So I was going to look at some stuff on my tablet and was in ESPN (mobile site). Went to NCAAF -> Teams then clicked the drop down list and this is what I see.

ACC
Big 12
Big Ten
SEC
Pac-12
American
C_USA
MAC
WAC
MW
FBS Indep.
A 10
Big Sky
MVFC
Ivy
MAAC
MEAC
NEC
OVC
Patriot
Pioneer
Southern
Southland
SWAC
Sun Belt
Big South
Great West

Not only are we not listed with the rest of the FBS conferences but we are listed in alpha-order among the FCS conferences some of which don't even have football anymore.

Maybe Karl told ESPN that he was dropping us to FCS before he told anyone else?

(03-02-2015 10:51 PM)bamaEagle Wrote:  Maybe Karl told ESPN that he was dropping us to FCS before he told anyone else?

Haha I just thought it was funny. I couldn't find "Sun Belt" and got real confused. Till I saw it way down at the bottom. I thought then it might just be in alpha-order till I realized the rest of the FBS conferences were at the top.

(03-02-2015 11:03 PM)TrueBlueAlum Wrote:  

(03-02-2015 10:51 PM)bamaEagle Wrote:  Maybe Karl told ESPN that he was dropping us to FCS before he told anyone else?

Haha I just thought it was funny. I couldn't find "Sun Belt" and got real confused. Till I saw it way down at the bottom. I thought then it might just be in alpha-order till I realized the rest of the FBS conferences were at the top.

Don't know why you'd be surprised . . . . Welcome to the conference of No Respect, zero, zip, na da. . . . . .

And yet there are still ye of faith in Krazy Karl among us.

Unbelievable that Karl hasn't been fired by the university presidents. Any of our newer members here doubt that Karl isn't the worst conference commissioner of all?

Something our senior members here have known for a while now.

(03-02-2015 11:16 PM)epiccajun Wrote:  And yet there are still ye of faith in Krazy Karl among us.

Unbelievable that Karl hasn't been fired by the university presidents. Any of our newer members here doubt that Karl isn't the worst conference commissioner of all?

Something our senior members here have known for a while now.

Which begs the questions, how come the senior member programs allowed KB to become the commissioner of the Sun Belt after sinking the WAC? That's akin to going on a cruise with "Captain Coward" of the Costa Concordia! Whoever is in charge of information and communication in the league office needs to inform ESPN of their oversight.

That is pretty...lame. And Karl's administration needs to address it quickly. But is he really to blame for slights like this? I'll make fun of him at times (e.g. not helpling to get TXST into a bowl after two eligible seasons...), but I still don't see what he's doing to drag us down. Maybe I just haven't seen a contrast with someone who did a good job helping the Belt rise up.

And maybe I just have a soft spot for him because he was in charge when we entered the league. (Then again, maybe that's also why some of you hate him...)

Compared to the guy who rode the SWC to its demise who we now have as a commissioner in the Big South, Karl is awesome.

(03-03-2015 10:54 AM)SlyFox Wrote:  Compared to the guy who rode the SWC to its demise who we now have as a commissioner in the Big South, Karl is awesome.

You do realize Karl was commish of the WAC when it imploded?

(03-03-2015 11:31 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(03-03-2015 10:54 AM)SlyFox Wrote:  Compared to the guy who rode the SWC to its demise who we now have as a commissioner in the Big South, Karl is awesome.

You do realize Karl was commish of the WAC when it imploded?

Wait a minute - this feels like Groundhog Day.

I have never met Benson but I do know the history.

The word imploded is apt, but not as you've put it.
It's more like a star life cycle.
The wac exploded ( nova ) when it expanded to 16 teams.
Whose idea was that? The presidents.
Who opposed this idea? Karl Benson. ( it's part of the record )
As Benson had warned, going to 16 was a step too far and eight of the sixteen revolted to form the Mountain Worst.
After that, the gravity field of the WAC, needing more schools, sucked in surrounding matter,
but emitting X-Ray particles ( I'm thinking of San Jose ) until all that is left is the White Dwarf star today.

So, the demise of the WAC really started with the decision of presidents in opposition to the advice of Karl.

Are Sun Belt presidents making similar choices today? Perhaps, though I'm not in a position to say which decisions are good or bad.

Being in a conference is inherently political so we can't blame commish for not being a dictator,
though people probably will.

(03-03-2015 11:57 AM)DoubleAggie Wrote:  

(03-03-2015 11:31 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(03-03-2015 10:54 AM)SlyFox Wrote:  Compared to the guy who rode the SWC to its demise who we now have as a commissioner in the Big South, Karl is awesome.

You do realize Karl was commish of the WAC when it imploded?

Wait a minute - this feels like Groundhog Day.

I have never met Benson but I do know the history.

The word imploded is apt, but not as you've put it.
It's more like a star life cycle.
The wac exploded ( nova ) when it expanded to 16 teams.
Whose idea was that? The presidents.
Who opposed this idea? Karl Benson. ( it's part of the record )
As Benson had warned, going to 16 was a step too far and eight of the sixteen revolted to form the Mountain Worst.
After that, the gravity field of the WAC, needing more schools, sucked in surrounding matter,
but emitting X-Ray particles ( I'm thinking of San Jose ) until all that is left is the White Dwarf star today.

So, the demise of the WAC really started with the decision of presidents in opposition to the advice of Karl.

Are Sun Belt presidents making similar choices today? Perhaps, though I'm not in a position to say which decisions are good or bad.

Being in a conference is inherently political so we can't blame commish for not being a dictator,
though people probably will.

But not every scenario is the same and I'm not saying that all of it his fault but maybe he is just a shty salesman. What does that tell you about a guy who is never listened to by his peers? No trust? Bad sales pitch? Doesn't really care? I mean how good is a"consultant" that you never agree with?

In my years of experience on this board, I can say that issues concerning the commissioner of the SBC are often the most opinionated, yet the least researched. I bet very few actually know what the commissioner is responsible for, yet he gets blamed for everything, by pretty much everyone.

ESPN's mobile app incorrectly categorizes the SBC, and we should fire Benson. Didn't get your tacos on time? Fire Benson. That's about how much those two issues are related to Karl Benson.

It's just old code that ESPN has for those drop down menus. MVFC is where the Gateway was. It's a major glitch in the ESPN.com system.

If you equate the demise of the WAC with driving a league with the likes of Texas, Texas A&M & Arkansas into extinction then I don't know what to say. But the good news is that was just an appetizer to the incompetence entree in the Big South when he moved to North Carolina. But outside of some App & Georgia Southern fans, I wouldn't expect most of you to have even heard of the league.

(03-03-2015 12:45 PM)SlyFox Wrote:  If you equate the demise of the WAC with driving a league with the likes of Texas, Texas A&M & Arkansas into extinction then I don't know what to say. But the good news is that was just an appetizer to the incompetence entree in the Big South when he moved to North Carolina. But outside of some App & Georgia Southern fans, I wouldn't expect most of you to have even heard of the league.

You are right there is absolutely no parallel... I should have equated to the hundreds of other conferences that have folded.

(03-03-2015 12:12 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  In my years of experience on this board, I can say that issues concerning the commissioner of the SBC are often the most opinionated, yet the least researched. I bet very few actually know what the commissioner is responsible for, yet he gets blamed for everything, by pretty much everyone.

ESPN's mobile app incorrectly categorizes the SBC, and we should fire Benson. Didn't get your tacos on time? Fire Benson. That's about how much those two issues are related to Karl Benson.

I think the overall theme is that he is the head of the conference, and as such, he gets all the blame.

Right or wrong, it comes with the job. Same as with head coaches and team performance. He's not out there missing tackles, dropping balls, whiffing on a block. But he still gets the blame.

(03-02-2015 11:16 PM)epiccajun Wrote:  And yet there are still ye of faith in Krazy Karl among us.

Unbelievable that Karl hasn't been fired by the university presidents. Any of our newer members here doubt that Karl isn't the worst conference commissioner of all?

Something our senior members here have known for a while now.

You don't know bad conference commissioner-ing, unless you've been in the SmallCon with Iamarino. Seriously...

(03-03-2015 01:18 PM)TheRevSWT Wrote:  

(03-03-2015 12:12 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  In my years of experience on this board, I can say that issues concerning the commissioner of the SBC are often the most opinionated, yet the least researched. I bet very few actually know what the commissioner is responsible for, yet he gets blamed for everything, by pretty much everyone.

ESPN's mobile app incorrectly categorizes the SBC, and we should fire Benson. Didn't get your tacos on time? Fire Benson. That's about how much those two issues are related to Karl Benson.

I think the overall theme is that he is the head of the conference, and as such, he gets all the blame.

Right or wrong, it comes with the job. Same as with head coaches and team performance. He's not out there missing tackles, dropping balls, whiffing on a block. But he still gets the blame.

The commissioner has absolutely no power over the respective institutions that make up a conference. A coach has a large degree of control over what players do on the field as far as play calls and what they practice.

I was unhappy with the Southern Conference for a variety of reasons, but I never once blamed the commissioner for it. He can't force the presidents to approve Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State or Coastal Carolina for membership instead of VMI and Elon. He can't keep Davidson and College of Charleston from leaving, either. He also can't wave a magic wand and make the TV deal better if no TV network is willing to air the games.

The fact that Benson comes up in a thread about the Sun Belt's place in a pull-down menu shows how silly commissioner hate can get sometimes.

Blame your fellow GS fan from post #2 in this thread.

(03-03-2015 01:50 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  The fact that Benson comes up in a thread about the Sun Belt's place in a pull-down menu shows how silly commissioner hate can get sometimes.

The commissioner negotiates for things for the members of the conference, then the conference approves/rejects it. It would be like blaming Karl for Liberty being invited. He can't admit them on his own, it has to be 2/3 vote (maybe 3/4, I don't recall).

However, in this case, I'd say that Karl should be on the phone with ESPN trying to get something like this fixed, as it hurts the image of the conference. You won't (or shouldn't) have the... Georgia State or Troy AD calling ESPN about this. It should come from the conference office.

And I'm not even saying that he should be strung up for this. Hell, I don't blame him for us not getting a bowl. I'm saying in a case like this, it is absolutely something that the commissioner's office should be doing.

And overall, Karl is a bad commissioner. He's not a leader, as a leader would be able to unify the different schools into one (or two) cohesive blocks.