I was just looking for your opinion on whch conference you would want to get in and why. I was not trying to start a post bashing the A-Sun or Belmont in particular.
Let me state it this way: If you were the person making the ultimate decision for conference affilation, which conference would you move ETSU to and why?
CAA
Why? It is one of the best mid-major conferences in the NCAA. While the travel isn't much better than the A-Sun it's not much worse either. ETSU fans are familiar with several members of the CAA. UNCW, Old Dominion, VCU, James Madison are all schools ETSU have played in recent years. It's mostly a basketball conference which is good for ETSU since there is no football. Attendance in the CAA is better than the Socon, OVC, and A-Sun. And lastly it's clearly a growing conference that isn't losing schools whereas the A-Sun seems to lose a couple of schools a year, and when the CAA has lost schools it has replaced them with quality members such as losing Richmond and adding Hofstra and losing American and adding Georgia State.
Definitely the CAA. As Bucster stated the travel is time is more than the SoCon, but not any worse than the A-Sun. I really don't understand why Mullins and his crew did not try for the CAA. At the time the CAA was going to add 2 new members. I feel we could have been just as competitive as Georgia State.
Right now I would like us to be in the Big South. It would be allow us to upgrade our facilities while keeping our expenses down. Then look to move up.
They looked at the Big South. The BS is looking to expand its football schools and did not want another school without football.
CAA. Definitely. That's the one I always wanted. It's a perfect fit for ETSU.
CAA would be high on my list.
Except Tennessee wasnt one of the orignial Colonies, but I guess the Big 10 doesnt have 10 schools either....
I have championed the CAA in the past, but have often been told that the schools aren't really like ETSU.
Of course, the same could be said of the A-Sun.
Regardless, the question I have is if the CAA is the best fit for a long range plan or if it is the Southern.
Finally, we do know that such talk is foolish until we get rid of the Two at the Top, don't you?
CAA is better for the long term for ETSU. CAA has consistently been a better basketball conference for years over the Southern. Just an example, the CAA sent two teams this year to the NCAA tournament and two teams to the NIT. The CAA has sent multiple teams to the NCAA tournament several times before as well, whereas the Southern has NEVER sent two teams, and it's been around much longer than the CAA.
But like you said as long as Mullins and Stanton are running the show we are more than likely stuck where we are.
I really like the Big South for ETSU. It's a step up, and the travel certainly gets cut down. I think that probably Birmingham Southern is the longest trip in that conference, and it's really not that far. Everything in the Big South is a bus ride, versus having to make expensive plane trips in the A-Sun, plus you get an old rival in VMI, and border rivals with Radford, and UNC-A. It's also not a hard down and back to Rock Hill for Winthrop or over to High Point in North Carolina. Plus anytime you can beat up on Jerry Falwell's college it's a plus. That man is losing it in his elder years.