Belmont to the Valley

[vbfan19]

Seeing discussions like this makes me think about how fans of the Valley schools in the late 80s/early 90s probably debated whether or not UNI should be "allowed" to join. I suppose it is lucky that UNI MBB had 2 decent seasons around that time (surrounded by many sub .500 seasons)

[clenz]

I just find it odd that MSU wants to go FBS given their lack of success at the FCS level. This spring was their first winning season since 2009, and they haven't finished a season better than 6-5 since 1996

It's almost like if you look at any addition to the FBS the last decade, sans App State or Georgia Southern, being good hasn't meant ****.

Texas State's history in the FCS was every bit as bad/worse than Missouri State's other than 2005.
Georgia State was an embarrassment of a program. Remember that time they dropped 10,000 dollars from the roof of the Georgia Dome with students on the field in an attempt to get students to go to the game? They had something like a 10% win percentage against FCS teams.
ODU was a start-up with no intention of going FBS. They got fairly good but they weren't added due to some rich history of being good.
CCU was the same as ODU but less good at football. They were decent at the end but weren't insanely special and didn't have any history of being good.
Liberty was consistently overrated and rarely won more than 5 or 6 games. IIRC they never won a single playoff game
UNC-Charlotte was Georgia State but a more affluent white suburb version of Georgia State's much more urban status

South Alabama and UTSA were created specifically to go FBS and did so with literally zero history - or even a coaching staff, players, facilities, etc. at their schools when they got the invite.

I guess we can go back further and look more closely at FIU, which was a start-up, FAU who was a start-up,
Troy went through a long stretch of meh before moving up
UConn had 1 playoff appearance in their history before moving up. They were 6-5 4-7 5-6 7-4 leading up to that playoff appearance and then 4-7 3-8 2-9 6-6 after
UMASS had a nice 10 year run between their title in 79 and their final playoff appearance in 2007. Over those 10 seasons, UMASS had 5 playoff trips but lost their first game 3 of those 5 games. After that last appearance in 07, they went 7-5 5-6 6-5 5-6 in their run-up to an FBS invite
Buffalo went from D3 independent to FBS in a 6-year window - so the idea that UST is the first D3 to D1 direct is just wrong. During the 6 seasons moving from D3 to as an FCS Indy to the FBS Buffalo went 0-11 2-9 3-8 1-11 1-11 2-9 1-10. They weren't even a dominant D3 program that was abusing the pre-Dayton rule era. In their 15 years in D3 ball before the Dayton rule, they went 68-82 and won more than 6 games twice - both in the early/mid-80s

When a program has the facilities, resources, and a market that is something a conference wants/can use it doesn't matter if the program is good. I'm not sure why people think being good actually matters

[clenz]

Seeing discussions like this makes me think about how fans of the Valley schools in the late 80s/early 90s probably debated whether or not UNI should be "allowed" to join. I suppose it is lucky that UNI MBB had 2 decent seasons around that time (surrounded by many sub .500 seasons)

I mean if you want to ignore the relationship UNI had with a number of the schools because our womens programs had been sharing the Gateway conference for a decade before that - remember the Valley absorbed the Gateway women's conference so they would have had to kick UNI out of the Valley completely rather than add the men's teams. Also ignoring UNI football had shared a conference with the MVC programs in the Gateway fFootball Conference and Mid-Con for nearly a decade at that point

I mean, if you want to ignore all of those factors that make up about 90% of the puzzle, then yes, you are correct

[BCPanther]

Two reasons we got in:

1) Eldon Miller. That man legitimized us as a DI program and proved that we were taking it seriously. He got absolutely jobbed at Ohio State and Bowlsby had the foresight to snatch him up when he did.

I get that money is a thing but it's a damn shame that we aren't playing basketball in Eldon Miller Arena.

2) Timing. The league had lost New Mexico State and West Texas State in the few years before and Tulsa was in their way out and were on the verge of the league folding as everybody else was starting to look. They hired Elgin who took SMS as they had nailed the transition and were an easy choice. They'd invited Northern Illinois but they chose FBS football. Took an absolute flyer on us because we had football and the best of the remaining facilities in the AMCU. Like Clenz said, we had a relationship with women's sports and Iradge was dominant in volleyball. It took a while for us to pay off but I'd like to think we proved ourselves.

[panther-state]

They'd invited Northern Illinois but they chose FBS football.

Or...they mailed the invite to Cedar Falls instead of DeKalb by accident.

[BrockLesnar]

I would add Belmont, Murry State, Northern Kentucky, and Liberty. Liberty and Northern Kentucky don't have many post season appearances, but are both up and coming. Both want a better conference, as well.

[clenz]

Hardest of passes on any and everything Liberty related

[BCPanther]

Liberty plays FBS football so they're a non-starter.

[Blue42]

I would add Belmont, Murry State, Northern Kentucky, and Liberty. Liberty and Northern Kentucky don't have many post season appearances, but are both up and coming. Both want a better conference, as well.

Northern Kentucky is an interesting name.

Right across the river from Cincinnati.

They seem to have a big appetite to move up.

[in_the_stands]

They were D-II as recently as 10 years ago, played in the same conference as Missouri-St Louis and Southern IL-Edwardsville (when SIUE was D-II).

[MNpanthers]

Unpopular opinion: The Valley should at the very least, check if WSU wants to come back (they won't of course)

The AAC is in tatters, and is in limbo right now at a bad time. Big 12 is wisely teasing more expansion, so the AAC can't jump on the MWC teams yet, everyone's holding out hope for a way better home.

WSU has no shot at the Big 12 or a football conference most likely. Could we lure them and a couple other mid pack AAC teams? Fun to imagine anyways.

The timing of this Belmont add seems like no coincidence. Feels like stocking up some strength for the realignment storm coming. This seems like a big win out of the gate, but who knows what chaos might be coming our way.

[CyCarp]

I assume this Belmont move would take effect for the 2022-2023 season? I saw they are having a press conference tomorrow, presumably about it.

[BCPanther]

Correct. Per Matt Norlander, Belmont joins next season (22-23) and the league is sticking with the double round robin and 20 league games.

[06panther10]

Correct. Per Matt Norlander, Belmont joins next season (22-23) and the league is sticking with the double round robin and 20 league games.

Beautiful.

In other words, we just eliminated one of the D3 type home game and replaced it with a free D1 game against a quality opponent as well as adding a quality road game.

Love this. Everybody needs the extra games with the scheduling difficulties.

[BCPanther]

Beautiful.

In other words, we just eliminated one of the D3 type home game and replaced it with a free D1 game against a quality opponent as well as adding a quality road game.

Love this. Everybody needs the extra games with the scheduling difficulties.

Correct. I'm really excited about Belmont. The NET boost that they're going to help with for the entire league is going to lock us in to being a multi-bid league.

The other bonus with having them on board is that we can be SUPER selective on whoever 12 is and take our time getting there. Nothing wrong with playing 3 years with 11 until all hell breaks loose in realignment again for 25-26.