Topic: Gazette: C-USA commissioner visits MU

[ZackUSAF82]

Banowsky talks rivalries, parity and scheduling

By Doug Smock
Staff writer

HUNTINGTON — He called it one of the most challenging and rewarding times in his life, the time when Conference USA was caught in the middle of the greatest conference upheaval in college athletics history.

But Britton Banowsky, the league’s commissioner, is happy to have that era in his rear-view mirror. He savors the stability.

“We’re kind of in a calm period right now,” said Banowsky, who took the job five years ago. “Which is good for all college athletics, I think. It gives us a chance to get some other pieces of business, like academic reform and other things, on track. When everyone’s kind of focused on survival, it puts you in a different mode altogether.”

Banowsky visited the MU campus Monday after attending part of the Knight Commission’s Faculty Summit on Intercollegiate Athletics in Washington. He visited MU president Stephen Kopp and several coaches, and sat in on a basketball practice conducted by coach Donnie Jones.

With the conference’s current 12-team lineup in its third academic year, the emphasis is in improvement and fine-tuning. The two-division setup in football seems to working in many ways.

“[The schools] are spread out geographically, and that’s why the divisions are helpful,” Banowsky said. “Teams like, for [Marshall], you’ve got a natural rivalry with East Carolina. Southern Miss should be a really good rivalry game. UCF is a rivalry game that goes back a bit into the MAC days. On the other side, UTEP and Houston has turned into a great rivalry.

Link: http://wvgazette.com/section/Sports/Marshall/2007101545