(01-31-2021 04:46 PM)army56mike Wrote:  

(01-23-2021 12:29 PM)Buc66 Wrote:  

(01-23-2021 09:25 AM)army56mike Wrote:  I know you have a great thing going in the SoCon and it’s a good conference. But you gotta admit, this would be a pretty darn good conference as well. Nothing like the old ASUN at all.

ASUN
*North Alabama
*Kennesaw St.
*EKU
*Jax St.
*C. Arkansas
*Chattanooga
*E. Tennessee St.
*W. Carolina
Liberty
Lipscomb
Bellarmine
FGCU
North Florida
Jax
Stetson
West Florida

Anything with ETSU and ASUN mentioned in the same sentence stirs outrage, especially among the old timers. Who are the other four to get to 20? What would basketball schedules look like? But, in these bizarre times, who knows what might happen across all of college athletics.

There is no goal of expanding to 20 teams. That was the old UAC/ASUN plan. Now the Commish wants to expand to 14, with the football conference at 6-7. I bumped it up to 16... well, just because.
How many of these teams were even in the ASUN when ETSU was there? Is it the same conference leadership? I completely undersand the merits of the SoCon and don’t expect any member to leave. I’m just pointing out that the athletics in the proposed conference above are pretty strong (when compared to similar conferences). The ASUN is definitely stepping up and making improvements. There are quite a few creative scheduling concepts coming out of the ASUN office.

Some of us old timers, after football was brought back, always envisioned ETSU ending up someday with the likes of App State, Marshall, Western Kentucky, James Madison, GA Southern, Charlotte, Old Dominion, Chattanooga, Coastal Carolina, Western Carolina. BUT - there’s always that issue of MONEY. Things continue to change and after this pandemic, who knows what college athletics will look like. But, for now — playing Furman, Citadel, Western, Chattanooga, Wofford, even VMI has a nice nostalgic, geographic, and fans recognition ring until a real move up is possible. I just don’t see playing these schools that are coming together in this redesigned ASUN would generate any more interest and support for ETSU athletics. And, if the goal of this new league in football is FBS (or whatever that ends up being) for each of these incoming schools, I just wonder if all in that group can AFFORD that without it impacting their academic side financially?