Coaches on conference moves: We’re OK
By Danny Gillham
Staff Reporter

In the not-so-distant future, Conference USA will lose the pillars of its basketball community.

Marquee teams Cincinnati, Louisville and Marquette will head for the greener pastures of the Big East. Little cousins Charlotte and Saint Louis are also bolting for the Atlantic 10.

Is TCU worried? Not if you ask its basketball coaches.

“New conferences aren’t anything new to us,” said the Lady Frogs’ head coach Jeff Mittie. “When I took the job, we were in the WAC, and we left for Conference USA two years later.”

TCU basketball is in a situation unlike football. Of the 11-12 games a football team will play, only 3-4 will be non-conference opponents.

This is not the case in basketball, where the schedule is nearly half and half. TCU coaches said non-conference exposure is just as important as your conference games.

“Basketball coaches have more freedom in scheduling,” said men’s head coach Neil Dougherty. “We have more games to work with. We want to play teams that are trying to be in the tournament.”

Those games, like the Frogs’ Dec. 1 matchup with Kansas, and the Lady Frogs’ Jan. 2 meeting with Tennessee, show TCU to the country, and garner national attention.

At the same time, the coaches know they have big names to replace.

“Conference USA was built with a basketball premise,” Dougherty said. “That was the purpose of schools like Cincinnati, Louisville, DePaul and Marquette. Losing those schools, that hurts.”

Dougherty and Mittie also said the cupboard won’t be empty either, when C-USA’s five new schools settle in.

Dougherty pointed out Tulsa, whose men’s program is 131-43 in its last five seasons, with four NCAA Tournament appearances. Mittie added that Central Florida and Marshall are women’s programs that are on the rise.

TCU basketball also can make a name for itself in the NCAA Tournament.

Gonzaga University Athletic Director Mike Roth has seen his 5,400 private school turn from relative unknown to college basketball mainstay, due to the team’s success in March Madness.

“You’re playing your games on CBS at a time when everyone is enthralled with college basketball,” said Roth of the tournament. “It’s a two-hour informercial on national television that you can’t buy.”

Roth said in the last five years, the school’s enrollment has increased, and attributed the increase to basketball.

“You can go into sporting goods stores across the country now and find a Gonzaga hat,” Roth said. “Not too long ago, you couldn’t even find them outside our bookstore.”

It’s a plateau TCU coaches know they must get to for long-term success.

“The attention you get nationally with the NCAA tournament is just huge,” Dougherty said. “Once you can get to the tournament and win a couple of games, you’ve arrived.”

So to those worried about the additions and subtractions in C-USA: TCU coaches want you to relax.
“In basketball, there is nothing that says we can’t schedule them anyway,” Dougherty said.