Post by troy79 on Jun 20, 2023 5:32:46 GMT -6
Fellow Trojans,
I know this is a lengthy post, but I feel it’s time to discuss the future of the Sun Belt.
Since the dominos have not all dropped with conference realignment throughout the country, I want to share some thoughts about strengthening our own conference.
The Belt is at the top end of the Group of Five and it would be awesome if we could remain there into the foreseeable future.
First, I want to identify the 2023 versions of the AAC, CUSA, the Independents, and Sun Belt.
The AAC has 14 members:
UAB, Charlotte, FAU, Navy, North Texas, Rice, SMU, Temple, UTSA, Tulsa, East Carolina, Memphis, South Florida, and Tulane
Conference USA has 9 members:
FIU, Liberty, Jax State, MTSU, La Tech, NMSU, UTEP, Sam Houston, and WKU
The four FBS Independents schools include:
Notre Dame, UCONN, UMass, and Army
The Sun Belt has 14 members:
Texas State, Arkansas State, La Monroe, Louisiana, Southern Miss, USA, Troy, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, App State, Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion, JMU, and Marshall
To have a strong conference, it is my belief that a tighter geographic footprint with natural type rivalries will make for an exciting conference and more convenient for traveling to away games. Commissioner Gill (whose contract goes into 2030) has been the aggressor in strengthening our Conference. We are blessed to have him in this leadership position during such a volatile time with schools jumping from one conference to another.
As you may have seen, SDSU just announced to the Mountain West Conference that they want to explore other options (I imagine others will follow). It has been rumored that the Pac 12 may be interested since they lost both USC and UCLA to the Big Ten. There has also been talk that the Pac 12 may be looking at SMU.
I must believe that with the Big 12 searching to poach other conferences to strengthen its brand, there will be some Pac 12 members on their radar screen (i.e., Colorado, Arizona, ASU, Utah). Even Memphis has been a name the Big 12 has discussed, and possibly UCONN.
The Big Ten has been rumored to want Notre Dame, Oregon, Washington, and maybe even Utah.
Most recently, the rumor is the SEC and Big Ten both may be interested in bringing on North Carolina and Virginia.
This leads me to the Sun Belt and Commissioner Gill. As we all know, timing is everything. If the Belt is happy to remain at 14 teams, then here is an option that we could consider.
Obviously, if we add new members and want to remain at 14 teams, then we would need to consider dropping some schools and adding others. As you see above, fifty percent of the new AAC is made up of former CUSA and Sun Belt schools. I would suggest there are four original AAC member schools in our geographic footprint that we could add.
I would consider dropping the three schools furthest West (Texas State, Arkansas State, and La Monroe). The AAC, Mountain West, and/or CUSA would take these three schools. It is highly likely that some of the Power Five Conferences will be purging current members as they begin to add new schools in the future.
If Memphis is absorbed by the Big 12, then they would be out of the question for the Sun Belt. However, if not, they would be a great addition for our Conference. We should target Tulane (the Sun Belt’s headquarters is in New Orleans), East Carolina, and possibly South Florida (assuming Memphis is not available). If we no longer have a presence in Texas, then Florida (USF) would be a great addition. With the AAC being so watered down, these schools might jump at the chance to become members of the top Group of Five Conference (the new Sun Belt). This move should secure any concerns of schools like App. State and Coastal Carolina from jumping ship.
Again, Commissioner Gill has already proven that he is not one to sit back and watch us get gobbled up by other conferences. The dominos are going to start falling again and so the time is right for the Sun Belt to be hands down the top Group of Five Conference, in all major sports.
As the old saying goes, “It’s always best to be the hunter than to be the hunted.”
Let’s have a discussion on next steps for the Sun Belt. Nothing stays the same, so we need to continue with the aggressive attitude.
Go TROY!
I know this is a lengthy post, but I feel it’s time to discuss the future of the Sun Belt.
Since the dominos have not all dropped with conference realignment throughout the country, I want to share some thoughts about strengthening our own conference.
The Belt is at the top end of the Group of Five and it would be awesome if we could remain there into the foreseeable future.
First, I want to identify the 2023 versions of the AAC, CUSA, the Independents, and Sun Belt.
The AAC has 14 members:
UAB, Charlotte, FAU, Navy, North Texas, Rice, SMU, Temple, UTSA, Tulsa, East Carolina, Memphis, South Florida, and Tulane
Conference USA has 9 members:
FIU, Liberty, Jax State, MTSU, La Tech, NMSU, UTEP, Sam Houston, and WKU
The four FBS Independents schools include:
Notre Dame, UCONN, UMass, and Army
The Sun Belt has 14 members:
Texas State, Arkansas State, La Monroe, Louisiana, Southern Miss, USA, Troy, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, App State, Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion, JMU, and Marshall
To have a strong conference, it is my belief that a tighter geographic footprint with natural type rivalries will make for an exciting conference and more convenient for traveling to away games. Commissioner Gill (whose contract goes into 2030) has been the aggressor in strengthening our Conference. We are blessed to have him in this leadership position during such a volatile time with schools jumping from one conference to another.
As you may have seen, SDSU just announced to the Mountain West Conference that they want to explore other options (I imagine others will follow). It has been rumored that the Pac 12 may be interested since they lost both USC and UCLA to the Big Ten. There has also been talk that the Pac 12 may be looking at SMU.
I must believe that with the Big 12 searching to poach other conferences to strengthen its brand, there will be some Pac 12 members on their radar screen (i.e., Colorado, Arizona, ASU, Utah). Even Memphis has been a name the Big 12 has discussed, and possibly UCONN.
The Big Ten has been rumored to want Notre Dame, Oregon, Washington, and maybe even Utah.
Most recently, the rumor is the SEC and Big Ten both may be interested in bringing on North Carolina and Virginia.
This leads me to the Sun Belt and Commissioner Gill. As we all know, timing is everything. If the Belt is happy to remain at 14 teams, then here is an option that we could consider.
Obviously, if we add new members and want to remain at 14 teams, then we would need to consider dropping some schools and adding others. As you see above, fifty percent of the new AAC is made up of former CUSA and Sun Belt schools. I would suggest there are four original AAC member schools in our geographic footprint that we could add.
I would consider dropping the three schools furthest West (Texas State, Arkansas State, and La Monroe). The AAC, Mountain West, and/or CUSA would take these three schools. It is highly likely that some of the Power Five Conferences will be purging current members as they begin to add new schools in the future.
If Memphis is absorbed by the Big 12, then they would be out of the question for the Sun Belt. However, if not, they would be a great addition for our Conference. We should target Tulane (the Sun Belt’s headquarters is in New Orleans), East Carolina, and possibly South Florida (assuming Memphis is not available). If we no longer have a presence in Texas, then Florida (USF) would be a great addition. With the AAC being so watered down, these schools might jump at the chance to become members of the top Group of Five Conference (the new Sun Belt). This move should secure any concerns of schools like App. State and Coastal Carolina from jumping ship.
Again, Commissioner Gill has already proven that he is not one to sit back and watch us get gobbled up by other conferences. The dominos are going to start falling again and so the time is right for the Sun Belt to be hands down the top Group of Five Conference, in all major sports.
As the old saying goes, “It’s always best to be the hunter than to be the hunted.”
Let’s have a discussion on next steps for the Sun Belt. Nothing stays the same, so we need to continue with the aggressive attitude.
Go TROY!