[ballcoach15]

I still cannot understand why any conference would want JMU, especially ahead of Liberty. JMU will water down any conference, other than CAA.

[Sly Fox]

Pretty simple, actually. They have budget, facilities and fit well in proposed conference footprint. Not many other schools left out there fit that profile.

[Ill flame]

I hope c-usa sticks around because I hate to see conferences killed off by realignment but I also wouldn't mind seeing the sunbelt making the same mistake the WAC did. Add too many teams and then have it split in half, preferably based on geography this time.

[LU 57]

Pretty simple, actually. They have budget, facilities and fit well in proposed conference footprint. Not many other schools left out there fit that profile.

Hasn’t the Sunbelt been pretty outspoken about being a public school league? Thought I remembered that when they passed on us for Coastal.

[tyndal23]

[LUaddict]

Sun Belt adding 4 schools per College AD on twitter. This was also mentioned on the CSNBBS Sun Belt forum as well.

[TallyW]

It gets worse:

[ASOR Forums Admin]

[Ill flame]

I'm sure they are engaging but we better not jump on a sinking ship unless c-usa has a uno reverse card hidden somewhere.

[Humble_Opinion]

I still cannot understand why any conference would want JMU, especially ahead of Liberty. JMU will water down any conference, other than CAA.

From a sports-fan’s perspective it’s easy to view conference affiliation only through the athletics lens. What you have to keep in mind is that athletics is only one of a number of considerations conferences consider when deciding which schools represent a “best fit.” Academic reputation (Acceptance rate/graduation rate/demographics/Carnegie Classification, etc.) is a huge factor. The college presidents and many members of the Boards that head these institutions are all academics. Another is the public/private status of the school. Some conferences just don’t like private schools because we are oddballs and there is a real fear that our status as a private institution affords us some advantages re: finances / reporting that they most public schools don’t have. From the SBC’s perspective, JMU represents a better match than LU does.

LU seems to me to be the Tim Tebow of athletics departments. We have a lot of great attributes and we have been successful and have proven our ability to rise up and compete. But, in many ways we are very different, we are very Christian (despite the failings of JLFJR) and that can serve to be a bit of a distraction/sideshow that from their POV, isn’t worth it.

[stokesjokes]

Can we join Conference USA and be the only member? Then we could still schedule like an Indy and claim a conference championship every year. Best of both worlds.

[jimflamesfan]

Without Marshall and ODU what does CUSA really do for us? There will only be 5 teams left. Sad. And what do those teams do? I have no idea.

[jbock13]

Can we join Conference USA and be the only member? Then we could still schedule like an Indy and claim a conference championship every year. Best of both worlds.

We did something similar we claimed we were five time Big South football champions!*

*as you probably know, we really only won it once

[ballcoach15]

I didn't realize CUSA was as bad as it is, until watching the video above. Once Sun Belt raids CUSA of its only 2 good schools , it will be even worst. Their are no candidate schools to invite to restore the conference to even a skeleton of its former bad self. Liberty should not entertain thoughts of joining CUSA.
By the same token, LU should not join any conference that ODU and JMU is a member of. We will be better off staying in the ASUN and independent in football.
I don't recall Dr. Falwell saying, someday we'll be playing in a conference with ODU and JMU. His vision was much greater.
CUSA is headed from bad to very bad.

[ALAFlamesFan]

CUSA is dead imo. There will be nothing to join.

[ballcoach15]

Without Marshall and ODU what does CUSA really do for us? There will only be 5 teams left. Sad. And what do those teams do? I have no idea.

ODU added nothing to CUSA, nor will they add anything to Sun Belt. By losing Marshall, CUSA will lose their best school. Losing ODU is no loss at all. By playing football, ODU is 3/4 of a point above Radford and Longwood.

[Racenut]

The video really goes a long way in echoing my thoughts on C-USA or Sun-Belt expansion. However, the one major consequence that he barely touched on was that the athletes that Liberty needs to recruit to get to the highest level are not, with very few exceptions, going to sign at a C-USA school. This brings the upward trajectory that Liberty is on to a standstill. Even if HCHF chooses to stay on the mountain for 20 years, he will be hand cuffed when trying to lure the upper level athletes.
The thing that we as fans can do to help the upward trajectory moving forward is to get more of the Alumni base on board. I challenge you to call 5 alums and get them to join the Flames Club and purchase season tickets. Any level from $60 on up. Only winning games and getting a strong fan base will influence ESPN and get bigger conferences to take notice.
I may be naive and I love young people and college sports, but I look at this as the ultimate ministry opportunity. I want elite Christian athletes to know that they don't have to wander into the cesspool of what many college campuses have become to achieve success at the highest level. I want students on a National level to know that there is a University competing on the highest level in sports and academics where they don't need to check their faith at the campus edge. I think the National success at the highest level can lift the spirits of Christians all over the country and I think the lower level regional conference affiliation limits that mission.
I believe that the last 4 years of unbelievable progress is just the beginning. To see this program stand toe to toe with programs that have been established for decades did not happen by coincidence. Many seem to think that we should be glad to get an invite anywhere. I believe that this way of thinking really limits us and diminishes all that God has accomplished in a short time.
The one thing I would change about the video would be to give a more Christian like "thanks for considering us, but no thank you" to those raided conferences that had no use for us just a few years ago. No need to be mean.

[tyndal23]

The video really goes a long way in echoing my thoughts on C-USA or Sun-Belt expansion. However, the one major consequence that he barely touched on was that the athletes that Liberty needs to recruit to get to the highest level are not, with very few exceptions, going to sign at a C-USA school. This brings the upward trajectory that Liberty is on to a standstill. Even if HCHF chooses to stay on the mountain for 20 years, he will be hand cuffed when trying to lure the upper level athletes.
The thing that we as fans can do to help the upward trajectory moving forward is to get more of the Alumni base on board. I challenge you to call 5 alums and get them to join the Flames Club and purchase season tickets. Any level from $60 on up. Only winning games and getting a strong fan base will influence ESPN and get bigger conferences to take notice.
I may be naive and I love young people and college sports, but I look at this as the ultimate ministry opportunity. I want elite Christian athletes to know that they don't have to wander into the cesspool of what many college campuses have become to achieve success at the highest level. I want students on a National level to know that there is a University competing on the highest level in sports and academics where they don't need to check their faith at the campus edge. I think the National success at the highest level can lift the spirits of Christians all over the country and I think the lower level regional conference affiliation limits that mission.
I believe that the last 4 years of unbelievable progress is just the beginning. To see this program stand toe to toe with programs that have been established for decades did not happen by coincidence. Many seem to think that we should be glad to get an invite anywhere. I believe that this way of thinking really limits us and diminishes all that God has accomplished in a short time.
The one thing I would change about the video would be to give a more Christian like "thanks for considering us, but no thank you" to those raided conferences that had no use for us just a few years ago. No need to be mean.

Season tickets that sit empty don’t do much. Time to hit the road for as many P5 games as we can cram in every year and pay for 2-3 home P5 games a year ( then the season tickets will be sat in ) - lock Freeze and staff in to a Upper level P5 program salary, marketing, recruiting budget and support staff with a no fire based on performance clause the first 5 years and let’s get after it. That money all comes back with a P5 invite or major tv contract down the road.

[Liberty22]

So many Liberty fans on twitter acting like the sky is falling. This is the best thing for us. This allows us a position of strength and not to be held down by a bad conference. Our other sports will continue to dominate and get post season bids, that's not a bad thing. I for one am incredibly happy.

[tyndal23]

So many Liberty fans on twitter acting like the sky is falling. This is the best thing for us. This allows us a position of strength and not to be held down by a bad conference. Our other sports will continue to dominate and get post season bids, that's not a bad thing. I for one am incredibly happy.

Hasson is setting public view of LU fans back 20 years, chill dude. Cry in private.

[Liberty22]

I wasn't going to name names but

[rmiller1959]

Once the rumors hit the big sports networks, it usually means they've got legs:

CBS Sports: Conference USA future in doubt with four teams expected to join Sun Belt next week.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... next-week/

[LUaddict]

If we do join the CUSA for whatever reason the admin feels like it would be a good idea for us. Not saying it is, we join like the article says and may be made up of a bunch of FBS Indy schools and other FCS call ups. Maybe it gets good and realignment reshuffles the chairs in G5 to bring others into CUSA again. Who knows, maybe the LU admin know this will be our future to the 12 team playoff when if and when it gets implemented.Maybe we invite or merge some of the ASUN football schools looking to become FBS with us in CUSA. Who knows, like I said it may be an opportunity in disguise or maybe I'm reaching. God works in mysterious ways.

[rmiller1959]

An interesting thread from a Liberty alum:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1057905 ... 6234286319

[BlueBlood]

Well, for the segment on here that was concerned that an affiliation with Marshall, ODU and JMU would cause outsiders to view LU as being athletic equivalents of those schools, I'm sure you are relieved.

Instead, outsiders (at least the ones on Twitter and message boards) seem to be grouping LU with New Mexico St, Sam Houston St, McNeese St. and EKU.

I'm just kidding around with that, but all kidding aside - A whole lot of peripheral activity just happened, but I'm not sure that it really impacts LU much at all. All the schools that were G5 a week ago are still G5. I'm not sure that it matters that ODU is Sunbelt instead of C-USA or if WKU becomes MAC instead of C-USA or even that North Texas is AAC instead of C-USA. They are all still G5 (or maybe G4). UCF, Cincy and Houston are the only ones that got the magic carpet ride.

So, after a whole lot of drama, I'm not sure that this really affects LU much at all.