Huntington Article

[appst89]

Chuck Landon's article

Funny how the times change so quickly. Many of us have been saying how much sense this makes for a while. Seems that some CUSA folks are starting to see the light.

[MDaniels84]

Chuck Landon's article

Funny how the times change so quickly. Many of us have been saying how much sense this makes for a while. Seems that some CUSA folks are starting to see the light.

Just like DGlenn and lots of others have been saying for years.......... I like that layout. If you come out of that North division unscathed, you might just have a shot at the Access Bowl.

[zim262]

It makes too much sense, so it will never happen.

[JTApps1]

Chuck Landon's article

Funny how the times change so quickly. Many of us have been saying how much sense this makes for a while. Seems that some CUSA folks are starting to see the light.

I'd say swap out Troy for JMU for our proposed conference. The western conference could cut loose one other team to go along with Troy being on our side to make two 12 team conferences. Or how about this 10 team conference:

North: Marshall, WKU, ODU, MTSU, App
South: UNCC, GS, GSU, Troy, UAB

OR

East: App, Marshall, ODU, Charlotte, GS
West: WKU, MTSU, UAB, Troy, GSU

Either way these make more sense than having us in a conference with Texas State or ODU in a conference with UTEP.

[AppDawg]

The F-U Schools do not excite me. Would rather have Southern mess in Troy instead of them.

Aside from regionalization, I still think KB should make a power move for Marshall and Southern Miss to join the current Sunbelt. That'll puts us at 12 and would be in time for our next TV package negotiation.

[PhillyApp1]

Can someone copy and paste the article?

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

Can someone copy and paste the article?

It wasn't my idea.


I wish it had been, but I honestly didn't think of it first.


Darn it.







So, now, I can't take credit for this brilliant concept. Instead, the praise goes to my old buddy Will Prewitt. He and I worked together back in the days of the late, great West Virginia Conference.


For 12 years, Prewitt served as associate commissioner. Then, in 2010 he became commissioner of a new NCAA Division II league named the Great American Conference. He has been there ever since.


Considering his experience, naturally, Prewitt has some informed opinions about the composition of conferences. So, when he read my "Maybe MU should have stayed in the MAC" column, it got Prewitt to thinking.


Voila.


The next thing I knew Prewitt had come up with not one, but two NCAA Division I conferences comprised of a combination of Conference USA and Sun Belt schools.


The first league includes Marshall, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Coastal Carolina and James Madison.


Not bad, huh?


Why, the 12-school league even divides up nicely into North and South Divisions.


The North would include Marshall, Western Kentucky, Appalachian State, Old Dominion, Charlotte and James Madison.


How's that for regional rivalries, Marshall fans?


Then, the South Division would have Middle Tennessee, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, FIU, Florida Atlantic and Coastal Carolina.


Now, let's think about a name for this conference.


How about the Southern Conference? Oops, already taken. What about the Southeastern Conference? Darn, it's taken, too. It could be called the Mid-Atlantic Conference, but then its MAC acronym would get confused with the Mid-American Conference.


Ah, let's just call it the Sunshine Conference for now.


The second league is a 14-school conference including Southern Miss, UAB, Louisiana Tech, Rice, UTEP, North Texas, UTSA, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, South Alabama, Troy, Texas State, Arkansas State and New Mexico State.


It also breaks down into natural, geographical divisions.


The East would include all the Alabama and Louisiana schools, such as Louisiana Tech, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, UAB, Troy, South Alabama and, of course, Southern Miss.







The West Division would look like a mini-Southwest Conference with UTEP, Rice, UTSA, North Texas, Texas State, Arkansas State and New Mexico State.


What could we call this league?


Well, the Southwest Conference moniker hasn't been used since 1996, so let's dust it off and use it again.


Nice job, Will.


The Sunshine Conference and the SWC configurations make a lot of sense. And it would be doable if C-USA and the Sun Belt would merge for the good of both leagues.


After all, right now C-USA and the Sun Belt are at the bottom of the FBS food chain. They are at the foot of the ladder looking up at the other eight conferences that have stronger reputations and fatter wallets.


That's partially because C-USA and the Sun Belt were the leagues that were raided the hardest in the most recent conference reconfiguration. C-USA lost seven members to the American Athletic Conference, so C-USA raided the Sun Belt for replacements.


So, isn't it about time these two leagues banded together and looked out for each other?


I believe it's an idea worth considering.


Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Contact him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com.

[EastHallApp]

Chuck Landon's article

Funny how the times change so quickly. Many of us have been saying how much sense this makes for a while. Seems that some CUSA folks are starting to see the light.

I'd say swap out Troy for JMU for our proposed conference. The western conference could cut loose one other team to go along with Troy being on our side to make two 12 team conferences.

This. And that one other team could be NM State, since they're already without a conference.

[Capt. Ed]

Chuck Landon's article

Funny how the times change so quickly. Many of us have been saying how much sense this makes for a while. Seems that some CUSA folks are starting to see the light.

I'd say swap out Troy for JMU for our proposed conference. The western conference could cut loose one other team to go along with Troy being on our side to make two 12 team conferences.

This. And that one other team could be NM State, since they're already without a conference.

JMU has earned zero consideration for inclusion. Their arrogant posture is reason enough. Add to that their fickle nature and lack of any recent football success makes them a problematic addition.

[Gonzo]

Many are underestimating the delusions of grandeur and arrogance of schools like Marshal and UNCC.

It isn't just leaders like Judy Rose. It's reflected by their fans and alumni. By all meaningful metrics Marshal is no better than Georgia Southern, but those inbred Turds would burn Huntington to ashes if their AD put them in the same league.

It won't happen.

[T-Dog]

Marshall is way beyond UNCC in every metric. Probably the top job in all CUSA.

[APPdiesel]

Perceptions being as they are, if Marshall ever did make a move it would be back to the MAC (sung in my head to the tune of Weezer's "Back to the Shack"...Google it). But once conference top-dogs and their writers start talking about things like this, that's when they happen.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

[APPdiesel]

On a funny side note, I posed the question "who would you kick out of your conference and why?" yesterday on our show on ESPN Upstate, and I had a hard time picking one. Yeah we have some stinker teams in the SBC but nobody is significantly worse than anyone else. So I chose South Alabama. Had a few USA 247 writers jump all over me on twitter about it. Glad they were listening.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

[EastHallApp]

On a funny side note, I posed the question "who would you kick out of your conference and why?" yesterday on our show on ESPN Upstate, and I had a hard time picking one. Yeah we have some stinker teams in the SBC but nobody is significantly worse than anyone else. So I chose South Alabama. Had a few USA 247 writers jump all over me on twitter about it. Glad they were listening.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

I'd say App State... so we can join the AAC.

[JTApps1]

On a funny side note, I posed the question "who would you kick out of your conference and why?" yesterday on our show on ESPN Upstate, and I had a hard time picking one. Yeah we have some stinker teams in the SBC but nobody is significantly worse than anyone else. So I chose South Alabama. Had a few USA 247 writers jump all over me on twitter about it. Glad they were listening.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

I'd have to say Texas State since they are pretty far west and the complain about everything despite winning nothing important. If not them then I would go with ULM as their budget is so much smaller and fan support lower than everyone else that they're going to have a tough time improving their program to where we need it to be.

[APPdiesel]

On a funny side note, I posed the question "who would you kick out of your conference and why?" yesterday on our show on ESPN Upstate, and I had a hard time picking one. Yeah we have some stinker teams in the SBC but nobody is significantly worse than anyone else. So I chose South Alabama. Had a few USA 247 writers jump all over me on twitter about it. Glad they were listening.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

I'd say App State... so we can join the AAC.

...And so it begins

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio