Davidson to A-10

[hapapp]

What do you expect the conference to do when they lose their two best football powers and their two best basketball programs? There aren't going to be any real good options to replace those four schools. Let's just be glad we don't have to deal with it.

[newtoasu]

I hate to say this, but it seems Western is more intent on not being the bottom of the ladder, than worrying where the conference is headed.

Citadel, Western and Wofford people seem to be okay with the direction. Furman, UTC, and Samford seem to be a little worried.

The SoCon Commissioner seems to be on cruise control. Maybe he can find some more small private schools to fill the void, then get the games shown on ESPN8. I didn't think it could get any worse, but dayummm....

The Ocho. But won't they be competing with Dodgeball for those time slots?

[fjblair]

I took a look on AGS to check the mood of SoCon posters, and I was shocked to see how upbeat most of them were about the possibility of adding teams like VMI, Mercer, and UNCA. With ETSU bringing football back they make sense, but its hard to believe fans from Furman, UTC, WCU, and Citadel would want these schools. In just over 15 years they've gone from playing Marshall, App, and GSU to this... WOW! I'll go ahead and predict the SoCon won't have another National Champion within the next 10 (maybe 15) years.

It's hard to feel sorry for them when they are genuinely excited about these additions. We got out just in time boys and girls.

They might as well embrace the changes and make the best of the situation. It's going to be very interesting to see what the future brings for football in the SoCon.

[Kgfish]

Appears the Commish has the league headed in the direction he wants it.

Undergrad enrollment: Wofford - 1500, VMI - 1600, The Citadel - 2400, Furman - 2800, Samford - 2950, Mercer - 4500, Elon - 5200, WCU - 7600, UTC - 9200, ETSU - 12,500, UNCG - 14,600

Winthrop should get a look. Good geographical fit, non football, public institution albeit a small one (4800) and gets the conference exposure in Charlotte area.

[GoAppsGo92]

I hate to say this, but it seems Western is more intent on not being the bottom of the ladder, than worrying where the conference is headed.

Citadel, Western and Wofford people seem to be okay with the direction. Furman, UTC, and Samford seem to be a little worried.

The SoCon Commissioner seems to be on cruise control. Maybe he can find some more small private schools to fill the void, then get the games shown on ESPN8. I didn't think it could get any worse, but dayummm....

The Ocho. But won't they be competing with Dodgeball for those time slots?

The Woffords are getting concerned too. Western has some deep seeded issues with us, which is understandable their reaction to all of this stems from jealousy and anger at the lack of growth they have seen in athletics and as a university... and they have reason to be both. Citadel seems to be the most curious of all... they view the four schools leaving as disloyal as if we somehow should stand together until the end of time. The SoCon will be ok, but any team thinking about leaving... now is the time. The replacements will not be as good as the schools that left, and while that may mean that some programs can assume the top spots, it also means the conference as a whole has less gravitas. I actually think they may lose one or two more before this is all said and done.

As hapapp said: Just be glad that we do not have to deal with it.

[ASUMountaineer]

I hate to say this, but it seems Western is more intent on not being the bottom of the ladder, than worrying where the conference is headed.

Citadel, Western and Wofford people seem to be okay with the direction. Furman, UTC, and Samford seem to be a little worried.

The SoCon Commissioner seems to be on cruise control. Maybe he can find some more small private schools to fill the void, then get the games shown on ESPN8. I didn't think it could get any worse, but dayummm....

The Ocho. But won't they be competing with Dodgeball for those time slots?

Sure beats competing with Bob Ross and Sesame Street.

[NWA49]

The replacements will not be as good as the schools that left, and while that may mean that some programs can assume the top spots, it also means the conference as a whole has less gravitas.

And this is a true statement about conference realignment period. For the most part the best programs in a conference are the ones getting called up. I mean I love all things 49ers, but I can take off the green tinted glasses to see that we can't come close to replacing what CUSA lost in ECU right off the bat. Sure we have a better basketball program, but ECU was a huge piece of CUSA. Each conference loses the best programs they have and the schools coming in will have to raise their abilities to match the conference, that is true of us, of App, of ODU, of Memphis, etc.

[AtlAppMan]

This is WCU's master plan to be more competitive in conference play. It works well for them. They just removed two games off their schedule where they always get slapped around.