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Louisiana Tech AD dismisses talk of C-USA, Sun Belt merger by firing incredible shot at Louisiana-Lafayette program
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Based on these comments from Louisiana Tech AD Tommy McClelland, there’s no chance he sees Louisiana getting an opportunity to join Conference USA.
There’s apparently been speculation that C-USA and the Sun Belt conference could be merging, likely due to the financial difficulties brought on this spring from the coronavirus, but McClelland did his best to eviscerate those rumors.
“Well, let me just be very frank and very direct — there is no conversation at Conference USA, nor is there any interest. And I think that’s – I don’t know how direct, I can be with that,” McClelland says in the video below.
The Louisiana Tech AD didn’t stop there, however. Based on his comments, it’s fair to say he doesn’t believe the Sun Belt adds much value to the C-USA brand.
“I think if I were in Lafayette’s position, I’d be trying to figure out a way to move up to a level, like Conference USA. And so, you know, congratulations on that conversation,” McClelland added. “But I think for us, you know, you’ve got understand… if we all of a sudden decided there was going to be a membership expansion in Conference USA, I think there would be numerous individuals from that league that would be interested in joining and paying a premium that we all pay to be in this league. And so I think there will be individuals that would be interested in that.
“If their league expanded, I don’t think there would be anybody in our league that would be interested in that, so I think that’s the litmus test on a merger.”
There wasn’t much holding back on that one.
Here’s LA Tech AD Tommy McClelland on the talk surrounding a Sun Belt and Conference USA merger:#LATech #ConferenceUSA pic.twitter.com/CycskW0MVW
— AJ Howell (@annajhowell) May 28, 2020
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
