[bigsmooth]

i used to see coach castro at church, but since we moved to the new building, i have not seen him. if i do i will ask him what the deal is.

[LUconn]

Hey, so how stupid does VMI look if this is true? Very similar to a coach commiting to leave to another school and then changing his mind. Why would the Socon take them back? Just because of their cultural ties to The Citadel?

[PAmedic]

thanks for getting us back on topic, LUconn.

All indications on the AGS board are that at least the FANS in the SoCon would welcome them back with open arms. Tradition, I suppose. I don't see what they add to the competition, but that's just me. Easy wins for opponents, maybe

[WinthropEagleFan]

The only redeeming quality that VMI has right now is that they field a football team....Are they good at any sport right now?

[bigsmooth]

tradition, old alumni, the fact that the other SoCon schools always had a good relationship with VMI. despite what most of us know, back in the day VMI was a southern conference powerhouse. maybe the SoCon just does not want coastal, and taking back an old conference member makes it easier than letting them in...who knows.

[Libertine]

The only redeeming quality that VMI has right now is that they field a football team....Are they good at any sport right now?

Rifle?

http://vmikeydets.com/article.asp?articleid=76748

Loooove the coach's pic toward the bottom of the page.

[bigsmooth]

coach thorp is a trip! that dude has been there since robert e. lee walked the grounds.

[SuperJon]

According to GMTM, VMI has not petitioned to go back to the SoCon.

[PAmedic]

Mr C reports on another board that VMI denied the "rumor" at the BSOUTH media day.

In my book, that means the announcement of them going to the SoCon will be in November!

[Chris Lang]

I played golf with VMI's SID yesterday and he said he asked his AD about it and the AD said there was nothing to it. I'm going to get a comment from Donny White regardless for tomorrow's notebook. FWIW, another source tells me he'd be shocked if Coastal wasn't offered a SoCon invite by November.

FWIW, our team put together the worst showing in the history of golf scrambles yesterday, but we had a heck of a lot of fun doing it.

[Sly Fox]

For what it is worth from the VMI Yahoo Group:

FYI – “We have not initiated any conversations with the Southern Conference”

VMI Director of Athletics, Donny White on 7/27/06 to Greg Cavallaro

Here is a follow up from one of their alumni:

The Big South gave us an opportunity to get our football "act"
together at a so called lower 1-AA level. I think most VMI
supporters imagined being a immediate power and conference
champion. Not so fast. What we really found out was that our
overall talent level had slipped below 1-AA competitive standards.
I think that fact shocked most VMI followers who believed the BS was
nothing more than a temporary home. Hopefully we've found a coach
that can recruit and retain 1-AA talent to bring us back some 1-AA
credibilty. We need to be thinking about becoming a conference
power in the BS before we start talking up rejoing the SoCon. I've
had enough of year after year 56-7 blow out losses to App State,
Furman, et al.

Pod 78

[bigsmooth]

nice find sly. i think the very old alumni wish for the old SoCon days, and the younger ones want to be competitive.

[Stevev]

The fact that there would be more room on the schedule to play in-state teams would be an okay reason to stay put. They could continue to play W & M, JMU, and Richmond. An advantage for LU to be in there. Just think of it as being independant.

[givemethemic]

Yeah Chris.... you guys were brutal... somehow my play didn't put my team over par....Great course and looking forward to playing there again..