RE: Yet more realignment
SOUTHWEST: Texas-San Antonio, Rice, North Texas, Texas State, UTEP, Arkansas State.
MID-SOUTH: Southern Miss, UAB, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, La.-Lafayette, La.-Monroe.
SOUTHEAST: South Alabama, Troy, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Florida International, Florida Atlantic.
EAST: Marshall, Old Dominion, Charlotte, Appalachian State, Western Kentucky, Coastal Carolina
Well, first of all, you can't separate MTSU and WKU.
Secondly, why are all of these schools being included?
And, what about UTA and LR?
Here's what I would do:
League 1: Marshall, ODU, Charlotte, WKU, MTSU, FIU, FAU, UAB, GaST, GaSOU, App, CCU
League 2: Texas State, UNT, UTSA, Rice, Arkansas State, Tech, Louisiana, USM, Troy, USA, LR (non football) UTA (non football)
If this is all about consolidating for the sake of travel costs (and remember, we're talking about traveling volleyball, soccer, tennis, etc. in addition to football, basketball and baseball) then we've got to make the geography.
Sorry UTEP and NMSU. You're just too far out there for teams on the eastern side of a western league. Ruston is closer to Pittsburgh than it is to El Paso.
ULM? Time to poop or get off the pot. If you can't show that you're ready to be competitive, budget wise, you'll have to do something else.
No Liberty, UMASS or James Madison. Quit adding teams to make numbers work.
My only qualm was dealing with the two Florida schools. Marshall and ODU to Florida is quite a trek. I left them in, but I wouldn't be married to it.
Since UAB hasn't been in a league with Troy and USA in recent history, I had no problem placing them in separate leagues.
Oh, and UNT needs to get a baseball program. Eleven teams for baseball absolutely sucks.
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