Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[McCall]

15 minutes ago, jlog3000 said:

 

Yeah, but why a football-only conference WITHIN the FBS? It seems odd and unheard of. I wonder what will be next, a basketball-only conference?

It's not really odd at all. A lot of conferences in FCS and division II do it.

 

I fail to see how this affects the other sports as you're implying it does.

[sportsfan7]

23 minutes ago, McCall said:

It's not really odd at all. A lot of conferences in FCS and division II do it.

 

I fail to see how this affects the other sports as you're implying it does.

If anything, it would help because an FBS conference would get much more money than an FCS one.

[Sec19Row53]

45 minutes ago, jlog3000 said:

 

Yeah, but why a football-only conference WITHIN the FBS? It seems odd and unheard of. I wonder what will be next, a basketball-only conference?

In basketball, there only IS D-1. Football D-1 is broken into the Football Bowl Series and the Football Championship Series. Those in FBS compete to play in bowl games. Those in FCS compete to lay in a championship tournament. EVERYONE in D-1 basketball competes to play in "March Madness".

[Seadragon76]

It sounds like a crazy idea, and it is... but I think it might work.

 

A few of these schools have enough ambition to move up to the FBS level, so this planned merger would help kill two birds with one stone: Those schools get to move up to the FBS level and the WAC (assuming that's the name of the conference here) gets to accomplish their goal.

[jlog3000]

Let's say that it has successfully fulfilled that task or accomplishment, by reaching to the FBS from the FCS. Which side would win in the end, in a football-only league standpoint and a basketball-spekked all-sports league standpoint? The WAC or the A-Sun? And it can't be both.

[Dilbert]

1 hour ago, Seadragon76 said:

A few of these schools have enough ambition to move up to the FBS level, so this planned merger would help kill two birds with one stone

Honestly most of these schools would be picked up during the next realignment probably either by the American, CUSA, MAC or Sun Belt when their teams get poached.

 

 

1 hour ago, jlog3000 said:

Let's say that it has successfully fulfilled that task or accomplishment, by reaching to the FBS from the FCS. Which side would win in the end, in a football-only league standpoint and a basketball-spekked all-sports league standpoint? The WAC or the A-Sun? And it can't be both.

The WAC and A Sun are still separate conferences for basketball and other sports. The just wont sponsor football. Instead their football schools will compete together in a conference for football only. Its kinda like how the Atlantic 10 doesnt sponsor football but many of their schools play football in the CAA who does sponsor football while the other sports still compete in the A10.

[jlog3000]

4 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

The WAC and A Sun are still separate conferences for basketball and other sports. The just wont sponsor football. Instead their football schools will compete together in a conference for football only. Its kinda like how the Atlantic 10 doesnt sponsor football but many of their schools play football in the CAA who does sponsor football while the other sports still compete in the A10.

 

Don't get me wrong. I understand the concept. But I personally don't agree with it, due to the fact that two conferences to merge with each other for one sport just for only one automatic bid and possibly a slim-to-none chance for an extra at-large bid for postseason play.

[Germanshepherd]

Step 1: Move the conference up to FBS 

Step 2: Name the conference the WAC

Step 3: Play games on Wednesdays

Step 4: Call them WACky Wednesdays

Step 5: Profit 

[Dilbert]

3 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

 

Don't get me wrong. I understand the concept. But I personally don't agree with it, due to the fact that two conferences to merge with each other for one sport just for only one automatic bid and possibly a slim-to-none chance for an extra at-large bid for postseason play.

Conference USA was basically started this same way. The Metro Conference and the Great Midwest Conference merged to form Conference USA in 1995. Both conferences didnt sponsor football, yet most of their members played football as independents and often played each other every year already. The two conferences decided to merge. The ASun and WAC have been playing football against each other because of membership size in both conferences. This is basically what the ASun and WAC are trying to do but rather play in FCS where they are now they want to be in FBS.

[McCall]

6 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

 

Don't get me wrong. I understand the concept. But I personally don't agree with it, due to the fact that two conferences to merge with each other for one sport just for only one automatic bid and possibly a slim-to-none chance for an extra at-large bid for postseason play.

I don’t think you do get it. You still haven’t explained how this is actually bad for any other sport or anybody, period. These schools from theses two FCS conferences want to be FBS, so they plan to form one together. Again, has no effect on any other sport whatsoever.

 

And there’s no automatic bid in FBS.

[jlog3000]

7 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Conference USA was basically started this same way. The Metro Conference and the Great Midwest Conference merged to form Conference USA in 1995. Both conferences didnt sponsor football, yet most of their members played football as independents and often played each other every year already. The two conferences decided to merge. The ASun and WAC have been playing football against each other because of membership size in both conferences. This is basically what the ASun and WAC are trying to do but rather play in FCS where they are now they want to be in FBS.

 

Well that's a true fact. However, at least C-USA didn't and had never become a football-only conference when it was formed. It was an all-sports league that had teams with football like Cincinnati and Louisville and Southern Miss plus teams with basketball spekks such as DePaul and Marquette and Saint Louis, including those without football but would eventually later add them like UNC Charlotte and South Florida and UAB. That's why I would suggest (if I was a staff member of either the WAC or the A-Sun) that the merger should be for full membership instead of just only football. And over time, the non-football schools would need to defect for other regional conferences (because that's also how it occured in C-USA during the 2005-06 conference realignment).

[Dilbert]

8 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

 

Well that's a true fact. However, at least C-USA didn't and had never become a football-only conference when it was formed. It was an all-sports league that had teams with football like Cincinnati and Louisville and Southern Miss plus teams with basketball spekks such as DePaul and Marquette and Saint Louis, including those without football but would eventually later add them like UNC Charlotte and South Florida and UAB. That's why I would suggest (if I was a staff member of either the WAC or the A-Sun) that the merger should be for full membership instead of just only football. And over time, the non-football schools would need to defect for other regional conferences (because that's also how it occured in C-USA during the 2005-06 conference realignment).

So you would want them to go the Big East-American route? Have a full membership conference and then have all the non football schools leave and form their own conference.

[jlog3000]

6 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

So you would want them to go the Big East-American route? Have a full membership conference and then have all the non football schools leave and form their own conference.

 

I never said that the non-football schools should form a conference of their own. I clearly stated that the remaining ones should find other regional conferences elsewhere (i.e.: Denver to the WCC or Bellarmine to the Horizon or OVC, etc.)

[Red Wolf]

I've had doubts about the most recent FCS call ups outside of James Madison (and maybe Jax State), and I have even bigger doubts about this crew making a move en masse.

 

Granted, the only school I have any real knowledge about is Central Arkansas (go figure), but the idea of them being an FBS school seems insane. Not because they've grown a bunch in a short time and have massive infrastructure projects going. It's because of the opposite. They play in a stadium that holds around 10K. I have doubts about where they would get the money needed to do basic expansion, and the stadium itself is surrounded by other buildings on campus that they would need to deal with.

 

But also maybe I'm just a hater. That's entirely possible.

[GDAWG]

if the entire WAC makes the move to FBS, it's going to be a situation where their on campus stadiums are so small that they are going to have to play at a larger stadium in another city as the "home team" in order to play other FBS teams, especially ones with decent fan bases that can travel.  Like Tarleton State playing a non-conference "home game" against Texas Tech, not in Stephenville, Texas but at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas.    Or Stephen F. Austin "hosting" against UT San Antonio at NRG Stadium in Houston instead of in Nacogdoches.  

 

I live in the Dallas-Forth Worth area and I'm not sure of the number of Tarleton State, Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian, Sam Houston State, Texas A&M Commerce, Incarnate Word, Houston Baptist, Prairie View and Texas Southern Alumnus in this area.  I don't even know the number of Texas State, UT-San Antonio, UT-El Paso, Rice or Houston Alumni in this area either.    

[Dilbert]

1 hour ago, jlog3000 said:

 

I never said that the non-football schools should form a conference of their own. I clearly stated that the remaining ones should find other regional conferences elsewhere (i.e.: Denver to the WCC or Bellarmine to the Horizon or OVC, etc.)

Sorry, guess i should clarify. You'd rather kick out all the non football members. (ie: remove Wichita State from the American)

[jlog3000]

12 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

Sorry, guess i should clarify. You'd rather kick out all the non football members. (ie: remove Wichita State from the American)

 

To some extent. I mean, there are various examples. For instance, look how the Sun Belt did when they added James Madison from the FCS (the CAA to be specific), Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss (all from C-USA) to make it to 16 (at that moment). But due to some proverbial golden rule-style bylaw, that for full membership in an FBS conference, a school must commit for most sports that the conference sponsors (including football and basketball as main focus); compared to those of an FCS conference (with football and basketball as main focus, or basketball as main focus if it's a non-football leauge). But 2 of those 16 members don't sponsor football, which were Little Rock and Arlington (technically Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington); since neither are willing or wanting to add the sport at some point in the future, those schools had to find new conference homes based on geographic footprint, thus LR joining the OVC and UTA re-joining the WAC. Hence the Sun Belt got 14 full core members as of this school year.

 

Or back until 2005, when C-USA was the 1st hybrid conference in FBS history (then known as Div I-A), the league made their intentions clear on wanting to become a conference where all of its core member schools must have full membership (including football and basketball and top priority) after adding adding Rice, SMU, Tulsa and UTEP (all from the WAC), UCF (from the A-Sun for most sports and the MAC for only football) and Marshall (from the MAC); after losing Cincinnati, Louisville and USF (plus non-football DePaul and Marquette) to the Big East, TCU to the MW and non-football UNC Charlotte and Saint Louis to the A-10 at that time. Hence C-USA got 12 full core members, plus it debuted its first ever postseason bowl tournament game to determine its conference champion.

[Dilbert]

27 minutes ago, jlog3000 said:

Or back until 2005, when C-USA was the 1st hybrid conference in FBS history (then known as Div I-A)

What do you mean by hybrid conference? CUSA has always been at the I-A/FBS level. I know iwhen the NCAA reclassified Division I into I-A and I-AA in 1978, the Missouri Valley, Ivy, Southern and Southland Conferences were all at the I-A level, after 4 years they dropped down to I-AA, however until the mid 80s the Missouri Valley was a hybrid of I-A and I-AA schools. Tulsa, New Mexico State and Wichita State were I-A and the rest were I-AA.

[jlog3000]

31 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

What do you mean by hybrid conference?

 

As of having core full members of both types (those with football and those without football).

[Dilbert]

6 minutes ago, jlog3000 said:

 

As of having core full members of both types (those with football and those without football).

Big West was a hybrid before CUSA. In the early to mid 90s they had full members (San Jose State, Pacific, Utah State, UNLV, New Mexico State, Nevada), non football members (UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine) football only members (Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois, Southwestern Louisiana, Arkansas State) as well as an associate member (Hawaii women sports only). Big West then dropped football after the 2000 season.