(04-17-2014 12:12 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  You know I hate driving past Newport but try as I may I've not found a practical way to get Jonesboro from Little Rock without going through Newport. Newport isn't my destination and not my target but I have to go there to get where I want to go.

That's what JMU's administration doesn't understand. Odds are stacked against them getting where they want to go without already being FBS. The question isn't whether they WANT to join the Sun Belt. The question is how realistic is it that they can arrive at their preferred destination without holding membership in FBS.

When FAU started football Howard made it clear their goal was Big East but he learned a lesson from his Louisville mistake. At FAU he understood he couldn't leap directly to the place he wanted to go to and had to take intermediary steps.

At Louisville when the Metro was talking of adding football (the fabled Super Metro) but the organizing meetings were ongoing even though there was rampant speculation that even if it happened, Florida State and maybe South Carolina would never actually join because of other opportunities. The deal fell apart because Howard didn't recognize the marketplace had changed. He thought the era of the independent was still strong and Louisville could be a national player and maybe use that success to get in one of the big name brand leagues. They walked and when they walked talks collapsed and once that happened, the Big East picked up the pieces, but not with a 16 or 14 team league but an 8 team league a year later. Seven years later the Big East became one of the six AQ conferences. Four years after the Big East added football, CUSA formed and Louisville soon learned with the formation of the BCS, they had made a critical error by killing the Super Metro, that league would have garnered AQ status. For the next several years Louisville scrambled to try to get in the Big East and finally made it then they ended up being the (so far) last team invited into the P5.

Louisville had failed to realize initially that they needed to adjust to the time and take the intermediate step to get where they wanted to be. They ended up OK but probably delayed their move to the big time by several years.

That's a great explanation. Regardless of the end game, taking steps towards your goal is progress. You cant climb the whole mountain in one day. Plus They have to recognize the changed landscape and that pecking orders are being shook up.

I admit that I used to not want in the Sun Belt. I felt that we were a great fit (both us and App) for C-USA. I felt that CUSA with a Ga Southern, App - Marshall, ECU, Southern Miss (all teams except Southern Miss that we had some history with) would have been ideal. Back when they seemingly cared about football strength over market.
I saw our State as a huge hole in the middle of their Conference (Still is!)

But now, it is very different. I'd rather be in the Belt. I honestly think that we are going to own CUSA in football and the Belt will rise as the premier G5 conference.

The leadership at JMU is also missing the writing on the wall imop in regards to the possible changes in conference championship game restrictions. That was one of the biggest things that had potential to cause another big **** by the Big 12 expanding to 12. With that shut down (if it passes) - the door from FCS to FBS is going to get much tighter. They may have seen that as something that would keep them stuck in the Belt - Again, if that is true, they have missed the "rise of the belt". But the reality is that it is likely to keep them stuck in the CAA!