Whether it is nobler, in the feeble minds of the Sun Belt or Big 12, to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous TV contracts or lack thereof? All levity aside, I will deconstruct the potential schools for the Sun Belt using a metric similar to what Frank the Tank did for the Big 12 candidates. Karl Benson recently stated that the Sun Belt schools do not want to expand because they need stability. True, considering that they have just lost Middle Tennessee State, Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, and North Texas. Nonetheless, how is adding one more school going to destabilize the Sun Belt? Stupidly, they sit at eleven, which is an awkward number. Just ask the Big Ten how they liked having eleven. That leaves you one short of a conference championship game and the potential of having three conference champions. Twelve is a logical number because then you can have two divisions of six and scheduling is easier for it. Even Benson wants a conference championship game. I will grade the schools with the following criteria:
1. It borders Appalachian State- Benson has made clear that he would prefer a school that shares a border with North Carolina to give App State a travel partner: 0-10 points.
2. Overall sports: this means that not only they are good in football but consistently good in all other sports like basketball and baseball.0-10 points.
3. Market value- the school has a sizable audience to sustain and augment the program.0-10 points.
4. Culture- The schools in the Sun Belt are universities in relatively small towns. 0-10 points.
5. Infrastructure- the school has the facilities and money to make the immediate move to FBC. 0-10 points.
Without any further ado, let us begin.
1. East Tennessee State- ETSU has recently accepted an invitation to rejoin the SoCon. The SoCon took a blow in membership with the exodus of Georgia Southern and App State. ETSU is an unknown quantity considering that just this year, they will be reinstating football. Nonetheless, ETSU has found a way to pay for its program by charging $125 more in tuition fees but currently, they lack the required facilities for its school to reach the 16,000 mark. One plus they have going for them is that they are only about a two hour drive from Boone, North Carolina but in East Tennessee, the market is spread very thin amongst schools like Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and MTSU. One other added bonus is that at least they will bring their other sports with them that have had success in more recent years.
TOTAL SCORE: 30
2. UT- Chattanooga: UT-Chattanooga has not had much luck in recent years, when it comes to their entire body of work athletically. Their programs have not cracked that glass ceiling that stands in the way of any kind of postseason berth. In weight of their sub-par athletics, they at least have a football stadium with a capacity of over 20,000 fans, more than enough needed for an upgrade in facilities. As a matter of fact, all the way up until 2009, Finley Stadium hosted the FCS National Championship game. The city of Chattanooga has a metropolitan area of over 500,000 people and is the only city in this nation that holds the unique distinction of having public internet, which by the way, is 50x faster than the rest of the nation on average. Being that they are in Appalachia, Chattanooga is only 2-3 away from App State.
TOTAL SCORE: 40
3. Tennessee State- TSU is a school that resides in Nashville, which immediately means that they will have to compete with Vanderbilt for viewership. Good luck with that. Also, TSU is an HBCU and culturally, it would not bode well for them being in not only a different conference but a different division. By definition, this means they will have to give up, saving one, all of their HBCU opponents like Jackson State. They play on LP Field, a stadium with an almost 70,000 capacity. Already spread thin with Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Titans, I do not think Tennessee State would have much luck bringing in any new viewers. Also, they do not bring in baseball with them and right now, the SBC is red hot in baseball. At least in Nashville, they would be only 4-5 hours from App State.
TOTAL SCORE: 24
4. Jackson State- JSU is another HBCU and I highly doubt that they would want to leave the SWAC, which has all of their rivals. Jackson is a city of about 570,000 in its metro area. Just like all other HBCUs, they face cash shortages and are steadily losing the arms race of college football money. An infusion from the SBC would be what the doctor ordered. Even if they are far from App State, JSU could link the majority of the east and west division schools together. JSU has also enjoyed much success in its athletics overall in recent years, but could they compete if they were given the bump? Also, being a native Mississippian, I do not know if anyone would care enough outside of Jackson, MS to give support to the Tigers. Maybe Jackson is enough to support JSU and at least the stadium, Mississippi Veterans Memorial, can seat 62,000. Also, it could foster more rivalries in-state against Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss.
TOTAL SCORE: 35
5. Lamar- a school that resides in Beaumont, TX, a town that barely cracks the 100,000 population mark. They have just recently reinstated football and have not fared too well so far. Nonetheless, baseball and men’s basketball have maintained success in recent years. They are far away from Boone, NC but would serve as a football rival with Texas State and would serve also to compete in all other sports with UT-Arlington.
TOTAL SCORE: 34
6. Missouri State- MSU has been mentioned in the blogosphere as a potential candidate. As it stands, they have not been that relevant in athletics and also, they would end up being another geographic outlier. Their market is not that large and would compete with viewership with Mizzou. No contest there.
TOTAL SCORE: 22
7. Eastern Kentucky- The Colonels have a lot going for them. They have played consistently well in the Ohio Valley, winning on a regular basis the football, baseball, and basketball championships. The football stadium holds 22,000 fans, more than enough for FBS level. EKU would only be about 5-6 hours away from App State. They are a small market but an excellent fan base. Culturally, they fit the small town aesthetic that the Sun Belt tends to exude. A decent add all-around.
TOTAL SCORE: 45
8. Coastal Carolina- The Chanticleers are consistent winners in their conference, the Big South, and they also are regular attendees in all NCAA tournaments, whether it is football, baseball, or men’s basketball. Based in Conway, South Carolina, they are only about 4-5 hours away from neighboring North Carolina. Also, the state of SC has grown so much that it has gained a representative in congress from the 2010 census. One minus that hurts CCU is that they lack the facilities to move up immediately and would seriously need to upgrade to meet FBS standards.
TOTAL SCORE: 40
9. James Madison- Time and time again, James Madison has been the ideal darling candidate for the SBC. As a matter of fact, they are like the hot chick that the Sun Belt has been courting but in the end, has become an unrequited love. JMU won a national title in 2004 in football and consistently make it to NCAA tournaments in all their other sports. JMU resides in the state or more technically, the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia has been a state that has seen its population swell, due to the influx of Yankees moving there. The Dukes have the facilities, including a football stadium that can seat almost 25,000 people, to move up to FBS immediately. Nonetheless, like the mythical unicorn, they have ran away from any of the SBCs offers. They are not interested in moving up, if that includes the Sun Belt. JMU is the ultimate prize for the SBC but so unattainable. JMU will not move up unless they have no other choice or maybe, are waiting for a more “worthy” conference to come knocking on their door.
TOTAL POINTS: 45
10. Liberty- Like JMU, they are in the very fertile state of Virginia. Liberty, due to its online college, has received a large cash infusion. Liberty is not bound by the financial constraints of depending on state funds, since LU is a private school. Liberty’s programs are driven to succeed and have done so in all sports including football, basketball, and baseball in these past few years. Liberty has the facilities including an over 25,000 seat capacity football stadium. They have hired a proven winner, Turner Gill, who managed to turn Buffalo into the MAC champion. Liberty has aspirations to become the “Notre Dame for Protestants.” As a matter of fact, they are the largest Baptist institute in the world. Liberty has plans to expand to the stadium to 70,000 seats. Another benefit is that they would be only about four hours away from App State. They have met all the metrics that have been laid out but there is an intangible that may be stopping their inclusion: controversy. Liberty University is joined at the hip with its legal arm, the Liberty Counsel, which is based in Clearwater, FL and the chair is Matthew Staver. The Liberty Counsel has been identified as an active anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, for its crusade against homosexuals having equal rights. Jerry Falwell, the founder of Liberty University, was once quoted saying that the purple Teletubby from the children show Teletubbies “ promotes homosexuality” and that 9/11 was caused by the “feminists, the ACLU, pagans, abortionists, and homosexuals.” Nonetheless, there are plenty of people at Liberty that are good and do not agree with these extreme points of view. There is one intangible that elevates them, even above JMU: they want to make the jump to FBS level and they want to be a member of the Sun Belt Conference. They are chomping at the bit for an invitation.
TOTAL POINTS: 50
There are a few others that I did not mention like Jacksonville State and the reason for that is because they would saturate an already saturated Sun Belt market: the state of Alabama and North Dakota State, due to the fact that they would be like Missouri State, a geographic outlier. UMass has been mentioned in news reports but they would only bring football with them and would be ready to kick the SBC to the curb the first chance they get. This has been a long article but hopefully, it has been informative and I thank you for reading it.
Filed under: Potential Expansion Posts 
