Conference USA Media Days kicked off on Monday with all 10 member institutions’ football representatives descending upon Texas Live in Arlington, Texas. On Tuesday, Commissioner Judy MacLeod opened up the portion of the event for the media by addressing a multitude of topics surrounding the conference. Here are four of the most interesting things she said during her speech.
On the changing times in athletics:
“We choose to embrace the change. I’m very fortunate to work with a group of schools that are doing exactly that. They have a commitment, individually and collectively as a group. They have alignment on their campuses. They are not afraid to try new things. We are just trying to do the best that we can to figure out where we can excel. I’ve been asked numerous times, how do we create a sustainable model? There is no secret that college sports has a governance issue. Different state laws, court rules, everything that happens creates administrative whiplash for our institutions, student-athletes, and fans. I do think the recently passed age-based eligibility model is a start. I also believe the NCAA takes a lot of criticism. We don’t agree with everything that comes out from the NCAA, but the NCAA is a membership organization. It is really frustrating when we pass legislation and then, if it doesn’t fit a certain school’s whatever is going on at that particular place, then it gets challenged. Some of those schools voted for the legislation. Some of those conferences voted for it, but it doesn’t fit my situation so I’m just going to challenge it. It is frustrating. The frustration is real and I think has brought us to trying to have some congressional action. I think Senators Cruz and Cantwell deserve praise for the work they have done. Conference USA, early, supported the Protect College Sports Act. We realize it is not perfect. We have been trying to engage with relative stakeholders to make relevant revisions. It’s desperately needed. We’ve got to have something. It’s not working (currently) and it’s not sustainable.”
CUSA is on the rise:
“We are becoming one of the nation’s consistently competitive and exciting football conferences. We have close games. You guys see it all the time. We have hungry, rising programs. National exposure, our weekday CUSA has been great for us, being able to educate the nation on what Conference USA is all about. We have meaningful football all throughout the season. Every time a team steps on the field, we don’t really know what’s going to happen because of the depth and quality of the league. This is a conference on the rise. Our programs are investing in their futures. We couldn’t be more excited about the 10 we have. We are ready to embrace the challenges and the opportunities ahead.”
On realignment:
“We’ve been very strategic in our expansion decisions. We have been focused on universities that increase our reach, increase our visibility, and also our academic, competitive profile. I think our newbies, especially our two newest, played in bowl games last year. One won the women’s basketball championship. We’ve been very proud that our new members have come in ready to compete. People ask are you going to stay at 10. We are always going to explore, but we are going to do it in a very strategic way. We are very happy with the 10. It is a very committed group that is working very well together, but that will always be something we examine and explore.”
Specifically asked about expansion in Texas – “Texas has been great for Conference USA. There are so many different factors that go into expansion. It’s hard to say we need someone else from Texas or anything like that. It’s about entire programs, entire universities, and their fit within our league and what we are trying to do. It’s definitely something we will look at, but not a targeted expansion.”
