[bluedevilflame]

I am not emotional at all and im not a chugger like some on FF. but this FBS stuff is NOT happening this go around...at least try to get in the SoCon or CAA, win some championships and then see what happens later. there is a segment of LU people who are more moderate now and then the Bilble bumpers who act like this is still LBC from the 70's. you do not have to abandon the mission, but geez, lighten up with the radical stuff.

Couldn't have said it better
I think we have a lot more unfinished business in FCS, I'd love to see a National Title come to Lynchburg. FBS is obviously the ultimate goal but I'd just be happy to get out of the Big South at this point for all our programs.
While football is great and I love our team, the short term reality is if we could start winning in basketball like we did this season, or even have a Butler, VCU, FGC type run in the tourney, it would do more to get our name out there than anything else we could do as a school.

[Purple Haize]

I am not emotional at all and im not a chugger like some on FF. but this FBS stuff is NOT happening this go around...at least try to get in the SoCon or CAA, win some championships and then see what happens later. there is a segment of LU people who are more moderate now and then the Bilble bumpers who act like this is still LBC from the 70's. you do not have to abandon the mission, but geez, lighten up with the radical stuff.

Couldn't have said it better
I think we have a lot more unfinished business in FCS, I'd love to see a National Title come to Lynchburg. FBS is obviously the ultimate goal but I'd just be happy to get out of the Big South at this point for all our programs.
While football is great and I love our team, the short term reality is if we could start winning in basketball like we did this season, or even have a Butler, VCU, FGC type run in the tourney, it would do more to get our name out there than anything else we could do as a school.

And another one! With an appropriate name as well!

[bluedevilflame]

And another one! With an appropriate name as well!

[flamesfilmguy]

And another one! With an appropriate name as well!

[RVAparks]

In the spirit of that, I wrote this today and used Liberty as an example: http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/3/2 ... good-thing

Rain down the hate

[VAGolf]

Liberty University announces plans to go FBS:


http://www.wset.com/story/18387469/libe ... -fbs-level

Liberty University has intentions to leave the Big South Conference and move from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision. How soon will that take place? At a news conference Monday afternoon, Liberty said they cannot say it will be the near future but it will be in the future.

Liberty has already generated excitement for its football program but imagine what it would be like with a team from the Big Ten or the ACC facing the Flames. University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. said he remembered a sermon his father had in 1974. "One day we were going to play Southern Cal, Notre Dame, I forget what other schools he mentioned, maybe Alabama in football and back then it just seemed like a pipe dream," he recollected.

Over time that has changed. "There's really been no school more prepared for its major athletics initiative than Liberty and Liberty is prepared in every sense of the word for this move," said Bill Carr, the head of the consulting group that for the past six months, a has looked at every aspect of Liberty's athletic department. "From Title IX, financial, facilities, operating procedures, personnel, salaries, scholarships, every aspect, policies and procedures of how you do business as a Division One program. You have to look at your compliance program, the strength and conditioning program marketing and promotion, radio and television, business office operations, game management of events."

Athletics director Jeff Barber added, "Of all the schools that do a feasibility study, it's about 50-50 those that say 'yes' and the other 50 say 'no.'"

Liberty also made it clear they would prefer not to have just its football team leave for a new conference.

Jeff Barber said, "We are looking to move our entire sports program into an FBS conference. The rule is you have to have eight schools play in all sports to be an FBS conference, certainly our intention and our goal is to bring all 20 sports."

Liberty will not be joining any of the 'Big 6' conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, Pac 12, Big 12) but as of right now they are open to joining one of the other five FBS conferences - the MAC, Sunbelt, Conference USA, Mountain West or WAC. "Liberty is a university that is national, national in scope, national in its destiny I believe and because of that we're not limiting ourselves to a geographic region of Virginia, Pennsylvania, whatever, North Carolina. We're willing and really would like to be in a national conference that would span all 50 states," Barber said.

Liberty may be ready to make a move but now they have to wait for an invitation from a conference but they "will now sit on their hands" during the waiting process. Barber said, "We're fully funded in all 20 sports. We can't get any better there. Our facilities are growing at a rapid pace and we have a plan in place to get all of our facilities to a very significant FBS level. The only thing we can do now is to just continue to win, continue to get better, win championships, get in the NCAA Tournaments and advance through the playoffs."

When that invitation comes, Falwell said the school is willing to make the decision within 48 hours, something other FCS level schools could not do.

When asked what the conference move would mean to athletics, Barber said, "It'll be a big step for us in the recruiting area expands exponentially. It'll be bigger for us from the exposure standpoint. The infrastructure that we have in place and the things that we have in place right now, we're very very close [to the FBS level] and we don't have a lot of growth to go in that area."

Where Liberty could improve is mainly with its football stadium. It currently has 19,000 seats. Falwell mentioned at the news conference that it is not confirmed but it is planned to add an upper deck seating surface to the visitor side of the stadium, which would increase the seating capacity to 25,000. That construction would begin following the upcoming 2012 season.

New football coach Turner Gill would not be the head coach at Liberty if the program was undoubtedly destined to remain an FCS level school. "He wanted to be in a program that was growing and moving into that level and so it was definitely a big part of our interview process with him," Barber said.

During Barber's time at Liberty, he has hired Jim Toman and Dale Layer, two coaches who have had previous experience at the FBS level. "They'll be a big part of us moving up. They know what it takes to succeed and compete at that level.

The move would take the Flames away from the Big South Conference but Liberty's desire to make the move has been known amongst other conference officials for quite some time. "I sent a text message to all the football athletic directors of the Big South letting them know that we were going to make the announcement. The response from them was congratulations, you guys are worthy. We wish you the best," Barber said.

[LUconn]

thanks for that?

[LUconn]

In the spirit of that, I wrote this today and used Liberty as an example: http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/3/2 ... good-thing

Rain down the hate

One of the Big South peers is Liberty University. If you've been to Liberty's campus lately then you'll notice athletic facilities all around that far out-do anyone else in the Big South. Liberty has money through online programs that mimic a University of Phoenix and other channels that allow them to make these types of upgrades.

As long as I can remember, Flames fans have been clamoring to move to the Sun Belt conference to play "big time" football. Why? I just don't get it. The ceiling for that is beating Louisiana-Monroe or Arkansas State for a Sun Belt title and heading to the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Can someone explain to me what's so great about that from a sports fans perspective? Not to mention that your basketball team is going to travel ridiculous distances to play teams in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, etc.

Why can't we be content with playing at a level that is comparable to our peers and keeping intact the traditional and geographic rivalries that make college sports great? Fans have a syndrome where they immediately stick their fingers in their ears and start yelling "LA LA LA LA LA!". The truth is, realigning now is going to help you. We've all seen the future and its four mega-conferences, likely with their own championships and tournaments.

Why shouldn't we just drop to DII and absolutely dominate? Because we want to be playing at the highest level of sport we can. Nobody cares about the FCS except for the teams that are stuck playing in it.

[TIMSCAR20]

In the spirit of that, I wrote this today and used Liberty as an example: http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/3/2 ... good-thing

Rain down the hate

Well writtern article. I think there are some valid points made. Unfortunately the domino effect has really hurt conferences like the CAA. I have hated all of this changing conference affiliation for the past few seasons. I can't wait for it all to end. Now that the landscape has changed, it is forcing schools to try to move or get left on the outside looking in. I'm not saying it is right but I understand why. No one wants to be left out and rendered obsolete as an athletic program.

[bluedevilflame]

Lets just unite FBS and FCS and have one true Division 1 and have a full blown playoff with the bowls serving as an NIT type deal.

[SumItUp]

In the spirit of that, I wrote this today and used Liberty as an example: http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/3/2 ... good-thing

Rain down the hate

I agree with most of what you wrote in that blog post. Realignment is tearing apart collegiate traditions. However, I did find one part of your post to be a bit contradictory.

But what fans don't realize is schools like VCU were the flagship and they had the ability to stick with a conference rather than destroy it. Say things stood pat last summer and instead of running, the conference decided to build upon their flagship program and bring in other programs like Davidson or Richmond or George Washington, then the CAA would look just as enticing as the Atlantic 10 does now sans the teams mentioned and transitioned.

You suggest that VCU destroyed the conference by leaving, yet mentioned the CAA could have added other schools to strengthen their conference, while the result would be diminishing the conferences those new schools left.

From a Liberty perspective, the goal has always been to build a program to compete at the highest level as a Christian university and become the primary destination for Christian students. It's a process. FBS is not the end goal, but it is the next step. Personally, I hope that we get the FBS invite soon enough, but if not, we'll continue to spend our time in the Big South. I think it has been clearly stated by the administration that we are not jumping to another FCS conference.

[Liberty22]

In the spirit of that, I wrote this today and used Liberty as an example: http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/3/2 ... good-thing

Rain down the hate

One of the Big South peers is Liberty University. If you've been to Liberty's campus lately then you'll notice athletic facilities all around that far out-do anyone else in the Big South. Liberty has money through online programs that mimic a University of Phoenix and other channels that allow them to make these types of upgrades.

As long as I can remember, Flames fans have been clamoring to move to the Sun Belt conference to play "big time" football. Why? I just don't get it. The ceiling for that is beating Louisiana-Monroe or Arkansas State for a Sun Belt title and heading to the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Can someone explain to me what's so great about that from a sports fans perspective? Not to mention that your basketball team is going to travel ridiculous distances to play teams in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, etc.

Why can't we be content with playing at a level that is comparable to our peers and keeping intact the traditional and geographic rivalries that make college sports great? Fans have a syndrome where they immediately stick their fingers in their ears and start yelling "LA LA LA LA LA!". The truth is, realigning now is going to help you. We've all seen the future and its four mega-conferences, likely with their own championships and tournaments.

Why shouldn't we just drop to DII and absolutely dominate? Because we want to be playing at the highest level of sport we can. Nobody cares about the FCS except for the teams that are stuck playing in it.

Thank you +1, not to mention those fans don't really care like they should. They are walking around with their FBS Team A shirts on, and when asked who their favorite college football team is, do you think they say FCS Team A? No, they say FBS Team A, and then maybe just maybe say the FCS team as well.

[bluedevilflame]

From a Liberty perspective, the goal has always been to build a program to compete at the highest level as a Christian university and become the primary destination for Christian students. It's a process. FBS is not the end goal, but it is the next step. Personally, I hope that we get the FBS invite soon enough, but if not, we'll continue to spend our time in the Big South. I think it has been clearly stated by the administration that we are not jumping to another FCS conference.

But at the same time if FBS isn't coming anytime soon, do we risk becoming irrelevant in FCS football by staying in a potential VMI and Coastal-less Big South with no playoff guarantees? I say upgrade wherever we can and if FBS ain't happening, lets head to SoCon or CAA if they'll have us.

[flamesfilmguy]

This Thread needs to have a mandatory warning sign before opening it. like when schools athletics sites do when there is a big event coming and you have to scroll down and press skip the page forever. (hopefully most everyone knows what I'm talking about.)

May I suggest this one:

[Liberty22]

During App State Press Conference Benson said, a few more schools may be added as soon as today..

[TH Spangler]

http://appalachianstate.247sports.com/A ... day-123201

Appalachian State has set a press conference for 4PM on Wednesday, March 27.

[BJWilliams]

Good gravy...everybody nees to take a step back, breathe and keep your cool. Seeing everybody on opposite extremes (on one side everybody losing all hope and on the other people with flame-colored glasses flipping out at every news release or twitter post with the slightest rumor attached to it) gives me indigestion. JB ad Jerry Jr both said that when the time comes, they are capable of making a decision quickly with regards to an FBS move. They didnt say itd happen in a year, or two years, or five years...just that it will happen and when it does, we will be ready.

And to PH, Im sure JLFJR is a very busy man, you know, running the world's largest Christian university and all, and when he feels a comment can be made, he will make it.

[Purple Haize]

During App State Press Conference Benson said, a few more schools may be added as soon as today..

So you're sayin we got a chance....apologies to Jim Carey

[Liberty22]

Buc Football ‏@BringBackBucFB 4m
Sunbelt commish says there may be one-two more invitations coming very soon... will get on his phone in the car

[TH Spangler]

http://www.vuhoops.com/2013/3/27/415347 ... orge-Mason

[4everfsu]

http://www.goasu.com/liveEvents/liveEve ... M_ID=21500

To see ASU press conf live, hit the top one, to play.

[RVAparks]

You suggest that VCU destroyed the conference by leaving, yet mentioned the CAA could have added other schools to strengthen their conference, while the result would be diminishing the conferences those new schools left.

I do see the hypocrisy in that, but I think the difference is factoring in peers. GW leaving the A10 doesn't have the same domino effect the a flagship like VCU would. The A10 is a spread out conference that did not rely on regional ties. Sure, the CAA is spread out but its hear is in Virginia. There is always going to be a chain of reactions, but we're getting to the bottom of the barrel here. Say VCU would've stayed and brought in GW and Richmond (back). I just don't see the same reaction as what has played out. I mean the A10 is going to have 14 to 16 schools, they're hoarding at this point.

[RVAparks]

In the spirit of that, I wrote this today and used Liberty as an example: http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/3/2 ... good-thing

Rain down the hate

One of the Big South peers is Liberty University. If you've been to Liberty's campus lately then you'll notice athletic facilities all around that far out-do anyone else in the Big South. Liberty has money through online programs that mimic a University of Phoenix and other channels that allow them to make these types of upgrades.

As long as I can remember, Flames fans have been clamoring to move to the Sun Belt conference to play "big time" football. Why? I just don't get it. The ceiling for that is beating Louisiana-Monroe or Arkansas State for a Sun Belt title and heading to the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Can someone explain to me what's so great about that from a sports fans perspective? Not to mention that your basketball team is going to travel ridiculous distances to play teams in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, etc.

Why can't we be content with playing at a level that is comparable to our peers and keeping intact the traditional and geographic rivalries that make college sports great? Fans have a syndrome where they immediately stick their fingers in their ears and start yelling "LA LA LA LA LA!". The truth is, realigning now is going to help you. We've all seen the future and its four mega-conferences, likely with their own championships and tournaments.

Why shouldn't we just drop to DII and absolutely dominate? Because we want to be playing at the highest level of sport we can. Nobody cares about the FCS except for the teams that are stuck playing in it.

I'm just curious what does the sentence you highlighted have anything to do with what you just said? Division II schools are your peers? Virginia Union? No one mentioned winning, I mentioned playing against schools who are either geographically or demographically your peers.

You can want to play at the highest level all you want, but you're chasing a rainbow. Is the GoDaddy Bowl the highest level? If you can't see that their are eventually going to be four power conference with their own playoff/championship then you are simply blind. Do you really think Liberty is going to be a part of that? Seriously think about it for a second... Say you get into the Sun Belt and can actually play by 2016. What's the next step to your ascension to the top and how long will it take? CUSA then America 12 then ACC? What are we at year 2150 by now?

These four conferences are going to happen and then your just going to be left with some hodge-podge of leftover schools and a softball team who has to travel to Texas every other weekend. People used to have pride in what their university was doing and success at the level they are at. Now everyone just throws success out the window and is more worried about what's next. If I told you Liberty could stay in the Big South or CAA or whatever and win the national championship in football within the next 5 years or go to the Sun Belt and play in the GoDaddy Bowl in 10 years against Northern Illinois, then which one would you take?

[jbock13]

As long as I can remember, Flames fans have been clamoring to move to the Sun Belt conference to play "big time" football. Why? I just don't get it.

Because your school doesn't have a football program

[Purple Haize]

As long as I can remember, Flames fans have been clamoring to move to the Sun Belt conference to play "big time" football. Why? I just don't get it.

Because your school doesn't have a football program :I chortle audibly.:

Because it is FBS or BUST!