Well we just finished year 1 for us in the Belt. Here are a few of my thoughts:

1. It is very nice to be associated with similar schools to Ga. Southern. Schools like App. St., Troy, Arkansas St., Texas St. and others are very similar to Ga. Southern. All schools are public schools who care about athletics and are willing to put money into facilities. I am even more positive now than I was a year ago that this move to the Belt was the right move.
2. Little things like having 4 umpires for baseball games (the SoCon some years we were there only had 2), giving coaches a great deal of say in decisions about their particular sport, and teams being supportive of other conference schools in bowls or regionals are welcomed changes from some of our experience in our former conference.
3. Football in this conference means something. I know we have our bottom teams right now but overall it is a very competitive league with really 7 other schools other than GS who can beat each other on any given game. I think back to last year when we played ULM in the last game. They had nothing to play for---no chance at a bowl-- yet they played us that night to the wire. I gained alot of respect that night for them. I have high hopes for this league going forward if we can all stay together. It is nice to go on the road and play in front of crowds. In the SoCon there were many games over the years where we had as many if not more fans as the visiting team than the home team did.
4. In basketball I was pleasantly surprised to see us finish 2nd both in the regular season and the tourney. I am not sure that isn't a mixture of us having our best year in a long time and the league as a whole not being very strong. I can see the Ga. State/GS rivalry growing in basketball if we can keep up our end of the bargain. I know I may be in the minority but I enjoyed playing all teams home/home.
5. Baseball is a sport the Belt should be good and while this year there was no dominant team the league was very competitive 1-11. Unlike the SoCon the Sun Belt has some quality even down to the bottom teams in the standings. There were many, many 1,2 or 3 run games this year vs. the other 10 teams.
6. I like the Belt's policy of only taking the top 8 schools in the tournament in volleyball, softball, baseball, basketball, etc. It gives some meaning to the regular season. While I would change the set up for some of the tournaments I applaud the Belt's policy of basically allowing the coaches of that sport to decide how they want the tournament.
7. While our men's teams I think did very well in our first year we have some improving to do for our women's teams. I take our AD at his word when he said that at the very minimum we want all of our teams to at least be in the middle of the league. We replaced our women's basketball coach after this season and we may have other coaching changes on the women's side if we don't do better next year.
8. I have enjoyed this site exchanging ideas with other posters. We do have a element of our fanbase who enjoy bragging and antagonizing the opponents, but the majority of our fans recognize excellence and respect our conference mates. I know some of the other teams probably think during the App/GS game week that all GS fans are crazy but it is all in good fun. If you talk to most GS fans there is a high amount of respect for App. If the truth is known we know beating them (esp. in Boone) is quite an accomplishment.

Onward toward Year 2.

(05-21-2015 08:08 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  Well we just finished year 1 for us in the Belt. Here are a few of my thoughts:

1. It is very nice to be associated with similar schools to Ga. Southern. Schools like App. St., Troy, Arkansas St., Texas St. and others are very similar to Ga. Southern. All schools are public schools who care about athletics and are willing to put money into facilities. I am even more positive now than I was a year ago that this move to the Belt was the right move.
2. Little things like having 4 umpires for baseball games (the SoCon some years we were there only had 2), giving coaches a great deal of say in decisions about their particular sport, and teams being supportive of other conference schools in bowls or regionals are welcomed changes from some of our experience in our former conference.
3. Football in this conference means something. I know we have our bottom teams right now but overall it is a very competitive league with really 7 other schools other than GS who can beat each other on any given game. I think back to last year when we played ULM in the last game. They had nothing to play for---no chance at a bowl-- yet they played us that night to the wire. I gained alot of respect that night for them. I have high hopes for this league going forward if we can all stay together. It is nice to go on the road and play in front of crowds. In the SoCon there were many games over the years where we had as many if not more fans as the visiting team than the home team did.
4. In basketball I was pleasantly surprised to see us finish 2nd both in the regular season and the tourney. I am not sure that isn't a mixture of us having our best year in a long time and the league as a whole not being very strong. I can see the Ga. State/GS rivalry growing in basketball if we can keep up our end of the bargain. I know I may be in the minority but I enjoyed playing all teams home/home.
5. Baseball is a sport the Belt should be good and while this year there was no dominant team the league was very competitive 1-11. Unlike the SoCon the Sun Belt has some quality even down to the bottom teams in the standings. There were many, many 1,2 or 3 run games this year vs. the other 10 teams.
6. I like the Belt's policy of only taking the top 8 schools in the tournament in volleyball, softball, baseball, basketball, etc. It gives some meaning to the regular season. While I would change the set up for some of the tournaments I applaud the Belt's policy of basically allowing the coaches of that sport to decide how they want the tournament.
7. While our men's teams I think did very well in our first year we have some improving to do for our women's teams. I take our AD at his word when he said that at the very minimum we want all of our teams to at least be in the middle of the league. We replaced our women's basketball coach after this season and we may have other coaching changes on the women's side if we don't do better next year.
8. I have enjoyed this site exchanging ideas with other posters. We do have a element of our fanbase who enjoy bragging and antagonizing the opponents, but the majority of our fans recognize excellence and respect our conference mates. I know some of the other teams probably think during the App/GS game week that all GS fans are crazy but it is all in good fun. If you talk to most GS fans there is a high amount of respect for App. If the truth is known we know beating them (esp. in Boone) is quite an accomplishment.

Onward toward Year 2.

Glad you enjoyed your first year . . . Welcome again to The Belt . . .

(05-21-2015 08:08 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  Well we just finished year 1 for us in the Belt. Here are a few of my thoughts:

1. It is very nice to be associated with similar schools to Ga. Southern. Schools like App. St., Troy, Arkansas St., Texas St. and others are very similar to Ga. Southern. All schools are public schools who care about athletics and are willing to put money into facilities. I am even more positive now than I was a year ago that this move to the Belt was the right move.
2. Little things like having 4 umpires for baseball games (the SoCon some years we were there only had 2), giving coaches a great deal of say in decisions about their particular sport, and teams being supportive of other conference schools in bowls or regionals are welcomed changes from some of our experience in our former conference.
3. Football in this conference means something. I know we have our bottom teams right now but overall it is a very competitive league with really 7 other schools other than GS who can beat each other on any given game. I think back to last year when we played ULM in the last game. They had nothing to play for---no chance at a bowl-- yet they played us that night to the wire. I gained alot of respect that night for them. I have high hopes for this league going forward if we can all stay together. It is nice to go on the road and play in front of crowds. In the SoCon there were many games over the years where we had as many if not more fans as the visiting team than the home team did.
4. In basketball I was pleasantly surprised to see us finish 2nd both in the regular season and the tourney. I am not sure that isn't a mixture of us having our best year in a long time and the league as a whole not being very strong. I can see the Ga. State/GS rivalry growing in basketball if we can keep up our end of the bargain. I know I may be in the minority but I enjoyed playing all teams home/home.
5. Baseball is a sport the Belt should be good and while this year there was no dominant team the league was very competitive 1-11. Unlike the SoCon the Sun Belt has some quality even down to the bottom teams in the standings. There were many, many 1,2 or 3 run games this year vs. the other 10 teams.
6. I like the Belt's policy of only taking the top 8 schools in the tournament in volleyball, softball, baseball, basketball, etc. It gives some meaning to the regular season. While I would change the set up for some of the tournaments I applaud the Belt's policy of basically allowing the coaches of that sport to decide how they want the tournament.
7. While our men's teams I think did very well in our first year we have some improving to do for our women's teams. I take our AD at his word when he said that at the very minimum we want all of our teams to at least be in the middle of the league. We replaced our women's basketball coach after this season and we may have other coaching changes on the women's side if we don't do better next year.
8. I have enjoyed this site exchanging ideas with other posters. We do have a element of our fanbase who enjoy bragging and antagonizing the opponents, but the majority of our fans recognize excellence and respect our conference mates. I know some of the other teams probably think during the App/GS game week that all GS fans are crazy but it is all in good fun. If you talk to most GS fans there is a high amount of respect for App. If the truth is known we know beating them (esp. in Boone) is quite an accomplishment.

Onward toward Year 2.

Nice post GaSoEagle!

(05-22-2015 05:12 AM)sixtoes9134 Wrote:  

(05-21-2015 08:08 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  Well we just finished year 1 for us in the Belt. Here are a few of my thoughts:

1. It is very nice to be associated with similar schools to Ga. Southern. Schools like App. St., Troy, Arkansas St., Texas St. and others are very similar to Ga. Southern. All schools are public schools who care about athletics and are willing to put money into facilities. I am even more positive now than I was a year ago that this move to the Belt was the right move.
2. Little things like having 4 umpires for baseball games (the SoCon some years we were there only had 2), giving coaches a great deal of say in decisions about their particular sport, and teams being supportive of other conference schools in bowls or regionals are welcomed changes from some of our experience in our former conference.
3. Football in this conference means something. I know we have our bottom teams right now but overall it is a very competitive league with really 7 other schools other than GS who can beat each other on any given game. I think back to last year when we played ULM in the last game. They had nothing to play for---no chance at a bowl-- yet they played us that night to the wire. I gained alot of respect that night for them. I have high hopes for this league going forward if we can all stay together. It is nice to go on the road and play in front of crowds. In the SoCon there were many games over the years where we had as many if not more fans as the visiting team than the home team did.
4. In basketball I was pleasantly surprised to see us finish 2nd both in the regular season and the tourney. I am not sure that isn't a mixture of us having our best year in a long time and the league as a whole not being very strong. I can see the Ga. State/GS rivalry growing in basketball if we can keep up our end of the bargain. I know I may be in the minority but I enjoyed playing all teams home/home.
5. Baseball is a sport the Belt should be good and while this year there was no dominant team the league was very competitive 1-11. Unlike the SoCon the Sun Belt has some quality even down to the bottom teams in the standings. There were many, many 1,2 or 3 run games this year vs. the other 10 teams.
6. I like the Belt's policy of only taking the top 8 schools in the tournament in volleyball, softball, baseball, basketball, etc. It gives some meaning to the regular season. While I would change the set up for some of the tournaments I applaud the Belt's policy of basically allowing the coaches of that sport to decide how they want the tournament.
7. While our men's teams I think did very well in our first year we have some improving to do for our women's teams. I take our AD at his word when he said that at the very minimum we want all of our teams to at least be in the middle of the league. We replaced our women's basketball coach after this season and we may have other coaching changes on the women's side if we don't do better next year.
8. I have enjoyed this site exchanging ideas with other posters. We do have a element of our fanbase who enjoy bragging and antagonizing the opponents, but the majority of our fans recognize excellence and respect our conference mates. I know some of the other teams probably think during the App/GS game week that all GS fans are crazy but it is all in good fun. If you talk to most GS fans there is a high amount of respect for App. If the truth is known we know beating them (esp. in Boone) is quite an accomplishment.

Onward toward Year 2.

Nice post GaSoEagle!

Great post! Supporting member schools is an unexpected plus for me. Previous interest for conference mates had been limited to OOC football only for our rival App state and maybe North Dakota state. For whatever reason I'm now watching girls softball regionals reaching for a beer when ULL struggles from behind against Baylor.

This is a great post. Do you think most of the Eagles feel this way? How about the App State fans?

I sure do!

I know I gained a lot of respect for the conference after we joined. There's still a lot of Bobcat fans that want to be with Texas teams but they need to pay closer attention to the good group we are a part of. Let's get to winning those OOC games and grow the reputation of the conference.

(05-22-2015 06:22 AM)rokamortis Wrote:  This is a great post. Do you think most of the Eagles feel this way? How about the App State fans?

I was against the move to FBS, but I'm finding it far more fun in the Sun Belt than I expected and am now convinced it has the potential to be a very strong conference.

Nice post. As a GS fan, I am happy to be here as well, it's nice to be in a conference with so many similar schools rather than a bunch of small, private schools who care more about the wine and cheese at their tailgate then the games on the field.

(05-22-2015 07:45 AM)gsu95 Wrote:  

(05-22-2015 06:22 AM)rokamortis Wrote:  This is a great post. Do you think most of the Eagles feel this way? How about the App State fans?

I was against the move to FBS, but I'm finding it far more fun in the Sun Belt than I expected and am now convinced it has the potential to be a very strong conference.

I know a lot of people were concerned about the $$, which we all are and will continue to be, but GS has a great story to tell, and so much of it is tied up with that mantra of trying to do more with less, so this opportunity to share that pride and story that we have with a wider audience is fun and I'm excited to see what we can do in the future.

great post. sums it up pretty well IMO. I got so tired of going to tailgates at Wofford and Elon and them treating football games like it was a casual Sunday brunch.

I think there's no longer even a sliver of doubt that we are where we belong. I feel good about the league (at least football-wise) going forward with the current permanent membership

We should have moved up years ago.

(05-22-2015 08:20 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  I think there's no longer even a sliver of doubt that we are where we belong. I feel good about the league (at least football-wise) going forward with the current permanent membership

We should have moved up years ago.

No doubt. I still to this day can not wrap my head around how our previous leadership and so many of our fans were so short sighted about moving up and so down on the Sun Belt. Oh the days when our own AD and majority of our fans were dead certain this conference was going to fold and ALL the team would be forced back to I-AA. Ironically, while this conference continues to grow and get better every year the SoCon has slipped to I believe fourth when it comes to football. Absolutely no telling where we would be if we would have capitalized on the momentum of the 99-00 NC's and made the jump. I guess we will know in another 15 years that were wasted toiling in a dying division of football.

We might lose one or two teams but there is still a few solid FCS programs that can fill the spots. Once the door is closed on moving up and membership is really stable this conference will only be closing the gap on everyone else instead of catching up and being beat back down with instability. If the Sun Belt were a stock I would be buying all I could right now.

It was a very good post, GaSoEagle. The 2015 football season will be tougher for several teams, especially USA, but still looking forward to it.

Had the SoCon really gotten so bad that a WCU or Citadel wouldn't pull for GSU, App, or UTC in the FCS playoffs??? Or root for the SoCon rep in the NCAA??? I really don't remember it ever being so petty (well, except maybe with the Purple Paladins).

There really isn't a better conference for GS than the Belt right now. All of the teams in the conference bring some value to the table, and most are serious about football.

The fans generally have a high college sports IQ and truly have passion for their teams and schools.

Damn glad to be here instead of wasting away in a dying division. This conference has a ton of potential as most of the schools are still growing by leaps and bounds, and a lot of schools in other conferences have hit their ceiling years ago.

App fans...any thoughts from you guys since you are a year in as well?

Conference Unity is perhaps the most unique aspect to the G5 level. You rarely see it at the P5 level, and FCS leagues can get kind of petty...but most of us understand we have to cheer for each other if we want our own schools to do well.

I, myself, found myself watching Cajun Softball once. It was alarming.

(05-22-2015 09:41 AM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  Had the SoCon really gotten so bad that a WCU or Citadel wouldn't pull for GSU, App, or UTC in the FCS playoffs??? Or root for the SoCon rep in the NCAA??? I really don't remember it ever being so petty (well, except maybe with the Purple Paladins).

I think most of them couldn't care less how our teams do in the playoffs. Creating Patriot League South is more important to them.

My first SBC game was against USA last season and I knew then that I would LOVE this conference. In our old conference the only away games that had any tailgating like ours was App State but in the SBC the majority of the schools have strong fan bases that actually care about football and the scoreboard.

(05-22-2015 09:41 AM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  Had the SoCon really gotten so bad that a WCU or Citadel wouldn't pull for GSU, App, or UTC in the FCS playoffs??? Or root for the SoCon rep in the NCAA??? I really don't remember it ever being so petty (well, except maybe with the Purple Paladins).

In the playoffs, I wanted every team to lose besides ours and did not care what happened out of conference. Now i've done a complete 180. I love cheering for other SBC teams OOC especially against P5 schools.