(11-12-2021 12:38 AM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote: Yes tex-centricity is a word and real movement I could do without. I could also do without Judy.
In the political sense, and the influx that they are dealing with, I could soon do without it as well.
In terms of this conference, it is a travesty. It doesn't matter where your league offices are, you shouldn't be focused on Texas, or any specific geographic region for that matter. You should be focused on what is best for your member institutions.
The Sun Belt is in New Orleans, they had an opportunity to invite another Louisiana program, but did they? No. Five of the six most recent additions have come from East to Statesboro and North to West Virginia. Judy almost certainly would have taken a Texas school in a comparable situation.
This is why Marshall and ODU left and why JMU joined the Sun Belt. The answer isn't timing. The answer is that the Sun Belt is a better all around fit for these programs than a league seeking seemingly replicate the Southwest conference, in part, while having sporadic East Coast programs.
Plus, no one in the Sun Belt wanted Liberty after their rounds offering bribes in 2014 or whatever year it was. The Belt went with a small school with a short history and budgetary concerns at the beach instead. Liberty has done well for themselves, but when that is the impression you leave on people, it's not going to be reversed. I'm also not an academic snob but they are more similar to Grand Canyon and the University of Phoenix than they are like a BYU or Notre Dame and their athletics program benefits from that model.
I'm not surprised C-USA took them, but if they didn't have to, they wouldn't have. It was an act of desperation, not legitimate interest, I'd imagine.