By: Drew Champlin | Dothan Eagle
Published: June 16, 2012
It’s mid-June, and Karl Benson can finally relax.
Benson, the Sun Belt’s commissioner since March 15, left a conference (Western Athletic) that is a shell of its former self thanks to college football realignment and came to one where there was uncertainty. Recently, the conference got to 12 member institutions and halted expansion efforts for the time being.
“That has allowed me to pause and catch my breath,” Benson said. “This has stopped the merry-go-round a little bit. That’s good. Now, to focus on three or four other important issues.”
Benson and Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr., who is Troy University’s chancellor and is the Sun Belt Conference Executive Committee President, both believe the Sun Belt is in better shape now than before realignment hit.
“We anticipated change,” Hawkins said. “We didn’t get washed away by change. The Sun Belt Conference today, in my estimation, is stronger. We’re stronger academically and athletically.
“We wanted to avoid that life support system,” Hawkins said. “We didn’t want to be in a desperate situation. What we also wanted to avoid was being a threshold conference. We didn’t want to be a threshold conference for any institution that was just looking for a step up. If an institution didn’t bring something to the table, we weren’t going to look at them.”
Sun Belt Conference officials studied getting to 12 or 14 football-playing schools, but elected not to go that route. With 10 football schools, that also means no championship game, which Benson said now wasn’t even on the to-be-discussed list.
“What we weren’t willing to compromise was the geographic footprint,” Hawkins said. “It could have been enticing if we kept our eyes on that prize and not the geography.”
“It’s a conference going like this (Hawkins points upward). I’m not sure all conferences are going like this. I think we’ve passed two, and may be on the verge of passing a third, without mentioning names.”
http://www2.dothaneagle.com/sports/2012/...r-3985937/