(04-18-2014 10:44 PM)GoApps70 Wrote: There have been schools that denied they were moving to a certain conference even the day before they announced it. Same with coaches, and others. Sometimes they take advantage of semantics to offset the truth. We have not talked to them, when a certain other person has handled the contacts, or something similar.
Yup, welcome to the wonderful world of weasel words, that sound like they mean one thing and really mean another.
"We have had no contact from that conference{+}."
{+ though we have been assured by a third party in close contact with that conference that if we express interest in joining, an invitation will shortly be on its way.}
"We have had no contact from that conference{+}."
{+ though we have had contact with schools making up a super-majority in that conference.}
"We have had no contact from that conference{+}."
{+ though someone who has had contact with that conference has shared with us something that the conference commissioner recently told the member schools.}
See how it works? You answer a question with a statement that is
literally true, and which sounds like it answers the real question, but which in reality leaves enough wiggle room that its not actually saying much of anything at all.
And then there are inside sources: some inside sources are actually inside, and some aren't really. And sometimes inside sources have been told the truth, and sometimes they've been lied to. Indeed, if you don't think that your process it airtight, lying to people who somebody thinks is an inside source is a great way to get contradictory rumors out there to sow confusion.
The good thing is that there are some deadlines out there that are part of the public record. So we do know that if anyone intends to move up from FCS in time for the Sunbelt to have a 2015 season CCG, they have to apply by June 1 of this year, and NCAA rules say that to move up, they need an invite. So if someone says on June 1 that they've "had no contact" ... then they are either just lying, or else are not starting their FCS transition year until 2015/2016 at the earliest.