I would like for the Southern Conference to add Winthrop (SC) and Lipscomb (TN) and become a 12 team conference, This would make the conference look like this:
Citadel (SC)- military/public
East Tenn State (TN) - public
Furman (SC) - private
Lipscomb (TN) - private
Mercer (GA) - private
NC Greensboro (NC) - public
Samford (AL) - private
TN Chattanooga (TN) - public
VA Military Institute (VA) - military/public
Western Carolina (NC) - public
Winthrop (SC) - public
Wofford - private

The makeup would be 9 football playing schools and 3 non-football.
This would allow for 8 conference games (4 home - 4 away), 1 money game, 1 rivalry game, and 1 homecoming game for each school.

The conference could split into two divisions for basketball.
North
VMI
ETSU
UTC
Lipscomb
Western Carolina
UNCG

South
Furman
Mercer
Wofford
Samford
Citadel
Winthrop

Ten is good for the foreseeable future for obvious scheduling reasons in both football and basketball. And, there's no one looking to bolt at present. At the next realighnment, which is inevitable, all bets are off.

(12-21-2015 09:43 AM)Buc66 Wrote:  Ten is good for the foreseeable future for obvious scheduling reasons in both football and basketball. And, there's no one looking to bolt at present. At the next realighnment, which is inevitable, all bets are off.

And, it would be good if ETSU had its eye on C-USA for the future. Watching Western Kentucky and South Florida in the bowl game reminds one of our long rivalry with WKU and how far they've come in recent years plus how fast USF built their football program. Why not ETSU finally?

I hope when the next round of conference realignment happens we are not wondering who is coming to the socon but wondering what conference we can move up to.

(12-21-2015 05:01 PM)Buc66 Wrote:  

(12-21-2015 09:43 AM)Buc66 Wrote:  Ten is good for the foreseeable future for obvious scheduling reasons in both football and basketball. And, there's no one looking to bolt at present. At the next realighnment, which is inevitable, all bets are off.

And, it would be good if ETSU had its eye on C-USA for the future. Watching Western Kentucky and South Florida in the bowl game reminds one of our long rivalry with WKU and how far they've come in recent years plus how fast USF built their football program. Why not ETSU finally?

Gonna have to open that wallet up in the athletic department for that to happen. I think we'll see a split coupled with an open move up similar to what happened with the I/I-AA split in the 80's.

This guy seems to present a rather fantasyland view. The horse he is talking about left the barn years ago, for good or for bad. Now, it is very possible the Power Five schools will separate. But, the non-Power Five schools will never initiate separation. The reason, March Madness. It would be suicidal to pull out of the NCAA DI basketball tourney. Hopefully the next DI shakeup will only involve football, thus leaving the remaining FBS schools and the 63 scholarship FCS schools an opportunity to reorder themselves into more geographically friendly, institutionally compatable, financial likeness conference alignments.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher...e-schools/

If you never have a dream....nothing will ever happen! Keep dreaming 66!

the question to be answered is - why expand. what does any new member bring to the conference. you add to add value/get better or to survive. SoCon is not in survival mode. do not see anyone out there that will bring significant value to the conference - simply more mouths to feed.

(12-30-2015 09:02 PM)silence dogood Wrote:  the question to be answered is - why expand. what does any new member bring to the conference. you add to add value/get better or to survive. SoCon is not in survival mode. do not see anyone out there that will bring significant value to the conference - simply more mouths to feed.

Kennesaw State, although can't say much for their basketball program.

(12-22-2015 11:15 AM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  I think we'll see a split coupled with an open move up similar to what happened with the I/I-AA split in the 80's.

I don't think you ever see a split like this again. 1) The Non Power schools aren't just going to volunteer to step down and not play and the Power schools will not try and separate themselves for fear of anti-trust lawsuits (Which is what should have happened in the late 70s, but didn't).

Besides 8-12 schools in the Power schools, no one else could go out on their own and play with just themselves. Ive said it from day 1 when the Power schools said they wanted a playoff that it was set up for the same 8-12 schools to get into. With a wild card every year or so. This years wild card is Clemson, last year was Oregon.

(01-08-2016 09:28 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(12-22-2015 11:15 AM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  I think we'll see a split coupled with an open move up similar to what happened with the I/I-AA split in the 80's.

I don't think you ever see a split like this again. 1) The Non Power schools aren't just going to volunteer to step down and not play and the Power schools will not try and separate themselves for fear of anti-trust lawsuits (Which is what should have happened in the late 70s, but didn't).

Besides 8-12 schools in the Power schools, no one else could go out on their own and play with just themselves. Ive said it from day 1 when the Power schools said they wanted a playoff that it was set up for the same 8-12 schools to get into. With a wild card every year or so. This years wild card is Clemson, last year was Oregon.

Not following you there with Clemson and Oregon as "wild cards". Essentially, the Power Five conferences have already separated with the additional scholarship stipends, and that spending will continue to grow. Now that they have autonomy with this additional student aid, they will likely assert their independence in other matters going forward, and the other five FBS conferences will struggle even more to keep up their facade. Bottom line, none of the division I non-power five schools want to see the DI basketball tourney/March Madness messed with. In order to preserve that, some future football "compromises" might have to be reached.

Belmont?

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/sport...ne/416549/

(03-12-2017 07:33 AM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  Belmont?

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/sport...ne/416549/

Belmont and/or C of C will be receiving at-large bids this year? For the future, they're adding football?

The College of Charleston hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 1999. I'm not sure what they actually bring.

Belmont is good simply because they have one of the best coaches in the country (in my opinion). When he retires, I don't see Belmont being able to sustain that success.

I personally like the 10 team format and don't think we should expand, nor do I think that doing so would make us a 2 bid league.

We would expand and still be a one bid league.

I don't hate the idea but thinking that by adding those 2 teams would make the SoCon a multi-bid league is just wishful thinking.

The SoCon needs to work on its TV deal. It needs to have at least 1 "Game of the Week" on one of the flagship ESPN channels, if not a couple. Teams also need to get their attendance up for bball so that they are able to get more home-home type games with power 5 schools, and then win those games. That is the only way to get more than 1 bid.

The TV thing is essential. Nobody knows about us outside of our local fan bases partly because the conference dropped the ball here. Much lower profile leagues have a deal with ESPN, we should also.

(03-12-2017 09:36 AM)etsubuc Wrote:  The TV thing is essential. Nobody knows about us outside of our local fan bases partly because the conference dropped the ball here. Much lower profile leagues have a deal with ESPN, we should also.

Completely agree. Its crazy the SoCon doesn't have a deal. But when we joined they were really behind the times. I remember reading that Mercer was instrumental in getting the conference on board with ESPN3.

SoCon needs a TV contract. It would help if ETSU a couple in the NCAAs. Also, it would help if UNCG does well in the NIT, and we need to sustain that for a couple of years... at least.

I'm fine without Belmont. Kennesaw State? At least they have football. I would be fine w/ College of Charleston, especially if they added football. I always enjoyed playing them and their fans were pretty friendly. Cremins thought they should have stayed (he stated this multiple times at the "Holding Court" at the Carnegie when Bilas hosted).