.  Seems to me things are rolling pretty good for the MAC.

Between football and basketball we seem to play on ESPN far more than Dayton, Xavier or any single CUSA, MVC team.  The Ohio Bobcats are becoming a household name among college sports fans.  I would love a jump to a major...but see no reason to move to one of the other less stable mid majors.  

Keep on beating the dead pony.

We are rolling right now, as far as fundraising and current success is concerned.  And yet, we still have exactly zero MAC titles in football or basketball since 1994.  When we start to dominate the conference year in and out, ala Marshall early 2000s in football, then maybe, just maybe, should we start to consider looking for a new home.  That has not happened yet.  Until it does, stop spinning the wheels.

This has been my approach since getting here. WHy not dominate the MAC year in and year out. GOnazaga is very happy to sit on the west coast and lace their OOC season with big wigs to buiild the resume.....and they did that earlier in their run up on the road and at Nuetral sites. NO reason for OHIO to look to run with the big dogs till they prove they can.....and that starts at home in the MAC. Seems more economical to run that model up and get it in place. Are we going to have to pay to play? You betcha. Unless you groom a sustainable cadre of coaches a la Butler then you have to retain a Coach for years. In either case you have to dominate like Butler and the Zags for a bit of time.

I'm in the "a move to a better basketball conference would be great, but not at the expense of football" camp, because I'm a bigger football fan than I am a basketball fan. And I suspect that the way everyone comes down on this issue is in large part based on the same reason.

But here's what I want to know: Over a 5-10 year period, by (a) moving basketball to the A-10 or MVC and (b) going without a conference affiliation in football, can we realistically (i) increase (for both sports) the number of TV sets that can see our games, (ii) get a better net financial return, and (iii) compete at a high level (defined as (1) consistent winning seasons for both sports, (2) bowl games in 80% of the seasons for football, and (3) NCAA  appearances in 20% of the seasons for basketball, no worse than NIT appearances in 75% of the seasons)?

I have never run (or even worked in) an athletic department, and beyond the numbers that are occassionally posted on this site, I haven't looked at the issue. But if you can show me a realistic plan to achieve those benchmarks no later than 5 years following such a move, then I'm open to going for it.

Is there precedent for an FBS school taking hoops to another (superior) conference while playing the remainder of their sports in their primary conference?  I know there is for the opposite notion, but I've not seen it in the inverse as is being suggested here.  There may be, it just doesn't come to mind.

And if we drop football in its entirety or drop to FCS or lower, can I see some suggestions for the changes necessary to remain title nine compliant?

Nothing against hoops, as I enjoy it, but my annual donations to OBC will decline if we drop below FBS.

And with Bob Walter giving $8MM to the MPF (benefiting primarily the FB progrram) and $2MM to the Convo restoration, do you think he might have a concern about such a move?  Would that same $8MM have built a pretty nice basketball practice facility?  He's a pretty smart guy, so just tracking that one gift, do you think there would be some impact on the larger donor base if we were to do such a thing?

Just spit-balling.

We have been focusing a lot on our athletic, and have been spending a ton on them. I would say if you would rank all the MAC schools based on success in football and basketball in the past three years, we would be number one. 

Highlights: 

Football: Two MAC title games, Three Bowl Games, Two bowl game victories, multiple games on ESPN, a win against Penn State, and briefly ranked 22nd. 

Basketball: Two MAC Tournament Championships, Round of 32 appearance, Sweet 16 appearance, finished a season ranked 25th, beating Georgetown, Michigan, USF, and taking UNC to OT, and breaking attendance records. 

Football Average Attendance 2012: 21,843 91% full 

Basketball Average Attendance 2012-13: 6,844 

Basketball is the top in the MAC, by 3,191, Akron comes 2nd at 3,653

Not to mention OU is one of the toughest places to travel too as its location is over an hour away from a large Metro (excluding Parkersburg). 

If I were to give my two cents: If we average over 7,000 basketball fans, 23,000 football fans for the next three years I would suggest an expansion of Peden Stadium to around 28,000. If we also win two MAC championships out of the next three years in football and basketball, I would look at the Big East to see what the offer. Big East would be perfect for basketball as we would play Cincinnati, UCONN, and Memphis each year that would create HUGE CROWDS to the Convocation Center. I wouldn't be surprised if all three games at home to those teams drew over 12,000 fans plus coverage on an ESPN channel. 

Last year: Big East ranked 2nd in basketball attendance, granted they had much better teams then they will next year. The highest average attended game in the MAC was Ohio at: 5,599. This year we averaging 6,844 or 1,245 more fans. The MAC ranked 14th and averaged 2,907 fans. Big East averaged 11,323. 

With the 2011-2012 Stats, the 2013-2014 Former Big East Conference would average (excluding Louisville and Rutgers):
Cincinnati:7,344
UCONN: 11,569
Temple: 5,925
Memphis: 16,768
SMU: 1,970
Houston: 3,281
USF: 4,230
UCF: 6,370

Average: 7,182
With OHIO: 7,013

2011-2012 Missouri Valley: 7,182
(Creighton is on the way out and they averaged 13,507) 
Missouri Valley without Creighton: 6,089
2011-2012 MAC: 2,907

Big East Football (2011): 43,766
MAC (2011): 17,033 

Projected Big East 2014: 
Cincinnati: 32,293
UCONN: 36,688
Temple: 28,060
Memphis: 20,078
SMU: 20,894
Houston: 33,453
USF: 44,550
UCF: 34,283
ECU: 50,012
Tulane: 22,000
Navy: 34,611

Average: 32,447

Ohio: 21,843 2012, if we had 28,000 seat stadium I would project: 25,480 91%

If we were to go to the former Big East, we would have an automatic BCS bid in football, with a larger TV package with more games on national TV, not to mention the average attendance would be much higher in both football and basketball. I don't know how large the MVC T.V. Package is, but their average attendance is almost double what the MAC is excluding Creighton, and would be 1,000 under what the former big east new conference name is. 

For basketball, MVC and Big East both will be more lucrative and have better attendance, teams, and T.V. coverage than the MAC, but I don't think we can split up football and football will be here in three years. The only viable option is Big East and have a BCS bid for football, and more T.V. Coverage and higher attendance and more than one bid in the NCAA tournament in basketball. The only problem would be, would the accept us? Would it cost us more money to join? Would we lose former rivalries against Marshall, Miami, and Akron/Kent? 

Final Word: If we have the money and its viable move to Former Big East (to be renamed conference) or stay in MAC. 

Great number finding.  It was nice to see how we stack up.

However, the new Big East is going to be garbage.  UC is looking for their first ticket out, as is UConn.  The old Big East was essentially a joke in football, and they are losing their top basketball programs next year.

No thanks.

Van, I agree with your point.  Akron and Ohio are the only two concerned with playing great basketball.  However, as long as we have football, the MAC is a fine fit.  It stinks playing the other MAC teams, but that isn't what is killing our RPI.  It's losing to them.  Akron's RPI was pretty good, considering they really don't have a quality win and especially don't have one on the road. 

I think borna is right.  If we can consistently dominate the MAC, and grab a few top 100 Ws in the non-conference schedule, the MAC is fine for us. 

I couldn't name you another program in the WCC outside of Gonzaga and St. Marys.  Both of them are looked at positively every year.  No reason we couldn't do the same with Akron.

Ohio is in no position to go anywhere, nor should we be.  The MAC is the most stable conference, and definitely the safest conference to be in for a mid major.  With all the talk about paying student athletes the full cost of tuition at big schools, there is no way OU could be on a conference like that.  The MAC would not let us be football only, and most money comes from the football side.  OU is in a conference with schools that have the same mindset they do with athletics.  I think this is a good thing.  If we want to take the next step, we have to prove that we can compete at that level.  To do this we need to win *championships* both regular and post season in football and hoops.  We also need to consider the increased cost of travel for ALL SPORTS.  While the MVC may sound sexier, those teams don't make the amount of money OU does from TV and other conference revenues.  There are more examples of smaller schools that stuck with their conference to make it big (Gonzaga, Boise) than ones that tried to make the move up and found themselves in the same boat with more costs.  Unless the scenerios change greatly, we will not be moving conferences and that is a good thing.  

I feel like since we are an all-sports member, they would be less inclined for us to let us leave for everything expect for football.  I would imagine that we would have to pay a premium exit fee if we stayed for Football.  But this is just a feeling.