Looks like it was something put together when Waters first came in:
State of the Sun Belt
League's hierarchy, concerns stem from money
By Adam Sparks
The Sun Belt Conference appears to be making a move in a Darwinian direction.
With its addition of Division I-A football in 2001, the league was based on equal opportunity and a good Samaritan mentality.
It took in fledgling I-A football schools and nursed them to the lower end of the nation's highest level of play.
But the Sun Belt's slogan may now be moving toward natural selection and "Survival of the fittest" to better its midmajor species.
Such a topic was raised at the league's recent spring meetings.
"We looked at what we can all do in our own situations to raise our standards, and I looked around the room at each school as if to say, 'Where are you at on this?'" said Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters. "It's one thing to look at the top one, two, three teams in the league, but I'm concerned about what 11, 12 and 13 are doing to raise their standards to the rest.
"It's a concern that too many schools aren't raising their standards, ... but I don't want to say it's only the bottom group that's a concern because everyone needs to up their expectations. When you raise the bar, it makes everyone else raise their expectations or look like fools."
Money seems to be the root of both the league's hierarchy and its worries.
Three of the richest Sun Belt schools, in terms of annual athletic budgets, — Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee and North Texas — are also the leading trio in the league's All-Sports points standings since 2000.
Others like Denver and Florida Atlantic have comparable budgets but have competed in limited sports in the conference.
"There is some significance in the difference of resources," said Middle Tennessee athletic director Chris Massaro, whose previous football coaching staff in the 2005 season was the highest paid in the Sun Belt.
"Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky are always compared, and then North Texas has also made large strides with their facilities. Those three schools are usually the top three in the (Vic) Bubas Cup standings about every year. That's probably not a coincidence."
The poorest I-A football league in the nation, the Sun Belt's 2004-05 annual athletic budgets ranged from Denver's $18.1 million to New Orleans' $4.2 million, and effects of Hurricane Katrina has even reduced the latter number by 20 percent for the 2006-07 fiscal year.
However, even the more prosperous of the Sun Belt are struggling when compared to conferences one-half step above.
While Western Kentucky, North Texas and Middle Tennessee each tout annual athletic budgets between $12 million-$15 million, Conference USA's average budget is more than $22 million, and major conferences like the SEC can reach as high as Florida's $73.8 million athletic budget in 2004-05.
Those figures have further highlighted the conference's monetary misfortunes, especially in men's basketball.
Sun Belt men's teams have not landed an at-large bid or won a game in the NCAA Tournament in more than a decade, letting other conferences take incentives for reaching further into the NCAA bracket.
"That's definitely a financial issue because we're leaving huge amounts of money on the table," Waters said.
According to a revenue study introduced at the league's spring meetings, the Sun Belt has been awarded six shares worth a total of $983,988 in NCAA Tournament money over the last six years, with one share equaling one team's appearance in each round of the Big Dance.
The Sun Belt has been represented by only one team in the NCAA Tournament during the six-year study, and that team has been ousted in the first round each time.
The $983,988 is divided among the member schools and the conference office. In comparison, the Big 12 conference was awarded $14,430,355 from 88 shares in the same six-year period. The Mid-American Conference had 11 shares for $1.8 million, the Western Athletic Conference had 20 shares and Conference USA 44 during the same span.
"We also had a study ranking the 332 Division I (men's basketball) teams based on win-loss records. We had four in the top 100. ... Middle Tennessee was 172, but, of course, (coach Kermit Davis) has only been there for four years. (The Blue Raiders) were 103rd in the last three years," Waters said. "But even when you look at it in the short term, we need a cultural change and to raise expectations.
"A winning record doesn't get you where you want to go. We can't accept a winning record as a good year. A good year means competing in the NCAA Tournament and winning."
To compete more consistently on a national scale, the Sun Belt needs its poorer schools to catch up to the initiative of the more prosperous schools.
Waters says that means spending more to buy home games, which will in turn sell more season tickets.
"None are putting enough in the stands to balance their budget, and not every solution is going to work for every school," Waters said. "But one thing is for sure: You can't schedule your way into the NCAA Tournament. Only winning can get you in. But you can sure schedule yourself out of the NCAA. Each institution must find a schedule that allows winning."
Massaro, whose Blue Raiders have bought a home basketball game against Tennessee State this season for $45,000, said each school must mold the league's plan to fit its own means.
"Even if your budget is half of ours, there are things you can do within your schedule," Massaro said. "If the league gets multiple teams in the NCAA, it's well worth it. We're going to do it, and we hope others will, too."
The league is in reasonable agreement that similar football issues aren't as serious as those in the league's traditionally strong sport.
"I don't get real panicked about football. Football is only 5 years old, and it has to go through normal growing pains," Waters said. "I still feel good about it. Am I happy with it? No, but we're getting there.
"We need to get smarter (in football) because even with 12 games, most are getting four money games. We need bowl eligible teams, and so the same scheduling concerns apply. But men's basketball has to be fixed. There's a history there we have to get back to."
While admitting basketball's superior tradition in the Sun Belt, Davis sees the league's concerns stretching across numerous sports.
"This was created as a basketball league. There's no question about that. But the biggest thing we all have to do is sell more season tickets. That's an issue everyone in our league faces," Davis said.
"But still it goes back to raising standards. The point was made (at the spring meetings) that we need everyone to draw closer to the top teams in our league rather than aid the bottom teams. The league needs to make decisions based on how it will help emphasize the top three or four teams in the league. We can't lower our standards.
"Look at Florida State football in the ACC. They couldn't be beaten by anybody in their league for years, but others raised their standards to beat them, and that changed the complexion of ACC football."
But despite the mounting issues for the ever-changing league, the Sun Belt's key figures carry an optimistic view of the conference.
"
Back when we started, we put together something called Vision 2010, which is where we would like to be. We want to be a top-10 league in all sports, and I think we can still get there," Waters said. "Overall, we just need to be better organized and have a spirit of cooperation."
After one year of headway at Middle Tennessee, Massaro believes one of the league's strongest suits is the athletic administration matching the conference's vision.
"I see a lot of ambition with the ADs around this league," Massaro said. "That's what this league needs, and that can help get us to that vision."
http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...10329/1006
(03-27-2009 01:54 PM)Joel Wrote: According to Wright Waters' bio, he was strongly involved in putting together "Vision 2010", which is the SBC's "blueprint of the future"... I'm curious as to what exactly this "vision" is, I can't seem to find it. What are these goals and objectives for our conference? This sounds like an important document that the fans should be aware of.
Anyone know anything about this?
