By Charlie Leffler
Ten months ago, the future was looking glaringly bright for C-USA officials. Both basketball and football programs throughout the league were on the rise. In football, Louisville had shown a dominance that was gaining national recognition. Likewise, Southern Miss, East Carolina, and TCU were taking steps in the national picture as well. In men’s basketball, Louisville was looking to return to prominence under newly hired head coach Rick Pitino. Memphis had finished its first season under John Calipari in the final four of the NIT, Cincinnati was its usual dominating self and the league was welcoming Billy Tubbs into the mix.
Now those months have passed, and suddenly C-USA could easily stand for Conference Undergoing Severe Angst. A nearly complete flame-out in post season football was followed by an equal flame-out in basketball. It’s sad for C-USA officials to say that the highlight of the year was Memphis winning the national championship. Yet, they only won because they played in the NIT.
Marquette played extremely well all season long, only to go 2-4 in its last six games. Cincinnati had its usual early round exit from the NCAA, and Charlotte was just flat out of luck without a healthy Jobie Thomas.
In the NIT, a predicable first round loss by South Florida was followed by a badly played loss by Houston and a disappointing slip-up by Louisville.
Coaching-wise, times are no better. The unexpected preseason retirement announcement of Tubbs was disappointing, and not enough to overcome the overdue departure of DePaul’s Pat Kennedy. Then, in the postseason, there was the speculated exit of UAB’s Murray Bartow, followed by the discouraging departure of Saint Louis’ Lorenzo Romar.
The only good news that C-USA officials received was that Cincinnati’s Bob Huggins decided to stay. But after the Bearcats’ Donald Little possibly became the first NCAA player to be charged with felony kidnapping and assault, Huggins is probably wishing he would have gone to West Virginia.
In Memphis, the honeymoon is over for Calipari, after not making it to the NCAA as expected. And if rumors hold true, divorce papers may be drawn up between the coach and the school within the next two years.
Filling the coaching voids with top-notch candidates will not be easy either. Anyone going to DePaul will have to deal with the eternal prospect of living smack in the middle of one of the hot beds of college recruiting talent and one of the most apathetic fan bases. Top that with the fact that even if you do sign the top recruits, they will constantly be under the influence of family, friends, and pro agents, courtesy of the nearby Bulls.
UAB managed to hire the former Arkansas assistant, but he will most likely run into the same problems as Bartow when he discovers that he is the third highest paid coach… in the city of Birmingham. That’s two steps behind Samford.
And while Lorenzo Romar was one of the classiest coaches in the conference, who can blame him for leaving? Billiken basketball was so boring that no one noticed that Saint Louis had the fourth highest attendance totals in the league.
And speaking of attendance, how can any league expect to gain national prominence if you can take the average attendance of nine of the fourteen schools and not equal one game in Louisville, Memphis, or Cincinnati?
C-USA commissioner Mike Slive and assistant Brain Teeter are most likely pulling their hair out over how to promote the league next season. After this year’s promos featuring the top coaches, perhaps they can shoot for the Survivor motif.
“See who gets voted out of the conference this week!”
Charlie Leffler is a junior English major and Sports Editor of the Louisville Cardinal.
