This is something that hasn't really been touched on in the past couple weeks since bowl invites went out, but there is a history between UCF and Arkansas State when it comes to conferences.
This is common knowledge to longtime UCF fans, but still is fun to revisit and maybe younger fans will learn something new.
UCF's athletics program made the jump to Division I in 1984-85. They played as an independent, even in the non-football sports, up until the 1990-91 season when UCF, in every sport except football which remained an I-AA independent, joined the American South, which included Arkansas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, New Orleans, Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) and Texas-Pan American (now Texas-Rio Grande Valley).
A year later for the 1991-92 season, conference realignment decimated the Sun Belt, which lost USF, UNC Charlotte and Virginia Commonwealth to the Metro Conference, UAB to the Great Midwest Conference and Old Dominion to the Colonial Athletic Association.
The remaining Sun Belt teams - Western Kentucky, South Alabama, Jacksonville and Arkansas-Little Rock - merged with the American South, keeping the Sun Belt name. The commissioner of the American South, Craig Thompson, who has been the longtime commissioner of the Mountain West, took over the Sun Belt.
So for two seasons - one year in the American South and the following year in the Sun Belt - UCF and Arkansas State played in the same conference.
Maybe Hoops and others who were around for this period of UCF history can chime in, but apparently the Sun Belt had a major problem with UCF's TV agreement with Sunshine Network which the Sun Belt saw in conflict to their own deal with SportsChannel. That, plus the extended travel, led then-AD Gene McDowell to pursue affiliation in the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC).
Some fun old Sentinel links to read:
Clock ticking on UCF's move to the TAAC - May 14, 1992
UCF edges nearer to TAAC - May 15, 1992
The May 15, 1992 story includes this interesting nugget:
McDowell told the committee Thursday that UCF basketball boosters also felt joining the TAAC was the right move. McDowell said he hopes UCF can regain a rivalry with NCAA II Rollins, something it was not allowed to do as a Sun Belt member but would be if accepted into the TAAC.
UCF did join the TAAC - which later rebranded as the Atlantic Sun - which was their non-football home through the 2004-05 season.
In 1996, UCF's football program joined Division I-A, still an independent.
A few years into UCF's TAAC run, FIU for some reason decided the Sun Belt was a better fit going forward because of perceived better competition.
I vaguely remember the landscape back then, but the split between "power" and "mid-major" schools wasn't as defined as it is today. While the TAAC was always regarded as a lower-tier conference, the Sun Belt back then was viewed as more middle of the pack, and I think there was a time in the mid-1990s when they had two teams make the NCAA Tournament in men's basketball. That was a huge deal as a conference like the TAAC was always a one-bid league, basically the tournament champion and that's it. The MAC had a similar perception as the Sun Belt, at least back then. I'm not sure if there's a site that breaks down conference teams in the NCAA Tournament by year, but I recall two and maybe even three MAC teams getting in the Big Dance on year, which is unheard of today.
Jerry Greene wrote this story about FIU's move from the TAAC to the Sun Belt:
UCF finding no attraction in the Sun Belt Conference - March 15, 1998
On the football side, and just a few years after UCF left the Sun Belt, the league began to aggressively pursue UCF to come back to play on the football side. As a new follower to UCF athletics in 1997, I recall first hearing it sometime during that season. The Sun Belt didn't then sponsor football, but had several newer I-A programs playing as independents.
UCF AD Steve Sloan was always listening, but what the school really wanted was a spot in the Big East or Conference USA. That wasn't happening though.
As a last resort, UCF would have joined the Sun Belt, but only on the condition that "rival" Louisiana Tech was included. That ended when La Tech got an opportunity to join the WAC. Here's a story on how that played out:
Minus a partner, UCF still seeks invitation to dance - October 20, 1999
Snippet from that story:
When the Sun Belt lost Louisiana Tech as a member Monday, it probably lost UCF as a candidate, too.
``Our situation with the Sun Belt was that Louisiana Tech needed to be part of the scenario,'' UCF Athletic Director Steve Sloan said.
Because of travel concerns, the Sun Belt was a football-only option for the Knights, who otherwise compete in the Trans America Athletic Conference. It now seems like a last resort. Sloan would not go quite that far, but the Sun Belt option is ``certainly less likely'' than before.
By 2000, the landscape for FBS independents was becoming more dire. UCF turned down the Sun Belt, but continued their pursuit of the Big East and C-USA. They hired a marketing company to directly appeal to these leagues, producing a flashy VHS tape and a website called TimeHasComeForUCF.com. On the VHS tape front, I'm kicking myself for not picking one up that appeared on eBay about eight or nine years ago.
Here's a story from the Sentinel:
The Golden Knights are campaigning to join one of the top football conferences - May 26, 2000
The website is still partially visible via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20000929023134/http://www.timehascomeforucf.com/
The marketing campaign did get a little bit of national attention.
Sloan did an interview with some national outlet, it might have been the Sporting News, and he made the quote, and I'm paraphrasing by memory. "These conference commissioners are a bit like Bin Laden, you don't know what they're up to."
I sort of cringed when I read it, figuring it probably wasn't a good idea to compare conference commissioners to terrorists, but then again this was before 9-11.
(There were a lot of Big Ten rumors back then, that any day they'd add a 12th school to stage a conference championship game. That actually didn't happen for another 10 years when Nebraska joined the league.)
By 2001, UCF knew they had to do something. There continued to be talk that Conference USA would add a 12th school, but that was never going to be UCF as long as USF was in the conference. Marshall, which was the hot "non-BCS" program of the time with Byron Leftwich, was being talked about as a C-USA possibility.
UCF was offered a provisional invite to the MAC for football only, which they were willing to accept, but that provision was Marshall staying in the league.
UCF still waiting on Marshall, MAC - August 24, 2001
UCF avoids sack, will join MAC - October 16, 2001
UCF played in the MAC in 2002-2004. In 2003, the ACC raided the Big East, the Big East backfilled with C-USA teams (including USF) which then allowed UCF to finally join C-USA.
It never played out that way, but if La Tech never joined the WAC, maybe UCF joins the Sun Belt and at least for a few years, would have been a conference rival of Arkansas State.
This is common knowledge to longtime UCF fans, but still is fun to revisit and maybe younger fans will learn something new.
UCF's athletics program made the jump to Division I in 1984-85. They played as an independent, even in the non-football sports, up until the 1990-91 season when UCF, in every sport except football which remained an I-AA independent, joined the American South, which included Arkansas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, New Orleans, Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) and Texas-Pan American (now Texas-Rio Grande Valley).
A year later for the 1991-92 season, conference realignment decimated the Sun Belt, which lost USF, UNC Charlotte and Virginia Commonwealth to the Metro Conference, UAB to the Great Midwest Conference and Old Dominion to the Colonial Athletic Association.
The remaining Sun Belt teams - Western Kentucky, South Alabama, Jacksonville and Arkansas-Little Rock - merged with the American South, keeping the Sun Belt name. The commissioner of the American South, Craig Thompson, who has been the longtime commissioner of the Mountain West, took over the Sun Belt.
So for two seasons - one year in the American South and the following year in the Sun Belt - UCF and Arkansas State played in the same conference.
Maybe Hoops and others who were around for this period of UCF history can chime in, but apparently the Sun Belt had a major problem with UCF's TV agreement with Sunshine Network which the Sun Belt saw in conflict to their own deal with SportsChannel. That, plus the extended travel, led then-AD Gene McDowell to pursue affiliation in the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC).
Some fun old Sentinel links to read:
Clock ticking on UCF's move to the TAAC - May 14, 1992
UCF edges nearer to TAAC - May 15, 1992
The May 15, 1992 story includes this interesting nugget:
McDowell told the committee Thursday that UCF basketball boosters also felt joining the TAAC was the right move. McDowell said he hopes UCF can regain a rivalry with NCAA II Rollins, something it was not allowed to do as a Sun Belt member but would be if accepted into the TAAC.
UCF did join the TAAC - which later rebranded as the Atlantic Sun - which was their non-football home through the 2004-05 season.
In 1996, UCF's football program joined Division I-A, still an independent.
A few years into UCF's TAAC run, FIU for some reason decided the Sun Belt was a better fit going forward because of perceived better competition.
I vaguely remember the landscape back then, but the split between "power" and "mid-major" schools wasn't as defined as it is today. While the TAAC was always regarded as a lower-tier conference, the Sun Belt back then was viewed as more middle of the pack, and I think there was a time in the mid-1990s when they had two teams make the NCAA Tournament in men's basketball. That was a huge deal as a conference like the TAAC was always a one-bid league, basically the tournament champion and that's it. The MAC had a similar perception as the Sun Belt, at least back then. I'm not sure if there's a site that breaks down conference teams in the NCAA Tournament by year, but I recall two and maybe even three MAC teams getting in the Big Dance on year, which is unheard of today.
Jerry Greene wrote this story about FIU's move from the TAAC to the Sun Belt:
UCF finding no attraction in the Sun Belt Conference - March 15, 1998
On the football side, and just a few years after UCF left the Sun Belt, the league began to aggressively pursue UCF to come back to play on the football side. As a new follower to UCF athletics in 1997, I recall first hearing it sometime during that season. The Sun Belt didn't then sponsor football, but had several newer I-A programs playing as independents.
UCF AD Steve Sloan was always listening, but what the school really wanted was a spot in the Big East or Conference USA. That wasn't happening though.
As a last resort, UCF would have joined the Sun Belt, but only on the condition that "rival" Louisiana Tech was included. That ended when La Tech got an opportunity to join the WAC. Here's a story on how that played out:
Minus a partner, UCF still seeks invitation to dance - October 20, 1999
Snippet from that story:
When the Sun Belt lost Louisiana Tech as a member Monday, it probably lost UCF as a candidate, too.
``Our situation with the Sun Belt was that Louisiana Tech needed to be part of the scenario,'' UCF Athletic Director Steve Sloan said.
Because of travel concerns, the Sun Belt was a football-only option for the Knights, who otherwise compete in the Trans America Athletic Conference. It now seems like a last resort. Sloan would not go quite that far, but the Sun Belt option is ``certainly less likely'' than before.
By 2000, the landscape for FBS independents was becoming more dire. UCF turned down the Sun Belt, but continued their pursuit of the Big East and C-USA. They hired a marketing company to directly appeal to these leagues, producing a flashy VHS tape and a website called TimeHasComeForUCF.com. On the VHS tape front, I'm kicking myself for not picking one up that appeared on eBay about eight or nine years ago.
Here's a story from the Sentinel:
The Golden Knights are campaigning to join one of the top football conferences - May 26, 2000
The website is still partially visible via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20000929023134/http://www.timehascomeforucf.com/
The marketing campaign did get a little bit of national attention.
Sloan did an interview with some national outlet, it might have been the Sporting News, and he made the quote, and I'm paraphrasing by memory. "These conference commissioners are a bit like Bin Laden, you don't know what they're up to."
I sort of cringed when I read it, figuring it probably wasn't a good idea to compare conference commissioners to terrorists, but then again this was before 9-11.
(There were a lot of Big Ten rumors back then, that any day they'd add a 12th school to stage a conference championship game. That actually didn't happen for another 10 years when Nebraska joined the league.)
By 2001, UCF knew they had to do something. There continued to be talk that Conference USA would add a 12th school, but that was never going to be UCF as long as USF was in the conference. Marshall, which was the hot "non-BCS" program of the time with Byron Leftwich, was being talked about as a C-USA possibility.
UCF was offered a provisional invite to the MAC for football only, which they were willing to accept, but that provision was Marshall staying in the league.
UCF still waiting on Marshall, MAC - August 24, 2001
UCF avoids sack, will join MAC - October 16, 2001
UCF played in the MAC in 2002-2004. In 2003, the ACC raided the Big East, the Big East backfilled with C-USA teams (including USF) which then allowed UCF to finally join C-USA.
It never played out that way, but if La Tech never joined the WAC, maybe UCF joins the Sun Belt and at least for a few years, would have been a conference rival of Arkansas State.
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