Welcome WSU to the AAC basketball conference

[raptorcj]

Yeah they'll shock the crap out of our walk-on team.

(simmer down, boys, it's just a joke)

[smazza]

league will lose whatever identity it has when you have a team  playing in all sports but football

the big east all over again

[Buller64]

5 minutes ago, smazza said:

league will lose whatever identity it has when you have a team  playing in all sports but football

the big east all over again

Kind of hard to lose an identity when the conference doesn't have one. This move helps the AAC in Men's basketball by increasing its national image but not so much in other sports. The real key in improving the men's basketball perception will occur when more traditional BB schools like Cinni, Memphis, and UConn return to normal and the bottom feeders improve in out of conference play. It also helps in scheduling in other sports as well now that there are 12 teams instead of 11. 

As for being similar to the old BE I don't think that one school will repeat that. The big  problem with the old BE was the fact that it was evenly split between between football and basketball schools. Any change in the old conference toward either football or basketball would have strong resistance from the other side. This isn't the case with only 1 BB only school, there is no balance of power to disrupt so changes and proposals will not be cast as BB vs FB. 

[ArmyBull]

1 hour ago, smazza said:

league will lose whatever identity it has when you have a team  playing in all sports but football

the big east all over again

Identity?  Last I checked, every single team in this conference would still jump ship for any P5 offer.  

[Brad]

I'm an all sports guy and this is all their sports.    

It will be good for hoops; great for Wichita State. 

We tried to get Marshall when he was at Winthrop. 

Should bring great hoops to AAC. 

[CousinRicky]

19 hours ago, Apis Bull said:

Point of order, it's all sports except football

Thus we'll never lose to them in football.

[raptorcj]

lol the negs. We're at a low hoping to climb up, just have a little fun with it or you'll stay low.

[Brad]

Wichita State football courtesy wikipedia:

Program discontinued

On December 2, 1986, Wichita State President Warren Armstrong announced that the university would no longer sponsor football due to the financial strain the program places on the university.^[12] On May 16, 2009 the Wichita State University alumni association held an all football players reunion at Cessna Stadium.^[13]

Potential program revivals

In 1992, a study was done on Cessna Stadium to comply with I-A football standards. It was shown that $24 million in improvements were needed.^[14]

In 1997, the cost was cited at $11 million to restart the football program and three other women's sports.^[15]

In 1998, an advisory committee at Wichita State recommended reinstating the football program at Wichita State after a 15-month study for $70,000.^[16]

In 2006, Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans proposed to use public funds to restart the football program at Wichita State. He would subsequently drop the plan weeks later.^[17][18]

In 2012, an attempt was made to begin a club-level football team at Wichita State with hopes of eventually reviving the football program, though no official endorsement was given by the university.^[19]

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_State_Shockers_football}

[Brad]

WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State University held a press conference at 1 p.m. at the Marcus Welcome Center today to formally announce that Wichita State has accepted the American Athletic Conference's invitation to join the conference. President Dr. John Bardo, Director of Athletics Darron Boatright, SGA President-Elect Paige Hungate, Mayor of Wichita Jeff Longwell and Chair of the Board of County Commissioners David Unruh all spoke at the conference, and also fielded some questions. Read below for the full transcript.

 

DR. BARDO ON…
 
…The potential to add football now that WSU has changed conferences.
"…We have to digest now…For us, this is a major change. We are not going to talk about football for a while. [It] doesn't mean it's dead, but it means that right now, if you recall six months to a year ago, I said we really have to separate the two questions. Let's get [conference realignment] settled first, and then we'll go back and talk about [football]. Well the settlement on this is better than I had hoped. This is as big of a deal as we could've possibly had, and so now it's time to focus on it. Make sure our teams are competitive, make sure that we know how to get to all the schools, that's not as easy as it sounds. Make sure that we are doing things the way The American intends. People talk about the P[ower] Five [conferences] and the P[ower] Six, The American is the P6. This is one of the really big conferences in America. My excitement and interest right now is let's do this right - and then let's come back and talk about other things later – but let's do this right. Let's do this well so that [the AAC] are proud that they took us in, that we're proud of what we're doing, and I want to see that we win all the championships. Then we'll go talk about other things."

 

http://goshockers.com/news/2017/4/7/athletics-the-american-press-conference-transcript.aspx

 

 

[NewEnglandBull]

2 hours ago, Brad said:

Wichita State football courtesy wikipedia:

Program discontinued

On December 2, 1986, Wichita State President Warren Armstrong announced that the university would no longer sponsor football due to the financial strain the program places on the university.^[12] On May 16, 2009 the Wichita State University alumni association held an all football players reunion at Cessna Stadium.^[13]

Potential program revivals

In 1992, a study was done on Cessna Stadium to comply with I-A football standards. It was shown that $24 million in improvements were needed.^[14]

In 1997, the cost was cited at $11 million to restart the football program and three other women's sports.^[15]

In 1998, an advisory committee at Wichita State recommended reinstating the football program at Wichita State after a 15-month study for $70,000.^[16]

In 2006, Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans proposed to use public funds to restart the football program at Wichita State. He would subsequently drop the plan weeks later.^[17][18]

In 2012, an attempt was made to begin a club-level football team at Wichita State with hopes of eventually reviving the football program, though no official endorsement was given by the university.^[19]

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_State_Shockers_football}

Many on their board said that in some ways the  football program never recovered after the plane crash that killed son many players.