- February 17th, 2017, 10:15 am
#527025
Looking at this from the Big South angle ... I'm not sure there's any upside to the league just throwing LU to the curb. This is different than the Coastal situation. LU has been vocal about its hopes of going FBS since 2012. Coastal came out of the blue and moved all of its sports in a flash. If you look at the remaining schools in the Big South, no inside knowledge, but I still think there's a very real possibility Presbyterian realizes it's out of its depth in Division I and moves back to DII. The league only has nine members to begin with if Liberty is out, and if PC goes, then you're getting into dangerous numbers territory for all-sports purposes. And the chances of adding schools are limited thanks to the deal with the A-Sun. There's probably more upside for the Big South to hang onto LU as long as possible.
As for moving into an FBS conference, the independent status will help in showing that LU is capable of competing at that level. But I still don't think the Sun Belt will ever have any interest, and unless there's a lot of movement between CUSA and the AAC, I'm not sure where the openings will be there.
I will admittedly eat a lot of crow since I was one of the fiercest proponents of the idea that the NCAA would never cave to the independent rule.
As for moving into an FBS conference, the independent status will help in showing that LU is capable of competing at that level. But I still don't think the Sun Belt will ever have any interest, and unless there's a lot of movement between CUSA and the AAC, I'm not sure where the openings will be there.
I will admittedly eat a lot of crow since I was one of the fiercest proponents of the idea that the NCAA would never cave to the independent rule.