[jimflamesfan]

Feel free to vote in the following poll and discuss.

[LUalumfromnc]

Does not matter which FCS conference we will be in because we will not be there for long. I just hope whatever FBS conference we go to pays the exit fee for making us wait so long!!!!

[Blessed1]

For those of you who think this thread is useless, please keep a few things in mind before casting your vote:

1. The ACC ended the B1G's expansion plans for the next 14 years.
2. The Sun Belt have only 1 spot left (maybe 3 spots in C-USA takes Ark St and U-LL), but prefers JMU and any other school not named Liberty.
3. KK is still the commish of the Big South.
4. We are who we are. We will not change just to "fit in."

[Sly Fox]

There remain some concerns as to the legalities of the grant of rights which is why many in the Big XII didn't consider it the ironclad defense that some assumed. The same applies to the ACC. If a school wants to leave, they will move and let the courts decide. And it is very possible that 5 years from now those standard media rights may not be anywhere near as valuable as they are right now.

[ATrain]

CAA.

The SoCon won't give us any good rivalries and with App St and Georgia Southern gone, the quality of football decreases dramatically. The SoCon would also just be a lateral move for basketball, especially if Davidson leaves.

[Sly Fox]

OK, enlighten us. What good rivalries would inclusion in a depleted CAA provide? If W&M sticks around they would be nice. Otherwise, we are talking up the return of Stony Brook in football and scintillating matchups with our closest regional non-football contests at American & UNC-Wilmington.

[jimflamesfan]

I think if Coastal & VMI are committed to staying in the Big South, then it's probably best to stay. However, with the Southern losing teams, they may try and pick up VMI and Coastal. Would VMI & Coastal leave?

What would VMI gain?

And Coastal has to like the basketball tourney setup. (I like it, too...if you're going to have it at a neutral site, Coastal is the best...fans can make a beach trip out of it..Coastal didn't play in the championship game, and yet it seemed well attended).

Travel costs in the Big South as is are probably as cheap as you can get.

That being said, the CAA would give LU more exposure. Most people view the crazy footprint of the CAA as a negative. In LU's case, it helps Liberty connect with the distance learning alumni, and shows a lot of schools that there are no protests and worlds colliding when LU plays a football game. The risk is, what if the caa splits? There are issues with football vs. basketball schools and North and South.

[jimflamesfan]

I originally voted CAA but may change my mind to Big South.

A football only invite to the CAA might be something to entertain if the Big South lets us keep our other sports here. (A larger footprint, and helps show the FBS conferences that our fb team can change conferences without worlds colliding...and may help us connect with our distance learning people).

[jbock13]

I say stay in the Big South. We can't even win our conference in non-olympic sports, yet we think we can compete in FBS leagues

(let the fire begin)

[coastalalum]

Question.....Why would any other FCS conference seriously entertain the thought of Liberty when it's blatantly obvious that LU would leave at the first hint of an FBS offer? LU has pushed all of their chips into the pot. It seems to me that at this point it's stay in the Big South or wait for that elusive FBS invitation.

[ATrain]

OK, enlighten us. What good rivalries would inclusion in a depleted CAA provide? If W&M sticks around they would be nice. Otherwise, we are talking up the return of Stony Brook in football and scintillating matchups with our closest regional non-football contests at American & UNC-Wilmington.

I was thinking W&M. JMU IF (note the big IF) they don't go anywhere. Richmond in football.

American is a member of the America-East conference. You're thinking of Towson.

[olldflame]

I don´t see VMI going back to the Southern. They were there for decades and left to join the BSC because they weren´t competitive in football. They haven´t exactly lit it up in the Big South, but at least they can compete most Saturdays and win occasionally.

[VAGolf]

I've mentioned before that if it is feasible, I would love it if we started our own FCS conference. Being able to make our own rules and control the T.V. network would be huge. Also, I think we could manage it in such a way that the conference doesn't evaporate when we go FBS. Here are some teams to invite if this is even an option:

Coastal
Houston Baptist
VMI
Citadel
Gardner Webb
Wofford
Presbyterian
W&M
Deleware
Richmond
Jax St.
Davidson
Elon

Not saying invite all of these schools obviously. But being in a conference with a handful of these schools would be awesome.

[Chris Lang]

American is actually in the Patriot League. It used to be in the CAA but moved in 2001.

[jbock13]

Question.....Why would any other FCS conference seriously entertain the thought of Liberty when it's blatantly obvious that LU would leave at the first hint of an FBS offer? LU has pushed all of their chips into the pot. It seems to me that at this point it's stay in the Big South or wait for that elusive FBS invitation.

Get that common sense outta here!

(I know, same thing I'm saying).

[NotAJerry]

The only bad option is staying in the Big South. CAA is light years better and the SoCon is still better even without App St and Georgia Southern.

[jimflamesfan]

I don't think it's worth going to the Southern...unless Coastal and/or VMI goes...then if they offer us (which I don't think will happen)...then we would probably go as well.

The CAA is unstable right now...who knows if the Northern teams don't dissolve into the American East.

I think if Coastal and VMI stay Big South, then LU needs to stay Big South.

If Coastal moves to the Southern, we may have to jump to CAA (and I believe the CAA would be the only other FCS conference to take us with the mess they are in).

[ATrain]

I think the Southern may take ETSU back before they'd let Coastal in.

[LUminary]

Question.....Why would any other FCS conference seriously entertain the thought of Liberty when it's blatantly obvious that LU would leave at the first hint of an FBS offer? LU has pushed all of their chips into the pot. It seems to me that at this point it's stay in the Big South or wait for that elusive FBS invitation.

That's a good question. Perhaps two reasons: who better can a conference like the SoCon get?, and a $600,000 exit-fee payday for a short-term member. But, I'm afraid, the same political junk will work against LU at the FCS level (it did before in regard to the SoCon) that we're now running into trying to find an FBS taker. Probably not much choice but to stay put until hopefully the Sun Belt has no choice.

[rogers3]

Question.....Why would any other FCS conference seriously entertain the thought of Liberty when it's blatantly obvious that LU would leave at the first hint of an FBS offer? LU has pushed all of their chips into the pot. It seems to me that at this point it's stay in the Big South or wait for that elusive FBS invitation.

That's a good question. Perhaps two reasons: who better can a conference like the SoCon get?, and a $600,000 exit-fee payday for a short-term member. But, I'm afraid, the same political junk will work against LU at the FCS level (it did before in regard to the SoCon) that we're now running into trying to find an FBS taker. Probably not much choice but to stay put until hopefully the Sun Belt has no choice.

I'd agree- some of the CAA schools are light years ahead of any SunBelt school in regards to academic standing, and with that comes the requisite dislike of the two headed snake that LU seems to be in the way of politics and online learning.

[bluedevilflame]

The thing that really irritates me about the online learning is that a lot of colleges are doing it now and it's only going to get bigger. Off the top of my head, NC State, Ohio U, Cincy, Boston U, FSU and Arizona St all have good sized bachelors and masters degree programs online. Heck, even Duke has a good amount of certificate programs online. We just happened to be on the ground floor.

[bballfan84]

all this talk about conference switching leading to a switch to FBS..have we ever made it to the FCS playoffs???

[Purple Haize]

all this talk about conference switching leading to a switch to FBS..have we ever made it to the FCS playoffs???

I saw a playoff game once. So, yes, 'we've' been to the FCS playoffs

[Blessed1]

BTW, I voted for the SoCon because they have a reasonable mixture of private schools in their conference.

In regards to LU's online education, LU's program could easily get respected if it raised their admission requirements. I remember when LU online wanted you to have a proctor to administer your exams. By the time I got in, a proctor was no longer needed. That's when I recall LU's online program getting more students and breaking enrollment records.

Most schools with online programs, especially the ones that are AACSB accredited probably frown at Liberty because it seems like we're pumping out degrees left and right. Some have called a LU degree "worthless" in the real-world due to creation theory beliefs.

The key reason why LU continues to enroll students is because they know how to meet the people's needs (affordable tuition, 100% online, etc.) and because LU is a Christian university. Not many schools can say the same. You see the "big boy" schools offering online courses, but you can only get a certificate out of the process. To be honest with you, what's the point of spending 10-15-20,000 just for a certificate.

If Liberty is being held back because of its online program, then we don't need to be in those conferences.

[phoenix]

Very few online programs have proctored tests anymore. There are too many other ways to do things, and way too many other options for assessment. In my last four online classes, I never took an exam. We wrote, we did projects, we created presentations, but we didn't take tests, so proctors weren't needed at all.

Within 5 years, online education will be respected nationally, and major public universities will be offering undergraduate degrees online. Liberty is ahead of the curve because of the vision of our founder waaaaay back in the ancient days when he started LUSLLL (I still have some of the course notes and video cassettes from the old days).