A Sea Of Red

It was a great article. This is a better move for recruiting in all of our Olympic sports. We can even establish a women's golf and beach volleyball team (that's not a club) down the road.

Clearly from a competitive standpoint, these are the sports where we receive a significant shot in the arm from the move up along with men's golf where we upgrade to the 9th best league from the 15th (the swap with Upstate might have the leage as high as 8th now). Men's soccer has slight edge (19th to 21st) while on the ladies' side it is tougher to get quantifiable numbers but they appear to be comparable leagues. On the flip side, volleyball is a bit weaker ranking 20th in comparison to 17th for Big South.

There are no conference RPIs in track & field since the clock requires no judgement. Suffice it to say that we will do well in the A-Sun as well.

The ASUN had two top 100 teams in women’s basketball this past season, with Florida Gulf Coast at #47 and Jacksonville at #95.

Where was Carey Green's team ranked?

Cider Jim wrote:

The ASUN had two top 100 teams in women’s basketball this past season, with Florida Gulf Coast at #47 and Jacksonville at #95.

Where was Carey Green's team ranked?

Final Poll ranks LU at #82.

cruzan_flame13 wrote:

Cider Jim wrote:

The ASUN had two top 100 teams in women’s basketball this past season, with Florida Gulf Coast at #47 and Jacksonville at #95.

Where was Carey Green's team ranked?

Final Poll ranks LU at #82.

LU entered the bracket as a 14 seed. FGCU was a 12 seed and beat #5th seed Missouri. JU did not make the tournament.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk with ASUN commissioner, Ted Gumbart. Here's my article detailing our conversation:

https://cjsweat.wixsite.com/virginiaspo ... d-the-asun

Great job, VAgolf. Here is the part that intrigues me the most:

Virginia Sports Report wrote:Liberty is joining as a full-time member and we envision a long-term partnership. This could possibly lead to scheduling arrangements in football.


VSR: Ian McCaw (Liberty Athletic Director) mentioned that there were discussions one year ago but they never materialized. What changed between then and a month ago?


Conviction that Liberty would be a long-term member and secured scheduling of football games

As I look at the A-Sun the only teams that field football teams are Kennesaw State, North Alabama, Jacksonville & Stetson. The Owls are the only one of the three that offer 60+ scholarships (UNA is headed that direction). So theoretically KSU is the only school we can play and still qualify the victory for bowl eligibility based on the following NCAA rule:

NCAA.org wrote:Each year, a FBS institution may count one contest against a FCS opponent to satisfy the
football scheduling requirement, provided the Football Championship Subdivision
opponent has averaged 90 percent of the permissible maximum number of grant-in-aids per
year in the FCS over a rolling two-year period. [Bylaws 20.9.7.2 and 20.9.7.2.1]

This means that Big South football affiliates Kennesaw State and North Alabama are essentially the only schools who could benefit from a pledge of football games by having 60+ scholarships. Of course this could signal that there are plans for Jax and/or Stetson to upgrade to full FCS programs. Both Florida schools are currently Pioneer members. It just seems odd that the commish of a non-football conference would consider this to be a sticking point on league membership for us. Perhaps these football schools were the swing votes or the ones who pushed hard for our admission based on their own football ambitions.

VAGolf wrote:Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk with ASUN commissioner, Ted Gumbart. Here's my article detailing our conversation:

https://cjsweat.wixsite.com/virginiaspo ... d-the-asun

Thanks for the article. I like the fact that the ASUN commissioner is pushing to progress the conference especially with markets that is available from the school membership. I believe this will grow the conference an create more recognition, fandom and business/financial growth.

Excellent article.

LU should bid for softball and baseball tournaments immediately. The ASUN is a much better conference than Big South. Only minor negative is distance between LU and other ASUN schools, but that's a good trade-off to go to a better conference.


As for football, we should "forget about ASUN football".

The way I read that was the fact LU was able to secure oppeneents to play it gave A Sun officials assurance that this would be a more long term arrangement and not just a stepping stone to get to a full fledged FBS conference.

But I guess I'm wrong in that interpretation.

thepostman wrote:The way I read that was the fact LU was able to secure oppeneents to play it gave A Sun officials assurance that this would be a more long term arrangement and not just a stepping stone to get to a full fledged FBS conference.

But I guess I'm wrong in that interpretation.

I think it's a little of both. I compared this to a soft version of the ND/ACC agreement. There doesn't appear to be anything in writing but should both be in need of a game, there's a relationship to schedule something that benefits both programs. I'll note that he came back to football multiple times, which is rather surprising considering the ASUN football members play in the Big South. I think it was viewed as an asset the conference could utilize in the future. To play off Sly's post, since KSU is the only scholarship team at the moment, it would make sense that there's no contract in place just yet. Perhaps if Stetson, Jacksonville and North Alabama become full-scholarship members, there will be a contract of sorts starting in 2022.

I do appreciate all of the positive comments. It was a fun interview...he was very approachable and open.

thepostman wrote:The way I read that was the fact LU was able to secure oppeneents to play it gave A Sun officials assurance that this would be a more long term arrangement and not just a stepping stone to get to a full fledged FBS conference.

But I guess I'm wrong in that interpretation.

That was exactly my take as well.

My understanding is that North Alabama plans on being at 63 scholies pretty quickly. It is only Stetson & Jacksonville that are a long way from even going partial scholarship like Campbell did when they transitioned from A-Sun/Pioneer to full Big South.

jinxy wrote:Are we out of the Big South Yet?

1 more month.

flamehunter wrote:

jinxy wrote:Are we out of the Big South Yet?

1 more month.

To be honest, I'm very thankful that we are leaving the Big South. It seems like the commissioner isn't that dedicated for the progress of the conference. I could be wrong about that though.

Difference between ASUN Commissioner and BSC Commissioner is like night and day.

ballcoach15 wrote:Difference between ASUN Commissioner and BSC Commissioner is like night and day.

It's almost like the ASUN wants us.

I highly doubt Stetson ever goes for scholarships in football. And the commissioner is being coy and noncommittal about what else has changed in recent history to swing the vote in Liberty’s favor.

Liberty is nothing like the schools remaining in the big south. They made no bones about wanting out. It’s no shock the big south wanted them gone.

There are some in ASUN not like Liberty in some ways as well. Look there for where “no” votes were a little while ago. There was A LOT of turmoil in the ASUN about Liberty. Eventually the power swung where it should have been all along.

My understanding is that some of those crucial no’s last year were directly related to our president’s tweets and public politics.

Jonathan Carone wrote:My understanding is that some of those crucial no’s last year were directly related to our president’s tweets and public politics.

Certainly a possibility but I asked him if that was a topic this year, and then again if it was a topic last year. Both times he gave a firm, but polite, "no, that was not a topic of discussion."

I'm sure that's what he said publicly. He sort of has to at this point.

I am planning to travel to Chapel Hill Friday to check out the Stetson baseball team.

They had a pitcher picked #14 overall yesterday in the draft

Saw that, hope he pitches Friday.