[jcmanson]

This realignment discussion got me thinking. What would be your ideal conference for LU to be in? And let's try to keep it realistic as to what could actually happen. For example, LU will not be in the same conference as UVA or VA Tech any time soon.

This could be an existing conference, or an entirely new conference.

[PAmedic]

define "realistic"

because my initial thought (if you're going with existing FBS conferences, and talking way down the road) is "Big East"

yes, I know there is a million reasons why its not a good idea.

[jcmanson]

define "realistic"

FCS/low FBS (C-USA, MAC level)

[PAmedic]

maybe C-USA

I dont like the MAC, unless you're a directional MI school and I don't know that the Sun-belt is a big step up

given those alternatives, I vote, "D" : new VA/WVA/MD based conference.

[jcmanson]

For an FCS conference, I’d go with the Virginia Athletic Association:

For all sports, you’d have:
JMU
ODU
W&M
VMI
Richmond
VCU
George Mason
Radford
Norfolk State
Hampton
Liberty

Football teams:
JMU
ODU
W&M
VMI
Richmond
Norfolk State
Hampton
Liberty

I can’t think of a 12th/9th team to balance it out.

You could split the conference into an East and West division for all sports except for football:

East
Hampton
Norfolk State
Richmond
W&M
ODU
VCU

West
JMU
VMI
George Mason
Radford
Liberty
12th team

[Cider Jim]

Traveling costs for the MAC or C-USA would be a nightmare. Let's take baby steps--the first step up would be the Southern Conference. Once we can beat Appy State on a regular basis, then we can consider moving up to DIA.

[jcmanson]

For an FBS conference I’d like to see a new Mid-Atlantic Conference form.

Liberty
East Carolina
Navy
ODU
JMU
Charlotte (assuming they get football)
App State (thinking we can try to persuade them to make the jump with us)
Delaware
Marshall

[olldflame]

For an FBS conference I’d like to see a new Mid-Atlantic Conference form.

Liberty
East Carolina
Navy
ODU
JMU
Charlotte (assuming they get football)
App State (thinking we can try to persuade them to make the jump with us)
Delaware
Marshall

Looks to me like we would have to convince ODU, Deleware and JMU as well. That's a lot of persuasion.

[jcmanson]

For an FBS conference I’d like to see a new Mid-Atlantic Conference form.

Liberty
East Carolina
Navy
ODU
JMU
Charlotte (assuming they get football)
App State (thinking we can try to persuade them to make the jump with us)
Delaware
Marshall

Looks to me like we would have to convince ODU, Deleware and JMU as well. That's a lot of persuasion.

Yeah but those 3 have already made it known about their intentions to move up. I haven't heard App State state these same intentions.

[Sly Fox]

I'll go with a newly formed FBS conference that avoids the auto bid issues in other sports by cooperating with some worthless non-football league such as a lacrosse or wrestling league to get through the transition period until the football league qualifies as a full-fledged conference. Here's who I'd like to see in such a league:

Liberty
East Carolina
JMU
Appalachian State
Georgia Southern
ODU
Navy

Yeah, Navy might consider a regional league that left them enough flexibility in football to schedule the other service academies & Notre Dame every year. You might add Delaware or Georgia State (Shout out to FFG).

Frankly I am surprised there hasn't been a regional FBS similar to the MAC, WAC or Sunbelt in the Mid-Atlantic region already. The north, west and south all have them so why not the east?

And yes, Appy has conducted studies on moving up in recent years (as have JMU & Georgia Southern) and all they have ever stated in response is that the time isn't right. In a realignment scramble, there opinion could change quickly.

[Cider Jim]

Come on, Sly, no love for Marshall in your proposed new conference?

[PAmedic]

Come on, Sly, no love for Marshall in your proposed new conference?

that's precisely who I had in mind when I made my comment about a VA/WVA/MD conf

nice to see everyone agrees with me.

PS: totally against the SoCon. thats not a move up. At all.

[Sly Fox]

You know, I have discussed both Marshall & Temple being a part of this for years. I could definitely see the Herd in such a league. But I get the feeling they'd prefer the MAC if looking for a lower level regional conference. Conference USA is going to be a mess in the next realignment round because there is no way Marshall or ECU want to keep sending track & field teams to meets in El Paso. The travel costs are brutal.

[Hold My Own]

The Vaconn would be elite. Travel costs would be cut in half. Your keeping the money in the state. Attendance would be up, fans would travel more and it would be great for rivalries. It honestly makes to much sense.

[Liberty4Life]

Let's assume that Stony Brook jumps to the CAA. And since everyone in charge of CAA schools are jerks, let's say that they don't invite / purge any of their schools.

There really are only a few conferences we can purge from, the Big South, the Pioneer League (Davidson & Campbell), the Southern, and the Southland conferences. All the others are too far away for regional purposes, or have history to them (Ivy, Patriot, MEAC).

How I would re-align:
- The Great West Conference remains the same, as do the SWAC, Southland, MEAC, Ivy, and Patriot Conferences.
- The Big Sky conference has 9 teams. I'd move University of San Diego, currently the only west coast team playing in the Pioneer Conference, to the Big Sky, so the Big Sky now has 10.
- The Missouri Valley Conference has 9 teams. I'd move Youngstown State out of there to make it 8.

That leaves the Pioneer Conference w/ 9 teams, the Southern Conference, the Ohio Valley Conference, and the Big South. Plus, Charlotte (starting their program in 2013) and Savannah State (currently Indy), and Youngstown State (who I moved)

- Campell, Davidson, and Jacksonville leave the Pioneer.
- SE Missouri State leaves the Ohio Valley (now left with 10 teams), and along with Youngstown State, joins the Pioneer (now with 8 teams).

That leaves the 9 teams in the Southern (Wofford, Furman, Samford, Citadel, Ga. Southern, Western Carolina, Chattanooga, Elon, Appy State) & the 6 in the Big South (Liberty, VMI, Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, Charleston Southern, Presbyterian), plus Charlotte, Davidson, Campbell, Jacksonville, and Savannah State, for 20.

BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE
Jacksonville, Savannah State & Georgia Southern (should in in the same conference)
Samford
Chattanooga
Citadel & VMI (a little out of the way, but I like the "VMI / Citadel" rivalry idea) If not, substitute Presby for them.
Charleston Southern (should be w/ Citadel)
Wofford & Furman (these two should be in the same conference)

SOUTHERN CONFERNECE
Appalachian State & Western Carolina
Campbell, Davidson & Elon
Charlotte & Gardner-Webb
Coastal Carolina & Presbyterian
Liberty

Big South gets College of Charleston, UNC Asheville & Winthrop in basketball
Southern gets Radford, High Point, and Greensboro.

The Southern Conference improves because it gets Coastal Carolina, Liberty & Gardner-Webb in football.
The Big South gets Wofford, Furman, & Winthrop in basketball. Everyone wins.

[LUconn]

The Vaconn would be elite. Travel costs would be cut in half. Your keeping the money in the state. Attendance would be up, fans would travel more and it would be great for rivalries. It honestly makes to much sense.

recruiting would be redonkulous.

[SuperJon]

The Vaconn would be elite. Travel costs would be cut in half. Your keeping the money in the state. Attendance would be up, fans would travel more and it would be great for rivalries. It honestly makes to much sense.

recruiting would be redonkulous.

Which is why it'll never happen.

[Hold My Own]

The Vaconn would be elite. Travel costs would be cut in half. Your keeping the money in the state. Attendance would be up, fans would travel more and it would be great for rivalries. It honestly makes to much sense.

recruiting would be redonkulous.

How?

[SuperJon]

Most schools don't have the recruiting footprint that we do. The rely much more heavily on in-state kids. When the same schools from the same conference are all going after the same kids, it would get pretty tough.

[Cider Jim]

Most schools don't have the recruiting footprint that we do. The rely much more heavily on in-state kids. When the same schools from the same conference are all going after the same kids, it would get pretty tough.

Super, at the DIA level, isn't that what UNC, Duke, Wake, & State, have to deal with every year in NC?

[SuperJon]

To an extent, yes. Then again, that's only four schools in the same conference, not eight.

[Hold My Own]

I cant figure out why I cannot understand why it would change anything recruiting wise. These schools already have teams, we're not asking any of them to move locations. Everything stays the same except the conference. They are already recruiting, why would this change anything? They are already going after these kids.


I guess what I'm saying is if JMU, ODU, Richmond and LU were all in the VAcon how would that change anything recruiting wise then the way it currently is.

[ATrain]

I'm going with the VAA idea on this one, but make Longwood the 12th team for all sports, and maybe have a Towson, Deleware or Villanova as an associate 9th for football.

For an FBS Conference:
Marshall
East Carolina
LU
JMU
ODU
Georgia State
Army
Navy
Deleware

Marshall and GA State might be a little further than some would like, but if I remember reading correctly GSU wanted to go FBS at some point as well.

[jinxy]

It would not change that much in recruiting. You are still going to recruit the same kids that you recruited before. Virginia is a talent rich state, it just happens that most of it is in the Tidewater area. One thing I have noticed is that Toman has recruited more local players for baseball. I for one am glad to see this because I played at Franklin County and saw first hand that there is quite a bit of solid baseball talent in the Western part of the state (GW Danville, Halifax, Tunstall, occasionally FC, Cave Spring, William Byrd. All of those schools have put out studs that have either been drafted or are starting in the Big South or better. I know baseball is minor when these realignment conversations take place since it's not a money maker but it helped to illustrate my point. However, SJ"s point regarding our larger footprint should work to our advantage in such a instance.

Also on a side note I talked to a good friend of mine from JMU who said that Peter Rose never was allowed into school at JMU. I hope we dont end up with him, I would hate to have a guy with that track record that keeps declined at places like that.

[SuperJon]

I cant figure out why I cannot understand why it would change anything recruiting wise. These schools already have teams, we're not asking any of them to move locations. Everything stays the same except the conference. They are already recruiting, why would this change anything? They are already going after these kids.


I guess what I'm saying is if JMU, ODU, Richmond and LU were all in the VAcon how would that change anything recruiting wise then the way it currently is.

It would change the way the kids looked at the schools. For example, we don't get looked at by kids the same way in football that even ODU does because we're in the Big South. We're at a recruiting disadvantage there.

When schools like Radford, VMI, Liberty, etc can start saying we are in the same conference and at the same level as ODU, Richmond, etc then kids start looking at us the same way. The CAA schools don't want that to happen. There's no way that they want to admit that we're on the same level as them. Right now, they can say that they're better because they're in the Colonial and that's better competition, etc. Kids go to those schools because the letter CAA is attached to them. If you put us all on an equal playing field, the CAA teams get hurt more than we get helped. They won't agree to that.

A VaConn would be phenomenal for a school like Liberty. For a school like JMU, not so much.