There were a lot of AD’s working long hours behind the scenes. I personally give them more credit than Gill (not a knock on Gill). Our conference has all it needs to be great. What happens in the future regarding a P5 “breakaway” is completely out of our control. I hope that never happens. The news of adding the 4 teams does say ESPN gave its blessings for this, probably helping broker the deal. I look forward to welcoming our new and old members to my tailgate anytime!

Question: Can someone that was here when it happened explain to me, was it ever close with WKU staying in Sun Belt as opposed to going to coosa? I seem to remember-before App was a member- that they were all but begged to stay. Am I wrong there?

(10-23-2021 05:10 AM)slycat Wrote:  Maybe UTA and LR will end up sticking around

I hope not. No reason to have non football members unless they are at the top of the standings most years in basketball.

(10-23-2021 08:28 AM)YesAppCan Wrote:  There were a lot of AD’s working long hours behind the scenes. I personally give them more credit than Gill (not a knock on Gill). Our conference has all it needs to be great. What happens in the future regarding a P5 “breakaway” is completely out of our control. I hope that never happens. The news of adding the 4 teams does say ESPN gave its blessings for this, probably helping broker the deal. I look forward to welcoming our new and old members to my tailgate anytime!

Question: Can someone that was here when it happened explain to me, was it ever close with WKU staying in Sun Belt as opposed to going to coosa? I seem to remember-before App was a member- that they were all but begged to stay. Am I wrong there?

When this is all finalized, DG really should be given a ton of praise. He was steady and masterful in his engagement. Excellent work on behalf of AppState and the SBC.

(10-22-2021 11:53 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Special Thanks to ULM for moving up to FBS 20 years ago when they most certainly were not ready. The Sun Belt would literally not be where it is today without the Warhawks sacrifice

Also, special thanks to James Madison for turning us down in 2016 so we could pick up Coastal...

Actually we were ready, we just had an idiot as our President and he didn't have a clue how to formulate or execute a plan for the move. When Swearingen took over we were right at 12,000 students and our academic programs were thriving and growing. Our athletic programs were winning. Our football program was strong and we were sending guys to the NFL every year. He rode that success for a few years and then his lack of leadership started take effect. We lost some strong academic programs due to declining enrollment. Well, I'll stop there but fast forward to now and our academics are back with several nationally ranked programs and hopefully we are turning a corner with athletics.

Big props to the Blue Raiders, Panthers, and Hilltoppers. Their defections ensured the survival of the conference.

Look when all those schools left we added the best FCS schools in our geographical region !

The Big Dogs we added were Troy, App St., and Georgia Southern, then we picked up Coastal Carolina who is now ranked in football and has a national championship in baseball.
The two market schools that have the resources and name were Texas St. and Georgia St.

We went after schools that are traditionally great football schools with tradition, and if we get JMU we be getting the same traditions.

Literally the perfect storm after the defections in the last round of realignment. The Sun Belt aligns with ESPN for whatever scraps they'll give us. The Sun Belt takes a risk and adds marketz experiment Ga state bringing in Atlanta and Georgia with it's fertile recruiting then adds GS and App in 2014 locking up Ga and adding NC. GS sends shock waives throughout the conference winning the title outright first year. App state then takes the reins and runs with it sending more shock waves within the conference knocking from the conference perch perennial powers Troy and Ark state. Impressive OOC wins begin raking up. Rankings begin noticing the Sun Belt. Blow out Bowl wins. UL hires Napier. CCU goes on a tear. App continues to push the ceiling. USA completes construction on the newest FBS stadium. 2020 becomes a break out year when ESPN leverages the Sun Belt during covid lock downs with game changing exposure.

Basically the reverse happens for CUSA. Incredible chain of events occur leaving Marshall and USM behind. Was it bad luck or was it poor decision making? I hope it's poor decision making. This kind of run of bad luck will make the hair on the back of the neck standup.

I'd love to see someone else with more insight breakdown of the events that led to the current position we all find ourselves in.

(10-23-2021 08:59 AM)GoAppsGo92 Wrote:  

(10-23-2021 08:28 AM)YesAppCan Wrote:  There were a lot of AD’s working long hours behind the scenes. I personally give them more credit than Gill (not a knock on Gill). Our conference has all it needs to be great. What happens in the future regarding a P5 “breakaway” is completely out of our control. I hope that never happens. The news of adding the 4 teams does say ESPN gave its blessings for this, probably helping broker the deal. I look forward to welcoming our new and old members to my tailgate anytime!

Question: Can someone that was here when it happened explain to me, was it ever close with WKU staying in Sun Belt as opposed to going to coosa? I seem to remember-before App was a member- that they were all but begged to stay. Am I wrong there?

When this is all finalized, DG really should be given a ton of praise. He was steady and masterful in his engagement. Excellent work on behalf of AppState and the SBC.

It would also appear that our AD and his firm approach to not being convinced of going to 14 was rewarded by a pretty hefty upgrade to the TV contract to make it possible. Hopefully more Saturday games too.

Move our game back to October where it belongs and put it on a Saturday.

(10-23-2021 08:55 AM)herdfan129 Wrote:  

(10-23-2021 05:10 AM)slycat Wrote:  Maybe UTA and LR will end up sticking around

I hope not. No reason to have non football members unless they are at the top of the standings most years in basketball.

I’m on the fence about UTA and LR, and I don’t like the fact that a fan of a team who isn’t even in the conference is pushing to kick them out. I would prefer the conference to really push for them to improve their Olympic sports to be constantly competing for the top of the conference instead of telling them to kick rocks. For sports with travel partners, like basketball, UTA and LR actually make travel out to the West division really convenient. Instead of forcing Tx St and UL (6+ hour bus trip) and ULM and stAte (5 hour bus trip) to be travel partners you instead partner Tx St and UTA, partner us with ULM, and partner stAte with LR. That brings the longest bus trip to around 3.75 hours (UTA to Tx St). I think USM and USA are partnered regardless of 14 or 16 in hoops. With 16 you can then have Troy in the East partnered with one of the Georgia schools.

(10-23-2021 08:59 AM)GoAppsGo92 Wrote:  

(10-23-2021 08:28 AM)YesAppCan Wrote:  There were a lot of AD’s working long hours behind the scenes. I personally give them more credit than Gill (not a knock on Gill). Our conference has all it needs to be great. What happens in the future regarding a P5 “breakaway” is completely out of our control. I hope that never happens. The news of adding the 4 teams does say ESPN gave its blessings for this, probably helping broker the deal. I look forward to welcoming our new and old members to my tailgate anytime!

Question: Can someone that was here when it happened explain to me, was it ever close with WKU staying in Sun Belt as opposed to going to coosa? I seem to remember-before App was a member- that they were all but begged to stay. Am I wrong there?

When this is all finalized, DG really should be given a ton of praise. He was steady and masterful in his engagement. Excellent work on behalf of AppState and the SBC.

Yes, App was catching flack for being firm on our desire to go to 14 with 3 additions in the East. Looking at it now, everyone (except UTA and UALR) are going to be much better off.

App and Marshall stuck together on this and now we're looking at a league that will greatly improve in football, basketball, baseball, softball, and restart soccer as a top tier conference. Not to mention more money and less travel for teams and fans.

Obviously it took everyone getting on board to agree, but I'm glad our two schools had the vision to help the league get to this point. The sun is shining a little brighter for the SBC today.

All for Saturday’s in October!

Might want to thank the original Sun Belt teams stAte, UL, ULM, USA and Troy. That's all that was left after the great CUSA raid. These 5 schools didn't panic and began the rebuild process of the Belt. This is where the rise of the Sun Belt started.

(10-23-2021 11:53 AM)statefanatic Wrote:  Might want to thank the original Sun Belt teams stAte, UL, ULM, USA and Troy. That's all that was left after the great CUSA raid. These 5 schools didn't panic and began the rebuild process of the Belt. This is where the rise of the Sun Belt started.

Note ULM is in that group and it is my hope that there should be no more ULM bashing regarding their Conference membership by any member of the SBC. Time to put that bad behavior behind you, if you were guilty of doing it !!

Together We Rise !!

I’m very excited for the new line up! Welcome aboard USM, MARSHALL, ODU & JMU. Been a long journey in the SBC to get to where we are today. If you guys remember your history, the SBC almost died till they merged with the American South conference in 1991. Then it was continuous change and a brave move to start SBC football…the original members from 2001 were: Astate, Louisiana, ULM, Idaho, MTSU, NMSU, UNT.

We’ve come a long way baby!

(10-23-2021 08:28 AM)YesAppCan Wrote:  !

Question: Can someone that was here when it happened explain to me, was it ever close with WKU staying in Sun Belt as opposed to going to coosa? I seem to remember-before App was a member- that they were all but begged to stay. Am I wrong there?

My understanding as an outsider is that WKU sold the SBC on solidarity/sticking together, then bolted. Their excuse is bowl tie-ins and MTSU rivalry. Weak.

(10-23-2021 01:51 PM)WinstonTheWolf Wrote:  

(10-23-2021 08:28 AM)YesAppCan Wrote:  !

Question: Can someone that was here when it happened explain to me, was it ever close with WKU staying in Sun Belt as opposed to going to coosa? I seem to remember-before App was a member- that they were all but begged to stay. Am I wrong there?

My understanding as an outsider is that WKU sold the SBC on solidarity/sticking together, then bolted. Their excuse is bowl tie-ins and MTSU rivalry. Weak.

WKU got mad because they were left out of a bowl that stAte got. They thought they deserved it over us. CUSA offered more bowls at that time and they bolted.

I'm still holding my breath until it's official.

But assuming it happens. I'm very happy to be here. I think this is the type of league Herd fans can finally be happy in. No wandering eye wishing we could "move up". This version of the Sun Belt can legit be a top 6 football conference.

(10-23-2021 07:03 AM)AppManDG Wrote:  

(10-23-2021 05:10 AM)slycat Wrote:  Maybe UTA and LR will end up sticking around

Not gonna happen. It's a part of the plan.

Nor should it. The SBC needs to be a 100% football participation conference.