MU Board of Governors OK's Move to Conference USA
By Grant Traylor

HUNTINGTON, WV—This college sports season lots of talk has
surrounded
the Big East and the moves of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
The moves by these teams have impacted numerous conferences and
colleges around the nation and today Marshall University was added to
the list of impacted colleges. Marshall University has been in contact
with Conference USA for the last few weeks since Conference USA
received word that members Cincinnati and Louisville might leave for
the Big East. Today the talks became more substantial as Marshall
University’s Board of Directors unanimously OK’d President Dan Angel to
move forward in whatever capacity needed to make the move.
At approximately 9:30 this morning, the meeting started with
chairman
of the board A. Michael Perry stating that the meeting was hastily
called to discuss a move to Conference USA. Perry also stated reasons
as to why he called this an “open meeting.” Perry explained that he
wanted the public to not only know the decision, but the thought
processes and the reasoning behind the decision. He then proceeded to
let Bob “Kayo” Marcum, Marshall’s athletic director, make presentations
as to why the move would benefit the university.
Mr. Marcum’s message raised lots of eyebrows and eased doubts as
to the complications athletically and financially for Marshall to make
this move possible. At 9:48, Marcum made his definite recommendation
for the board to vote in favor of the move. He told of how the MAC had
the stigma of being a mid-major and that Conference USA has moved up to
the level of major conference in the last few years. He further stated
that financially Marshall had lots to gain from the move. Marcum went
as far to give figures as to give comparisons in revenue differences in
the conferences. After Marshall’s expenses in the MAC, the university
netted a $32,500 gain per year. The next figure he showed was a
prognostication of revenue guaranteed as part of the C-USA package.
Marshall would net $730, 408 if allowed to move to Conference USA.
Marcum was very direct not to hide anything to the Board, as he
showed that Marshall’s costs would increase by $600,000 per year. This
left $100,000 per year before additional revenues which were not
included in the guaranteed figures. These additional revenues include
bowl games, an additional amount of money from a TV deal if Marshall
makes the C-USA championship game, extra travel stipends given by the
NCAA and a projected increase in ticket sales to all sports. He ended
his proposal by showing that it would cost $1,000,000 to join C-USA
during the five-year contract and it would cost MU $400,000 to buy
their affiliation out of the Mid-American Conference. He then
reassured the Board by noting that these funds were acquired through a
private donor of the university. This meant that the university would
not have to come up with any money for this move.
President Dan Angel took the floor next and discussed three
points of interest he called his “Three Essential Elements” for the
move. The first element was exposure. Angel stated that the move
would not only help athletically for students, but academically as
well. He stated that not many people outside of the Ohio Valley know
about the Campaign for National Prominence and this move would help
Marshall establish the prominence that it dreams of. He also mentioned
that the move would diversify Marshall and give our students a better
opportunity to work in any place in America due to a broader horizon in
college life.
Angel’s next point was to reiterate Marcum’s revenue increase. He
talked of how the university could reach more of its 90,000 graduates
that have migrated to the south and how the TV deals along with revenue
sharing would greatly assist with future improvements in academics and
athletic complexes. Angel was quick to point out that most of the
schools in C-USA were near major media markets such as Houston, TCU in
Dallas, and Tulane in New Orleans. He said this burst of media would
be a means of free advertisement for a university who had been plagued
by recent budget cuts.
The third point that Angel emphasized was recruiting. By this, he
once again meant athletically and academically Marshall would benefit.
He noted that Marshall would be taking trips to Texas and Louisiana as
well as Florida and the Carolinas on a regular basis for conference
events and that this was immeasurably successful when Marshall entered
the MAC. He showed that Marshall’s prominence is on the rise and that
expanding halfway across the nation would only make things better for
the future.
Chairman Perry then took the floor again and told the board that
if nothing else, they needed to look at it from a financial
perspective. The university had nothing to lose and lots to gain by
the move and he let his vice-chair Menis Ketchum give specific details.
Ketchum continued on in Perry’s footsteps explaining how at the
worst-case scenario that Marshall would gain $100,000 a year from what
they are bringing in now. Ketchum also stated how the move would boost
Marshall’s individual TV negotiations with ISP sports who has covered
Marshall athletics for years. Ketchum alluded to the fact that
Conference USA gives Marshall financial stability while the MAC has
very little in their reserve should problems arise.
With all this stated, Ketchum let his words sink in to the board
members before delivering a final statement. At 10:35 this morning,
Ketchum motioned to have President angel make all necessary moves to
make Conference USA a reality at Marshall University. Followed by
numerous seconds of the motion by board members, Chairman Perry held a
vote which ended with a unanimous 15-0 vote to make necessary
preparations to get to C-USA. Marshall University will now wait on
Conference USA to call a meeting of the Presidents to discuss
Marshall’s move. If OK’d, Marshall would begin conference play in all
sports as a Conference USA member in 2005-2006.