The Sun Belt Conference is investigating the possibility of adding to its roster of schools, several sources reported this week.
The Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun News reported Thursday that the conference is interested in the Conway, S.C. school as part of a proposed plan that would involve the creation of East and West divisions in the league.
Coastal Carolina Director of Athletics Matt Hogue confirmed the talks to Ryan Young, who covers the CCU beat for the Sun News.
“We’ve been contacted and we’ve had some discussion and that’s really the extent at this point,” Hogue said. “That’s where we are. We can acknowledge that they have contacted us, and certainly our stance has always been we would explore any opportunities that are presented to us.”
Hogue also stated that the talks were part of an exploratory plan from the league’s offices.
“They did initiate the contact. We’ve really just kind of been trading information,” he said. “We’re learning a little about them and they’re learning about us.”
The Lafayette (La.) Daily Advertiser first reported the talks, quoting Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson.
“I think Eastern Kentucky has been public in declaring their interest in moving up to FBS. I think that Coastal Carolina has not made that public statement,” said Benson to the newspaper. “So has Eastern Kentucky contacted the Sun Belt? Yes. Have we had conversation with Coastal Carolina and others? Yes. That’s about all I can say.”
Benson largely echoed those comments on Twitter Thursday, closing with the same statement:
Coastal is one of two Big South schools who appear to have aspirations — public or otherwise — of playing FBS football. Liberty University, based in Lynchburg, Virginia, has expressed interest on several occasions. The Daily Advertiser piece, however, stated that Liberty has “not made any discernible progress” with the league.
11 schools currently play football in the conference, including Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Idaho, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State, South Alabama, Texas State and Troy.
No timetable has been finalized for when — or if — the conference will announce its expansion.
View Comments (37)
Any FCS program that is in a halfway decent hoops conference would be nuts to move to the Sunbelt which is not good at all in hoops. Conferences like the Missouri Valley, Summit & A10 (looking at you UMASS) that have won Men's Tourney games earn credits that are shared by the ENTIRE conference. Which means even if you are horrible at basketball (Western Illinois) you still make $ off of it because of your conference mates. Any FCS football program that plays hoops in the MO Valley, Summit or A10 would be nuts to transition to FBS unless you could get into a league that is also good at hoops and the only Gang of Five League (non power D1) conference that is good at hoops in the Mountain West or the AMerican. CUSA lost all their good hoops programs to the AMerican, the Sun Belt has none, the MAC only has Ohio.
MWC & the American will only add teams if they lose some which won't happen at least of a while until Texas pulls it head out of the sand and realizes the Big 12 needs 12 teams.
EKU will lose any tourney credits that it's conference mates have earned in Men's Tourney Hoops like Murray State's win in 2012 and Moorhead State's win in 2011. Pretty good showing for a mid major hoops conference and every team gets paid when they win.
I understand what you are saying and the Sun Belt does have work to do in hoops but last year the Sun Belt's Conference RPI was 20th with Georgia State having a good showing in the tournament. That puts them in the lower half of the second tier which includes the Missouri Valley (which really is only two great teams) and above the RPI of the Summit. But let's face it the only teams with quality football the Sun Belt could add will not help them in round ball anyway.
Mark I think the sport is called BASKETBALL not hoops. Just saying......
Ok Professor
Same deal for Coastal Caroiina that has never won an NCAA men's tourney hoops game, 2 of your conference mates have won tournament games in the last 10 years Winthrop in 07 UNC Ashville in 2011. You leave and no Hoops $ for you.
basketball does not pay the bills for most schools. Football does!
CCU would be a horrible selection. They are a liberal arts school withe zero research and no graduate school, and a miniscule endowment. They have no business being associated with comprehensive schools of much higher academic standard such as Texas-Arlington, Texas State, Louisiana Lafayette, Arkansas State, South Alabama, and Georgia State.
EKU is no academic powerhouse, but there is not much difference than Troy or Georgia Southern or Louisiana Monroe. My hunch is EKU is far more likely to get past the selection committee Presidents. Karl Benson really shows he doesn't pay attention to the culture side, similar to when he threw out Liberty. Anyway I'd give EKU a 49% chance and CCU a 1% chance of being selected, and a 50% chance nobody.
So basically you feel that crappy schools like ULL UTSA et al shouldn't associate themselves with REALLY crappy schools? Fair enough I guess
So, how's that working out for you now? Hope you didn't bet it all against CCU, 99 to 1.
If so, that would leave the B12 as the only FBS conference without a CCG.
The Sun Belt should add them both, and bump Idaho out. Makes no sense to travel almost 2,000 miles for every game outside of NMSU.
Other than ego, there is no reason for Idaho to be FBS. They're a perfect geographical and cultural fit for the Big Sky.
Geographically, not good for EKU or CCU, but it's nice to see that Sun Belt is trying to get on board with 12+teams situation in the FBS. If all of the 10 conferences could have a CCG, maybe the CFP will expand to 6 teams, with a 4-team NIT bracket; or an 8-team bracket.
It's the same deal with Idaho.
Actually, after looking at the conference as a whole, and split into a West and East division, CCU and EKU isn't a bad idea. I'm not sure how both schools fair in other sports, but their usual annual FBS matchups would change, for the better.
And UMass is begging to get into the Sun Belt (or anywhere) and are not even an option. Pretty sad state of affairs for UMass.
Not sure how desperate they are. They have an on campus stadium which they are expanding and can always use Foxboro to play Power conference teams. Which is a situation that few Gang of 5 teams have. They've not done well in FBS but have played in 3 FCS Title games and won one.
What G5 teams are looking for a pro stadium 100 miles away from their campus to play in?
Having a 70k seat stadium means UMass can host BYU, Colorado and Vandy. Teams that otherwise would never play a road game at a G5 opponent
We are all jonesing for football, but when a program is contemplating a conference chance, more is involved than football especially for the FCS.
If your a MVFC program or UMASS/URI (A10 Basketball) where 4-5 teams get NCAA tourney bids many years; you get $ when those teams win tournament games so even if you don't qualify you still make postseason $. Leaving that $ behind when exiting a conference is a consideration. That's partly why UMASS rejected the MAC's all or nothing ultimatum.
Mark........Mark" BYU is playing at SJ St and Utah St this year. Last year they played at 3 G5 stadiums. All under 70K. Colorado is going to Hawaii this year and has a future game scheduled with Air Force. And Vandy is going to Middle Tennessee and Houston this year. Yo9ur statement is clearly wrong.
Everyone else is waiting for the XII dominoes to fall. If the XII takes a team or two from the MW, the Sun Belt will see NMSU finally get into the MW as a replacement, and the MW could even take UTEP forcing C-USA to find another replacement. (Idaho, really seems to be headed back to FCS, but a decimated MW would probably end up taking them to stay at 12. Hey, if it helps Hawai'i win a game, it's good.)
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Benson's just being proactive, which makes sense. The SBC gets hit by the dominoes falling every time the American adds a Conference USA team, which then has grabbed half of the original Sun Belt. James Madison makes more sense to consider than Liberty though. Delaware would be a good pick too.
The Sun Belt has a very good plan in place to have a 14-16 team league with East and West Divisions. UMass will become the 14th or 16th School added. I think James Madison or Liberty will also be added. I see 2018 as the Full Membership for the FCS schools, and 2017 for UMass. Most of the Eastern Schools will be Football only members.