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Full Version: Looks like James Madison and MoState are out
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President of JMU came out with a statement, which although he did not typically name the Sun Belt, made it clear his university would not be joining a conference outside his school's footprint and that was not up to his university's academic standards. MoSt President simply denied having any discussions with the Sun Belt which may or may not be BS. Inside may know if this is simply a bluff or not.

It does seem like the only real option for full membership is Liberty University which has made it clear for awhile that they want in. There is talk of UMass for football only- talk about out of the footprint. Although that might result in NMSt being added for all sports which would be great. Eastern Kentucky is also being mentioned. I wouldn't have a problem with them, but PTJR would know more about EKU.
I don't think Missouri State is out as much as they are needing time to get their house in order. With talk still being that Wichita State will eventually leave the MVC...my guess is it would take the Bears about 5 minutes to move the minute that happened.

If the SBC does not move by June 1st, I would take it to mean we are waiting on EKU or Missouri State, who both need time.
(04-16-2014 12:28 PM)mjs Wrote: [ -> ]President of JMU came out with a statement, which although he did not typically name the Sun Belt, made it clear his university would not be joining a conference outside his school's footprint and that was not up to his university's academic standards. MoSt President simply denied having any discussions with the Sun Belt which may or may not be BS. Inside may know if this is simply a bluff or not.

It does seem like the only real option for full membership is Liberty University which has made it clear for awhile that they want in. There is talk of UMass for football only- talk about out of the footprint. Although that might result in NMSt being added for all sports which would be great. Eastern Kentucky is also being mentioned. I wouldn't have a problem with them, but PTJR would know more about EKU.

All of this expansion talk is driven by football, not basketball. I don't know that much about the EKU football program. But EKU's basketball program would probably be a decent fit for the SBC. And the guys that run the Athletic Department over there are great! The two top guys over there came to EKU from the University of Richmond.

I think that part of the need on football side would be to do what WKU did with their football stadium. EKU has a stadium like WKU did until it was expanded a few years ago when WKU decided to go to FBS and built a matching side to the stadium. EKU has one side of the stadium that is pretty large and the other side that is very small. There isn't much to Richmond, KY other than EKU. But the same can be said for Boone, NC(App State); Statesboro, GA(Ga Southern); Troy, AL(Troy); etc. so that doesn't seem to matter.

It is difficult to really know what is going on with this expansion stuff as no one in a position to know is ever very forthcoming about what is going on. Prospective schools never say they are interested until it is a done deal, and schools aren't invited by leagues unless the inviting conference knows they will accept. So who knows what the deal is.

One thing does seem pretty clear though. As you point out, Liberty has made it pretty clear that they want to join, and since they haven't been invited, they must not be acceptable to at least some league members. Of course that is assuming that any of this expansion talk on the conference board has some basis in fact. That might be a big assumption.
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