This happened almost two months ago. Hartwick was a former National DI champ in men’s soccer. The Sun Belt now only has five teams.

http://www.thedailystar.com/news/local_n...38879.html

The closest available team is probably Belmont, but they are moving to the SoCon from the Horizon for men’s soccer only.

Maybe the Sun Belt and MAC could merge their soccer. Both are having trouble keeping members for the sport.

A merger between the ASUN and Belt seems more likely in men’s soccer. The ASUN is losing its seventh team in USC-Upstate. The MAC used to have Hartwick which had better geography for them. WVU and SIUE are strong affiliates for that sport.

Is there not two additional SBC schools that can sponsor soccer? Shouldn't the SBC leadership see this as an opportunity to further consolidate their members? I would think that the ideal scenario would be to have 10 all-sports members and 0 affiliate/partial members (sorry UTA and LR, that includes you).

EAST:

Appalachian State
Coastal Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Troy

WEST:

Arkansas State
Louisiana
South Alabama
Texas State
ULM


Now that Hartwick is leaving, that leaves the SBC with Howard (soccer), UTA (non-football), and Little Rock (non-football) as affiliate/partial members and Howard is the only one needed from a NCAA requirement standpoint.

I'd rather the Sun Belt schools put effort into Wrestling rather than Soccer.

Soccer can merge with ASUN/MAC/CUSA and I'd be fine with that.

Send Howard to the Atlantic Sun, then the four remaining Sun Belt members should take Kentucky and South Carolina from C-USA.

C-USA
New Mexico, UAB, FAU, FIU, Charlotte, Old Dominion, Marshall

Sun Belt
Kentucky, South Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, App State

A-SUN
Howard, FGCU, Jacksonville, Stetson, North Florida, Lipscomb, NJIT

The other co-sponsor option would be the Southland, which has three schools with the sport (Central Arkansas in the MVC and Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word in the WAC).

I like that.

(04-28-2018 11:02 AM)BlueBird10 Wrote:  Is there not two additional SBC schools that can sponsor soccer? Shouldn't the SBC leadership see this as an opportunity to further consolidate their members? I would think that the ideal scenario would be to have 10 all-sports members and 0 affiliate/partial members (sorry UTA and LR, that includes you).

EAST:

Appalachian State
Coastal Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Troy

WEST:

Arkansas State
Louisiana
South Alabama
Texas State
ULM


Now that Hartwick is leaving, that leaves the SBC with Howard (soccer), UTA (non-football), and Little Rock (non-football) as affiliate/partial members and Howard is the only one needed from a NCAA requirement standpoint.

Considering half of those schools are already dealing with Title IX issues, adding another Men's sport does not seem like a prudent idea.

If we (putting my South Alabama hat on here) wanted to help App State, the rest of the Belt needs to add Field Hockey and Men’s Soccer.

Sun Belt Field Hockey:

App State
South Alabama
Troy
Arkansas State
Little Rock
Louisiana
Louisiana-Monroe
Texas State
Texas-Arlington

At that point all 12 schools would have men’s soccer.

If anyone outside Coastal Carolina and Georgia State still has Title IX issues, then they add Beach Volleyball - which several schools in the conference already sponsor.

(04-28-2018 01:38 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  If we (putting my South Alabama hat on here) wanted to help App State, the rest of the Belt needs to add Field Hockey and Men’s Soccer.

Sun Belt Field Hockey:

App State
South Alabama
Troy
Arkansas State
Little Rock
Louisiana
Louisiana-Monroe
Texas State
Texas-Arlington

At that point all 12 schools would have men’s soccer.

If anyone outside Coastal Carolina and Georgia State still has Title IX issues, then they add Beach Volleyball - which several schools in the conference already sponsor.

I just felt a little movement down south at that idea.


Also, you 11 need to get with the effing program and add Wrestling. I want to be done with the SoCon.

There are 5 schools in the AAC who don’t sponsor Men’s Soccer and 4 who don’t sponsor Women’s soccer. I’d like to see the 5 Sun Belt schools go to fill those open spots in the AAC.

Especially because Georgia Southern will soon be the Co-Owners of one of the best collegiate soccer arenas in the country

(04-28-2018 03:45 PM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  There are 5 schools in the AAC who don’t sponsor Men’s Soccer and 4 who don’t sponsor Women’s soccer. I’d like to see the 5 Sun Belt schools go to fill those open spots in the AAC.

Especially because Georgia Southern will soon be the Co-Owners of one of the best collegiate soccer arenas in the country

Eight AAC schools sponsored men’s soccer last season. Don’t think any have dropped it either.

Men’s soccer is difficult to rally fans at fb schools. Congrats on the new stadium.

(04-28-2018 12:19 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  Send Howard to the Atlantic Sun, then the four remaining Sun Belt members should take Kentucky and South Carolina from C-USA.

C-USA
New Mexico, UAB, FAU, FIU, Charlotte, Old Dominion, Marshall

Sun Belt
Kentucky, South Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, App State

A-SUN
Howard, FGCU, Jacksonville, Stetson, North Florida, Lipscomb, NJIT

The other co-sponsor option would be the Southland, which has three schools with the sport (Central Arkansas in the MVC and Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word in the WAC).

Sending a school away as a strategy to increase membership by one seems like the long way around. I don't know what the odds of getting either Kentucky or South Carolina to switch ARE, but

Odds( Getting one or both of Kentucky & South Carolina to switch) is bigger than Odds(Getting both of Kentucky & South Carolina to switch)

Seems like South Carolina, Coastal Carolina, App State, Georgia State is a nice cluster, and if Kentucky wants to come along with their SEC conference mate that is fine and all, but there's nothing particularly wrong with South Carolina, Coastal Carolina, App State, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Kentucky and Howard, and seven is safer than six.

Don’t think South Carolina would look kindly to playing in a conference with its former branch school. Kentucky might look more favorably on it, but they will probably stick together. The object for them is to be in the strongest league without schools in their states. CUSA provides that right now. The MAC might provide that, but it’s too cold in the late fall.

We have too many sports to begin with. We've not been competitve since the 70's. Time for App to drop Men's soccer.

I am a little surprised by some of the schools that do not sponsor mens soccer. I was aware about the SEC and B12 not offering it. Still thought a school like Texas would sponsor and that more P12 schools would as well

(04-29-2018 10:44 AM)gosports1 Wrote:  I am a little surprised by some of the schools that do not sponsor mens soccer. I was aware about the SEC and B12 not offering it. Still thought a school like Texas would sponsor and that more P12 schools would as well

I know Alabama and Vanderbilt had it at some point; Vanderbilt even played in the Sun Belt.

(04-29-2018 11:00 AM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(04-29-2018 10:44 AM)gosports1 Wrote:  I am a little surprised by some of the schools that do not sponsor mens soccer. I was aware about the SEC and B12 not offering it. Still thought a school like Texas would sponsor and that more P12 schools would as well

I know Alabama and Vanderbilt had it at some point; Vanderbilt even played in the Sun Belt.

South Alabama had an outstanding men’s soccer program at one time, but it went the way of the dodo (mainly due to Title IX) in 1999. USA won 5 straight Sun Belt titles until the Sun Belt discontinued the sport in 1996. USA then moved on to being an associate member of the Big South Conference. USA won the 1998 Big South championship and the Big South announced it would no longer accept South Alabama or any other institutions as associate members. In February of 1999 USA announced it was shutting down the men’s soccer program.

“Because of our financial concerns, gender equity, and the stability of a long-range men’s soccer conference, we have made the decision to eliminate men’s soccer as one of our intercollegiate sports. With gender equity and our NCAA peer review report, there is a need to provide monies to improve the women’s sports as well as the existing sports.”

“Discontinuing a program — especially one that has enjoyed as much success on the field as men’s soccer — is difficult under any circumstances. Like many other universities that recently have dropped various sports, we are faced with the challenge of meeting or increasing costs with limited financial resources, as well as the need and requirement to balance our sports participation to fairly reflect the gender mix of our student population.”

Were I Benson, I'd target the SLC schools, Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist, and Incarnate Word.

But first I'd try and see if I could intercept Belmont from the SoCon as they fit the geography better (Georgia St, Georgia Southern, App St, CCU and Howard in DC).

(04-29-2018 10:44 AM)gosports1 Wrote:  I am a little surprised by some of the schools that do not sponsor mens soccer. I was aware about the SEC and B12 not offering it. Still thought a school like Texas would sponsor and that more P12 schools would as well

Texas in some ways is a bit puzzling because of their location and TV situation - the four-letter Network can plug them into the American as an affiliate (essentially a placeholder for Wichita State/Navy), and the Longhorn Network ropes in SMU in addition to Texas.