|
Post by tuna85 on Jan 24, 2020 20:14:00 GMT -6
Still confusing. I guess ASun wants nothing to do with football and hence the creation of the new conference. If Big South football members don't migrate to the UAC well, it's gonna be pretty lonely for UNA especially since Liberty is playing FBS Independent and KSU appears to not be interested (in UAC?). Also, why does UNA have no interest in other sports being ASun? Is it because more membership making it more difficult to win conference AQ spots and also more pigs at the trough and a smaller piece of any monies to be split? They may just view it as an opportunity for all sports in 1, more compact conference. I think this deal has been going on since the ASun/Big South football deal happened. On another note, it seems to me that Liberty leaving the Big South, killed the Big South... Lot of convoluted machinations to me. If ASun is taking over the Big South wouldn't it have been easier to just move all Big South teams' sports to ASun and kept the Big South name, as the football only conference, for current ASun and Big South teams that play football? Just seems like using a cannon when a sling shot would do.
|
|
|
Post by unafied on Jan 24, 2020 20:14:17 GMT -6
Well, all the non-football schools from the two conferences probably should just join up together. Probably better for them in that scenario, since football wouldn’t be dominating decisions one way or the other.
Unfortunately, where the heck does it leave us? In a conference with Charleston Southern, Gardner Webb, Campbell, and Hampton. Yay? It would be dumb for Kennesaw to stay in the “other” conference since they’d still need a place to play football, unless they are looking to just go FBS. But without them this so-called UAC would only have 5 teams, which I don’t think qualifies for a playoff auto-bid. I’m not counting Monmouth in this since they wouldn’t be a full member. I guess they could stick around for football, but the other sports would still need more teams.
What a mess.
|
|
|
Post by lions09 on Jan 24, 2020 20:48:28 GMT -6
Just got confirmed the the ASUN will merge (take over) the Big South... UNA, Bellarmine and Liberty want nothing to do with this and Gumbart is creating a way out (the United Athletic Conference) for the 3. The reason it is so confusing is it is still in the early stages and some Big South schools are trying to weigh their options (look for other conferences). Gumbart just lost any respect I had for him.
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jan 24, 2020 22:44:16 GMT -6
Well, all the non-football schools from the two conferences probably should just join up together. Probably better for them in that scenario, since football wouldn’t be dominating decisions one way or the other. Unfortunately, where the heck does it leave us? In a conference with Charleston Southern, Gardner Webb, Campbell, and Hampton. Yay? It would be dumb for Kennesaw to stay in the “other” conference since they’d still need a place to play football, unless they are looking to just go FBS. But without them this so-called UAC would only have 5 teams, which I don’t think qualifies for a playoff auto-bid. I’m not counting Monmouth in this since they wouldn’t be a full member. I guess they could stick around for football, but the other sports would still need more teams. What a mess. You are leaving out other FCS schools that would join the UAC. It was even told that both conferences, if the NCAA approves the deal, would be AQ qualified. Reading between the lines, they already have current FCS schools lined up to join the UAC. As far as the way its handled, I dont know the legalities of all this, but it may not be as simple as just joining together. And I dont think this is a "hostile takeover" of the Big South. Its quite possible the the Big South may have came to the ASUN, being that both are similar conferences in similar footprints, and worked together for this solution. The Big South, for lack of a better way to say it, has been trading dollars for cents lately, and Liberty leaving, even though it was the big Souths fault, was basically the last dollar they had. I mean, they have had opportunities for KSU, and UNA for full membership, they push out Liberty and add Hampton and UNC Upstate. I think this is potentially a great move for UNA. And there is nothing saying KSU will not be a full member in the UAC before it's all said and done, but they are part of the "core 7" and none of this happens without them being on the ASUN side for a while. After it is established, I wouldn't be surprised to see them move on over to the UAC as a full member. I cant vs mad a Gumbart for th his setup.
|
|
|
Post by northalaspectator on Jan 25, 2020 10:03:28 GMT -6
Yes, very confusing!
I’m looking and waiting for an Announcement from the Big South.
From posting on this forum and the CCNBBS forum its seems that it could be a merger of the two conferences.
The ASUN currently will have 10 schools, and wants 20 by 2023. By adding the Big South that would be 21 not 20.
In both Conferences there are now a total of 13 non -playing scholarship football schools. What are the options of the 3 schools that will not be included? Southern Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Ohio Valley.
Does the Big South football playing schools have an option to go elsewhere? What would be the chances of them getting an invite from another conference? (Personally, I prefer that North Alabama not be in a Conference with those schools for football or any sport.)
I’m listing 9 FCS below of which I would like to see at least 6 invited.
UT - Chattanooga, James Madison, Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, Jacksonville State, Delaware, Stoney Brook, Albany, Youngstown State.
Those schools would be beneficial to Liberty and Bellarmine.
Then after it becomes a multi sport’s division of the ASUN, why would they want to be a division of the ASUN. Why not a completely New Conference with a Commissioner and staff.
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jan 25, 2020 10:14:27 GMT -6
Yes, very confusing! I’m looking and waiting for an Announcement from the Big South. From posting on this forum and the CCNBBS forum its seems that it could be a merger of the two conferences. The ASUN currently will have 10 schools, and wants 20 by 2023. By adding the Big South that would be 21 not 20. In both Conferences there are now a total of 13 non -playing scholarship football schools. What are the options of the 3 schools that will not be included? Southern Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Ohio Valley. Does the Big South football playing schools have an option to go elsewhere? What would be the chances of them getting an invite from another conference? (Personally, I prefer that North Alabama not be in a Conference with those schools for football or any sport.) I’m listing 9 FCS below of which I would like to see at least 6 invited. UT - Chattanooga, James Madison, Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, Jacksonville State, Delaware, Stoney Brook, Albany, Youngstown State. Those schools would be beneficial to Liberty and Bellarmine. Then after it becomes a multi sport’s division of the ASUN, why would they want to be a division of the ASUN. Why not a completely New Conference with a Commissioner and staff. After it's all said and done, it may very well be a completely different staff. Just have to get it started. The only problem with the schools you mentioned is location, the announcement said primarily Southeast based. But I guess primarily is a broad word. I'm thinking Chattanooga, JSU, a couple of schools from Louisiana, possibly JMU, maybe a school from Kentucky and Austin Peay. Wouldn't be surprised if West Florida came up and NCA&T joined. Hampton is a wild card in all of it.
|
|
|
Post by unafied on Jan 25, 2020 11:27:11 GMT -6
Yes, very confusing! I’m looking and waiting for an Announcement from the Big South. From posting on this forum and the CCNBBS forum its seems that it could be a merger of the two conferences. The ASUN currently will have 10 schools, and wants 20 by 2023. By adding the Big South that would be 21 not 20. In both Conferences there are now a total of 13 non -playing scholarship football schools. What are the options of the 3 schools that will not be included? Southern Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Ohio Valley. Does the Big South football playing schools have an option to go elsewhere? What would be the chances of them getting an invite from another conference? (Personally, I prefer that North Alabama not be in a Conference with those schools for football or any sport.) I’m listing 9 FCS below of which I would like to see at least 6 invited. UT - Chattanooga, James Madison, Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, Jacksonville State, Delaware, Stoney Brook, Albany, Youngstown State. Those schools would be beneficial to Liberty and Bellarmine. Then after it becomes a multi sport’s division of the ASUN, why would they want to be a division of the ASUN. Why not a completely New Conference with a Commissioner and staff. After it's all said and done, it may very well be a completely different staff. Just have to get it started. The only problem with the schools you mentioned is location, the announcement said primarily Southeast based. But I guess primarily is a broad word. I'm thinking Chattanooga, JSU, a couple of schools from Louisiana, possibly JMU, maybe a school from Kentucky and Austin Peay. Wouldn't be surprised if West Florida came up and NCA&T joined. Hampton is a wild card in all of it. I think Hampton would stick with whatever conference we end up in. They wanted out of the MEAC, it probably wouldn’t take them back since there seems to be hard feelings, and they need somewhere for football. I guess Tarleton State is another possibility for this new conference. They are moving up from D2 and will be independent in football but WAC in everything else. But the WAC is not exactly very stable, and I’m sure they’d rather have football in a conference.
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jan 25, 2020 13:02:07 GMT -6
After it's all said and done, it may very well be a completely different staff. Just have to get it started. The only problem with the schools you mentioned is location, the announcement said primarily Southeast based. But I guess primarily is a broad word. I'm thinking Chattanooga, JSU, a couple of schools from Louisiana, possibly JMU, maybe a school from Kentucky and Austin Peay. Wouldn't be surprised if West Florida came up and NCA&T joined. Hampton is a wild card in all of it. I think Hampton would stick with whatever conference we end up in. They wanted out of the MEAC, it probably wouldn’t take them back since there seems to be hard feelings, and they need somewhere for football. I guess Tarleton State is another possibility for this new conference. They are moving up from D2 and will be independent in football but WAC in everything else. But the WAC is not exactly very stable, and I’m sure they’d rather have football in a conference. Tarleton may be a player, but I figure it will be a Southland player if a Southland school or 2 moves to the UAC.
|
|
|
Post by unafied on Jan 29, 2020 16:48:35 GMT -6
The TimesDaily beat writer, Michael Hebert, has an interesting couple of tweets. I’ll link the first one below, but it’s a thread you’ll have to follow from there. Basically though, he’s saying he spoke to Gumbart and UNA will be playing football in the UAC... but all other sports will be there as well. In fact, he made it sound like we’d be the only ASUN school to be there full time. Which makes it sound like they’re kicking us out, but... who knows?
I think at this point it’s a fair assumption that IF all this stuff goes down, we’ll end up in a conference with the football-playing Big South schools (except Monmouth), maybe one or two current D1 schools that are disgruntled with where they are now, and maybe an additional one or two current D2 schools. That’ll be the all-sports lineup. Football will probably be those + KSU and maybe Monmouth.
I think the ASUN 7 will absorb the BSC schools that don’t play football. Not sure they’ll be excited about re-joining Liberty, but I also don’t see them having much of a choice.
|
|
|
Post by northalaspectator on Jan 29, 2020 17:59:02 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jan 29, 2020 19:38:29 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by unalions on Jan 29, 2020 20:01:30 GMT -6
So, Bellarmine and Liberty will remain in the ASUN while UNA and KSU would be on the only two ASUN teams to move to the UAC. Interesting. That's not the way the initial release read but I'm glad he clarified some things in this video. He said 10-12 in the ASUN and 8 in the UAC. If a certain sport only has a few schools playing (i.e. Men's Soccer) all teams will play in the ASUN. Otherwise, the two conferences will have a scheduling alliance. ASUNBellarmine FGCU Jacksonville Liberty Lipscomb NJIT North FL Stetson ?? ?? *?? *?? UACKennesaw State North AL ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
|
|
|
Post by unalions on Jan 29, 2020 20:16:40 GMT -6
Also interesting: In a recent interview, Liberty’s AD said this plan “is very creative, but the practicality of it doesn’t match the creativity”, and indicated that he’s a bit more skeptical that the NCAA will even allow this proposal than folks at the ASUN offices. Probably not what you want to see if you’re the ASUN.www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1462934303874422
|
|
|
Post by brandon on Jan 29, 2020 20:18:02 GMT -6
So, Bellarmine and Liberty will remain in the ASUN while UNA and KSU would be on the only two ASUN teams to move to the UAC. Interesting. That's not the way the initial release read but I'm glad he clarified some things in this video. He said 10-12 in the ASUN and 8 in the UAC. If a certain sport only has a few schools playing (i.e. Men's Soccer) all teams will play in the ASUN. Otherwise, the two conferences will have a scheduling alliance. ASUNBellarmine FGCU Jacksonville Liberty Lipscomb NJIT North FL Stetson ?? ?? *?? *?? UACKennesaw State North AL ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? Specific numbers mean they know specifically who will be in the conferences. The 8 member UAC also leaves a spot or two for associate members. I do think JSU and Chattanooga are a part of this....
|
|
|
Post by unafied on Jan 29, 2020 21:05:23 GMT -6
I think the plan hinges on whether they can convince some football schools (notice he said “state schools”) to drop their current conferences and come on board with the UAC. If we take him at his word, that those other six schools will be state schools, I guess that leaves out the Big South football schools. They’re all private.
If this isn’t about blowing up the Big South and absorbing its remains, that does create the problem of adding a new D1 conference to the overall total. The NCAA would have to create another spot in the various playoffs for the UAC’s autobid. How much of a problem that would be remains to be seen.
If the Big South football schools were all shut out of the UAC, I’m not sure they would meet the NCAA guidelines for an autobid with just 5 schools. What would happen at that point? Would a few of them just shut down football? Could Monmouth and Hampton find other football conferences, go independent, or end up being associates of the UAC?
There are still so many questions, but that video from Gumbart at least shed some light on things.
|
|