Yesterday Ark States AD gave an interview and discussed realignment. Liberty wasn't mentioned in the conversation. EKU, Missouri St and even Coastal was specifically mentioned. I think the boat has sailed between Liberty and the SB. While I'm not shocked or surprised that Liberty wasn't mentioned, what I am surprised about is what depths the SB will sink to, to bypass Liberty. Coastal is likely 3-5 years away and EKU shouldn't even be considered. Liberty is being backed into a corner and will likely come out swinging at some point.

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I am sick of the Sun Belt. If we ever are invited then that would be great and I would be a great supporter. Until then they can continue to be the worst FBS conference and continue to watch their members fight each other to get out of the conference.

Am I bitter? Sure. But I think Liberty offers the best combination of athletics, potential, and geography/demographics and would make the Sun Belt better but it is their loss. Coastal Carolina is a good program and I enjoy being in a conference with them so perhaps if the feeling is mutual then they will push for our inclusion. It is the Sun Belt's right to allow whoever they want in their conference and I respect that even if I disagree.

We will be FBS soon. Then we will overrun everyone who passed us up.

GE, that's about right. They would claw each others eyes out to get to ConfUSA. There's a great article in the USA Today about the cost of athletics and specifically at ODU. Conferences basically need to sit down and say let's start over. A conference of JMU, LU, ODU, Marshall, Charlotte and Appy would cut travel cost down by at least half as you could bus to all those locations. I know it'll never happen.

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I don't think there needs to be widespread realignment to geographically align schools. I think conferences should be able to align with who they want to which currently sucks for us. But I also feel that there should be less barriers to creating conferences. So instead of conferences like the AAC and Sun Belt which is mostly like a quilt that was pieced together with the spare parts and nobody is that happy with the result you could be more like the Mountain West and ACC who are happy being together even without being the best.

The Sun Belt thing doesn't bother me. It'd be nice to play in that conference, but hey, we're not invited. We'll continue to grow, do the right things athletically and academically, and move forward. I like thinking that way. In time, God willing, we will get a shot at FBS. If not, we will work to be the best FCS program in the nation. I will be fine and happy as long as we hold tightly to our mission as a school and athletic department of training champions for Christ. That is what is really important. All else is simply icing on the cake.

At least we will be able to have fun continuing to speculate about conference realignment!

(05-27-2015 09:22 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  I am sick of the Sun Belt. If we ever are invited then that would be great and I would be a great supporter. Until then they can continue to be the worst FBS conference and continue to watch their members fight each other to get out of the conference.

Am I bitter? Sure. But I think Liberty offers the best combination of athletics, potential, and geography/demographics and would make the Sun Belt better but it is their loss. Coastal Carolina is a good program and I enjoy being in a conference with them so perhaps if the feeling is mutual then they will push for our inclusion. It is the Sun Belt's right to allow whoever they want in their conference and I respect that even if I disagree.

We will be FBS soon. Then we will overrun everyone who passed us up.

You would be the best possible choice. I'm not denying that. And you still occasionally hear from fans about having a ready option in Liberty yet we continue to float all sorts of crazy ideas out there

The fact is, you guys lost App State's support somewhere in the last few months. And once that happened, there was no chance of anyone overcoming the whole private vs public issue. (You already didn't have Georgia Southern or Georgia State) I believe your best chance at getting into a league involves massive expansion that forces leagues to go to the best available teams.

(05-27-2015 09:38 AM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  GE, that's about right. They would claw each others eyes out to get to ConfUSA. There's a great article in the USA Today about the cost of athletics and specifically at ODU. Conferences basically need to sit down and say let's start over. A conference of JMU, LU, ODU, Marshall, Charlotte and Appy would cut travel cost down by at least half as you could bus to all those locations. I know it'll never happen.

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This I will take issue with. Mohajir might be the most outspoken AD in the league, and we've been blacklisted by most of CUSA schools in part because we haven't been begging and pleading to get into their league.

That being said. Looks like UAB keeps football, so it's down to 1 expansion spot

(05-30-2015 11:11 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  This I will take issue with. Mohajir might be the most outspoken AD in the league, and we've been blacklisted by most of CUSA schools in part because we haven't been begging and pleading to get into their league.

That being said. Looks like UAB keeps football, so it's down to 1 expansion spot

Quote:Questions, of course, remain. If football does return, will people show up to watch in old Legion Field? Will those 53 municipalities put their wallets where their resolutions are, perhaps even forming an authority to help fund a more palatable stadium?

Will UAB football get a fair chance, even if it returns?

I don't know.

The answers will start to come Monday – with a flip of the coin.

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015...ab_fo.html

ASU to CUSA would be a better option for CUSA. Two years from now all the hype will be gone and UAB football will probably be in the same shape it is today? Time will tell?

I think we lost App's vote right about the time we traveled to their house for their homecoming and embarrassed them in front of all their fans and alumni. That one win may have cost us FBS.

I get the whole "we don't want private schools" attitude. It just feels like some big no win situation for Liberty. Win a lot and they are worried that we would outspend everyone. Lose a lot and we aren't attractive.

ASU as in AState. Last I heard APP State was onboard with us.

It stinks being a FCS school with a P5 budget.

(05-31-2015 08:05 AM)Liberty Fan Wrote:  ASU as in AState. Last I heard APP State was onboard with us.

It stinks being a FCS school with a P5 budget.

App State as in App State.

(05-30-2015 11:11 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  The fact is, you guys lost App State's support somewhere in the last few months. And once that happened, there was no chance of anyone overcoming the whole private vs public issue.

(05-31-2015 07:43 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  I think we lost App's vote right about the time we traveled to their house for their homecoming and embarrassed them in front of all their fans and alumni. That one win may have cost us FBS.

I get the whole "we don't want private schools" attitude. It just feels like some big no win situation for Liberty. Win a lot and they are worried that we would outspend everyone. Lose a lot and we aren't attractive.

Nobody black list you for a win. At least no intelligent person. Its football, everybody loses games. People want to surround themselves with others as similar as possible. Programs want to compete against similar programs. They simply want a fair playing field. If you cannot bring a similar program to the table then you must stand out remarkably in some other way, I.E. ND to ACC.

Personally, I believe the one thing LU needs to exploit is their TV broadcast. Expand it and perfect it as best as it can. The SB needs all the coverage it can get.

I look at the Atlanta Braves. When I was a kid in the 60's they were the most obscure team in the majors. They began their own production of games and created a following across the US that was not matched even by the great Yankees. It takes time and patience.

I get the impression that the Sun Belt would rather have no fans in the stands and TV blackouts rather than be playing on our first class TV productions. We thought when we first started our discussions with the Sun Belt that TV would be a trump card for us. They seem to have responded with a resounding, "Meh". Bizarre.

(06-01-2015 07:10 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(05-31-2015 07:43 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  I think we lost App's vote right about the time we traveled to their house for their homecoming and embarrassed them in front of all their fans and alumni. That one win may have cost us FBS.

I get the whole "we don't want private schools" attitude. It just feels like some big no win situation for Liberty. Win a lot and they are worried that we would outspend everyone. Lose a lot and we aren't attractive.

Nobody black list you for a win. At least no intelligent person. Its football, everybody loses games. People want to surround themselves with others as similar as possible. Programs want to compete against similar programs. They simply want a fair playing field. If you cannot bring a similar program to the table then you must stand out remarkably in some other way, I.E. ND to ACC.

Personally, I believe the one thing LU needs to exploit is their TV broadcast. Expand it and perfect it as best as it can. The SB needs all the coverage it can get.

I look at the Atlanta Braves. When I was a kid in the 60's they were the most obscure team in the majors. They began their own production of games and created a following across the US that was not matched even by the great Yankees. It takes time and patience.

If App was for us, and the only thing that we changed other than beating them in football was us offering FCOA, then I'd say their change of heart is either suspicious or they were never really behind us in the first place. But who's calling App State intelligent?

I know Liberty doesn't fit into the public vs. private mold of the conference. But why not look at the advantages of that rather than the disadvantages? Why is it that people want to scream about Liberty outspending everyone for a competitive advantage but don't want to point out that will push everyone else to be better and help against the non-conference opponents and the perception of the conference? The conference could forget about the (official name escapes me at the moment) public information request when you just CC Liberty on important emails you want to keep private. That's how the P5 schools get away with it. They each use the private school(s) in their conference to hide sensitive information. If Liberty was a conference member, they could help with setting up an online program and with a conference or individual school's TV network (like BP said). And if you are really scared to death of Liberty, invite them FB only like Idaho and NMSU for a trial run.

In all of this alignment talk, I feel slightly bad for the JMU fans. The thing with them is they have won a FCS championship. What is there for them to do in FCS that hasn't been done? But their administration can't make up their minds.

On the other hand, our administration wants to go...but the oppertunity isn't there yet. I can see only one of two ways to get there.

#1. The basketball team turns it around and sometime in the next 5 years gets a tournament win and changes the perception of the school so much that a conference decides to take us.

or

#2. Eventually Liberty wins an FCS title. I think if Liberty did that...this sounds crazy...but if the Big South would be willing to keep us for all of our other sports without football...the day after we win the FCS title we petition to enter FBS as an independent. The argument would be twofold...we would already be paying full COA and we've already accomplished reaching the pinnacle of the FCS level...I don't think the NCAA would turn that down.

The only problem is...the next years without a conference home for football would be BRUTAL. But how many people remember how long we played as an FCS independent before the Big South formed a football conference? It was like the years in the desert, but eventually we found a conference home.

And Appy State has blacklisted us in the past due to a loss. They lost to us in '97 (we kept them from making the playoffs)... then the following Spring the Student Government at Appy State got together and voted to never play us again because of our intolerance. (Funny Timing...we played them about 4 previous years with no problem...one loss and we should never play them again).

Even funnier...since they've scheduled games with us since...that tells you the power of Student Government verses the AD's office.

We may soon have to get the NCAA to let us move up to FBS as an independent. I am sure the Big South will let us stay without football.

The sooner we move up the better. We will be more attractive to conferences if we are FBS. But it will be very hard to find at least five home games per year.

I think we could do home and home games with Idaho, nmsu and UMass. As those three will be without a conference soon. ODU and schedule some of the mac schools. Some may think it would be attractive. They could pick up what they percieve as an easy FBS win.

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If we got UMass, Idaho, and New Mexico State then that is one or two home games a year alternating. Then add an FCS cupcake (which I would personally love to avoid). Then I would try to get schools in crap recruiting locations to come and visit to get the attention of Virginia recruits. Maybe Army throws us some bones. October and November will be hardest as schools play conference schedules. Hopefully more conferences stretch out their schedules to open more dates late in the season. It is a very long shot but potentially doable if things break perfectly. Then we have to win.

(06-01-2015 07:10 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(05-31-2015 07:43 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  I think we lost App's vote right about the time we traveled to their house for their homecoming and embarrassed them in front of all their fans and alumni. That one win may have cost us FBS.

I get the whole "we don't want private schools" attitude. It just feels like some big no win situation for Liberty. Win a lot and they are worried that we would outspend everyone. Lose a lot and we aren't attractive.

Nobody black list you for a win. At least no intelligent person. Its football, everybody loses games. People want to surround themselves with others as similar as possible. Programs want to compete against similar programs. They simply want a fair playing field. If you cannot bring a similar program to the table then you must stand out remarkably in some other way, I.E. ND to ACC.

Personally, I believe the one thing LU needs to exploit is their TV broadcast. Expand it and perfect it as best as it can. The SB needs all the coverage it can get.

I look at the Atlanta Braves. When I was a kid in the 60's they were the most obscure team in the majors. They began their own production of games and created a following across the US that was not matched even by the great Yankees. It takes time and patience.

The Braves even today are still enjoying popularity from their TBS days. LU developing broadcast and online capabilities for a league would only help their appeal.