CBS Sports Network New TV Partner of MAC

Some exciting news from the MAC as it relates to TV coverage for football and basketball.  This is very exciting news for the MAC as it continues to garner more TV coverage, which coaches swear helps recruiting.  I am not sure what is meant by a "sublicense" but Jeremy Guy of the MAC has tweeted that both ESPN and CBS will broadcast mid-week games.

Yep! Still have our deal with ESPN. This is a sublicense deal for 12 of our football games & 12 basketball. https://t.co/W6fRU3zFjd

— Jeremy Guy (@JGuyMAC) June 3, 2015

A couple points.

First, as there are more sports channels, it would stand to reason that they need content and the MAC is right there to provide it.  I'm glad to see the conference stepping up and making sure we are included.

Second, as long as we are suffering (as live fans) through the weekday games, at least this gets more benefit out of it.

Finally, along the lines of the football recruiting benefits of TV, more national basketball telecasts would hopefully do the same.

Nice job, MAC.

MAC Unveils New Website...thumbs up!

It is July 1...time for new beginnings in collegiate athletics...Maryland and Rutgers are in the Big 10 and the MAC has a new website.  I'd encourage you to check it out... It has a much more visually appealing look with bigger and bolder photos...and a hub for social activity.  The thing that I think has the best potential to benefit the way I would use the page is an improved scoreboard function which would allow you to follow the entire conference...and a much stronger interface to the video streaming features, which are being used increasingly frequently by MAC fans.  Both the WatchESPN and the house feeds will be embedded.  For hard-core MAC fans, this has the potential to be a big advantage.

Anyway, good on them.  Check it out...

Reese/Jacoby Brings No Gladness to BG....

The Reese and Jacoby trophies represent all-sports championships for the MAC.  Reese is for men and Jacoby is for women.  In either case, it was not good for BG...

Kent had won the men's trophy for the past 5 years, but this year they finished 2nd to Akron.  The Zips won the cup for the first time....in fact, they never even finished 2nd before this year.  BG finished 10th for the 2nd straight season...they were 12th the year before.  BG last won in 1995 and last finished 2nd in 2002.  And if you are concerned about BG, you might be glad you aren't Miami...they once won 14 out of 15 and this year they were D-F-L.

On the woman's side, Kent for the first time since 2010.  BG finished 8th after being 7th last year.  The Falcon women last won in 1994.

Anyway, I only write about two sports here, but Falcon fans are behind all of our athletes.  I know everyone is giving everything they have.  Let's get everyone the facilities and resources they need to move the Falcons back up in those standings.

Reese/Jacoby Futility

The MAC awards two trophies that represent excellence across all sports.  The Reese trophy is for men's sports and the Jacoby trophy is for women's.

There isn't much good here for the Falcon nation.  Honestly, with the exception of the women' basketball program, we are really struggling across the face of our athletic program.  That is not meant as a slap against any of our players who are putting their all into what they do, it is just a sober reflection of the results.  Overall, it is as poorly as I can remember our teams performing over sustained periods of time.

Kent won the men's trophy.  BG finished last.
UT (ugh) won the women's trophy, BG finished 11th.

I know most people will say that they only care about the revenue sports.  I am probably in the same boat.  Having said that, this is pretty sad as a performance, and I think is a negative to the performance of our athletic administration, starting at the top.

Tragic Story

We all remember Chris Jacquemain, who was a QB at Akron and then was kicked off the team early in one season.  He passed on recently in very sad circumstances.  I thought this article was excellent and it captured the incredible emotions something like this cause.  Chris didn't die because no one cared about him...lots of people did and they did a lot.   Addiction is just a terrible, terrible thing.

Boston Globe on how Temple and the Big East effects UMass

There has been a lot of talk about Temple going back to the Big East for all sports.  In fact, with the authorization to get to 12 teams, there's almost no way for them to make it without Temple.  The conference could also go the other direction, but for now let's assume Temple is headed to the Big East.

The Boston Globe weighs in today on how that impacts UMass.  It isn't good.

UMass, which is in the transition stage of moving from the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) to the Football Bowl Subdivision level, also has a large stake in the outcome. According to sources at UMass, the agreement that puts the Minutemen into the MAC is directly linked to Temple, another football-only member.

According to the agreement, if Temple, which is high on the list of potential candidates to move back into the Big East, leaves the MAC, the conference can then use an option that could put a 2-year limit on UMass's membership. Other options include leaving the arrangement as it currently exists, or taking the Minutemen in as a full member.

Of that group, the 2-year limit seems most likely and would cause the greatest uncertainty for UMass, which is trying to morph itself from an FCS level program into the more desirable FBS competition, which includes both bowl games and potential affiliation with the higher paying BCS conferences.

In other words, this is a very nervous time for UMass.  Moving to FBS status involves a huge investment, and if you did it only to end up without a conference, it could be a huge issues.  The Globe says it puts FBS membership in "serious jeopardy."  In fact, you'd be hesitant to move to the next step if you didn't know you had more than two years.

The MAC without Temple and UMass makes more geographic sense, but is now lacking two major new areas.  There would still be 12 teams, and the conference would keep the playoff game.

Note, also, what isn't in the article, which is the mention of any other MAC team heading to the Big East, something that was a quiet fantasy in the last few years.

There are still other ways it could work.  Temple might not join the Big East for whatever reason.  And the MAC could reconsider the two-year provision--though the contract isn't that old and there must have been a reason they wanted it in there in the first place.

Still, there is at least a small set of dominoes waiting in the MAC.

Steinbrecher Gets Two More Years

MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher has been given a two-year contract extension, meaning he is legally obligated to the be MAC Commissioner under the 2015-16 season.

Here's where they say why:

During his current two-year term as MAC Commissioner, Steinbrecher has expanded bowl opportunities for the conference and stabilized conference membership in football, increased national and regional television exposure, renegotiated the conference marketing rights agreement with ISP/IMG College and enhanced neutral site conference championships in basketball and volleyball.

Basically, this translates to more bowl games, adding UMASS, not losing any teams, the STO contract, getting a new deal to hold the hoops tourney at the Q, siting the volleyball tourney in Geneva, OH, and getting (I would expect) a better deal with ISP/IMG merged.

All of which are good things.  Especially with the financial situation today, anything that brings in revenue is important.  And, if you can't bring in revenue, than bringing in exposure is important, because the thinking is that exposure brings students, which brings revenue.

So, obviously the Presidents are happy with him.

My own two cents worth...

• Even though it hasn't shown results yet, I am in favor of his basketball reforms.
• I do think that at some point the conference should be worried about the level of competition.  Revenue sports are struggling at the gate, and if you want to enhance revenue, you need to improve the level of play.  Or maybe not.  Maybe all that costs more than it provides...but, as a fan, I'd like to see it.
• In fairness, the competitive slide began long before he arrived.
• He should put an "H" in his first name.
• I want him to make clear that we will never have a team nicknamed "Trojans" in the MAC
• Challenge the Presidents to a foot race...100 yards, best man or woman wins.

Guyton Suspended from Kent

In MAC men's hoops news, Carlton Guyton, a JUCO transfer who was scoring about 13 a game for the Flashes and was one of the MAC's top 5 3-point shooters was suspended after he was arrested for theft.

MAC Notes from Saturday...

NIU put on a great performance for the MAC in one of the four bowl games.  They drilled a Fresno State team that is pretty good, delivering a complete butt kicking on both sides of the ball.  Given that they were playing with an interim coach and under turmoil and coming off a very disappointing loss to Miami, this win showed a lot of character.  Chandler Harnish was my pick for MAC player of the year, and he looked like it tonight.  Congrats to the Huskies.

OU....um.  Yeah.  That's gonna leave a mark.  Both OU and Troy beat the Falcons this year, OU solidly and Troy in a really close game.  Well, Troy just embarrassed OU in New Orleans, giving the Sun Belt the first win in the Great Sun Belt challenge.

Finally, in hoops, OU lost a 4-OT game @St. Bonaventure 122-107.  DJ Cooper played 55 minutes, scored 43 points, with 8 rebounds, 13 assists and 8 steals.  He attempted 41 FGs, which is the most in the NCAA in a long time.

MAC Officials Visit UMASS

As reported on a UMASS Blog, MAC officials were in Amherst to meet with the Minutemen.  While no one commented, this is clear evidence that things are indeed moving forward.

MAC and Sun Belt to settle who's last once and for all

So Bowl Season comes to the MAC....and we will once and for all settle the question of our ages....

Who's the lowest conference in the FBS.

Of course, we know that bowl games have spread promiscuously...so much so that any team with one leg and six wins gets invited.

Oh.  Yeah.  Sorry Temple.

Meantime, four MAC teams did get in.  One of them will have what, on paper, appears to be an attractive matchup.  That's NIU heading to the Blue Turf to take on the Fresno State Bulldogs, a very high quality team that always plays a very tough schedule.  Sadly, even that matchup has the potential to be tainted as the Jerry Kill is reportedly leaving DeKalb to coach the Minnesota Golden Gophers.  Minny's not in a bowl game, so I guess Kill could finish the year with NIU, but who knows what will happen.  (Update:  Kill will not coach the Huskies in the H-Bowl).

The other MAC teams have been aligned with teams from the Sun Belt.

• UT will play Florida International (6-6) in the Pizza Bowl
• OU will play Troy (7-5) in the New Orleans bowl.
• Miami will play Middle Tennessee (6-6) in the Godaddy.com Bowl.

I know it is good to get people into post-season play, but on a global level, this is just discouraging.  The fact that all 3 of these teams made the bowls ahead of an 8-4 Temple team is one disappointing thing.  I know that the NCAA changed the rules and we had to be ready to expect that the MAC would get fewer bowl teams than in the past, as teams like 6-6 Clemson were now able to move forward.

But the real disappointment is just the intramural feel the whole thing has...a kind of sit at the kid's table mentality that is humbling...like war breaking out between two former Soviet republics no one ever heard of before.  It is probably reflective of how things are...but it would have been nice to get at least a half-decent matchup.

The MAC has nothing to gain.  Either we lose and lend credence to our decline toward the Sun Belt conference, or we win, and get no credit at all.

Doug Martin Leaving KSU and Parrish leaving BSU

Well, as discussed and debated on the MAC Blogger Roundtable throughout the season, Kent's HC Doug Martin is resigning.  He brought good players to Kent, but never turned the corner.  He battled some bad luck, especially with injured QBs and with RB Eugene Jarvis, and whoever gets the job will have a lot of returning players.

Among the chatter as a replacement...

• Pete Retskis, the current DC and architect of that nationally ranked Kent defense.
• Notre Dame defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator Chuck Martin
• Wake Forest offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke.
• Ohio State linebackers coach Luke Fickell 
• Notre Dame wide receivers coach Tony Alford
• UTEP defensive coordinator Andre Patterson
• Buckeyes defensive backs coach Paul Haynes (1992 KSU alum)
• Ohio State assistant head coach Darrell Hazell would also be a good fit if KSU could afford him. 

In other news, Ball State also fired Stan Parrish.  He was in the second year of a four year deal.  I find this a little surprising.  Granted, the Cards have sucked wind since Hoke left, but they did lost some pretty good players, and had that injury to Dante Love.  Counting BSU and K-State, he is 8-49-1 over his last fiveish years of Coaching, and as a D-1 coach.

Eddie Faulkner is the interim coach and will seek the main job, though this strikes me as a situation where you could want someone outside the program.

Footballscoop.com is mentioning Oregon offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Mark Helfrich which would obviously be a huge get. I'd have to think he can do better, given the Oregon offense.

The Muncie Star-Press had some of the following names, based on people with BSU connections.

• Jeff Hecklinski, assistant head coach/running backs coach/recruiting coordinator past two seasons at San Diego State. 
• Rick Minter, linebackers coach, Indiana State.  Interim head coach at Marshall at end of 2009 season, led Thundering Herd to a win in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Was defensive coordinator at South Carolina and in two stints at Notre Dame.
• Mike Neu, former star quarterback at Ball State. Currently in second season as an area scout with the New Orleans Saints, evaluating college players in the northeast U.S. 
• Bernie Parmalee, Ball State's all-time leading rusher when he finished his career in 1990. Currently tight ends coach for Kansas City Chiefs. 
• Brian Polian, special teams coordinator, Stanford University. 
• Don Treadwell, offensive coordinator, Michigan State (and interim coach during Dantonio illness)/

Is the MAC Considering Expansion?

According to EMU AD Derrick Gragg in speaking to a board committee, the MAC is expected to issue invites to 1-2 teams in the next year or two.

While filing this under "FWIW," still interesting.  Apparently the MAC has a retreat coming up where this and other issues will be discussed.

Update:  The Commissioner threw a little cold water on this, insisting nothing is imminent.

More MAC National Pub....(not the good kind)

The WSJ logs in with an article called "The Little Conference that can't" and they are talking about our MAC.  They note that the last NCAA Championship for the MAC was in 1965 in men's cross country (WMU).  (HINT:  Hockey does not count since there is no MAC hockey).

A couple quotes:

Now, even winning the occasional football bowl game or first-round NCAA men's basketball tournament matchup is becoming a mighty chore.

MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, who took over the job last year, hasn't figured out what the problem is. "I don't have a great answer for you," he says. "I haven't been here long enough to know. But it's something we talk about. It's something that I'm spending a lot of time talking about with our athletic directors, trying to identify what we can do better."

"I'll use this year as an example," says Kent State men's basketball coach Geno Ford, whose team is the favorite in the MAC tournament this week. "You don't even see our team listed on the bubble anywhere, yet our RPI is 42, which is way higher than almost any team people list on the bubble."

The headline is a little cruel, but the article speaks the truth....the conference simply is not as competitive as it used to be.  Let's hope for better days, especially since 96-team NCAA tournies and 6-6 FBS bowl bids signal tough times....

Graham Couch with State of Men's Hoops Address

In 2007, Graham Couch of the Kalamazoo Gazette wrote an excellent story on MAC Basketball, detailing how the conference, which was once known as a thinking man's basketball conference, had fallen behind its one time peers, such as the MVC and the Horizon.  It was an excellent article and right on--the decision to emphasize football had resulted in a fall in basketball.  You can click here for a blog post from Graham and a link to the original article, if you are interested.

He came back and refreshed the story recently, with interviews with the MAC's new Commissioner.  Steinbrecher was brought in to fix basketball, something he theoretically knew about from his time in the OVC.  He is taking this year to learn what the league's needs are...and what kind of personnel will be needed to help the conference bounce back.

Anyway, its a good read.  I am a huge football fan, but schools of our size are having trouble competing on so many fronts.  The MVC has no FBS football, and their money goes into basketball.  It is a shame to see us not competing in men's basketball, but there are no easy or cheap decisions to be made.

MAC Bowl Drought Ends

The Chips finally solved the MAC's bowl drought after 14 games with a win against Troy tonight in the GMAC Bowl.  It was an excellent game with a great comeback by CMU.  This team is not all LeFevour, both Antonio Brown and Brian Anderson made big plays in the 4h Quarter.

Now, 1-4 in bowls and losing 14 out of 15 is not good, but 1 win is better than none.

Brookhart fired

I am surprised but not shocked that JD Brookhart was fired in Akron.  It was a rough season there,  with a starting QB suspended for the year and then an assistant coach fired for potential recruiting issues.  And, a fourth or fifth losing season.  Sounds a little bit like Brandon's situation...only Brookhart has a losing record as a coach.

Akron's AD made it clear that with the new stadium and the talent on board, he is not looking for a five year plan.  Look for Akron to pay good coin for a high profile new coach.

MAC Blog Roundtable is on the air....

Good stuff as always, hosted this week by Let's Go Rockets.....

More troubling news from Akron

Jacquemain is dismissed from team, as suspensions hit others in the coaching and playing ranks, including a felony assault.

Bowling Green has certainly had their turn with stuff like this, so we have no right to feel superior. Best of luck to Akron in bringing things around and keeping the program under control.

Gibberish

Elton Alexander has the MAC "beat" for the Plain Dealer, which means that when there is an article on the MAC he writes it...but he also covers drag racing or some other stuff like that. Anyway, he had an article in the paper this week that proposes a theory...that the MAC (football and men's basketball) is only perceived as good when Miami is good.

It is complete gibberish. And I understand that this is a column which is by nature an opinion piece, but I must note the absolute metaphysical absence of even one fact in the article.

Here are the key statements:

Said all that to say in sports, you are only as good as your iconic programs. And that is why right now, Mid-American Conference football is bad ... because the Miami RedHawks are bad.

By "all that" he means that he asserted that MLB was no good when the Yankees were down, the NBA needs the Knicks and the Celtics, and the NFL is seen as no good when the Packers or Cowboys are not good.

I'm not going to completely pick apart the premise about the other leagues, because I want to focus on the MAC. A few points:

• I don't know when this was when baseball was down while the Yankees were down. The Yankees didn't make the playoffs last year, and baseball had the second highest attendance ever. They weren't especially good the year before and it was the highest attendance ever. The only time I can recall serious dips in baseball's popularity was after the player's went on strike and the World Series was canceled.
• The Packers were brutal for decades, during which time the NFL had meteoric growth.
• True, the NBA does rely on those franchises because they have the demographics to drive TV ratings. Meanwhile, the Knicks are a joke but I think the perception of the quality of play in the NBA is very high right now.

Anyway, I agree with him to an extent. I don't believe parity is good for a sport. I think that competition is better and fans are interested when there is structure to the storyline, and everyone knows who they are chasing and hating.

Applying his principle to the MAC....

Example: Kent State and now Akron basketball, for much of the last decade, have been considered the best teams in the MAC. But first they are measured by Miami. If the RedHawks are good (and they have been in hoops) ergo, Kent and Akron must be very good. But if Miami were bad, the general perception falls to, how good can they be?

What I dispute is the idea that there are "iconic" franchises, and that it is Miami in the MAC. I would argue Marshall served this purpose during their time in the MAC, and others have as well.

Mostly, though, I object to the ridiculous notion that somehow MAC football isn't really down, but only perceived to be down because Miami is bad.

What in the world is Elton Alexander watching?

There are two years of winless bowl seasons, a diminishing record against BCS teams (despite more frequent home games) and a severe reduction in the number of high draft picks to back up this idea.

The idea that people would view this differently if Miami had won some games this year is beyond stupid.

Moving on to basketball, he suggests that the MAC IS viewed positively in basketball.

Example: Kent State and now Akron basketball, for much of the last decade, have been considered the best teams in the MAC. But first they are measured by Miami. If the RedHawks are good (and they have been in hoops) ergo, Kent and Akron must be very good. But if Miami were bad, the general perception falls to, how good can they be?

First they are measured by Miami? By whom? When? Kent is measured by a huge streak of 20-win seasons and a Elite Eight appearance. These are completely independent variables. Many of the people who are supposedly doing this judging would be hard pressed to tell you if Miami was any good in any given year.

The MAC itself, in fact, is a lesser basketball conference now than it has been in many years. I measure this by 6 years since the conference won a NCAA tournament game, and 7 years since the MAC made the Sweet 16. And a 38% winning percentage against OOC D1 teams in 2007-08 with losing records against the Big West, CAA, C-USA, Horizon, Ivy, MVC, MWC, Summit and Sun Belt conferences.

And all this with Miami being fairly good. Shocking.

I said all that to say that you are only as good as you do on the field or court and that you can figure that out without looking at icons and myth. The MAC is perceived as down because it is.

The quality of the Miami program has just as much to do with the perception of the MAC as the agave shortage, the exchange rate of the rupee or the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow.