Is to forget the past few seasons and bring in Marshall. Then, lets keep raiding C-USA and bring along Memphis. The reasons are in the article, but if the MAC thinks big, this seems like a great move. Lets stop being jilted lovers and bring back the Herd! 

Interesting, hadn't ever really thought of Memphis, though having them would guarantee a 2nd NCAA spot for the MAC more than likely.  But if I recall correctly the reason Marshall would never leave is that they still make a ton more money in the C-USA than they would in the MAC.  Don't know if these defections though could impact that truth. 

A couple of points to consider concerning expansion and the steady climb of MAC football. Marshall yes, but we are forgetting about East Carolina. Their ties to Marshall go way back. East Carolina would probably lead the MAC in attendance if they were members. From what I am told, both Marshall and East Carolina feel the odd men out in their conference. (Keep in mind Marshall beat Southern Mississippi who beat supposed BCS bowl team in waiting Houston. I don't have to tell you the drubbing we gave the Thundering Herd. Yet, how many people across the country or even CUSA even know that Marshall beat Southern Mississippi.

Someone who is well connected to MAC sports and the MAC front office told me that in the late 90s panic was setting in among some MAC football coaches. Basketball was what the conference was known for and some MAC schools were having trouble hiring top high school football coaches to their staffs because high school salaries were greater than MAC assistant football coaches salaries. Along came Urban Meyer to Bowling Green. Meyer was going to tell the Falcons no when offered the job but his mentor Lou Holtz told Meyer that there are no dream jobs for first time coaches. Anyway, the rest is history. MAC head coaches salaries along with assistant coaches salaries have skyrocketed (along with the rest of college football.) Now we are more known for our college football than basketball, even though there are only 12 regular season games for football and nearly three times as many for basketball.

To sum this up, we need to continue to elevate our programs through talent and visibility which will eventually translate into attendance. Winning does wonders but we have to continue to shore up the product and if Marshall wants in, well than maybe East Carolina might as well, and they already have the attendance thing figured out.

When I saw the title of this thread, I was thinking that if the Big East and MAC merged, it would be called the Big MAC.

If only we could then find a title sponsor.

There are several possible ways that this all could turn out:

1.  Status Quo:  Ohio and everyone else stays in MAC and no one is added.
2.  A few MAC teams are raided by C-USA for a new, much more eastern Eastern Division of C-USA
3.  The most eastern members of C-USA (that do feel like odd men out) split off to form a new conference (Mountain East).  This would include defections by Marshall, ECU, UAB and possibly Memphis with the addition some MAC schools and maybe a SunBelt team or two.  

At this juncture I would not rule at any of the three possibilities.  All we can do is stay tuned and see what happens.

A cursory search engine view found only one site that even mentioned anything about MAC-CUSA expasion etc. That link collegesportsinfo.com/conference-realignment-grid/ was a CBS Sports story that came out some time ago but was updated today, though nothing updated pertained to the MAC. When this story first came out, it looked at every conference and independent team to see where they stood (or where they could go.) We shall see but I would hope that the MAC office is at least thinking about Marshall and East Carolina should the Realingment Winds reach the MAC. 

I like OCF"s option 3.  Form a new league with CUSA/Best of MAC teams and approach Navy.  I realize the BE was looking at them, but the Air Force Academy today closed the door on the BE in no uncertain terms.  They stated that they would stay in the MWC, stating they are a western team and don't want to loose key match-ups with local/regional teams in their area.  This may also free up USMA as well.  I know, this is all a pipe-dream, but fun to speculate.  I do hope the MAC front office or at the least, OUr front office is on top of these things.

GO BOBCATS!

Can you define steady climb please.  Thanks.

Can you define steady climb please? 

Well if you sat alongside me and a few hundred others after halftime of many games in Peden Stadium in the 1980s, steady might be an understatement. Add to that the constant threat that we would become IAA, which in turn led to pleas by each and every MAC school to their fans to please attend all home games and drag as many friends with you as possible. Again, in light of these memories steady might be understating it a bit.

Brian, I know we are on the same team so I don't want to argue with you but this doom and gloom is a bit much. Who is the last CUSA quarterback that was a household name ? Favre? Heck Gradkowski is more productive than most CUSA NFL quarterbacks. Roethlisberger is hardly the last MAC QB. The pipeline is not dry. The success you speak of in 1997-2004 was due in large part to Marshall (Pennington, Leftwich, Moss.) Toledo is down, really? Is that why Beckman is going to Illinois. What is going to become of CUSA now that the Big East raided them? You really think MAC schools will jump ship for CUSA? Not going to happen. Believe me I wish things were better and we had Boise that might get a BCS bid, but we have been on ESPN more in the last year than anytime in the network's history. Our conference is steadily moving forward. You really think CUSA feels good about losing some of their best schools? Who are they going to replace them with, as I said I don't see any MAC schools jumping ship.

Don't think Burger King would be interested since the creepy king went away

Really?  We're still talking about this?

I understand my outlook on MAC football has the buoyancy of a barbell on this board, but I'm pretty unwavering on that point. People who think otherwise I believe aren't realistic about the ledger books of MAC schools and the upcoming public university funding apocalypse. We'll be fighting for the academic existence of some of these schools. Think they're going to be saving the football program in that case?