We could survive their losses in a literal sense, but let’s be clear it’d be a huge negative to lose them given their football programs. The MAC has been better than the C-USA almost every season going back a decade plus, unless we could replace with a combo like Marshall/WKU/MTSU (which I highly doubt they’d go for) we’re looking at a situation where we’re arguably worse than the Missouri Valley most seasons without Toledo and NIU.
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We do not have the weight you think we pull. Its been a good 20 years since either the football or basketball team was any good. We have nice facilities, yes…but our relevant programs suck.
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If Toledo dares to become part of some scheme to milk additional revenue and special treatment from the other MAC schools–five of which are Ohio publics–that should absolutely be something that the five take to the Ohio legislature.
Football was ranked #26 or #27 ( I forget) heading into our Bowl Game just last year.
I could see NIU taking the offer and getting into the MVC or Horizon for the rest of their sports. They are kind of a geographic outlier in the MAC, they really have not been good in basketball or sports other than football. While they have some value in being relatively close to Chicago, people in Chicago rarely pay attention to them.
Also, once previously they left the MAC to join a Western conference ( can’t remember what it was called). and they finally ended up coming back into the MAC because of the constant changing of conference members and the travel. Right now the MWC has a much bigger TV deal than the MAC, mostly because they have negotiated much more recently than we did. They however have just lost their most valuable members and we will be renegotiating our decade old contract soon, so much of that difference is going to disappear. With what we have right now and what the MWC will have next year we might well be the more powerful football conference. I don’t see Toledo leaving for this offer, but maybe NIU.
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Every B1G school except for the three easternmost along with Notre Dame have far larger Chicago followings than NIU.
I would be shocked if UT and NIU are allowed to continue as MAC members in other sports, especially after the big show the conference just made of making UMass give up its A10 basketball in exchange for football having a home. Hope they like the Horizon League.
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We have an 88% acceptance rate, are not AAU and just clocked in at #136 in the new US News rankings. Even Farmer couldn’t do better than 77th for undergraduate business, and our engineering is a non-entity. We are not like those schools, and nobody is going to take Miami because of some perceived academic luster that they’d bring.
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Hi. 11-2 last year. Football was excellent.
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Why not join the two conferences together? Each school keeps their regional alignment but western teams can now play MAC opponents, and vice versa.
And NickSkin is right. Vegas Baby
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Side note, weren’t we and Toledo approached by the C-USA to join around they were looking to replace UC and a few other members in the mid-00s? Obviously we weren’t interested even if true.
I’ve been around since the 1969 season. So? Yea, some were lousy. Some were great. But I believe that if you asked most college football fans, they would say that Miami has a solid, winning program–despite the Treadwell years. That’s based on the strength of our brand which includes over 700 wins, the Cradle, 32-1- 1 in '74-'76 with three P5 bowl wins, Ben, and expected excellence most years.
Look at Coach Hedric. Most Miami/MAC fans would say that he was a very good coach. A winning coach. In the 70-80’s with Ayers, Aldridge, Shoemaker, et al, He won a lot of games with very good teams. But most would not remember that he had five straight losing seasons during his tenure.Then he gave us Ron Harper.
So, do we dwell in the sewer years? I don’t. I look forward to playing in the CFB Playoffs. Maybe never–but we will reach for the top anyway.
Am I missing the thread to pick Saturdays game or is there no interest?
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Wow. You’re REALLY old.
/jk
You’ve seen a lot of Miami football, some great, some not-so-much. Always cool to hear from a lifelong fan! 
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It would be a tremendous blow to the conference to lose NIU. We currently have 9 schools in two states. NIU is the only MAC school in a state that has a larger population than Ohio. A state that has only 3 FBS programs(Ohio has 8 and Michigan 5).
While Dick is correct that few Chicagoans live and die NIU they still give us a presence in a media market of over 10 million people.
Heck, I think NIU helps us stay on the radar of one of our biggest recruiting grounds for both athletes and regular students.
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I have read that they are talking to the Missouri Valley to be the home for the rest of their sports. The Valley is not a FBS football conference, but their basketball is superior to the MAC. It makes perfect sense for Northern Illinois as Loyola, Illinois State, and Southern Illinois are all in the Valley. It’s less clear about Toledo, but the Valley as a home for the other sports makes the threat of them leaving the MAC greater.
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I love Miami and my Miami experience, but we are not peers of those schools. Georgia Tech is a public school, and they are the closest. The others are private, with huge endowments, research universities, and much greater academic prestige. I would be thrilled if Miami were thought of as those schools, but we are not even close at this moment.
How would that be a “big blow” to the MAC?
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The Missouri Valley is a football conference. It is one of the better FCS conferences and I would be surprised if they admitted NIU without football
If MUHAWK’s question was in response to me I don’t know what I have to add to my post.
Frankly, my perception of their value is vindicated by the MWC’s interest in them.