[ballcoach15]

After facilities, location is our next strongest asset. Campus is easy to reach, from anywhere in America.

I disagree on our location. Lynchburg is NOT easy to get to.
Contrast our location with the other AAC schools as 11 of 12 current members are in major metropolitan areas...

Memphis
Navy (Baltimore/DC)
SMU (Dallas)
Tulane (New Orleans)
Houston
Tulsa
Cincinnati
UCF (Orlando)
Temple (Philadelphia)
USF (Tampa)
UConn (Hartford)

ECU - not a great location, it is a 90 minute drive from Raleigh.
Liberty is under an hour from Roanoake? Not a major market. I imagine teams having to charter private planes and connecting to Lynchburg out of Charlotte or DC. It's a hassle getting in/out of Lynchburg.

I have been to all these places except Memphis, Tulsa and Hartford
Lynchburg is easier than any of them. Maybe not as big, but easier to get to.

[TH Spangler]

On AAC. You guys are quick to list the negatives. I disagree with half of them. Kind of reminds me of all the negatives thrown around about indy working.

Who has the money and would be a better travel partner for ECU and Navy. ECU has been warming up to the idea for 2 years.

LYH is a fine airport and it's almost on campus.

[Geraldos Mustache]

I feel like the AAC and Conference USA need to sit down, shuffle the deck and come up with a better geographic alignment. The AAC has 12 teams. Conference USA has 14 teams. That's 26 schools. Add Liberty and another school to get to 28. Shake it up and form two, more geographically logical conferences.

Add four teams and get to 30 schools. Now you could actually create a 3rd conference and have three conferences with 10 schools each but would eliminate the Conference Championship game (not a good idea - people like that).

Bring the MAC (12 schools) and SunBelt (10 schools) to the table and have four of the five G5 schools restructure. There are 48 schools in these four conferences.

[LUOrange]

After facilities, location is our next strongest asset. Campus is easy to reach, from anywhere in America.

I disagree on our location. Lynchburg is NOT easy to get to.
Contrast our location with the other AAC schools as 11 of 12 current members are in major metropolitan areas...

Memphis
Navy (Baltimore/DC)
SMU (Dallas)
Tulane (New Orleans)
Houston
Tulsa
Cincinnati
UCF (Orlando)
Temple (Philadelphia)
USF (Tampa)
UConn (Hartford)

ECU - not a great location, it is a 90 minute drive from Raleigh.
Liberty is under an hour from Roanoake? Not a major market. I imagine teams having to charter private planes and connecting to Lynchburg out of Charlotte or DC. It's a hassle getting in/out of Lynchburg.

So what schools are complaining about flying into ROA or one of the smaller private/business airports around Blacksburg to play Tech? Or the small airport in CVille to play UVA? Or wherever they fly into to go to State College to play Penn State?

Location and airports are not an issue for us. Our loacation is actually a strength. Our faith and politics are our biggest issue in this current political climate. Followed by our money, potential, academics, and youth.

[ballcoach15]

Anyone who has trouble getting to Liberty, should probably just stay home. They shouldn't be on the road.

[SumItUp]

After facilities, location is our next strongest asset. Campus is easy to reach, from anywhere in America.

It is not easy to reach.

One airport with one airline connecting to one hub city. - not good
No interstates going through Lynchburg - not good

What do you think makes it easy to reach from anywhere in America?

[TH Spangler]

I feel like the AAC and Conference USA need to sit down, shuffle the deck and come up with a better geographic alignment. The AAC has 12 teams. Conference USA has 14 teams. That's 26 schools. Add Liberty and another school to get to 28. Shake it up and form two, more geographically logical conferences.

Add four teams and get to 30 schools. Now you could actually create a 3rd conference and have three conferences with 10 schools each but would eliminate the Conference Championship game (not a good idea - people like that).

Bring the MAC (12 schools) and SunBelt (10 schools) to the table and have four of the five G5 schools restructure. There are 48 schools in these four conferences.

Don't like this. P5 level is the goal. I say take an AAC offer if it comes and help them with their P6 dream. What you're saying is just a G5 realignment.

[thepostman]

Lynchburg doesn't have an interstate that runs through it and the airport is expensive to fly into. Those are certainly negative. We also can't sit here and compare us to Virginia Tech or any other school currently in P5 conferences that are in smaller towns. We aren't those schools and don't have any real history.

I am less concerned about the travel obstacles than I am the political obstacles. Those are certainly real and certainly can not be ignored.

Nothing is impossible but between those obstacles and the fact we have the next several years almost completely scheduled out, I don't see us moving to a conference in the near future.

[TH Spangler]

Lynchburg doesn't have an interstate that runs through it and the airport is expensive to fly into. Those are certainly negative. We also can't sit here and compare us to Virginia Tech or any other school currently in P5 conferences that are in smaller towns. We aren't those schools and don't have any real history.

I am less concerned about the travel obstacles than I am the political obstacles. Those are certainly real and certainly can not be ignored.

Nothing is impossible but between those obstacles and the fact we have the next several years almost completely scheduled out, I don't see us moving to a conference in the near future.

Political obstacles are over played. ...... but if Nancy Pelosi would put country first and playball on a infrastructure package we'd have I-785 from Greensboro to Lynchburg to Charlottesville before you knew it

[thepostman]

We would be in C-USA or the Sunbelt if it weren't for political obstacles. I think that ended up working out for us in the long run but that is the truth of the matter.

If we continue to have success, those political obstacles don't look quite as bad but it certainly is a pretty big reason we aren't in a conference in football.

The I-785 project has been in the works since I first made the drive as a freshmen back in 2003. It goes way deeper than anybody currently in power.

[ballcoach15]

I 64 was supposed to go through Lynchburg, not Charlottesville, but some crooked politicans changed the route and put it up there. I 785 is stuck somewhere. But there are some signs that say Future I 785 on 29.


When I say Lynchburg/Liberty is easy to reach, I am thinking arriving by car/truck/SUV/van/bus, not airplane.

[cruzan_flame13]

Politics is a main issue, but it sounds like people is thinking is Liberty's fault for this. This issue started way before Jr. became president of the school and Trump became president. The reason why other schools are not in the spotlight like Liberty is because they have already confirmed to the policies which are celebrated in our society for for decades. Which means students have and are still taught this magical/socialistic ideology since its promotion in the 60's. The department of education made it worst and the media will support that(follow the money on who's funding them). I'm not saying this to make an excuse for Jr. or at times the President's actions. But we only react to the information that we are told, so if the powers that be do not like an individual or his/her followers, do you believe they will put them in a good light especially when it's politically motivated. There's so much going under the surface that we don't even know, but look at some of the messages on here making assumptions like like they are facts. How can we take any information from media/newspaper who have lied to us countless times. Is it because we are used to these national companies from our childhoods and expect them to give us "quality news"? (I'm sure many Germans thought the same way with Goebbels). I will concur that politics is strongly involved in education and sports (as we all know). The presidents of these AAC will follow the agenda even if they are with it or against it(they have mouths to feed). We were already a hit piece once Liberty came into existence. So let's not make it seem that it's only getting worst since Jr. supported Trump and other reasons related.

[TH Spangler]

I 64 was supposed to go through Lynchburg, not Charlottesville, but some crooked politicans changed the route and put it up there. I 785 is stuck somewhere. But there are some signs that say Future I 785 on 29.


When I say Lynchburg/Liberty is easy to reach, I am thinking arriving by car/truck/SUV/van/bus, not airplane.

I-785 is creeping along. They're getting ready to complete it from Greensboro to Danville. Also planning to add interstate classification to the hwy 58 bypass over to the sova mega site at berry hill. Largest site in Virginia and 5th largest in the eastern US.

Residents in Charlottesville have been arguing for years about its future right a way up there.

[thepostman]

The political issues are certainly a 2 way street. There are times I wish Jerry Jr would just think about the things he says before he says them but there are other times I think people are quick to attack our school.

[Jonathan Carone]

Saying our location isn't good isn't just about if Lynchburg is easy to get into.

Lynchburg isn't a very fertile ground for Division 1 talent so it doesn't open up any new recruiting ground for them like Atlanta or Charlotte or Boca does.

[LUOrange]

I mostly agree with Spangler, that politics is overplayed. But in this current political climate, it's definitely hard to ignore and it's definitely a factor. I believe our money and potential is what kept us out of the Sun Belt and CUSA. I don't think they wanted us to eventually dominate theM and then leave them. I don't think that's going to be as big of a factor for the AAC. Our faith/politics and academics may be a bigger factor for them.

[Chippy]

FWIW there was a heavy police presence both LU and those in brown uniforms at the women's BB game the other night and I'm seeing a number of police, both LU and those in brown uniforms on campus even today. Now hearing there have been threats made to "Christian schools" in Campbell and Appomattox counties.

[R i]

Indy has been good for us during transition. I miss conference standings and championships. If the AAC even was a slight chance, I would send out the entire sales pitch crew with 20 million in tow to make it happen.

[TH Spangler]

FWIW there was a heavy police presence both LU and those in brown uniforms at the women's BB game the other night and I'm seeing a number of police, both LU and those in brown uniforms on campus even today. Now hearing there have been threats made to "Christian schools" in Campbell and Appomattox counties.

Christian school my sister works at was closed yesterday for it. They went back today.

[R i]

Im looking into the timeline of when Jerry endorsed Trump to when Trump was inaugurated to when we got waiver by NCAA approved.

If I find anything correlating, we may start the Trump 2020 in exchange for AAC.

[TH Spangler]

Here's what was said back in the summer...... "If the AAC’s leaders decide to bring in a new member, it will try to attract a program that adds value to the conference. This means they will look for a program that offers a big market and/or a large following, is in good financial standing and is currently making significant investment in facilities."

[Logic]

We would be in C-USA or the Sunbelt if it weren't for political obstacles. I think that ended up working out for us in the long run but that is the truth of the matter.

This. Yes. Hindsight is always 20/20 but yes, Thank God we had the political baggage. We played 3.5 P5’s this year including hosting one, and STILL made it to a bowl game. CUSA? Sun Belt? We passed those conferences on appeal in just one year of FBS football independence. Would anyone trade this past year’s schedule for a Sun Belt slate?

[ballcoach15]

I haven't discarded the thought that we could end up in the Big 12. They need a rival for WV, and it would also give them an east coast presence.

If that school way out there in South Bend, IN can be in ACC, anything may be possible. And our AD has Big 12 connections.

[chris leedlelee]

I haven't discarded the thought that we could end up in the Big 12. They need a rival for WV, and it would also give them an east coast presence.

If that school way out there in South Bend, IN can be in ACC, anything may be possible. And our AD has Big 12 connections.

I'd say in 10 years or so that could be a possibility. Who could've thought 10 years ago that we would be hosting ranked opponents and playing in bowl games.

[Cider Jim]

I have been to all these places except Memphis, Tulsa and Hartford

Ballcoach, driving or FLYING?