AAC eager to capitalize on success
You’ll have to forgive Mike Aresco if he appears giddy these days.
As the commissioner of the American Athletic Conference, Aresco has seen his league step out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Programs like Houston, Memphis, Navy and Temple have gone from underdogs to favorites for much of this college football season.
The league is even earning the attention of the College Football Playoff selection committee, with an AAC team likely to earn a spot in one of the New Year’s Six access bowls against a team from the big, bad Power 5 conferences.
Still Aresco believes the American is just as good as any league in the country.
“We’re as good as any Power 5 conference,” he said. “There is no question that we can compete and there is no question that we ought to be in that mix.”
It’s hard to argue otherwise, especially after AAC teams have earned huge wins over Power 5 opponents Penn State, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Kansas and Ole Miss.
If October was a “makeor-break” month for the conference, several teams didn’t disappoint.
Strong starts by Memphis (8-0), Houston (10-0) and Temple (7-0) pushed the American front-and-center in the playoff rankings discussion, while newcomer Navy quickly worked its way into the talks.
“I think the key for us now is to just convince people how good the conference is and that our nonconference record shows that these conference matchups are good matchups,” Aresco explained. “… I don’t think people fully appreciate it yet.”
That said, fans are taking notice of the league’s success.
Attendance at home games has been steadily climbing this season, with schools drawing 3,000 more spectators per game than last season. It’s an increase of 10 percent.
And those who can’t make it out to the games are tuning in to watch them on television.
Fifteen games this season featured at least one million viewers, led by Temple’s showdown with Notre Dame, which drew close to six million fans. That’s an increase of 36 percent from last season.
But with big-time success comes big-time problems.
Even as programs like Memphis and Houston go through a football renaissance, there is the threat of losing the men who helped engineer those turnarounds. Justin Fuente (Memphis) and Tom Herman (Houston) have both been mentioned as possible coaching candidates for the dozen vacant jobs that dot the Football Bowl Subdivision landscape.
Fearing they may lose the key component to their success, officials from both schools moved quickly to approve contract extensions that will bump the coaches’ salaries to an eye-catching $3 million apiece per season.
Memphis and Houston may not be in a Power 5 conference, but they are willing to pay like one.
For his part, Aresco knows the importance of getting an AAC team into a New Year’s Six game.
“It would elevate us. It would provide important exposure for the conference and it would give us a chance to play another really good team and show them what we can do,” he said of the impact.
And even more important, it continues to make his case the American should be included in the mix with the other power conferences.
“I think it’s going to take some time to convince people. The Group of 5 issue remains a challenge for us. We don’t like it, but we have to deal with it.
“As I said, first win and then we’ll start making our points.”