Whatever, John Denver.  Nothing negative, geez!!!

mckayt--I wasn't aiming at you specifically by any means.  It's just that on the hoops and football threads there have been a ton of threads about how we should, or are about to, change conferences ...or how the MAC's membership should, or is about to, change.  With not an iota of evidence that there is any chance or truth to same.

It gets tiresome and silly.  Reality needs to be a factor at some point.

I did not perceive a negative tone in his posts.

If you don't see his reference to the problem with the IPF as negative, then we will agree to disagree. I see no reason whatsoever that he would bring up the negative? aspect of the IPF when we should be celebrating that happening. A bad start to the discussion. Let me say that I think we should be playing Marshall on a regular basis based on proximity and to some degree on past history which is complicated to be sure. It could even become our number 1 rivalry IMO , even if we're not in the same conference.

Neither the Big XII or ACC have a school in Ohio, the best recruiting state within their footprints. That represents some opportunity for us long term. Cincinnati has been long rumored to be that next school from Ohio to move up but OHIO has largely caught up to the Bearcats in football and basketball over the last 3 or 4 years. In football OHIO has a record of 36-18 since 2009 while UC is 36-15. In basketball OHIO has a record of 94-49 and UC has a record of 93-48. The two schools have been identical in football and basketball performance over the last 4 years. The trends though don't favor Cincinnati which is losing BCS status and taking a step backwards in basketball. If the programs can continue to grow for a decade under Solich and Christian while UC flounders they can be passed by when the next moves are made. I know UC is in a bigger city but its getting a lot easier to get to Athens with the Lancaster and Parkersburg bypasses. If I remember correctly UConn brought a charter into Parkersburg airport. Things can change quickly in a decade, look at what has happened at TCU and Boise State. The thing is OHIO has the leadership in place that wants to see it happen which is key.

It doesn't matter it all comes down to recruiting. UC is going to take a recruiting hit by no longer playing in the Big East. Eventually that will reflect in the win and loss column. The best move for OHIO is to stay put in the MAC, rack up a lot of wins and work on enhancing football and basketball facilities. Moving to CUSA is a gamble that could destabilize our success. It hasn't worked at all for Marshall so I can't see it working for us.

UC is already taking a recruiting hit with Tuberville in control of that program. The Florida and Texas schools of AAC are going to improve their recruiting while UC is going to lose players to the ACC. UC was very dependent upon playing in the Big East for recruiting and now it will fall back to the average non-AQ level. It is relevant because if UC becomes a 4-8 type program their support will collapse. Ohio then starts racking up a bunch of MAC Championships with Top 20 finishes the ACC or Big XII could look to Ohio before UC in that event. If the two schools have equal performance than UC will get the nod and they do fit the urban ACC model more. Ohio fits the Big XII model more so because they are focused more on college towns like West Virginia and Iowa State. There are no guarantees here but I would much rather direct the resources toward facilities (basketball practice facility) right now then spend 2 million to make a sideways move to CUSA and I think we all agree with that.

I agree 1000000000000%

Ohio has a very big benefit over UC. The name.  What comes with a good name?

To start with, a great potential TV market....
"But Optimist, Athens doesn't have more people than Cincinnati!"
My State. My Team.  Besides alumni, Cincinnati isn't going to gain a following in Columbus or Toledo or Cleveland. Ohio Bobcats? My state, my team. I know a lot of sports fans in Ohio who aren't under the spell of OSU who really would like to support the state they live in.  I think it is very clear how the people in Chubb and The Convo are trying to position Ohio University...

If the ACC wants to challenge the Big 10's stranglehold on the Buckeye State, they aren't going for UC. They are going for The Real O-H-I-O. Football and men's basketball are doing their job. We just need to keep doing what we are doing... We are hitting on all strides right now.

For those of you who think this is crazy talk. Why? Because Ohio doesn't have a following in the 3 C's? I disagree. On any given day, I see tons of Bobcat gear in Cleveland. Did you see our showing at the MAC tournament this year? Did you see our showing in St. Louis last year?
Attendance? We are already there in basketball... And we are getting there in football. With that fancy bypass things are looking quite green from Columbus.
The biggest problem I see is Peden, and when we are talking about a move to the big-show, I really don't think that is a show-stopping limitation. Being named SE Ohio Tech would be a limitation hard to overcome. Only having 5,000 undergrads would be a limitation hard to overcome. Needing to build a bigger football stadium when money isn't falling from trees is a problem but not some unreasonable, impossible task. Especially when we have a student and alumni base that has always had great school pride and football and basketball winning on the biggest stage for the 1st time in a very long time AND school leadership that appears to also enjoy green kool-aid.

Edit:
Did I mention our record application numbers?

I hope you're right, Optimist but UC is very popular here in NE Ohio also.  UC recruits and advertises in this area very hard; they advertise at Brush football games and I'm sure other area high schools too.  You see A LOT of people wearing UC apparel up here ( not quite as much as Ohio apparel), more than one would normally think.

My high school football games were sponsored by UC and I thought it was funny as none has gone to UC from my school to play football. We have one starter for sure on the Current Bobcat team and one potential. Also OU is growing in popularity in Columbus. I don't go more than two days out and about without seeing an OU shirt. The majority of time I see OSU gear is from old alumni who are 60+ years old. I see so many kids and young adults wearing OHIO gear. We have a new young fan base in Columbus, which will only increase growth.

Plus since were playing three games against Ohio State in basketball the next three years It will be greatly represented around Columbus. I think two of the games are at Value City Arena and the other game is at Nationwide Arena, but it will be our home game.

the fact that our sales last year eclipsed previous MAC sales is an indictment of the conference. When we are still selling tickets for $4.50 and the fact that I can get Phillips seats for $110 for the season and you don't think that we are basically giving away seats? What was total bb and fb ticket revenue last year- under a million? We are giving away seats compared to the rest of the football world.

Ohio had 124,782 fans this past season in basketball and 131,063 in football. Combined that is 255,845 fans on the season in the two major sports. The average ticket price paid is at least 10 dollars so that would put the ticket revenue right around 2.5 million.

http://marshall.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2236&tid=1...