http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_...ght-waters
The Sun Belt Conference is the youngest FBS conference. But in the past few years, teams such as Troy, Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic have put the conference in the national spotlight with dynamic wins and special seasons.
Commissioner Wright Waters knows his conference has a long way to go and needs to change some things -- namely scheduling -- to get there, but he does think it’s moving in the right direction.
Waters took a few minutes to discuss the 2009 season, scheduling and national recognition.
I’d say 2009 was a good year for your conference. You had two teams go to bowl games, Middle Tennessee had a 10-win season and Troy made a name for itself in the GMAC Bowl. How do you feel like your conference is progressing?
Wright Waters: We’re getting better. The issue is God grant me patience and I want it right now. I think Middle is better, Troy’s got a chance to beat Central Michigan late and Central Michigan ended up ranked Top 25. So, I think the top of our league is better. I think we have to continue to look at the bottom and the middle and see if we’re making progress there.
You only have one automatic bowl berth, but it seems like you guys are starting to put together years where two teams are eligible and a few others are on the bubble. That has to be encouraging that the conference is moving in the right direction.
WW: It is. But I think as a conference we’re all about alike. Noted that Middle and Troy put a little distance between themselves recently. But as long as we’re playing the nonconference schedule that we’re playing, and I think everybody’s playing at least one SEC-type game and some are playing two, those are games that, how many times are you going to win them? So, once you take those two out and then you go into a conference schedule where you’ve got a lot of people that are about like you that makes it difficult. It’s a good news-bad news scenario. The good news is that it makes for exciting football on Saturday, and the bad news is that it doesn’t help you get to a bowl game.
So, is your conference still just playing those guarantee games to bring in the money to support their athletic departments
WW: Some people are. It’s obvious when you look at the schedules that they are. But then there are others that are starting to understand that there are people out there that will play home-and-home, and that we need to make our dollars on our own stands. We’re making progress on scheduling, but whether we’re making it as fast as we’d like to … and in a bad economy, I understand where the ADs are, too. They’ve still got to balance budgets and they’ve got to buy volleyballs and tennis balls and golf balls and that’s a way to do it.
How much was what Troy and Middle were able to do on a national stage help your conference in terms of continuing to get recognition, a little more respect and maybe even ranked?
WW: I think a lot of it is, whether it’s Boise or Utah or anybody, a lot of it is still about scheduling. We’ve spent an awful lot of time talking to our ADs about looking at Boise’s schedule and Utah’s schedule and people like that. You can’t continue to play LSU, Alabama and Florida. You’ve got to schedule to help your team win.
