Conference USA is corresponding with high schools to explain its position and head off negative recruiting. Also lost in the hullabaloo, others say, is that plenty of high schools play Saturdays. We're not going to be extreme on it. We have had our football championship game in 3 of the 4 years of its history on Fridays, and the sun has come up the next day. There was a similar uproar years ago when the ACC and other leagues decided to play basketball Tuesday nights, which traditionally belonged to high schools.
Football is only once a week.
With basketball, high schools play 2 nights a week. We try to minimize Tuesday nights. UNLV athletic director Charles Cavagnaro looked at the chance to play two Friday night games on ESPN as an opportunity he couldn't refuse. He also said he sent letters last November to the state's high school coaches to alert them that Friday night games could happen. It's not like we were attacking and thieving in the dark.