(04-17-2014 09:32 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 09:09 AM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 09:01 AM)paintedblue Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 08:14 AM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 11:24 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  ODU hired the athletic director of a Sun Belt school for the purpose of getting ODU into FBS.

While I cannot say with certainty that ODU would have rejected Sun Belt overtures had that been the only thing on the table, it would seem likely they would have accepted given that ODU pursued a man who had experience making the move and had a working relationship with the only conference that at that time seemed likely to expand and wanted him enough to give him a $75,000 raise.

He was hired while Syracuse and Pitt were securely in the Big East and C-USA was enjoying the richest non-AQ TV contract and comfortable at 12. Rumors were swirling that UMass might go FBS and become MAC #14. South Alabama was in year 2 of football heading toward eventual Sun Belt membership as football member #10 and there was speculation that the league might head to 12 when that happened.

That's not conclusive evidence but it certainly suggests that ODU had Sun Belt membership in mind until circumstances changed.

I agree. UTSA was the same (esp. with the WAC collapsing all around them). Some schools are determined to get to the highest level, come he!! or high water. JMU and MO State aren't those type of schools (unfortunately for their forward-looking supporters).

Yes Wood Selig was hired from WKU with an eventual move to FBS in mind, but he was also a very strong candidate because he is a Norfolk native so he knows the area very well and has deep roots here.

For me the biggests lesson learned by the JMU/SunBelt saga was that if a university wants to achieve upward mobility and success in athletics they must have both a strong president (power over BOV) and AD who are sports minded and proactive. We fans at ODU were extreamly fortunate that those conditions existed here at the proper time, because ten years prior to that (pre President Runte) our administration was nothing like that.

IMO the reason JMU chose to decline the SBC was because their leadership is too cautious and is just not that interested in FBS football.

I don't think that they are not interested in FBS football but that the landscape is still uncertain. Until the P5 get their automony or a new division created with new rules, why put the effort to move up only see yourselves end back where you were. There are some big changes coming.
Athletes as employees to full cost of attendance and stipends....that'll still needs to be settled but it will affect a whole lot of G5 schools and perhasp some G5 schools don't participate in that because it will be to costly stay remotely competitve.
I change my mind think that the Sunbelt is the last spot for FBS. There is going to be some movement when all the changes coming down the road here by August to see what a school decides where they want to play.

Well, I seriously doubt you ever see a split of FBS. There just isn't anything to gain and a lot of P5 programs would lose. However, even if there was a split the next level of programs are still a step up from FCS.

The FCS landscape is shifting west as the best FCS programs in FCS are moving up. With ODU, App St, UNCC, Ga So and possibly Liberty making the jump it will only make life on the recruiting trail harder for JMU which will make it harder to compete with the western FCS teams.

Yep.

All those overlooked players in VA that used to go to JMU now have another FBS option in the state and they can play in front of a packed home stadium against some recognizable names.

Teams like NCSU, Marshall, Virginia Tech, and App State aren't coming to play JMU at home, but they are coming to Norfolk.