I really don't want to jump into this mess of a thread, but I do want to point out a couple of things. One of the things that made USF unique was that it still served our community. The whole commuter school thing is a result of the Tampa Bay area (large metro area) having a solid university to serve it's citizens that could earn a degree while still working. With the exception of Tallahassee you can't really say that about the other universities in the state. The low undergraduate graduation rates result from those who were working and going to school at the same time. People taking those night classes who are older and not living on campus. None of things in my opinion are bad things. Life happens and they have to stop taking classes for a while or for good. So it really depends how you look at it. From a numbers point of view yet it looks bad, but we were a university that served it's community and to me that was a good thing. USF is definitely making strides to try and shed the commuter school image, but I'm not a fan of how they are going about it. For a research 1 institution better relationships with the area would help boost research (i.e. in the college of education and in the college of health)
On somewhat of a side note, USF has grown so fast to be a research 1 that we really don't have the infrastructure of a research 1 university set up yet. There are still policies and faculty that were set/came here when we were a comprehensive university. I came in as doc student with part new faculty educated in research 1 schools and old faculty who are still in comprehensive university mode. It's amazing how different they really are.
As for AAU, it's just a good ol' boys club. I think it was SU or someone up north that just decided they didn't want to be part of AAU anymore because they didn't feel it was worth their effort. Yeah it would be kind of cool to be in it, but it shouldn't be what defines us. IMHO if there is anyone that can get us that bid it would be Judy.
In terms of conference realignment and the cluster@#$% that it is, which I think is the ultimate point of this thread, I don't think any of this really matters. I think it's about money and tradition. It's asinine to even look at the teams that are in the conferences now. Really the only conference that makes any sense right now is the SEC. You would think university presidents would be able to control themselves and not act like they've never seen money before. I drives me crazy to think that someone like the NCAA should have authority over them. Someone needs to slap them in the face, look them in the eye, and say what the #$%& are you doing?
I think USF will be fine. The chances of us getting into the "big five" are slim, so no matter what conference we are in, we at least have chance to get into the play offs. I'm sure Doug and Judy are doing their best. It's not like it's in their best interest to play in a crappy conference.
In the end I think USF just needs to worry about what it can control.
Go Bulls!