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CUSA Tennis Championship

SpaceRaider said:
Win the conference championship and drop a spot...

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I had a chance to visit with the Conf USA Administrator who was overseeing the tournament on Saturday. Of the 6 schools participating last weekend, all but MT are moving on to greener pa$ture$ after this year. Pretty sure I understood him to say the conference needs to find more schools that field mens tennis so they have enough teams to put on a tournament. Thus ensuring the conference champ gets an automatic bid.
Now, historically the mens program under Coach Jimmy B is a top 40 program so maybe in the whole scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal. Still, when you have a top caliber coach leading a program that’s been Top 30 the past 2 years it’s somewhat incredulous they could be relying on at-large bids going forward. SMDH!
 
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BlueAlpha said:
I had a chance to visit with the Conf USA Administrator who was overseeing the tournament on Saturday. Of the 6 schools participating last weekend, all but MT are moving on to greener pa$ture$ after this year. Pretty sure I understood him to say the conference needs to find more schools that field mens tennis so they have enough teams to put on a tournament. Thus ensuring the conference champ gets an automatic bid.
Now, historically the mens program under Coach Jimmy B is a top 40 program so maybe in the whole scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal. Still, when you have a top caliber coach leading a program that’s been Top 30 the past 2 years it’s somewhat incredulous they could be relying on at-large bids going forward. SMDH!
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I see that according to csnbbs cusa Tulane which is an AAC member recently joined CUSA as an affiliate member for their beach volleyball team. If no additional teams are brought on to CUSA as an affiliate tennis team, could not MT tennis make a similar request to join another outside conference? Untold $$ have already been spent on making our tennis complex one of the nicest in the region. One would think a number of conference commissioners would love to have a top 30 program to add to their resume.
 
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MTFAN61 said:
I see that according to csnbbs cusa Tulane which is an AAC member recently joined CUSA as an affiliate member for their beach volleyball team. If no additional teams are brought on to CUSA as an affiliate tennis team, could not MT tennis make a similar request to join another outside conference? Untold $$ have already been spent on making our tennis complex one of the nicest in the region. One would think a number of conference commissioners would love to have a top 30 program to add to their resume.
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Typically I've only seen that for sports that aren't sponsored by the school's main conference. If CUSA drops men's tennis then abso-freaking-lutely the admin needs to get MT in another conference for that sport. No way we should rely on an at-large. It's common for many schools so zero reason not to do it.

B12 doesn't sponsor men's soccer so WVU plays in the SBC. Coastal and Kentucky played in CUSA until the SBC added it last year. Dallas Baptist has baseball in CUSA, and FIU has a swim team in the AAC.

So hopefully something like that will happen over being independent. Right now all 10 FBS conferences sponser men's tennis.
 
MidTennMtneer said:
Typically I've only seen that for sports that aren't sponsored by the school's main conference. If CUSA drops men's tennis then abso-freaking-lutely the admin needs to get MT in another conference for that sport. No way we should rely on an at-large. It's common for many schools so zero reason not to do it.

B12 doesn't sponsor men's soccer so WVU plays in the SBC. Coastal and Kentucky played in CUSA until the SBC added it last year. Dallas Baptist has baseball in CUSA, and FIU has a swim team in the AAC.

So hopefully something like that will happen over being independent. Right now all 10 FBS conferences sponser men's tennis.
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I’m curious if we continue to sponsor tennis in the future. Next year we would have four and five when KSU comes onboard. I think we need a total of six to have an auto bid still. The problem is one of those five is NMSU. I have a feeling we’re likely going to the ASUN.
 
MTFAN61 said:
I see that according to csnbbs cusa Tulane which is an AAC member recently joined CUSA as an affiliate member for their beach volleyball team. If no additional teams are brought on to CUSA as an affiliate tennis team, could not MT tennis make a similar request to join another outside conference? Untold $$ have already been spent on making our tennis complex one of the nicest in the region. One would think a number of conference commissioners would love to have a top 30 program to add to their resume.
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That’s really a great observation & question!👏👏👏. There were 3-4 of us there talking future tournaments at a 10,000 foot level. I think Dallas Baptist joined our conference for baseball only, though I confess I don’t know the back story.
I am aware the moribund conference is getting new members, though past Liberty & Kennesaw St I don’t know who they are, or even when they arrive. So it’s possible the new suspects field mens tennis and this will work itself out.
It’s one thing when you have a real leadership void at either the conference or school level. When that leadership void exists at BOTH the conference & our schools level, nothing positive usually results. We can hope & pray😇
 
Would like to see the AAC as a possible landing spot for tennis. A number of their schools are top 60 in rankings. Memphis & Louisville in the mid 30 rankings nationally. A possible bonus for joining includes the fact that the 4 recent CUSA transfers into the AAC have very respectable tennis programs as well. Not as highly rated as MT, but still very competitive.
Even though Memphis may be in opposition, a solid tennis program there could make for an in road towards the AAC being more receptive towards MT for future full entrance.
 
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ewglenn said:
I’m curious if we continue to sponsor tennis in the future. Next year we would have four and five when KSU comes onboard. I think we need a total of six to have an auto bid still. The problem is one of those five is NMSU. I have a feeling we’re likely going to the ASUN.
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Truly laughable! You must be unaware there is currently a $7 million plus on-campus, tennis facility under construction as we speak. Would guess it’s one of the early phases of the build blue campaign. As I have said numerous times, I totally get that other than baseball, spring sports don’t move the needle for most folks. However, when you stack up what Coach Jimmy B has built here and his total immersion in the community, a school like MT can’t afford to be cavalier in their support. Candidly, we all could count on one hand, maybe another finger😊, those sports (men & women), who enter each season with the minimum expectation of winning their conference championship. Mens tennis is one of those.
 
BlueAlpha said:
Truly laughable! You must be unaware there is currently a $7 million plus on-campus, tennis facility under construction as we speak. Would guess it’s one of the early phases of the build blue campaign. As I have said numerous times, I totally get that other than baseball, spring sports don’t move the needle for most folks. However, when you stack up what Coach Jimmy B has built here and his total immersion in the community, a school like MT can’t afford to be cavalier in their support. Candidly, we all could count on one hand, maybe another finger😊, those sports (men & women), who enter each season with the minimum expectation of winning their conference championship. Mens tennis is one of those.
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I assume you are saying becoming an affiliate for men's in the ASUN is what you mean as laughable? It wouldn't surprise me if CUSA stops sponsoring tennis. That is what ewglenn meant. CUSA stop sponsoring, not MT.

Jimmy himself would use his connections to find a new home. It's the admin around him that worries me. I could see McP fussing not everything is in the same conference.
 
MidTennMtneer said:
I assume you are saying becoming an affiliate for men's in the ASUN is what you mean as laughable? It wouldn't surprise me if CUSA stops sponsoring tennis. That is what ewglenn meant. CUSA stop sponsoring, not MT.

Jimmy himself would use his connections to find a new home. It's the admin around him that worries me. I could see McP fussing not everything is in the same conference.
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He said “we”, which I took to mean MT. If he meant the conference, that’s a different matter.
 
Any way we could just have Massaro & McPhee just step aside & let coach Jimmy take the reigns on this? Seems like he's taken control of everything else to do with the Tennis program.
If left up to him he would already probably be in direct talks to the SEC or some other P5.
Take another nap Chris & just let Jimmy handle tennis' future conference alliance here. We'll be for the better.
 
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BlueAlpha said:
He said “we”, which I took to mean MT. If he meant the conference, that’s a different matter.
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Yes I meant “we” as in CUSA. I am very aware of the new tennis facility, which I’m fairly certain, was not part of build blue but privately funded. It’s progressing fairly nicely. I’m in construction management so I have a little knowledge when it comes to construction in the Boro lol.
 
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Raiders heading to MS St as a #2 seed. Open against Tulane, whom we split with. If we advance, we play MS St, who beat us 5-2 earlier this season. First match this Friday at 11 am. All 4 schools are driving distance.
It’s a fair draw for MT, IMO. Thankfully an easy drive for us, just need to book a room.
 
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BlueAlpha said:
Got halfway through the doubles and match delayed due to rain. Right next door is a brand new indoor tennis facility. Guess the wizard from the NCAA, in spite of radar & forecast, thought it made sense to try and play outside. They are drying the courts as I speak. SMDH.
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common sense prevailed.

 
SpaceRaider said:
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Match was 3 hours, 47 minutes. Longest collegiate tennis match I have watched. Rolling with 6 players, half of which are true freshman. They refused to go away.
Large, rowdy, obviously partisan crowd.
Proud of how they handled the atmosphere.
Last college match for 5th year seniors Pavel & Francisco. Stijn qualified for the NCAA in singles in Orlando in a couple weeks.
Gonna miss all 3, great ambassadors for the university.
 
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