[Cider Jim]

Stony Brook has a better academic reputation than any school in the Sun Belt or C-USA.

I double-dog dare them to show up January 26th at the Big South Quiz Bowl tournament at Gardner-Webb.

[Purple Haize]

The SBC fans certainly don't care for us.

It would be an epic failure to miss this round of expansion.

Or a sign its not Gods will......

No the world will hate Christ followers because they first hated Him, I don't see their anger as a sign that this is not His will. We will know when we know, unless we never get in. In that case we will know it is not His will..

That was what I was responding too

[Liberty22]

Or a sign its not Gods will......

No the world will hate Christ followers because they first hated Him, I don't see their anger as a sign that this is not His will. We will know when we know, unless we never get in. In that case we will know it is not His will..

That was what I was responding too

Oh sorry sir!

[logic]

Anyone with any inside info? Are we in discussion?

[Purple Haize]

No the world will hate Christ followers because they first hated Him, I don't see their anger as a sign that this is not His will. We will know when we know, unless we never get in. In that case we will know it is not His will..

That was what I was responding too

Oh sorry sir!

Don't ever question me or I will say a prayer against you!

[mlschubert]

If we miss the train at this point, I have no clue what it's going to take...

Other than pretty facilities and an unlimited budget, what do we bring to a league?

What we bring (partial list)

- A brand that is bigger on a national level than many others schools at the non-bcs level
- A growing fanbase that travels well and is increasingly national in scope
- A willingness to invest and a demonstrated commitment to athletics
- TV production and strong media capabilities
- A distinctiveness that will help to draw fans & create strong rivalries
- We have demonstrated the ability to recruit nationally, something unusual for a non-bcs or elite academic school; this will translate well into competing effectively as we move up;
- A vision for becoming a national contender (with a track record in a short time that suggests others should take notice)
- An ability to move rapidly and begin participating immediately
- A visible/relevant head coach that would garner further attention for the league
- We offer an ability to fill the stands quickly
- We would improve conference strength in most sports including baseball, soccer, track, volleyball and women’s basketball

[Wilberforce91]

It's all about the money. It's why Maryland moved to the B1G after almost 60 years in the ACC. It's why Charlotte is in C-USA without playing a down of football. It's why Georgia State is in the Sun Belt despite being TERRIBLE in football (1-10 this season). Media markets, potential revenue. Liberty has the potential via its online students and alumni network (shout-out to HMO) to be a national brand. If the left-wing ideologues that are running these schools deny us purely based on our biblical or conservative positions, then it's their loss. I'd rather not bow to the progressive gods and have the potential to win National Championships via the playoffs (a la App State) than play in a lower-tier bowl at this point. I want FBS as much as anyone, but if it takes away Liberty's distinctiveness, I'm not so thrilled. I'd rather remain politically incorrect since 1971.

[jbock13]

I could care less about being politically correct. Bleh. Like Doc said, if this place every ceases to become a God centered and focused university, let it burn.

[SuperJon]

No one's going to turn us away because of our religious beliefs. They're going to turn us away because of the stupid stuff we say.

Our athletic department is not what's going to keep us out of a conference.

The loose lips of some of those in leadership positions are what will keep us out of a conference.

[SuperJon]

Politically Incorrect Since 1971 is one of the stupidest things we have.

You can hold our views, not toe the "politically correct" line, but at the same time not be inconsiderate or hateful.

[Wilberforce91]

Not being sarcastic, but do you have some examples of the hateful/inconsiderate words coming from admin? Other than the obvious Teletubby, 9/11 (both of which occurred over a decade ago) and College Democrat Club instances.

[Purple Haize]

Not being sarcastic, but do you have some examples of the hateful/inconsiderate words coming from admin? Other than the obvious Teletubby, 9/11 (both of which occurred over a decade ago) and College Democrat Club instances.

We have several various threads on them

[bluedevilflame]

Being a great religious school is not the issue, Baylor, ND, and BYU seem to be fine. It's the non sense we spout off for the sake of doing so, you don't see them acting like we do, does that make them any less a product of their religious beliefs, just because they don't parade themselves on news outlets constantly? Conferences and school presidents don't want that bad publicity because once we are tied to their schools in a conference, they could look bad too.

And SuperJon, totally agree, I cringe everytime I see one of those t shirts and bumper stickers, I wish those would become a thing of the past

[VAGolf]

Politically Incorrect Since 1971 is one of the stupidest things we have.

You can hold our views, not toe the "politically correct" line, but at the same time not be inconsiderate or hateful.

This is my first post but I've been watching, nay, stalking this thread all day. I could not agree more with this statement. It's one thing to be politically correct, it's another to be wreck-less with your speech. When you consider what our University stands for, we must hold ourselves to higher standards and understand that everything we say and do is being watched. When you live in a world with internet, smart-phones...etc and a very bias media, you have to be very strategic in what you say. I hope we do get an invite, I pray that we do because this would a great way to reach millions. However, we must realize that our institution is viewed negatively because of our past. We don't need to change our views on abortion, gay-marriage...etc. Although, we should make it known that there is more to our school than just our political views.

[ballah09]

while that's true, aside from Notre Dame, Baylor and BYU are both conservative.

first i I wanna say this I don't hate Liberty, I love Liberty and want it to stay Evangelical but...

to answer your question Wilberforce91 SOME of the instances since 2008.

1. Democratic club débâcle
2. Secret video taping of the city council
3. Censorship, ala Facebook, threatening lawsuits ala Flames Nation, Peter Lumpkins, the Liberty Champion
4. Liberty Counsel and Matt Staver. To go along with being linked to a kidnapping, bring a lawsuit against Liberty, he says the most dumbest things regarding LGBT and teaches with an agenda. Just go to youtube and look.
5. Kissing !#% to the republican politicians and Jr making Obama almost 24/7
6. making political statements in general. ala chick file.
7. It's a CPAC for crying out loud. Threatening to not support the GOP because they had the GOProud and Log Cabin there supporting republican candidate? You wonder why the GOP is split.

fact is alot of students who come here for the christian atmosphere leave because LU goes overboard. restricting academic freedom and in your face politics

if you're an academic scholar or someone who doesn't care about athletics would you wanna be associated with Liberty?

[Chris Lang]

I'm starting to wonder what role academics will play in everything from here on out. Certainly you have leagues like the Big Ten that want to limit themselves to AAU institutions. But on the conference call today with the ACC folks, the head of the league's council of presidents all but said that Louisville's academics were not a turn off, that they needed to make the move to assure the rest of the conference that they were bringing in a strong athletics member that would stabilize the conference.

Do I believe for a second that the ACC is magically stable now? No way. Missouri's AD put out a statement fairly similar to what Littlepage put out there yesterday and within months the Tigers were in the SEC. The ACC is interesting because there are really only a few schools where football is more important than basketball (Florida State, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami).

As for Liberty, nothing that happens in the next few weeks would surprise me. The Sun Belt could be interested. I know they've shown interest in the past, and I know Conference USA has been on campus for multiple site visits in the past. But again, will the good of the list that schubert posted outweigh the way Liberty gets in the news for political reasons? I don't know. I think Jon's point is valid. And it's a big reason why Liberty is still such a polarizing school. It needs to spend more energy focusing on the improving academic profile and less time trying to insert itself into national politics.

[bluedevilflame]

I was wondering about Louisville too, I wonder if there was some kind of expectation from the ACC on them stepping their academics up once in the league?

[Equinox]

We continually stick our foot in our mouths and say controversial, politically incorrect things and are proud of it

This

[Chris Lang]

Louisville's president worked with UNC's president in the past and he said U of L is trying to model itself after Chapel Hill in terms of improving its academics.

[bluedevilflame]

Louisville's president worked with UNC's president in the past and he said U of L is trying to model itself after Chapel Hill in terms of improving its academics.

Well there ya go, maybe in the next 5-10 years UL academics will be to full ACC caliber. Much better pick up than the UConnvicts no matter what.

[flameshaw]

Louisville's president worked with UNC's president in the past and he said U of L is trying to model itself after Chapel Hill in terms of improving its academics.

Improving academics like CH? I guess U of L will have to get a new Dept. of African Studies so the athletes can stay eligible. LOL

.

[Chris Lang]

I was going to post something similar, actually. UNC is a good academic school. Not sure how much that side of campus enjoyed all of the crap that went on in athletics.

[bluedevilflame]

I was going to post something similar, actually. UNC is a good academic school. Not sure how much that side of campus enjoyed all of the crap that went on in athletics.

All the papers and news outlets here made it sound like the faculty was pretty ticked off with athletics for tainting their academic reputation in the name of sports.

[jbock13]

Well, wherever you go there will always be the crowd that wants to apologize for everything Liberty does.

Then they'll be the crowd who may not like every little thing, but accept its overall mission. I guess the former outnumber the latter.

[SuperJon]

I love the original mission of the school but not the current road its taking to get there.