SoMiss/ODU/Marsh/JMU announcements

[Stonewall]

No MAC expansion , at least for the foreseeable future.

[Appstate88]

[T-Dog]

Basically, ODU, SoMiss and Marshall are terminating their CUSA memberships this summer after CUSA refused to negotiate about an early exit. CUSA bylaws requires something like 14 months notice before leaving, but there was no $$$ attached to breaking that bylaw. Sun Belt was planned to announce all three with JMU joining this summer in the last week of January, but the CUSA sent out veiled legal threats to stall it. So all three schools collectively went "screw it" and are peacing out.

These statements have nothing specifically about joining the Sun Belt.

[Saint3333]

This timing isn't by accident nor is the omission of the SBC in this.

They waited until CUSA sent out the 2022 schedules inclusive of these three schools. This is great for a story board as an example of CUSA not negotiating in good faith when it goes to the arbitrator.

Well played all around by those three.

[appstate77]

Good for them; CUSA cannot loan shark those schools nor the Belt.

[VNova]

Good for them; CUSA cannot loan shark those schools nor the Belt.

CUSA's response is basically continuing the trend of "well, they better stick around, or else!"

[Saint3333]

What a clown show. There are no damages beyond the two years of distributions they are already forfeiting. Will CUSA actually distribute a 14 team schedule. That is due on 2/14? How embarrassing.

[Stonewall]

From a gentleman I met in Pensacola :Texas State pushed for UTEP and NMSU to be added ,which I can see given their location.We pretty much killed that as Everts was the Chancellor pushing the realignment from day one ,the goal being App in the geographic center of an Eastern Division of an all-football playing Sunbelt.We had the most leverage as the "Strongest National Brand" and used it .Coastal and LaLa ,as well as the Georgia schools ,for all intents and purposes , agreed to "go with what App works out". Gill played a very minor role as he was trying to keep everyone happy,including Texas State.We did try to recruit ECU as they were not happy with the new AAC , but they have their "sights set higher".Good luck to them.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

https://conferenceusa.com/news/2022/3/2 ... -miss.aspx

https://conferenceusa.com/news/2022/3/2 ... ement.aspx

[citroknight]

From a gentleman I met in Pensacola :Texas State pushed for UTEP and NMSU to be added ,which I can see given their location.We pretty much killed that as Everts was the Chancellor pushing the realignment from day one ,the goal being App in the geographic center of an Eastern Division of an all-football playing Sunbelt.We had the most leverage as the "Strongest National Brand" and used it .Coastal and LaLa ,as well as the Georgia schools ,for all intents and purposes , agreed to "go with what App works out". Gill played a very minor role as he was trying to keep everyone happy,including Texas State.We did try to recruit ECU as they were not happy with the new AAC , but they have their "sights set higher".Good luck to them.

How reliable is that Intel about UTEP? Anything is possible but all 3 of the Texas CUSA teams that the AAC invited are closer to TXST than UTEP is. And UTEP has also not been particularly good. If the goal was an actual travel partner, the only one that makes sense would be UTSA because it's only an hour away from TXST. You have to fly to UTEP from San Marcos so that's not really a travel partner. But culturally, I think the best fit to pair with TXST would have been UNT. Solid fan base and tradition, really has invested in facilities.

[BallantyneApp]

From a gentleman I met in Pensacola :Texas State pushed for UTEP and NMSU to be added ,which I can see given their location.We pretty much killed that as Everts was the Chancellor pushing the realignment from day one ,the goal being App in the geographic center of an Eastern Division of an all-football playing Sunbelt.We had the most leverage as the "Strongest National Brand" and used it .Coastal and LaLa ,as well as the Georgia schools ,for all intents and purposes , agreed to "go with what App works out". Gill played a very minor role as he was trying to keep everyone happy,including Texas State.We did try to recruit ECU as they were not happy with the new AAC , but they have their "sights set higher".Good luck to them.

How reliable is that Intel about UTEP? Anything is possible but all 3 of the Texas CUSA teams that the AAC invited are closer to TXST than UTEP is. And UTEP has also not been particularly good. If the goal was an actual travel partner, the only one that makes sense would be UTSA because it's only an hour away from TXST. You have to fly to UTEP from San Marcos so that's not really a travel partner. But culturally, I think the best fit to pair with TXST would have been UNT. Solid fan base and tradition, really has invested in facilities.

i'm not an insider at all ,but what is on the SBCBBS board from known insiders there is that after USM, the only western target was UTSA, who would be a travel partner and is already a rival of TXST. The feedback was there was interest if the AAC didn't work out, which obviously it did.

UNT was a little in the same boat, but UNT was already in the sun belt and was one of the worst teams historically, so i doubt either side would really like to see them back.

on the eastern side App did have to exert influence to get the ODU+JMU combo in, everyone was sold on Marshall but it took some wrangling to get ODU and JMU in. ESPN came in with more $$ to make everyone happy.

Thats the story at least.

[AtlAppMan]

https://conferenceusa.com/news/2022/3/2 ... -miss.aspx

https://conferenceusa.com/news/2022/3/2 ... ement.aspx

You can stick a fork in this chapter.

The take away for me is that our move to SBC (instead of CUSA) now looks great and this reconfirms that fact. Pre-2013, as we were considering the move to FBS, I wanted CUSA badly BUT when Houston, Memphis, SMU, and UCF bolted, everything changed. Clearly Peacock and Benson made some good decisions and we are seeing the fruits of that labor. CUSA is a weak conference and getting worse every year.

[AppStateNews]

i'm not an insider at all ,but what is on the SBCBBS board from known insiders there is that after USM, the only western target was UTSA, who would be a travel partner and is already a rival of TXST. The feedback was there was interest if the AAC didn't work out, which obviously it did.

UNT was a little in the same boat, but UNT was already in the sun belt and was one of the worst teams historically, so i doubt either side would really like to see them back.

on the eastern side App did have to exert influence to get the ODU+JMU combo in, everyone was sold on Marshall but it took some wrangling to get ODU and JMU in. ESPN came in with more $$ to make everyone happy.

Thats the story at least.

Exactly what I heard as well. I heard it was Georgia Southern that was the main opponent to ODU and JMU. When ESPN came with the dollar signs, Georgia Southern's tone changed real quick.

[AppinVA]

From a gentleman I met in Pensacola :Texas State pushed for UTEP and NMSU to be added ,which I can see given their location.We pretty much killed that as Everts was the Chancellor pushing the realignment from day one ,the goal being App in the geographic center of an Eastern Division of an all-football playing Sunbelt.We had the most leverage as the "Strongest National Brand" and used it .Coastal and LaLa ,as well as the Georgia schools ,for all intents and purposes , agreed to "go with what App works out". Gill played a very minor role as he was trying to keep everyone happy,including Texas State.We did try to recruit ECU as they were not happy with the new AAC , but they have their "sights set higher".Good luck to them.

To the rest of the Sun Belt: you're welcome.

[T-Dog]

Everts was the one who pushed for Coastal to join last time and regardless of personal distaste for them, that's been a worthy addition.

[CVAPP]

Apparently making the Sun Belt the cool conference now:

https://collegefootballnews.com/2022/03 ... 2022-no-18

[AtlAppMan]

Apparently making the Sun Belt the cool conference now:

https://collegefootballnews.com/2022/03 ... 2022-no-18

This is a great recap on how the SBC is rising in the pecking order. The SBC has transformed into a HUNTER, and no longer the hunted. I expect the latest moves will continue to drive the conference upward. This article is evidence that folks are noticing and once the new schools start competing it will drive us further up the food chain. I think the AAC made a HUGE mistake in this round, much like CUSA did by going for markets in 2013/14. I think we will overtake the AAC in a few years.

Since App and GaSo joined in 2014, the conference has gotten stronger with every move. App and GaSo delivered, us more than GaSo. We used NMSU and Idaho to plug a temporary need and then booted them as soon as it served the SBC's purposes. We added a good in-region up and comer with Coastal, and they have delivered. ALL of these moves have resulted in a much much stronger conference. In this latest round, we poached mostly everybody we wanted (with possible exception of ECU but timing probably wasn't right for that one).

[PhillyApp1]

Credit our Chancellor.None of this happens without her.

Chancellor and Mr. Doug Gillen !!!

We should be the most grateful school in the Sunbelt.
App State leaders are Leading the Sunbelt.

Together We Rise !!