by walliver on Sat Nov 21, 2015 11:15 am
The key for our conference ideal is a balance.
The Big South in football next year will have:
3 Baptist schools
1 Presbyterian school.
One geographic outlier (Monmouth)
and a large state university (Kennesaw)
The SoCon next year will have:
2 Baptist schools, a former Baptist school, and us.
3 medium sized public schools (4 if you count UNCG)
and 2 military schools which sort of fall in the middle.
I don't see us leaving the SoCon anytime soon, because there is really nowhere else to go. The Big South is not a good fit for football or basketball. We're too small for the CAA to want us, and travel expenses would skyrocket if we did join (things haven't worked out well for CofC). Going to non-scholarship football in the Pioneer League would not be particularly popular among fans, and even them, where would basketball go? The A-Sun is not a good fit, and we are not yet at the A-10 level.
To me, the key challenges with SoCon additions (and I see no need to add unless someone leaves) is to maintain the public/private balance, reasonable academic standards, and geographic diversity while controlling costs.
One of the reasons given for the move from D2 to D1 was increased name recognition outside of South Carolina. Students at a high school college fair are more likely to visit the Wofford table if they recognize the name. Athletic events at Samford, Mercer, Chatty, ETSU, and VMI provide name recognition in Alabama, Middle Georgia, East Tennessee and Virginia and help with academic recruiting. Any future additions to the SoCon should be geared to expand our brand. Adding PC, CSU, GW, or USC-Upstate doesn't do that. I don't want any new non-football members, and right now don't see any particularly attractive football schools that would be good long-term fits.
