WKU Athletics: The Tops Are Staying in Conference USA. Now What?

Your official FAQ for what's next for the Hilltoppers in the short term now that the MAC dream is dead.

It’s official. Western Kentucky will not, for the time being, be leaving Conference USA for the Mid-American Conference after the MAC announced it will not pursue expansion plans at this time.

Thus put an end to two and a half weeks of hope, speculation and, ultimately, severe let down.

Thanks, Middle. You wanted a revived rivalry with the Tops? Careful what you wish for.

Regardless, that’s the world we live in now. So, what comes next? What’s in store for WKU and the rest of C-USA?

Who even will be in C-USA with WKU, again?

A fair question! Since the MAC looked like a damn-near certainty this time last week, no one would blame you for checking out of the other moves the conference made recently.

You’re familiar with the names who are left: Along with WKU and Middle, Louisiana Tech, FIU and UTEP are still in Conference USA. While I could honestly take or leave FIU (as could most everyone on the planet — though, shouts to Eric Henry, who does a better job covering FIU than most people do covering their respective team), I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to keep the Bulldogs and Miners on the schedule, especially in basketball, though the football games are always fun, too. La Tech has maybe the second-most passionate fan base in C-USA while WKU and UTEP have always felt two sides of the same coin to me.

I reiterate what I said before: What has become a rather stale 100 Miles of Hate sure has gotten very interesting very fast. January 29 can’t come fast enough.

New to the conference starting July 1, 2023, are the quartet of Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State and Sam Houston State.

Unless another move is made before that 7/1/23 date, C-USA will operate with nine teams, all full-fledged members.

Does this mean we are stuck with games on Facebook still?

For now, yes.

Per the USA Today’s reporting when the most recent deal was reached in 2018, the current deal runs through the end of the 2022/23 season, so even if WKU were leaving for greener pastures, that would remain the case regardless.

Reportedly, the deal is worth around $400,000-$500,00 per school.

Back in February of 2020, WKU Athletic Director Todd Stewart voiced his displeasure with the Conference USA media deal not just in terms of revenue but in where games could be seen.

Remember, this was the same season in which WKU and Louisville met in men’s basketball on Facebook.

If I’m Conference USA, and I know not only how close a program like WKU was to leaving but that they still aren’t very happy staying in my borders (I mean, take a look at the statement released by Stewart and WKU President Tim Caboni. It hardly reads like a leadership excited with their current circumstance), I’m going to listen long and hard about what concerns WKU has and will try to do as best I can to not only keep them happy, but up my exposure.

With the deal set to expire sooner rather than later, we’ll hear about a renewal of rights or who has the rights for the next period before we know it.

That’s great, but I don’t care about what TV looks like. I just want to know what we can expect on the field.

I’m not here to tell you the newfangled nine-team Conference USA is the best mid-major conference in the nation, but I will say this: It ain’t bad.

We know what the leftovers bring to the table: MTSU brings very little, FIU can play their way into being ranked in baseball, La Tech and UTEP are always formidable everywhere but haven’t really gotten their stuff together in the money sports in quite some time.

The newcomers, though, are quite interesting.

Liberty has won three-straight A-SUN basketball tournaments and garnered their first-ever AP Top 25 ranking in football last year.

Jacksonville State handed Florida State it’s first ever football loss to an FCS program just a couple of months ago and were mainstays in the FCS playoffs from 2013–2018. They’ve also won 10 or more games on the gridiron every year except in 2018, when they went 9–4.

In hoops? They’re coached by this Ray Harper fellow who guided them to their first ever NCAA tournament in 2017 and who has yet to lose 20 games in a single season with the Gamecocks.

Sam Houston State is the reigning FCS football champions, won the regular season title in the Southland in 2019 in men’s basketball and made a super regional in baseball in 2017.

New Mexico State doesn’t bring a whole heckuva lot to the table when you’re talking pigskin: Since 2012, they bounced from the WAC to an independent to the Sun Belt as a football-only institution only to go independent again before finally accepting the C-USA invite last month.

On the hardwood, however, it’s a bit of a different story. The Aggies went to three-straight NCAA tournaments from 2017–19 and have been to eight total since 2010. They also had a top-10 MLB draft pick from their baseball program in Nick Gonzalez in 2020.

I’m not here to tell you it’s a sexy league, but I think you’ll find the competition to be surprisingly competitive, especially in basketball.

Thanks for making it this far. I know you have one more question: How does all of this affect the Hilltoppers?

I plan on exploring later this week (maybe early next week, who knows) about how unlucky WKU was in this entire realignment round, because I think they may be the most unlucky athletic program in the nation to not be picked to go to a new conference.

But, as it stands, WKU will still be in C-USA come July 1, 2023 and the bottom line is, from a competition standpoint, WKU is a-okay. In fact, I think WKU might find it a little more difficult to win in the revenue sports, especially in basketball.

The addition of Liberty, Jacksonville State and New Mexico State will make Conference USA an incredibly competitive basketball conference and with the likes of La Tech and UTEP always threatening to go on an early-March run in Frisco, you could make a real argument that this nine-team C-USA deserves to be a two-bid league (I don’t know how successful that argument would be, but it’s certainly one you could make).

It may be a few years before anyone aside from Liberty of the new additions makes any sort of splash in football. JSU has a rich FCS history, but they’re not brimming with near-FBS talent the same way a James Madison appears to be.

Sam Houston may be the most interesting addition, and I look forward to seeing how quickly they can become competitive at the FBS level.

While a lot of people, myself included, are still unhappy with how realignment unfolded for the Hilltoppers, it’s not all gloom and doom for the future of the red towels.