[Ed Dantes]

Okay, so I was just going through the teams in the Big South, trying to wonder what the future of the conference is. Obviously, BSC commish Kallander has dropped the ball in the few years that the conference has had football, by bringing in ZERO new teams. I understand that Presbyterian is coming... but c'mon! They're D-II currently. The conf. can't get respect by comprising its members of up-and-comers.

So let's go through this team-by-team and see what we can come up with, to gaze into the Big South crystal ball. Let's see who we have, let's see who we can get:

LIBERTY - Let's face it, we ain't goin' anywhere. The Big South's competition is right up our alley in all sports, and the farthest we have to drive is to South Carolina for a match. The people knocking on our door (A-Sun) doesn't really seem to improve our status, and no one else is clamoring for the opportunity to have Jerry's Kids as a member.

COASTAL CAROLINA - It's a given that they're moving, right? (Questions like that are why I'm posting this). Where, the Southern? How soon?

VMI - Seems to be a good fit in the Big South. Gives the conference some credibility... meaning, people will say "Oh, VMI? I've heard of them".

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN - Haven't heard anything about them darting, nor do I expect to. Hey, remember when they used to be our only guaranteed win in football? Now they compete for the title? Way to go, Bucs!

GARDNER-WEBB - Big South in football, A-Sun in b'ball. I think it'd be logical for them to move to the Big South on a permanent basis. After all, I think the BSC is better than the A-Sun, anyways.

PRESBYTERIAN - Anyone know when they start play? Basketball, too?

(hoops members)::::

WINTHROP - Yeah, they're too good for our conference. It'd surprise me if they were in the BSC five years from now. I'm surprised the Colonial conf. didn't come a-knockin' recently, they'd be a good fit there.

RADFORD - I heard they planned on jetting first chance they get. Didn't we hear "A-Sun" recently?

UNC-ASHEVILLE & HIGH POINT - I get these two schools confused, mainly because I think they're interchangeable. It's like the same school, really. In any event, no reason to see either of them leaving the conference.

(prospective members)::::

Okay, of the Div. I indys, this is who'd make sense to get (not that I'd advocate it):

LONGWOOD - Doesn't play football.

SAVANNAH STATE - Plays football, doesn't compete in football.

WINSTON-SALEM STATE - Apparently, they're not D-II (I was wrong in my previous posts). I'd say this makes the most sense of these three, although I think the BSC can do better.

(D-II members looking to move up)::::

I DON'T CARE, THE CONFERENCE SHOULDN'T BE TARGETING THEM

(D-I members that we should steal)::::

(I excluded anyone from a conference considerably better than ours, because why would they want to demote themselves?)

DAVIDSON (football only) - They play in the Pioneer conference. So does San Diego. It'd be a nice regional move for them.

SAMFORD (Ohio Valley) - They play in Alabama, so Sly would get that Deep South connection to the conference

PRETTY MUCH ANYONE FROM THE MID-EASTERN CONFERENCE - (Norfolk State? Hampton? NC A&T? SC State? Nah, they'd make too much sense being in the Big South). Jacksonville State (Alabama) and Florida A&M (Florida) could be good pickups, too.



So whaddya think?

[SuperJon]

GW is coming full time in 08 I think.

No team from the MEAC will ever leave the MEAC unless they give up their bid for the playoffs, and even then it's highly unlikely.

WSSU is going to the MEAC.

We need to stay away from SSU.

The Big South sucks. LU is stuck here.

We've had this conversation way too many times.

[flameshaw]

Don't think for a minute that Presby is not going to be competitive in football immediately. They will suprise some here.

[WinthropEagleFan]

Yeah, Gardner-Webb and Presby will be 'full-time' members starting in 08-09. I don't think Presby will be fully eligible for NCAA berths until a couple years after that, but I'm not sure if that applies for every sport...

As for a couple of the other things you mentioned:

VMI - All they have going for them is name recognition...they definitely don't bring much to the field/court right now. At least the other schools in the league don't have to worry about finishing last in most sports anymore though.
Winthrop - Don't see the Eagles going anywhere...without football, the options are limited.
Radford - Some of their leadership wanted to go to the A-Sun, but I think that blew up in their face. Don't see them going anywhere either.

Davidson - They play non-schollie football...They wouldn't have any reason to move their football team here.
Savannah State & Longwood - Please no...I don't see what either one brings to the table that is worth bringing them into the league.
Superjon hit the nail on the head about the MEAC teams.

As for the "Obviously, BSC commish Kallander has dropped the ball in the few years that the conference has had football, by bringing in ZERO new teams."....who did he drop the ball with? Nobody on this board has ever given a realistic option that he could've gone after in the last couple of years. There are some rumors out there that the league may be trying to get a couple of associate football members (Albany and Stony Brook have been two of the names I've heard). If the league can bring them in, that could solve things (ie. giving the league enough members for a possible automatic football bid without affecting the other sports).

[Sly Fox]

I've expressed my feeling on KK and the Big South braintrust many times before. There's no point in rehashing it. But I'd love to see evidence of SOMETHING being done. This possibly football setup with Albany & Stony Brook would be a rare sign of life from the home office.

As for schools we should be targeting, try these out:

The Citadel
Elon
The Aforementioned MEAC Elite (Hampton, A&T, SC State)
Duquesne (Could add scholies)

You can stop laughing now. I am serious about us making a real run at El Cid & Elon. It would make sense in many respects. Its not likely to happen but it should be attempted.

And I'm moving this to the Non-LU Forum where it would be a little more apropo.

[SuperJon]

Elon and The Citadel have absolutely no reason to switch conferences.

The MEAC schools ARE NOT leaving the MEAC.

[WinthropEagleFan]

I really don't see the Elon thing happening for two reasons:

1) From Elon's end, if they turned around and came back to the Big South, it would make it looked like they made the wrong decision to move to the SoCon to begin with. There's a huge pride issue there that I don't see many schools being able to turn around and going back to where they came from.

2) Speaking of pride, I can't imagine the league office having great feelings towards Elon. They ran at the first chance they got, leaving the league high-and-dry when they could've been set at having a 6-team football league once Coastal had their program up and running. On top of that, they didn't even bother with giving 2-years notice...Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt the league officials and the school presidents that were around when that happened were too happy then, and probably are still unhappy now.

As for the Citadel. I have no idea.

[PAmedic]

interesting post by SCSTATEALUM over on CCU's board. I always look for reason to hope there might be a chance that SC State would consider petitioning the BSOUTH for admission. (SJ's pessamism not withstanding )

Expect many more changes.....see you soon Coastal!

http://scstate.blogspot.com/2006/12/hug ... ne-on.html

http://www.coastalfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2520

[PAmedic]

oh, and I'm putting THIS quote (from the Presby board) here just to reference next season. Probably after EVERY Presby loss. 'Cause I'm a jerk like that.

Did you see that Coastal was crushed by Appalachian? We hung with the number 2 team Chuck South early in the season so I think we would have had a good year in the Big South. We really improved after the Wingate game when the lineup became solid with Mullins. It took that loss to make us get our stuff together as a team. I think we are going to contend for 1st with Coastal next year but of course we won't be elligible for the title.

http://z9.invisionfree.com/PC_Blue_Hose ... p=11042934

[PAmedic]

I am confident that we can kick at least some *** in the South (sic) next year. We should be able to beat VMI, they suck. Coastal and Chuck South graduate their best players so they will have down years. We should beat both of them. Liberty returns most of their team which was improved so they will be tough but I think we can get by them by a few points. The Web will be tough next year. They are projected to be number 1 in Big Sotuh next year. We have to play our best to beat them.

I talked to a couple of the guys on the team at Church Sunday and they think we will get at least 3 conference wins next year. Notice they said AT LEAST. Coach Spangler has them ready to play in this conference already.

Is Coastal's mascot really a chicken? Like a fighting gamecock? They stole it from Carolina....so they are the "junior gamecocks" hahahaha..... Sucks to be them!

http://z9.invisionfree.com/PC_Blue_Hose ... p=11054073



Reality Bites. Or will.

[SuperJon]

They're freaking socks and they're making fun of Coastal.

Presby will be good, but they're in for a shock.

[PAmedic]

(for tonite, anyway)

it may take 2-4 yrs to get ourselves to the top level of the BSC, the move needed to be made. and now is as good a time as any, with the scotsman club beginning to improve and more students coming in, the time was right for the move... in football i feel that it will take a year or two until we are at the level of competition that will get us to the top... we have been always been a small team(physically) but they have played together and they've played their hearts out the past two years and we've been at the top of the SAC.. the bigger guys in D2 are pretty good, but the speed and the size of the guys in D1 AA is at a diff. level.. we saw that when we played Ch Southern.. their WR and linemen were huge and fast.. and we're gonna be seeing that alot especially with Costal and liberty too.. not to mention we play furman and western carolina next year.. its gonna be a bumpy road at first, but i feel that we can prove ourselves soon.. i think we'll get 2-3 conferance wins next year.

http://z9.invisionfree.com/PC_Blue_Hose ... p=11056962

[PAmedic]

they'd better be the WORLDS GREATEST DII TEAM EVER

or they will be in for a LOT of angst next season.

I'm chalking this up to not having spent much time following Football Champtionship Subdivision action.

let 'em read thru AGS for a few hours Seriously, though- St Pauls and Glenville St felt pretty good about their chances as well. For the first 2 minutes of each game, anyway.

[ATrain]

I guess Presby fans prefer their tea Long Island style

[SuperJon]

Did they even make the playoffs?

[PAmedic]

Did they even make the playoffs?

I don't believe so, SJ.

They mentioned that their arch-rival, Newberry (who I've also NEVER heard of) was the big kid on the block in their league and are in the playoffs. Against a bunch of other colleges that may as well be in France, for all I know.

Hoping some of their guys find their way over here in the offseason. Esp that Natrell guy- make things interesting, for sure

[SuperJon]

You may know Newberry as the only team to beat Coastal in 2004. They were the D2 school that Coastal lost to in the 3rd week of the season (which is when the Week 3 curse began).

[PAmedic]

SC State has a proboards site now, if anyone is interested.

SLY is already over there (shocker, I know) as well as ATRAIN

as soon as I get my confirmation number I'll throw in MY two cents (am SURE they are waiting w/ baited breath )

http://scstatedoghouse.proboards100.com/index.cgi

[Sly Fox]

Those SC State guys are good people. Some of them posted on the old Firehouse back in the day. Hopefully we'll have them back on our schedule in more sports soon.

[PAmedic]

I'm in over there.

Have we started hawking our site yet, or are we giving it a few days

[Chantzilla]

I wouldn't mind SC State joining the Big South, but...I share the same mindset with SuperJon (I just don't see this happening). In my opinion, the tradition thing would play a large part in the Bulldogs defecting the MEAC. It's almost like Harvard leaving the Ivy League for the Atlantic-10. Right now, I'm taking the "I'll believe it when I see it" approach.

I think the Big South's top priority for expansion candidates right now should be adding East Tennessee State. However, there's been speculation that they'll leave the A-Sun & re-join the SoCon in 2010 (when they add football). I've even heard that they may join the OVC. So, adding the Bucs may be a longshot, too.

Coastal will remain in the Big South for several years to come. I know I'll be unpopular for saying this, but I am an advocate for CCU to join the SoCon. But that won't happen in the next couple of years. There's a rumor, although I've heard it from some good sources, that the Chants may be invited to the Southern Conf in 2010. CCU would be added with another team to form a 14-team conference.

All in all, I just don't see too many realistic choices for Big South expansion.

[ATrain]

Its ok Chant, most of us on this board are advocates for LU going to the CAA (and we all know the chance is greater right now that every one of us will win either a Powerball or MegaMillions jackpot).

However, since we also know our chances of going to the CAA are, well, 0, we would like to see Coastal stay. But we're not gonna crucify you for wanting CCU out of the Big South when we want LU outta there as well.

[Libertine]

I like the idea of adding ETSU to the Big South -- hey, I like adding any legitimate school that happens to be located outside the Carolinas -- but, personally, I'll be surprised if the football end of the Big South exists as it currently is much longer. The MEAC and CAA are bloated already, the OVC's getting picked over and the SoCon hasn't decided whether to panic and add teams or stand pat. Somehow, somewhere -- I'm guessing right around 2012 when the Gateway, the Southland and the SoCon have turned the OVC into a 5-team conference and the CAA realizes that they need 3 divisions -- something's going to shake loose and the conference landscape on the east coast is going to shift substantially. I think that -- assuming we're still here -- most of the Big South teams would benefit substantially at that point but it's all hypothetical at best right now.

[Sly Fox]

I believe the odds of a group of MEAC schools bolting for the Big South are much higher than some of you would believe. Its based on an individual school by school basis. Tennessee State is an example of a staunch HBCU stepping away from the fold and maintaining its cultural identity. I could see SC State coming to the Big South in concert with their traditional allies/rivals in NC A&T and Hampton. Right now the leadership at Hampton seems to want to work things out in their own league. In fact, the MEAC headquarters were moved up there obviously with the intention of doing whatever it takes to pacify the most powerful program in the league. The MEAC is not strong in much of anything other than football & track. Joining the Big South would help build these programs in an overall setting.

But the MEAC of today is not the MEAC of years gone by. The league has been watered down by the arrival of CIAA Schools who have their own allegiances.

As for CCU going to the SoCon ....

[Libertine]

In my honest opinion, Western Carolina needs to leave the SoCon and the Big South is their best option to land in. They don't have the resources down there in Cullowhee to consistently fight the wars in the SoCon and they're getting left behind. I know the alumni probably won't go for it but I see that situation breaking down a lot along the lines of VMI a few years ago.