CUSA eyes expansion into 16 teams – UL, ASU could be candidates

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, April 9, 2013

Reacting to a national website story regarding potential Conference USA expansion, UL athletic director Scott Farmer said Monday that the Ragin’ Cajuns have interest in joining a 16-member C-USA.

Conference USA’s rumored contemplation of an increase to 16 is not new, but commissioner Britton Banowsky did publicly acknowledge the possibility in a CBSSports.com report.

“I think the number of teams isn’t as important as the teams we would compete against,” Farmer said. “We want our athletic teams facing the best competition possible.

“Yeah, we’d be interested. Yes. I would want to look at division alignment and dive into that, but sure we’d be interested.”

UL officials have worked quietly the last year-and-a-half to study, and position themselves for, a possible conference move.

The program’s candidacy got a boost with its recent reveal of a $115 million athletic facilities masterplan that includes $70 million in Cajun Field football stadium upgrades.

“We have spoken to several people trying to explore what conference would be best for the Ragin’ Cajuns athletic department,” Farmer said.

“We’ve shared our information. We’ve talked about all of the bragging points, from the teams we have and the coaches we have to the great fan support we have, to now we can include the masterplan.”

UL belongs to the Sun Belt Conference, which is losing current members North Texas, Middle Tennessee, Florida Atlantic and FIU to C-USA on July 1. Current member Western Kentucky follows in 2014.

After several months’ worth of extensive conference-member realignment, other football programs currently on C-USA’s 2014 roll are adds Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion and Texas-San Antonio and existing members UAB, Marshall, Southern Mississippi, Rice and UTEP.

Charlotte, transitioning from FCS, becomes a 14th football-playing member in 2015.

Whether C-USA indeed grows 16 remains to be seen.

“We’ve modeled it at 16,” Banowsky told CBSSports.com, “and it does kind of create some divisions that are a little more geographically connected.

“We haven’t acted on it. I think personally a larger conference is better because you get some efficiencies, you get the benefit of a bigger group. We don’t want to lose our identity in the process. We’re just kind of moderating the growth at a pace where people are comfortable. It could be folks are just comfortable (at 14).”

The CBSSports.com story’s author, Jeremy Fowler, wrote, without attribution, that “Arkansas State or Louisiana-Lafayette from the Sun Belt … could be attractive options.”

Asked Monday night if Banowsky’s open discussion of the 16-member model would prompt any increased effort to UL’s potential C-USA candidacy, Farmer spoke of an ongoing effort.

“We will continue to put out the information we have that supports our case, that toots our horn a little bit,” he said. “We will continue to do those types of things to showcase the positives we think we bring to the table.”

Farmer said there’s been no on-site visit to UL by Conference USA officials.

Such a visit typically is a prerequisite for a program to be invited to join a new conference, and usually is requested by the conference.

There also are no current plans for such a visit, Farmer said.

Nor are there active talks, according to Farmer, between UL and C-USA officials regarding possible Cajun membership.

But there has been contact with key figures inside and outside C-USA as the college conference landscape has evolved.

“We’ve been in communication with a lot of people in the last 18 months, from (athletic directors) to conference commissioners to associate commissioners – just a vast array of people in the business,” Farmer said.

The CBSSports.com report said “C-USA is considering expansion to 16 teams in football,” prompting the question of if UL – should it be invited – would be asked to join as a football-only member.

“That would just be a factor we would have to consider,” said Farmer, who added such a scenario “has not come across our desk.”

Farmer also suggested he’s seen no indication C-USA – should program presidents approve the 16-member model, and should UL be tapped – will act fast enough for the Cajuns to join WKU in making the move in 2014.

“The cart’s way in front of that horse right now,” he said. “We have not progressed that far.”

Asked if UL’s masterplan reveal makes it a more attractive candidate, Farmer answered in the affirmative.

The first of three masterplan tiers – adding 5,900 end-zone seats to Cajun Field and constructing an athletic-training/football office facility – could begin this summer if it’s granted UL system state-board approval later this month.

“I think it shows a vision and a commitment by the university,” Farmer said. “So I think it’s going to make us significantly more viable. And if we can start the first tier of projects, it will add even more credibility.”

The Sun Belt declined comment Monday on the CBSSports.com report.

The conference has tapped recent or current FCS programs Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Texas State to replace its four members that leave later this year.

Georgia State and Texas State will join in time for the 2013 football season. The other two arrive in 2014.

It’s also added FBS schools New Mexico State and Idaho as football-only members starting in 2014, and is known to be deciding between James Madison and Liberty to replace Western Kentucky.