Sun Belt changes

[ST_Lawson]

Sounds like officials from the Sun Belt are set to announce later this afternoon that they will be kicking Idaho and New Mexico State out of the conference.

For those that are unaware, NMSU and Idaho are football-only members, pretty much because their old conference dropped football after everyone else in the conference who had football (besides Idaho and NMSU) left for other conferences. They were WAY out of the conference footprint (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... C_2014.jpg) and the Sun Belt has been working on adding members that fit more within their footprint (like Georgia Southern and Appalachian State a couple of years ago, and Coastal Carolina over the next couple of years). They've also mentioned that they will be looking to add another school or two that are within their area. Liberty University (Lynchburg, VA) and Eastern Kentucky (Richmond, KY) have been mentioned as possible replacement teams, although Liberty has had difficulties getting interest from FBS conferences being a private, conservative religious school with a HUGE number of online students and a TON of money.

Outside of football, Idaho switched back to the Big Sky conference for all their other sports as of 2014 (having been a full member at the I-AA level for many years up until their move to I-A in 1996).
Possibilities now for Idaho are essentially:
- move football to the Big Sky and be the first school since the early '80s to drop from I-A/FBS to I-AA/FCS
- try to make a go of it as an Independent FBS team (nearly impossible to do for long if you don't have a ton of money and/or history like Notre Dame or BYU).
- completely drop football

NMSU stayed in the WAC for their other sports and had moved their football to the Sun Belt when it was dropped from being sponsored by the WAC. Not sure what options they have though. It's pretty unlikely that the MWC would accept them...I already mentioned that going independent is pretty difficult...they have a slightly better football program than Idaho (or at least, a nicer stadium), but there's not really any other FBS options in the area.

EDIT - Announcement is official now: http://sunbeltsports.org/news/2016/3/1/ ... 61055.aspx
2017 will be Idaho and New Mexico State's last year in the Sun Belt.

[sealhall74]

I would think Liberty U would be a welcome addition to just about any conference. Their entertainment facilities for visiting teams and fans are second to none. Just saw that they have ISUb at home in 2017.

http://www.liberty.edu/snowflex/

I also cannot believe how much attention they pay to their club sports. Probably second to none here as well.

http://www.liberty.edu/campusrec/clubsports/

[ST_Lawson]

I would think Liberty U would be a welcome addition to just about any conference. Their entertainment facilities for visiting teams and fans are second to none. Just saw that they have ISUb at home in 2017.

http://www.liberty.edu/snowflex/

I also cannot believe how much attention they pay to their club sports. Probably second to none here as well.

http://www.liberty.edu/campusrec/clubsports/

There's usually two big "sticking points" when it comes to FBS conferences considering Liberty:
1. Religious and VERY conservative school...often doesn't mesh well with the mostly public and fairly liberal schools in the Sun Belt and CUSA.
2. Money...Liberty, if it wanted to, could outspend just about any of the P5 schools and it sounds like some schools are wary to add a school that could "blow them out of the water" right away...financially.

Otherwise you would have seen Liberty move up to the Sun Belt a lot sooner (likely before Coastal Carolina and before the Sun Belt would have considered Idaho or New Mexico State).

[ST_Lawson]

Update on Idaho's situation, looks like they're dropping back down to FCS and will be rejoining the Big Sky for all sports (they've been in the Big Sky in all but football for a couple of years now).

[tweet]725360963969536001[/tweet]

[ST_Lawson]

And here's their official announcement: https://www.uidaho.edu/president/commun ... nouncement

They'll be full Big Sky members in 2018, which honestly, is the right place for them. In the 20 years they've been FBS, they've had 4 winning seasons and played in two bowl games (both the Humanitarian Bowl at nearby Boise State). Their "dome" stadium holds fewer people than Hanson Field, and they are now within driving distance of 3-4 other conference members. Idaho will become the first FBS team to move from FBS to FCS (or I-A to I-AA).

There's also a rumor that the Big Sky might be considering offering the other Sun Belt castoff, New Mexico State, the option of joining as well. NMSU currently plays non-football sports in the WAC, but will not have a conference home for football in 2018. They don't really have any other good options at the FBS level, and like Idaho, have not had a great deal of success at the FBS level. Really about the only other option that might work for NMSU would be the Southland conference, which, with the problems at the Louisiana state institutions, could be looking for a new member or two fairly soon.

There are also rumors that Eastern Michigan (MAC) and UMass (Independent) are also exploring the possibility of moving down a division...but those are still just rumors at this time.