Old Conference Realignment

[Marcus92]

Hutchins was one of the most exciting players I've ever watched in a Marquette uniform. The run to the 1996-97 Conference USA tournament title was a blast. I was actually in Vegas at the time and the vibe there during March Madness is electric. I believe Hutchins was named tourney MVP.

[lurch91]

I really think this and the coach hiring at the time were among many incompetent moves by Bill Cords who really didn't have a vision for the program.

I may be wrong, but I thought Dukiet was a Raymond's hire.  Also, Majerus left Marquette in a lurch, and the Athletic Department needed to find a replacement asap, basically we had to make offers to coaches we knew wouldn't say no.

MCC was terribly depressing, having to sweat wins out versus Evansville and Detroit sucked.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I may be wrong, but I thought Dukiet was a Raymond's hire.  Also, Majerus left Marquette in a lurch, and the Athletic Department needed to find a replacement asap, basically we had to make offers to coaches we knew wouldn't say no.

MCC was terribly depressing, having to sweat wins out versus Evansville and Detroit sucked.

There was a dysfunctional oversight team, labeled the Marquette Athletic Board, that was responsible for the morass that was the 1980's. Cords was eventually able to dismantle this committee and enter into the age of a truly professional athletic department.

[Heisenberg]

Cable TV supplanted syndicated, so the lay of the land changed.  MU owned syndicated but it became irrelevant as cable needed to lock up 24/7 content.

Correct and conference play became necessary as all the good teams were in conferences and it made scheduling after Jan 1 really hard.

[Coleman]

CUSA of old was actually a pretty good conference. As a kid growing up watching MU in the 1990s and early 2000s I always thought it was one of the better basketball conferences in the country.

Cincinnati when they were elite
Memphis when they were really good
Louisville in the early Pitino years
DePaul when they were decent
SLU during the SpoonBall years
MU during O'Neill and early Crean years
Charlotte when they were consistently making the tournament

[oldwarrior81]

but C-USA had more than it's fair share of duds.

Although the Blue Division was obviously the strength of the conference.  The White only so-so, and the Red outright sucked.  Wave that inaugural Red championship flag with pride Tulane.  They eventually tried to salvage that with reworked American and National divisions.

Worst division names until the BigTen stole the crown with Leaders & Legends.

[MUMountin]

CUSA of old was actually a pretty good conference. As a kid growing up watching MU in the 1990s and early 2000s I always thought it was one of the better basketball conferences in the country.

Cincinnati when they were elite
Memphis when they were really good
Louisville in the early Pitino years
DePaul when they were decent
SLU during the SpoonBall years
MU during O'Neill and early Crean years
Charlotte when they were consistently making the tournament

Don't forget UAB, especially during the Mike Anderson years. 

As an aside on all of this and some perspective, my father-in-law is a professor at UAB and I've gone to a number of their games.  It is weird now to think that we were at one point in the same conference as them.  Imagine seeing all these teams (us, Cinci, Louisville, etc.) as conference foes and then watch as they one-by-one moved on to (mostly) bigger and better things, only to be replaced with the likes of Tulane, FAU, and North Texas.  Brutal. 

[The Sultan]

For the record I was completely opposed to going  to a  conference, any conference. I wrote 2  letter to Majerus in opposition, giving specious arguments such our success and uniqueness  as an independent.  [Note we wrote letters on paper in those days}. In retrospect it was a good, sound decision for all the reasons others have mentioned. But one guy was completely opposed...me.
By the way Rick never wrote me back

Rick apparently listened since we didn't join a conference until Bob Dukiet was coach.

[loid walden]

Rick promoted conference affiliation early on.. He greased the skids.

[The Sultan]

Rick promoted conference affiliation early on.. He greased the skids.

I see.  I was unaware of that.

[MU1980]

Joining the Midwestern Collegiate Conference was truly depressing, but Marquette did all the right things to keep moving up in conferences and eventually ended where we are today, which may not have happened without the progression that was taken.

How many of you knew that Notre Dame was actually a part of the Midwestern Collegiate conference from 1982-1995, in all sports except men's basketball and football?  So for the non-revenue sports it was actually a much better conference than it was for men's basketball. 

[GooooMarquette]

Don't forget UAB, especially during the Mike Anderson years. 

As an aside on all of this and some perspective, my father-in-law is a professor at UAB and I've gone to a number of their games.  It is weird now to think that we were at one point in the same conference as them.  Imagine seeing all these teams (us, Cinci, Louisville, etc.) as conference foes and then watch as they one-by-one moved on to (mostly) bigger and better things, only to be replaced with the likes of Tulane, FAU, and North Texas.  Brutal.

I went to one MU@UAB game during the CUSA years, probably around '92 or '93. Their on-campus arena is a great size for a college game - around 8,500 - and it was packed that night, since both MU and UAB were pretty good at the time. Good times.

You're right though - the days when they were a conference foe seem so long ago, and it must have been a depressing transition for their fans to watch.

[MUMountin]

but C-USA had more than it's fair share of duds.

Although the Blue Division was obviously the strength of the conference.  The White only so-so, and the Red outright sucked.  Wave that inaugural Red championship flag with pride Tulane.  They eventually tried to salvage that with reworked American and National divisions.

Worst division names until the BigTen stole the crown with Leaders & Legends.

East Carolina and Southern Miss were always the two head-scratchers to me.  The fact that East Carolina was even able to then sneak their way in somehow to the American is perplexing.  Whoever runs that place must have a lot of dirt on a lot of different University Presidents/ADs.

[WarriorFan]

There was a dysfunctional oversight team, labeled the Marquette Athletic Board, that was responsible for the morass that was the 1980's. Cords was eventually able to dismantle this committee and enter into the age of a truly professional athletic department.

My partner at the time was on this board and based on what I learned then, Cords was the heart of the dysfunction.  A poor communicator who specialized in cronyism and had no vision.

[MU82]

I may be wrong, but I thought Dukiet was a Raymond's hire.  Also, Majerus left Marquette in a lurch, and the Athletic Department needed to find a replacement asap, basically we had to make offers to coaches we knew wouldn't say no.

MCC was terribly depressing, having to sweat wins out versus Evansville and Detroit sucked.

I was getting my career going and was hundreds and hundreds of miles from Milwaukee during the late-'80s, so I don't remember much of the Dukiet Error other than we sucked. I was hardly ever able to see MU on TV back then ... which seems like a good thing in retrospect.

[GooooMarquette]

I was getting my career going and was hundreds and hundreds of miles from Milwaukee during the late-'80s, so I don't remember much of the Dukiet Error other than we sucked. I was hardly ever able to see MU on TV back then ... which seems like a good thing in retrospect.

Yes...if ever there was a good time to be away, that was it.

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

but C-USA had more than it's fair share of duds.

Although the Blue Division was obviously the strength of the conference.  The White only so-so, and the Red outright sucked.  Wave that inaugural Red championship flag with pride Tulane.  They eventually tried to salvage that with reworked American and National divisions.

Worst division names until the BigTen stole the crown with Leaders & Legends.

I don't know why C-USA ever went with "American" and "National" for their division names as they were effectively the "North" and "South" Divisions. IIRC:

American was MU, SLU, DePaul, Louisville, Cincinnati, Charlotte, and East Carolina.
National was Memphis, UAB, USF, Houston, TCU, Southern Miss, and Tulane.

My tenure at MU (2002-2006) straddled the transition between C-USA and the Big East. I can remember the National Division being referred to pejoratively as the "NASCAR Division" because of geography and because it was widely perceived to be the weaker of the two divisions.

[Dr. Blackheart]

My partner at the time was on this board and based on what I learned then, Cords was the heart of the dysfunction.  A poor communicator who specialized in cronyism and had no vision.

Fair on Cords but I am sure much of that was to bring that in-house.  Communication was not his strong point either.

But, the Athletic Board was also around on the Hank to Rick to Newell to Dukiet transitions.

[Cheeks]

Today's Eye on College Basketball podcast had a brief discussion about the fact that Marquette has only won three league regular season championships--Great Midwest in 1994, CUSA in '03, Big East in '13. 

Matt Norlander quickly pointed out that we only joined a conference in the last thirty years and they briefly talked about the move from independent to conference affiliations generally in the 80s and 90s.

Although I was toddling around the MECCA in those days, I was too young to remember the move from being an Independent to (briefly) the Midwestern Conference and then the Great Midwest, and really even the start of CUSA. 

For those that remember, what was the perception of joining a conference at the time?  Was it universally seen as a good thing, or did some people think it was a mistake?  Were those first few conferences seen as good places for us at the time, or was it more of a feeling about not getting totally left out in the cold so it was the best that we could do?

While we wait for the Villanova game tonight, I'd love to hear some recollections about that period of time and Marquette's place in it all.

I was a DJ at WMUR 1130AM radio when we announced MU moving from independent to MCC.  The reporter that called it in and we put live on the radio....a certain MU student named Len Kasper, current Chicago Cubs announcer.  Somewhere I have that call on the radio on cassette tape.  It was a pretty big deal when MU ended their Indy status.

[Cheeks]

Agree.  Cords is no people person.  Pat Richter, he wasn't, but he could block and tackle and X&O the heck out of the AD position.  Nearly every move he made for Marquette netted a positive return.

Correct.

I was in a few meetings with him with some of the big whigs of Milwaukee and he held his own and would not hesitate to blast someone to our MU in a positive light. 

[Cheeks]

My partner at the time was on this board and based on what I learned then, Cords was the heart of the dysfunction.  A poor communicator who specialized in cronyism and had no vision.

Specialized in cronyism?  I'd love to hear the examples of this...sorry, but I worked for the man for 5+ years, including the last 18 months as a direct report, and I will respectfully disagree with that assertion.  He wasn't a people person, but I don't get the cronyism comment at all, or the lack of vision comment.

He was early on to Mike Deane needed change, hired Crean, got us through the conference stuff and pushed hard for real budgets from the school.

[bilsu]

I would of loved to join the Big East when Notre Dame did, but that did not happen. I was always jealous of the ACC having a conference tournament. I thought that was a huge advantage over other teams. Once, the other conferences starting having conference tournaments the independents were dead. We needed to be in a conference.

[Eye]

Did sports for MUR in 89 and 90 and has some classes with LK. Must've just missed you Cheeks.

[Cheeks]

Did sports for MUR in 89 and 90 and has some classes with LK. Must've just missed you Cheeks.

Roommate of mine was a comm major, he brought me in to do a weekly show with him.  A lot of fun, mostly playing music, but we happened to be the guys on the air when the announcement to MCC happened and LK called into the show to file his report live on the air.

[GoldenWarrior11]

I remember that Deane predicted Marquette would end up in a "Catholic Conference" along with the likes of Notre Dame, Georgetown, Villanova, Dayton, Saint Louis, etc.  He wasn't that far off...