[Rooster Cogburn]

I also think it's funny how few LU fans have any clue about any of this. After I RTd HMO's tweet earlier, I had a bunch of what's going on texts and messages.

[Sly Fox]

I have no idea who BYD & jcmanson's sources are but I can tell you that much of what they have shared has matched up with what I was hearing from both our camp as well folks I know personally at some western Sun Belt schools. The CCG deregulation really gave some folks an excuse to avoid doing what they know is best for league growth. But frankly the gains we have made in dispelling myths about us has had a significant impact on the member school leadership. The resistance has dropped significantly. And while I don't expect most to ever enthusiastically welcome us in to their fold, I could see them recognizing that we are good for the continued viability of their league and letting us in eventually.

[flamesfilmguy]

so, here's my question, and something i've been wondering for awhile. If not the Sun Belt do we try and gain membership to an FCS conference that could possibly be better?

[Sly Fox]

My assertion would be that only the CAA would be even mildly attractive among FCS leagues and frankly not really worth the trouble. We have a relatively tight geographic setup in the Big South we increasingly easier path to playoff berths. There really aren't great incentives for us to move and as BYD referenced there would be real concerns from those other leagues toward us.

I honestly believe that our next move will be to an FBS conference. Whether that is sooner or later is the big question for me. Today would have been convenient to get the process moving. But perhaps the Sun Belt is doing us a favor by keeping us in limbo until a better situation appears.

[TH Spangler]

and I am not sure that there is anyone out there willing to take us given our aspirations and budgets.

Which doesn't make much sense? If Baylor or LSU wanted to move to the SB would they say no, your budget is too large and your aspirations to high?

[TH Spangler]

There is a big difference in the PR and viewership you get from adding LSU or Baylor compared to Liberty. You put up with the other stuff for those schools. Us? Not so much.

Liberty @ FBS for a couple of years and you could be looking at another Baylor. Right now FBS and NCAA bylaws are controlled by public schools. The flip side is our growth comes from parents and students looking for an alternative to state schools.

[SuperJon]

and I am not sure that there is anyone out there willing to take us given our aspirations and budgets.

Which doesn't make much sense? If Baylor or LSU wanted to move to the SB would they say no, your budget is too large and your aspirations to high?

Those schools don't have our religious aspirations.

[LCA&LU Mom]

*this*

But perhaps the Sun Belt is doing us a favor by keeping us in limbo until a better situation appears.

[Sly Fox]

I find it interesting that we are getting more resistance over our religious mission from schools in the Bible Belt than from other parts of the country. Perhaps that shows how out of touch academia is from the communities in which they operate.

[Purple Haize]

There is one thing that could have kept the Fence Sitters on our side: on field success. We exceed or are on par with facilities and budgets of the 2 FCS schools they brought on board last year and even JMU. But what do they have that we don't? A history of winning football games. You take the PR blitz and Shuttle Diplomacy that we engaged in and add on a couple of FCS playoff wins and an upset here and there and we would be a shoe in. The religious aspect would be a hurdle but it and everything else is an easy excuse without those signature wins

[SumItUp]

There is one thing that could have kept the Fence Sitters on our side: on field success. We exceed or are on par with facilities and budgets of the 2 FCS schools they brought on board last year and even JMU. But what do they have that we don't? A history of winning football games. You take the PR blitz and Shuttle Diplomacy that we engaged in and add on a couple of FCS playoff wins and an upset here and there and we would be a shoe in. The religious aspect would be a hurdle but it and everything else is an easy excuse without those signature wins

We're closer than we have ever been. As a private school, on the field success is more important for us than it was for other new FBS schools (ODU, Charlotte, South Alabama, Georgia State, Texas State, Texas-San Antonio, etc....). While basketball is not the deciding factor, if our basketball program had been regularly participating in the NCAA tournament and receiving tournament credits for winning games or occasionally going deep in the NCAA tourney, it would have made a difference. Liberty is doing the right things, we just need to add winning postseason accomplishments in football and basketball. Our time will come.

[TIMSCAR20]

I think any time you pursue something you want or that you think will make you better, it is dissapointing to say the least. Not moving to the Sunbelt obviously affects football the most. I never really anticipated a huge bump in competition in the other sports. It has been proven in every other sport that you can compete on a national scale in ANY division I conference including the Big South.

My focus as a fan/alum/media member/former athlete/Pioneer of Division I sports at LU is to be determined to dominate our opponents in the conference in EVERY SPORT but especially Men's Hoops, Baseball, Women's Hoops and obviously Football. Not getting into the Sunbelt is disappointing but far from a leathal blow to Liberty Athletics. Here are the facts that no amount of Sunbelt "hate" can change:

Liberty still competes at the Division I Level
Liberty still has some of the top facilities in the Nation
Liberty still has a LARGE athletic budget
Liberty still has its own TV Network
Liberty still has visions and goals that far exceed the Big South or in my opinion even the Sunbelt
Liberty still has one of the fastest growing and aestetic Campuses in the Nation...

In my opinion the Sunbelt is foolish to not take a school like Liberty. I could be biased based on my affiliation as noted above but I really believe that my opinion I am expressing now is shared by objective outsiders as well.

I would love to see Liberty absolutely dominate the conference from this day forward as Baseball is beginning to do, track has done for years, and Women's Hoops will continue to do for the foreseeable future.

[Rooster Cogburn]

100% agree Scar. Well said. I've been using the term shortsighted since yesterday and I think it fits. There could be multiple possible reasons they are avoiding LU, but they are summarized in the fact that we are different. They can't see past the difference to the potential. You might even say they are frightened by the things that make LU a monster in the making.

[Purple Haize]

We're closer than we have ever been.

SUM this is not personal and I'm positive you are a fine person and an asset to the Human Race BUT
This is the Liberty Way. 'We ALMOST won'. It lets us put the onus on someone else's actions and not take a look at ourselves. We defend and say how good we really are even though we lost. If we had 4 FCS playoff bids along with 2 or 3 wins in the play offs to go with those Big South Championships it would be really difficult to find a legitimate reason to turn us down

[Rooster Cogburn]

I honestly believe this decision would NOT have been different with a few playoff wins.

[TIMSCAR20]

I honestly believe this decision would NOT have been different with a few playoff wins.

I have never subscribed to the theory that you have to win and be wildly successful to move up. It is One way to move up but not an absolute necessity. The only difference is that it would make us as fans feel a lot better if football and hoops had better post season history. I really don't think it would have helped in this scenario. Again just my opinion.

[CinciFlame]

I agree. You can't say conferences are overly worried about the on field product when teams like Ga. State and Charlotte get accepted before ever playing a game. I don't want to get on a spiritual kick, but this had allot to do with us being evangelicals. The academic elite doesn't want to be associated with us and what we believe. Not getting an invite has much more to do with our beliefs than going to a playoff game.

[VAGolf]

Two things:

One, I agree with Purple. I always love when the NCAA tournament rolls around and fans of bubble teams freak out when their team doesn't make the tournament. If you want to ensure your chances of getting to the tournament, win your conference or enough games to be considered a "lock." Don't give the committee ANY reason to doubt your presence in the tournament. The Sun Belt can sell this move to fans, because either A. fans would be outraged at the conference for inviting a school with our beliefs or B. when people hear about us moving to FBS, a lot of them ask, "What have they done in FCS?" And of course, that answer is nothing. We've never made playoffs, we don't have a significant win and we're having trouble outright winning a very weak conference. In any scenario, you want to lessen the doubt. Not making playoffs may not have been the sole reason as to why we weren't invited, but I do believe it played a part.

Secondly, if you think that this doesn't hurt our athletics, you are completely fooling yourself. We've branded ourselves as a school that is going to be FBS, compete at the HIGHEST level of football and become the home of Christians who are high profile athletes. Remaining FCS will absolutely be devastating to those plans, at least for the next ten years. Our fans are going to get sick of watching us play Brevard and Gardner Webb. If the people in our athletics office actually thought that we're going to be just fine by staying in the Big South, we wouldn't have made such a dire attempt at getting in the Sun Belt.

Right now, we can only hope for two things:

1. ODU is able to convince the C-USA to invite another FCS school.

2. Kyle Kallander leaves the Big South.

[Rooster Cogburn]

Scar, I don't know what is going on, but I've agreed with you 2X in one day. Scary.

[Purple Haize]

I honestly believe this decision would NOT have been different with a few playoff wins.

I have never subscribed to the theory that you have to win and be wildly successful to move up. It is One way to move up but not an absolute necessity. The only difference is that it would make us as fans feel a lot better if football and hoops had better post season history. I really don't think it would have helped in this scenario. Again just my opinion.

Typical of someone from the LameStream media to misquote me.

I said it would make it harder to say No and would have gone a long way to tipping some of the scales in our favor. 1 or 2 schools are just bitter about life and pushed for no new expansion at all. But it was easy to sway others when you say 'Ga Southern and App State are FCS power houses with history. What has LU done on the field? '
You put that in the mix with everything else we did and our case would have been made

[SuperJon]

No amounts of wins or losses would've changed this decision.

One thing I will agree with is that I think this fall will be the last season we have with Turner Gill as head coach.

[4everfsu]

Two strikes against us, 1st no big wins in regular seasons/playoff for both basketball and football. 2nd strike is we are in a small town, we are not in Charlotte or Atlanta. I know some will say ASU is not in a big town but they have big wins, championships. If we had one or both we would probably be invited.

[TIMSCAR20]

Haize I agree that past performance is an element of consideration. But given all the other components of the equation in which the Athletic program/school scores high, it seems almost silly to say Liberty would have gotten in if they would have won a few well timed football games. If you took a pole of the no votes I don't think a lack of post season success would even be in the top 5 reasons. Budget, facilities, TV network and even campus improvements/enrollment all indicate that Libety would be competitive immediately in all sports including football in the Sunbelt. It is not like they are the SEC.

[VAGolf]

No amounts of wins or losses would've changed this decision.

One thing I will agree with is that I think this fall will be the last season we have with Turner Gill as head coach.

Just because it wasn't specifically mentioned, doesn't mean it wasn't a thought.

Where is Turner going to go? He's had one winning season at the FBS level, and I would say that if we don't get to playoffs this year, he's not meeting expectations.

[SuperJon]

I don't know where he'll go, but I'm sure he came here to lead us through the transition and be an FBS coach again. If that's not going to happen, you can't blame him for looking.