Football by no later than 2010. Of course this could also mean that ETSU would play as an independent in football for a short period of time. Since the A-Sun requires men's soccer, I wonder the impact on going forward with that sport at ETSU.

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/ne...-0026.html

I have a feeling we might be fullfilling our committment to the ASUN. We will be here til 2011 I would bet.

I say we're out sooner than that, simply because the Big South needs football schools so bad I think they'll try and take us ASAP to keep the Southern from letting us back in. And honestly after the two games this week with Radford and Asheville, I wouldn't mind it.

But does the Big South have an auto bid to the playoffs?

There has to be some sort of contract with every school and the ASUN. I wonder if there's a $ penalty for leaving within a certain time frame?

That's a great question for UCF, Troy, Ga. State, Gardner Webb, FAU, etc...
I mean we're not going anywhere yet unless a conference just comes to us after the TBR meeting and says: we see the commitment, go ahead and come on, or come on back as it could be with the SoCon."

A Gardner-Webb poster on AnyGivenSaturday indicated he heard the A-Sun made it more difficult to defect after G-W's announcement - high $ buyouts, ineligible for post-season tourney after making an announcement, etc. I have no idea if this is true, though. Does anyone know?

It will be very interesting to watch where ETSU goes - Big South or Southern...and when.

Well lets take a stand right now then, this is our turf. Zero ASUN conference tournament championships for ETSU in basketball!!

I'm with Mercer fan on that.

Hell, let's forget the football team and bring in a real sport- HOCKEY!

FGCU has a hockey team so they're ready.

The Big South does not have an automatic bid into the playoffs because as of now, a whopping total of five schools compete in Big South conference football. ETSU would be a huge step toward getting that automatic bid.

You know it's too bad that the A-Sun doesn't just step up and try to add football. ETSU, G Webb, Jax (already been playing), Campbell (might step it up to scholly if ASun pushed), and then encourage a couple more schools in the Sun to add it. I'm sure it's been discussed, but it only seems logical to bring stability to the conference lineup. A "Hatter" helmet might look pretty cool with just the white hat on a green helmet!

The buyout is $500,000 for ETSU....

that's not bad, a drop in the bucket compared to 15 million. but the closer you get to 2011 the less likely the buyout will happen

From what the public statements are- ETSU wants to stay in the conference for now.

This is still a long way from coming to fruition. Don't start buying helmets yet.

MercerFan Wrote:There has to be some sort of contract with every school and the ASUN. I wonder if there's a $ penalty for leaving within a certain time frame?

Quote:That's a great question for UCF, Troy, Ga. State, Gardner Webb, FAU, etc...

Yes, GSU had to pay a penalty to get out early.