College football is threatening to become a closed fraternity.
But the American Athletic Conference, to its credit, is taking steps to be part of the conversation.
The league, which made an instant splash in its first year when UCF outscored Big 12 champion Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl, is growing up before our very eyes and creating its own brand.
And it promises to only get better with the addition of Navy -- one of the class acts in Division I football -- the home run hires of Tom Herman of Houston, Chad Morris of SMU and Philip Montgomery of Tulsa -- arguably the three best offensive coordinators in the country last year -- and the completion of a new on-campus facilities like the Yulman Stadium at Tulane, TDECU Stadium at Houston and the allocation of $86 million dollars to put a facelift on Cincinnati's venerable Nippert Stadium.