Sun Belt Media Day
The Sun Belt Conference held their Media Day yesterday, a day before the SEC begins their three-day media day festivities. ESPN3 covered the Sun Belt Media Day and the video is available to view, see links below.
As part of the 2012 SBC Media Day, the Sun Belt released their preseason coaches poll where the Jags were ranked last. Team name, total points and first place votes in parentheses.
- Florida International 92 (5)
- Arkansas State 85 (2)
- Louisiana-Lafayette 81 (2)
- Western Kentucky 70 (1)
- Troy 60
- Louisiana-Monroe 47
- Middle Tennessee 42
- North Texas 36
- Florida Atlantic 23
- South Alabama 14
The Sun Belt made the headlines a few times since last football season. They will lose two schools, Florida International and North Texas, to Conference-USA, but will add three schools two of which sponsor football. Georgia State and Texas State both sponsor football and Texas-Arlington which does not sponsor football.
Plus Commissioner Wright Waters retired as conference commissioner and was replaced by former WAC commissioner Karl Benson.
Benson took the podium at Media Day wearing a shirt with a different Sun Belt logo tan other conference staff members wore. It had bright yellow lettering with “Sun Belt” in all capital letters with the S and B in larger type.
He said, “We’re anticipating a branding analysis. We will evaluate the current logo. I see a bring future for the Sun Belt Conference and I hope you got the subliminal meeting.”
Later he said, “In my mind, the Sun Belt came out as a big winner in realignment and conference shuffling. Adding Georgia State, Texas State and UT-Arlington clearly put the Sun Belt in a strong position for the future.”
“The competitive gap between us and others has shrunk considerably,” Benson said. “The Sun belt is poised to contend to become the best of the so-called ‘Non-AQ conferences’, which are our peer conferences.”
Benson also mentioned how the Sun Belt Conference has put attention on lowering travel expenses and getting student-athletes back on campus quicker and also fostering closer regional rivalries. This will help with ticket revenues for all schools.
Also on hand were the head coaches of Texas State and Georgia State, both former head coaches at the University of Alabama, Dennis Franchione and Bill Curry. Their schools will join the Sun Belt in July of 2013.
See below for school specific information.
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Commissioner Benson Explored Membership Options For SBC
A good article in The Tennessean about the Sun Belt Conference, Commissioner Benson and conference expansion talks earlier this year. This included trying to persuade four current Conference USA members to join the SBC.
Here’s the opening part of the article.
The path toward the Sun Belt Conference’s recently announced realignment was far more expansive and ambitious than first appeared, as revealed by an open records request of MTSU administrative emails and a candid conversation with new league commissioner Karl Benson.
The Sun Belt proposed a massive four-conference merger, tried to persuade four current Conference USA members to switch leagues, put a 48-hour deadline on two other prospective schools to join the Sun Belt and even listed 21 schools (including Belmont University) as potential targets in Sun Belt expansion.
Announcement About FIU And UNT Expected Tomorrow
A series of press conferences are expected tomorrow for schools who have been invited to join Conference USA. Sun Belt schools University of North Texas and Florida International are expected to join Charlotte, Texas-San Antonio and Louisiana Tech in announcing their acceptance of an invitation to join Conference USA. Old Dominion is currently studying a possible move to Conference-USA from FCS.
The potential division split in Conference USA could look something like this:
Eastern Division: UAB, Charlotte, East Carolina, FIU, Marshall and Southern Miss
Western Division: Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, Tulsa and UTEP
This leaves the Sun Belt with South Alabama, Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State, Texas-Arlington, Troy and Western Kentucky. Of those 12 schools, Texas-Arlington and Arkansas-Little Rock do not have football programs. It was feared that along with FIU and UNT that it was possible that Middle Tennessee and FAU could also leave for C-USA.
So the Sun Belt will continue to look for at least two more schools who have football programs in order to round out a conference membership of 12 football-sponsoring schools in order to have a championship game.
But who are they looking at? Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson said on Wednesday that four to six FCS schools within the current Sun Belt geographic footprint have inquired about joining the conference. Those FCS that want to join FBS in 2013 must apply by June 1, 2012 in order to do so. However, Benson cautioned that the Sun Belt would only add schools if they thought it would improve the conference.
Two potential schools looking to move up to the FBS level would be Georgia Southern and Appalachian State. Some rumors going around the internet is that current WAC members New Mexico State and/or Idaho could join the conference. But Benson dismissed those as being “premature”. Denver University is leaving the conference this summer, much to the remaining schools delight, as travel to Denver was exhausting and costly. But adding New Mexico State and Idaho, even just for football, would be equally as detrimental.
A school that is possibly being overlooked for possible expansion is Lamar. Lamar has an enrollment of nearly 15,000 students, however their endowment according to Wikipedia is only $87 Million. But when I visited their campus in 2010 when they hosted South Alabama, it was a beautiful campus with some very nice facilities for the basketball and football programs. It would also give Texas State and in-state rival.
Texas State Joins Sun Belt Conference In 2013
The Sun Belt Conference released a press release today announcing that Texas State Univeristy will join the conference beginning July 1, 2013 and will begin conference competition for the 2013-2014 academic year.
“Texas State University has worked very hard to be ready for FBS competition and joining the Sun Belt Conference represents a new opportunity for our future,” said Texas State University President Denise M. Trauth. “The Sun Belt’s record of competitive success over more than 35 years provides a tradition of excellence that we are happy to join. Our students and alumni will bring a very strong fan base that will welcome these new opportunities. Just as Texas State is the rising star of Texas, we believe that the Sun Belt is also on the rise and we are happy to be a part of its future.”
“On behalf of the presidents and chancellors of the Sun Belt Conference, it is my honor to welcome Texas State University as the newest member of our league family,” said Sun Belt Conference Executive Committee President and Troy University Chancellor Jack Hawkins, Jr. “We are not the same conference we were 10 years ago. The Sun Belt is strong athletically as demonstrated by the fact that our bowl record over the last eight years is better than five other BCS conferences. We are stronger academically, as 90 percent of our teams have achieved an Academic Progress Rates of 925 or higher. Texas State is an excellent addition to our strong, growing conference.”
Texas State is located between Austin and San Antonio in San Marcos. It is home to over 34,000 students and opened in 1903. They are the only university in Texas to have graduated a US president in Lyndon B. Johnson in the class of 1930.
TSU sponsors 16 varsity programs including football, whom former University of Alabama head football coach Dennis Franchione is the current head coach. Their mascot is the Bobcat and they will play their first season at the FBS level in 2012 and will be eligible to compete for football conference championships and bowl games when they join the Sun Belt in 2013.
“Texas State is a great addition to the Sun Belt Conference as the Bobcat athletic program is destined for success in the Football Bowl Subdivision,” said Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson. “The Sun Belt Conference’s rise to prominence will continue with Texas State as part of our league.”
“We are very excited about becoming a member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2013,” said Texas State Director of Athletics Dr. Larry Teis. “We know that our student-athletes will be eager to succeed in the Sun Belt, and we will enter the conference ready to compete. We look forward to building new rivalries with some Sun Belt schools and renewing rivalries with others. The Sun Belt Conference encompasses eight states from Texas to Florida that are rich in college athletic traditions, especially in the sport of FBS football.”
Texas State’s budget for athletics ranks in the upper half of the current Sun Belt Conference membership, and its undergraduate enrollment ranks near the top of the league’s current membership.
Welcome to the conference TSU!
Georgia State To Join Sun Belt In Announcement Monday
Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports is reporting that the Sun Belt and Georgia State University is set to announce they will join the Conference in 2013 at a press conference scheduled for 2pm at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. This comes a week after Sun Belt presidents voted via teleconference to extend an invitation to Georgia State and talks with the school.
Georgia State, a former member of the Sun Belt, has spend the past seven seasons playing in the Colonial Athletic Association. This announcement also comes one day before the CAA Conference is set to vote on substantially raising the exit fee for member schools. Reports are this will raise the fee from $250,000 to “at least one million.”
While all sports excluding football could play in SBC beginning in 2013, it would be 2014 before the football team would be able to begin play in the conference, as a full member, due to NCAA rules. However their 2013 schedule would consist of a full Sun Belt schedule as a transitional team, like South Alabama will be in 2012.
Georgia State has a June 1st deadline to declare if they will be playing in FCS or FBS.
GSU will mark the first major change to the Sun Belt Conference under new commissioner Karl Benson. Benson, formerly the commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference, replaced Wright Waters as commissioner on March 15.
The addition of GSU as a football member will push the conference to 11 schools with football. The NCAA requires conferences to have 12 football playing members in order to have a conference championship game. However the conference is also potentially facing the loss of three institutions as the Mountain West Conference and Conference-USA are looking to merge into a new conference with a target of up to 24 schools. The schools that are in talks are Florida International, Florida Atlantic and North Texas.
Benson is reportedly in talks with other schools as possible new members. Charlotte and Texas-San Antonio continue to be top contenders for potential membership in the Sun Belt with rumors of potential interest by Lamar and Texas State.
UPDATED: As soon as I posted this Kevin McGuire posted that UT-San Antonio has met with MWC/C-USA about possibly joining the conference. The UT-SA board of regents have called a special meeting for Thursday, April 12th but it is unknown what the agenda of the meeting will be.
Three Sun Belt Schools Talking With MWC/CUSA While SBC Considers Expansion
Earlier this week, it was made known that three Sun Belt schools were talking with the new Mountain West/C-USA Alliance. University of North Texas, Florida Atlantic and Florida International as well as pretty much every WAC school are talking with them about possible membership.
Also it was made known by Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports that UNC-Charlotte and UT-San Antonio could possibly join the Sun Belt as soon as the 2013-2014 season. However nothing has yet been decided.
Louisana Tech has made it known somewhat, that they would not mind joining the Sun Belt. But they may be holding out hope of joining the MWC/C-USA conglomeration.
Other schools that have been mentioned as possible expansion talks are Appalachian State, Texas State, UT-Arlington, Lamar, Georgia Southern and Georgia State.
Georgia Southern looks good as a potential candidate being located in the Atlanta-Savannah area and right in the thick of the Sun Belt’s eastern conference schools. It has a strong fan base and a successful athletics program. However feasibilty reports done by the school shows that they would be able to move up from FCS to FBS successfully on the athletic level. But, it showed that the financial risks would be high as alumni and boosters are not eager to back the idea as much as the student body is willing to.
However according to Russel Wright of Collegiate Consulting, Georgia State could be ready to move up to the FBS level. According to him they have the finances and a good location in Atlanta to make the move. He said that the martket drives it more than their on-field product. They have an enrollment similar to North Texas and Florida International and of the $22 Million the school receives in revenues each year, about $16 Million comes from the students.
Appalachian State has made the decision to look into moving up to FBS. They have positive results from their feasibilty report completed recently and have a nationally recognized brand after the upset of then #5 ranked Michigan as they won a 3rd consecutive national title in 2007. But they are also in the eyes of the MWC/CUSA group.
UNC-Charlotte has had a successful basketball program and have appeared in the final four. They have previously been in the Sun Belt Conference and Conference-USA. They will begin playing football in the 2013 season though. But they could also be courted by the Big East since they are in Charlotte.
South Alabama knows Lamar pretty well as they completed a home-and-home series against them last season. Lamar has been pretty aggressive about trying to move up to the FBS level. They have a nice campus and a newly renovated stadium for their return to football with a huge video screen. Their addition to the Sun Belt could help North Texas to not feel left out in the wilds of Texas alone.
Texas State, UT-San Antonio and Arlington could all decide to stay in the WAC. Which would give Lamar more of a consideration by the Sun Belt.
However, the fall of the WAC was under Commissioner Benson’s watch and his rather sudden move from there to the Sun Belt has raised a few questions. But many doubt that the same will happen to the Sun Belt once he gets going fully as commissioner. But the question remains, will he be able to keep the conference going in the right direction.
In the mean time, South Alabama’s Dr. Joel Erdmann said that the school is trying to work out a deal that will have a video screen to show replays at Ladd-Peebles Stadium this season. It was not mentioned if it was going to replace an old scoreboard or if they were going the same route that the GoDaddy.com Bowl (formerly the GMAC Bowl) has done and bring in a portable screen. I believe the portable screen is the most likely of the two.
Also he mentioned they are trying to get more speakers at the stadium. Those fans who sit on the West stands know quite well how loud those speakers. Since the East side does not have speakers, they are turned up very loud so the students and fans can hear the announcers as well.
Karl Benson Interview Outlines Two SBC Divisions In Future
Karl Benson was interviewed during halftime of the South Alabama vs Troy first round match-up at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
He indicated that the Sun Belt may move up the date he begins to take over to March 15 rather than April 1.
When Benson was asked what prompted the move from the WAC to the Sun Belt, he said that it took strong decision making and analysis before making his final decision. But he though the Sun Belt was more stable than the WAC. Also, after 18 years as commissioner of the WAC and his age, he asked himself where he would want to end his career. The Sun Belt was the best opportunity.
Benson’s goal is to hit at least 12 teams for a conference championship, but also for greater scheduling alliances. He said the Sun Belt needs to get to two divisions so they can reduce some travel, not only in football, but also in the other sports. They want to maintain current membership and grow new members.
When asked about membership changes as a couple teams have been mentioned as possible invitees to the new conference being formed by the merger of Conference-USA and the Mountain West Conference. Benson said that they will have to accept membership changes if they come. The Sun Belt is very stable and they have several schools lined up on their list in case any team leaves.
When asked about possible BCS changes, since he was part of the BCS meetings, he said he thinks that the BCS will eventually go to a four team playoff. He does not know if it will be part of the bowls or seperate from it.
Finally he was asked if he anticipated a merger of the Sun Belt with any other conference, Benson said he does not anticipate that.
AD Erdmann Interviewed On WNSP
University of South Alabama Athletic Director Dr. Joel Erdmann was on the Morning Sports Drive on WNSP with Lee Shirvanian and Mark Heim on Friday. Joel and Lee were both in Hot Springs, Arkansas for the Sun Belt Conference tournament that gets underway on Saturday.
Lee immediately spoke about the football schedule that was released the day before, on Thursday. Lee asked if Joel requested Troy as the Jaguars first Sun Belt game. Joel said that he did not and it’s not really up to the school to request such things. He did say that the schools do know who they will be playing and where they will be playing for the next four to six years. However the dates are not set and the schools can can “suggest” open dates to the conference, who actually sets the conference schedules.
Back to the schedule itself, Dr. Erdmann said that the schedule is very well paced with rotating home-away games. It’s good for the team and good for the fans. It has a greath rhythm to it.
Lee followed up asking if they were all going to be Saturday games, as they are currently scheduled, or if there were any possibilities of Jaguar games being picked up by the Sun Belt Network for television. Dr. Erdmann said that they are all scheduled for Saturday’s and that the times are still TBA. It is doubtful that the Jags will get a SBC televised game since South Alabama will not be eligible for the championship or post-season play.
Lee then transitioned over to the new Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson and said that he was scheduled to have a press conference tomorrow in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Since Benson’s announcement as the new Sun Belt commissioner, there have been wide discussion for the conference to move to 12 football schools. Dr. Erdmann said it would be good if the conference can find good matches in schools for the conference within the region and that they want it to be discussed.
Back to the Jags schedule, Joel said that three of the four home Sun Belt games will be against teams who played in a bowl game over the last two seasons.
Lee asked about scheduling Nebraska, asking if it was for money or if it was because of their name. Erdmann stated that it was more because of the game; it helps with recruiting. But it is also depends if the date works for both schools and other factors.
Rounding out the interview, Lee asked if South Alabama is looking to schedule more teams to home-and-away series or 2-for-1’s. Erdmann said that they are looking to schedule more series and try to get some big name schools to visit Mobile like they have scheduled with Oklahoma State, Mississippi State and N.C. State.
Incoming Commissioner Speaks Of Conference Expansion For Sun Belt
The new incoming Sun Belt commissioner made the rounds last Friday after the announcement of his selection to replace the retiring Wright Waters.
He said that his immediate priority as the new commissioner would be to upgrade the league’s brand during this time of flux in college football. Currently Sun Belt schools who participate in football are Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Troy and Western Kentucky with South Alabama playing a full Sun Belt schedule in 2012 and joining as a full member in 2013.
Benson said, “Today is the beginning of the message that the Sun Belt Conference is going to be a player on the college landscape. We believe we provide opportunities for our existing institutions, but for any future institutions, (we) compare favorably to our peers.”
A couple Sun Belt schools have been mentioned as possible targets by the as-yet unnamed conference born out of the merger talks between Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference. Those teams mentioned have been Florida International, Florida Atlantic and North Texas.
But Benson said that maintaining a presence in both Florida and Texas is important for the conference. But he also mentioned that the conference will be in conversations with unnamed Conference-USA members about moving to the Sun Belt.
The appeal of the Sun Belt would be to allow those unnamed schools to remain in a regional conference that is more beneficial and logical to them while allowing the Sun Belt to expand to at least 12 football-participating schools.
Louisiana Tech, who is currently a member of the WAC, has publicly expressed their desire to be a part of the new Sun Belt Conference. If Louisiana Tech joins the conference, only one more football playing school would be needed for the required 12 to have a conference championship game.
While Benson was at it, he talked with Tony Barnhart and Wes Durham on their radio show on 790 The Zone. He said he was aware of other schools in the region such as Georgia State and UNC-Charlotte. While Georgia State does not have plans on moving up to the FBS, UNC-Charlotte does want to move up to FBS but does not have a timeline to do so and will only be playing their first season of football in 2013, a full year away.
While Benson’s priority would be to add existing FBS members to the conference, he would be open to schools with aspirations for FBS play if the attempted addition of current FBS schools was not fruitful for the conference.