Setting records in both program and conference history: www.ohiobobcats.com/genrel/031113aaa.html

Just think about what has been accomplished in both the last few years.

Football
Four Straight Bowl Games and Five overall
Two Straight Bowl Victories
Only One Losing Season in Seven Years

Basketball
Two MAC Tourney Titles in Three Seasons (possibly three in four)
Three MAC Tourney Titles in Eight Seasons
One Regular Season Title
Three NCAA Victories
Five NCAA Tournament Games
Twelve Postseason Victories in the Last Three Seasons
The Winningest Senior Class in Program History

I could keep posting and posting but you get the picture.  We think back fondly on the golden era of Ohio sports, this is it.

71 wins (and counting) over the past two years combined...

I bet we would dominate that conference in football.

 

Only move in men's and women's basketball.  Keep all other sports, including football, in the MAC.
 

There is no reason I am aware of that we can not make this happen. There is no reason I am aware of the MVC would not openly welcome us in basketball only.  The MAC is soft.  They will not kick us out in all the other sports.  At worst we will pay a small exit fee. 

I've always thought we've done a great job in creating a big time program feel. If we had a 50,000 seat football stadium, I would consider us a major team that could compete in big time conferences. I would hate to say Big 10, because tOSU would have a heart attack, and Big 12 we would complain about travel costs and our only major rival would be WVU, and Big East is in shambles for football...

It's in the Mid American conference bylaws that in order to be a full member of the MAC, you must play so many sports in conference and they must include Football, mens and womens Basketball, and Baseball and softball (I believe thats all, however there may be more required).  So all full members must participate in those sports in the MAC. There are instances in which there are affiliate members (UMass in football obviously) but I can guarantee that if we were to withdraw out full membership from the MAC, they wouldn't be eager to offer us an affiliate membership on our 15 other sports.  

 

That makes sense. Unfortunately, moving everything but football doesn't make any sense. We can't afford to travel in the MVC outside of in hoops, and I would imagine the level of play isn't as good in any of those sports (outside of hoops)..
 

I know some would rather we focus on hoops and let football fall as it will.  I do not agree.  I want to keep football at the D1 level, and unless we get a miracle ACC type offer, the MAC is the best fit. The Big Eat and/otlr CUSA or whatever are left of them do not make sense.
 

I am still almost tempted to just leave the MAC in hoops and see what the MAC does. If the MAC is willing to let EMU play tournament home games in front of 300 people, I am not convinced they wouldn't offer us affiliate membership in whatever we wanted. That is a bold course of action though...
 

Its too bad the MAC is not willing to improve just a little bit in men's basketball. I do not think it would take too much to make this a 2 bid league.

 

You are talking about UC football.  I am talking Ohio basketball.  We absolutely have attendance in hoops to go big time conference, unfortunately other factors are holding us back.  Mainly our desire to keep our other sports at the right level based on their strength.  Ohio basketball and UC football are not comparable, IMO.  And I do not see anyone talking "big time" for Ohio football

We're averaging 7,000 in basketball per home game. Imagine what the number would be if student were in session for the home Buffalo and Miami game. If we played some how in the ACC (no way in hell, this is just fantasy...), I bet we could average 8-9,000 per home game. Having UNC, Duke, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, and Virginia Tech would result in sell outs. I'd say if we have two more great years of basketball (NCAA bid/s, Mac Regular and Conference Title, and averaging around 7,000 per home game). I'd say we should look at our options or if the America 12 Conference is terrible and some reason Buffalo and EMU leaves, bring in UMASS as full member, add JMU, Delaware, UCONN, Cincinnati, Temple, and Maybe Memphis? Not only does it bring in great basketball schools, it brings in great academic schools that all play FBS football. Also sign some sweet lucrative contract with ESPN and be an AQ conference in football and have at least two bids in the NCAA tournament. That's just me spit ballin...

 

Sorry. Poorly worded on my part.. I was not suggesting that they werent speculating about playing in a big time conference, but rather that no one was suggesting such a move is possible for football.  Now that I reread your post, I realized you were talking about just the fictional aspect of attendance if we were to ever make a move.

I am only concerned with what could potentially be in the works.. Right now, even hoops doesn't seem like anything could happen with the affiliate membership issues.

One thing I have yet to see in all this Bobcat pie-in-the-sky, we should be big time talk is throwing our weight around in this conference.

Lets be honest, while the last 4 years have been great for the department we have 1 Regular Season championship in the last 19 years, 2 fluke Tournament Championships ('05 & '10), and the most recent 2 years have seen solid growth. (Awesome compared to recent history)

I'm not trying to rain on the parade, I just think its all a bit early. We're gonna need at least 2 more consistently great years to get a decent look from a decent conference. If I'm in charge if a conference I'm not risking it quite yet on Ohio (with no strong TV market). Come back to me in 2 years when you've proven yourself as a continuously sucressful program. 1 Sweet 16 apparence does not create a resume, it's just one bullet point. (Look at Kent)

What needs to happen now is that we need to pressure the MAC to step it up. We average double what others do, and in some instances (Akron) outdraw all other games combined. We are THE founding member, our history is rich, our facility is classic, and our University is top-notch. It's time we influence the NE Ohio hand-sitters into doing some hard work and ass kicking, by bringing up the bottom dwellers.

After 2 years of continued success and ass kicking, if things aren't better we have a perfect excuse to cut ties and say peace. The folks in Hashron Zippy land will be happy to join us too.

Probably, though baseball would get it handed to them for a while until/if they can catch up.