Saw this type of thread on the C-USA board and thought it was interesting.

“If you were commissioner, what changes would you make to improve the Sun Belt?”

1. One of the biggest changes I would push for is to get at least 1 P5 tie-in for our bowl schedule for the champion to play if said university isn’t in the NY6 or for the highest rated 2nd place team regardless of division in champion is in the NY6.

2. With the C-USA maybe do a SEC/Big XII type seasonal “tournament” where our 12 Sun Belt teams are matched against the top 12 in their conference. (Thought about this when the SEC/BigXII played last weekend and saw someone on their thread also suggest it).

What about you all?

Promote our programs, especially those that have had football seasons like App in 2018 and 2019 and then CCU and ULL last year. AAC style radio/tv appearances from the commish.

Focus on quality bball schedules, set parameters on SOS requirements.

Officially revoke Louisiana’s co-Champ silliness.

In seriousness, establish rulings about any post season tourney that can’t be completed, to do what’s best for the Sun Belt as a whole and send it’s regular season winner to NCAA post season play. And do it now, instead of on the fly, which we’ve proven to be horrible at.

Ex#1 this past football season
Ex#2 the Statesboro rain shortened baseball best-of-one fiasco
Ex#3 you know it’s gonna happen with hoops this year

i would implore our fans to stop obsessing over Conference USA and let's set out sights higher.

(02-06-2021 08:27 AM)MOTIAW Wrote:  Officially revoke Louisiana’s co-Champ silliness.

In seriousness, establish rulings about any post season tourney that can’t be completed, to do what’s best for the Sun Belt as a whole and send it’s regular season winner to NCAA post season play. And do it now, instead of on the fly, which we’ve proven to be horrible at.

Ex#1 this past football season
Ex#2 the Statesboro rain shortened baseball best-of-one fiasco
Ex#3 you know it’s gonna happen with hoops this year

If i were Commissioner, i would create a section on the Sun Belt home page website stating what the duties of a commissioner are, so fans stop confusing what the presidents decide with their power and what i say to the public.

(02-06-2021 08:44 AM)TheOriginalBigApp Wrote:  i would implore our fans to stop obsessing over Conference USA and let's set out sights higher.

If Keith Gill came out and said something to the extent of “If I were team X or Y I would be trying to move up to the competition of the Sun Belt” I would lose my mind laughing.

(02-06-2021 08:51 AM)balanced_view Wrote:  

(02-06-2021 08:27 AM)MOTIAW Wrote:  Officially revoke Louisiana’s co-Champ silliness.

In seriousness, establish rulings about any post season tourney that can’t be completed, to do what’s best for the Sun Belt as a whole and send it’s regular season winner to NCAA post season play. And do it now, instead of on the fly, which we’ve proven to be horrible at.

Ex#1 this past football season
Ex#2 the Statesboro rain shortened baseball best-of-one fiasco
Ex#3 you know it’s gonna happen with hoops this year

If i were Commissioner, i would create a section on the Sun Belt home page website stating what the duties of a commissioner are, so fans stop confusing what the presidents decide with their power and what i say to the public.

I get what your saying, and believe it or not, I agree with you. However, let’s be real, regardless of who decides, the Commissioner is the “official mouthpiece”, no?

I mean how many times have we seen 10-12 school prez hunkered behind a microphone at a press conference, making announcements. Sure they decide, duh.

But if the Commissioner isn’t helping lay groundwork, garner support, mediating differences, etc... then why have one? If we have a Commissioner, then he/she should be the one up front, making it seem some someone is running/advocating for the conference.

If not, we aren’t going anywhere good, because forget to outward appearance, how are a bunch of JerryJones-esque, dysfunctional individual ADs/prez/fan bases ever gonna get along for a common good?

When is the last time Gill put out a statement or press release? I’d at least do those.

1. Set standards for video production. No more video board bull****. Give me two guys in the booth. One reporter on the field. Four cameras. Real lag-free internet speeds. HD Cameras built after 2015.

2. Work with ESPN to sell the 3rd tier rights to local ABC owned HD side-channels, or any local stations really, and split the money. There's no reason App vs. in-state FCS school isn't on WXII/WLOS/WSOC. Same with UL and CCU baseball games airing on local stations.

3. Do away with the thought of basketball pods.

4. No more lower-tier basketball games unless they're preseason/exhibition

5. Work with NOLA or Mobile bowl to increase the payout to lure in a P5 vs. SBC Champ.

6. Weekly Q&A with the Commish online

7. Separate our FB officiating from the SEC and their rejects/newbies

8. Travel (post-COVID) to a school hosting a game/match each week for a TV appearance.

(02-06-2021 08:44 AM)TheOriginalBigApp Wrote:  i would implore our fans to stop obsessing over Conference USA and let's set out sights higher.

Sun Belt has been ahead of C-USA in 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020. In 2020 the Sun Belt was just below the AAC. In 2020 the Sun Belt East was ranked just below the Pac-12 North.

(02-06-2021 08:51 AM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(02-06-2021 08:44 AM)TheOriginalBigApp Wrote:  i would implore our fans to stop obsessing over Conference USA and let's set out sights higher.

If Keith Gill came out and said something to the extent of “If I were team X or Y I would be trying to move up to the competition of the Sun Belt” I would lose my mind laughing.

That would require Keith Gill to actually speak.

(02-06-2021 10:08 AM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  

(02-06-2021 08:51 AM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(02-06-2021 08:44 AM)TheOriginalBigApp Wrote:  i would implore our fans to stop obsessing over Conference USA and let's set out sights higher.

If Keith Gill came out and said something to the extent of “If I were team X or Y I would be trying to move up to the competition of the Sun Belt” I would lose my mind laughing.

That would require Keith Gill to actually speak.

Seems like he came out his shell late in the year, after he started getting a lot of heat on boards and social media. so maybe he responds to pressure.

Careful with the SBC champ v P5 call. What good does it do to have our champ play a #8/9 P5 seed??? I’d rather our champ play another G5 champ, let our 2 or 3 play a 8/9 P5.

(02-06-2021 10:40 AM)Usajags Wrote:  Careful with the SBC champ v P5 call. What good does it do to have our champ play a #8/9 P5 seed??? I’d rather our champ play another G5 champ, let our 2 or 3 play a 8/9 P5.

Depends on the G5 champ. If it's a ranked G5 champ, sure. If it's a 8-5 MAC or CUSA champ, rather play the 6-6 P5 team.

I'm going to leave out things that are obvious that everyone wants like "get better bowl tie-ins" and "improve basketball".

1. Either get rid of the MBB tournament or adopt a 4-team round robin format with everyone playing each other twice. If we want to improve conference perception we need to send our best team to the NCAAs and stop letting teams steal bids.

2. Establish a much better presence on social media and and do more media interviews (e.g. Jonesboro Radio).

3. End the guarantee of both baseball division champs getting a top seed.

4. Work with other G5 commissioners and perhaps even some lower-tier P5s to undermine one-time transfer rule if it is passed to keep G5s from being P5 farm system. Basically, establish G5-wide guidelines on who gets a release from their LOI.

(02-06-2021 09:30 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  1. Set standards for video production. No more video board bull****. Give me two guys in the booth. One reporter on the field. Four cameras. Real lag-free internet speeds. HD Cameras built after 2015.

2. Work with ESPN to sell the 3rd tier rights to local ABC owned HD side-channels, or any local stations really, and split the money. There's no reason App vs. in-state FCS school isn't on WXII/WLOS/WSOC. Same with UL and CCU baseball games airing on local stations.

3. Do away with the thought of basketball pods.

4. No more lower-tier basketball games unless they're preseason/exhibition

5. Work with NOLA or Mobile bowl to increase the payout to lure in a P5 vs. SBC Champ.

6. Weekly Q&A with the Commish online

7. Separate our FB officiating from the SEC and their rejects/newbies

8. Travel (post-COVID) to a school hosting a game/match each week for a TV appearance.

Jesus, yes.

(02-06-2021 10:51 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  I'm going to leave out things that are obvious that everyone wants like "get better bowl tie-ins" and "improve basketball".

1. Either get rid of the MBB tournament or adopt a 4-team round robin format with everyone playing each other twice. If we want to improve conference perception we need to send our best team to the NCAAs and stop letting teams steal bids.

2. Establish a much better presence on social media and and do more media interviews (e.g. Jonesboro Radio).

3. End the guarantee of both baseball division champs getting a top seed.

4. Work with other G5 commissioners and perhaps even some lower-tier P5s to undermine one-time transfer rule if it is passed to keep G5s from being P5 farm system. Basically, establish G5-wide guidelines on who gets a release from their LOI.

And while we are at it Jesus... this too.

(02-06-2021 11:20 AM)MOTIAW Wrote:  

(02-06-2021 10:51 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  I'm going to leave out things that are obvious that everyone wants like "get better bowl tie-ins" and "improve basketball".

1. Either get rid of the MBB tournament or adopt a 4-team round robin format with everyone playing each other twice. If we want to improve conference perception we need to send our best team to the NCAAs and stop letting teams steal bids.

2. Establish a much better presence on social media and and do more media interviews (e.g. Jonesboro Radio).

3. End the guarantee of both baseball division champs getting a top seed.

4. Work with other G5 commissioners and perhaps even some lower-tier P5s to undermine one-time transfer rule if it is passed to keep G5s from being P5 farm system. Basically, establish G5-wide guidelines on who gets a release from their LOI.

And while we are at it Jesus... this too.

That might be a possibility but not until after the Spring 2028 season. ESPN has got their teeth on a full MBB tournament. We're lucky that Pensacola wants it for the next several years

Do away with football divisions. Play 9 conference games. Top two play in championship game. With three non conference games you can still play a P5, a G5, and an FCS game if you want to.

For MBB, only Top 6 play Conference tourney for NCAA bid with 1 and 2 seeds getting a bye. If the name of the game is turning a profit off the conference tourney let the 1 seed host. If they can't host it goes to 2 seed and so forth. I know neutral site is ideal, but the number of traveling basketball fans in SBC is minute. Bigger crowds will add excitement and to the bottom line. Keeps the fan dollars circulating in conference university towns instead of some distant metro.

(02-06-2021 11:23 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  

(02-06-2021 11:20 AM)MOTIAW Wrote:  

(02-06-2021 10:51 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  I'm going to leave out things that are obvious that everyone wants like "get better bowl tie-ins" and "improve basketball".

1. Either get rid of the MBB tournament or adopt a 4-team round robin format with everyone playing each other twice. If we want to improve conference perception we need to send our best team to the NCAAs and stop letting teams steal bids.

2. Establish a much better presence on social media and and do more media interviews (e.g. Jonesboro Radio).

3. End the guarantee of both baseball division champs getting a top seed.

4. Work with other G5 commissioners and perhaps even some lower-tier P5s to undermine one-time transfer rule if it is passed to keep G5s from being P5 farm system. Basically, establish G5-wide guidelines on who gets a release from their LOI.

And while we are at it Jesus... this too.

That might be a possibility but not until after the Spring 2028 season. ESPN has got their teeth on a full MBB tournament. We're lucky that Pensacola wants it for the next several years

I’d agree “getting rid of it” isn’t going to happen. But I do think it can be better structured to give #1 the best chance. If ESPN puts a limit on # of participants, fine, just bracket it (double byes or whatever) so the lesser teams are dog tired and the top team has every edge.

I’m not worried about keeping hope alive for everyone outside the top 1-2... I’m worried about raising the profile of the conference by having #1 pass through and get those GaSt, Murray St, Winthrop, Liberty, etc type wins.