Missouri State to Sun Belt Conference?

[tribecalledquest]

One thing I don't understand are the other Valley members talking about "if SWOMO goes, then WSU will definitely go someplace..." WSU doesn't have anywhere to go. If there was anywhere to go, WSU would be gone regardless of what SWOMO does.

Right. REALISTICALLY...where is WSU going to go?

A non football, public school in Kansas doesn't have a whole lot of options.

[Wufan]

One thing I don't understand are the other Valley members talking about "if SWOMO goes, then WSU will definitely go someplace..." WSU doesn't have anywhere to go. If there was anywhere to go, WSU would be gone regardless of what SWOMO does.

Right. REALISTICALLY...where is WSU going to go?

A non football, public school in Kansas doesn't have a whole lot of options.

Zero upgrades are available in any type of scenario that makes geographical sense. Non-goegraphical upgrades look like the way to go for wSU if any of these outliers will have us.

[AndShock]

I don't understand how SWOMO is so delusional as to think going to the Sun Belt will get them in line for a BCS invite. Springfield doesn't have 50k people to come to their football games, it's never going to happen. If I were to pick an FCS school to eventually make the leap to FBS and then BCS there are about 50 of them I would put ahead of SWOMO. Why aren't these 50 teams making the move? Is it because they don't have the "vision?" No, it's because they aren't stupid. Maybe SWOMO is making the move because they have nothing to lose. "Hey, if we go 0-13 for 5 straight years and average 4k fans a game, we'll just cancel our football program and no one will care."

[agrinut]

Here is the way most MSU fans see it. If our goal in the next 20 years or so is to get to the levels of a Kansas State or Oklahoma State, we will probably have a zero chance of getting there if we don't move our football program up. I don't think any of us think that the Sun Belt is a good choice but it may be our only choice and our last chance to move up. We have to get to the FBS level if we want to have any chance to move up to a bigger and better conference in the future. We could never get to the Big 12, for example, if we stay in FCS. I'm not saying that would ever happen anyway, but I'm just pointing out that its the only chance we would have to get to a conference like that. Sometimes you have to roll the dice and hope for the best.

Having said all of that, I'd say its about 50/50 as to whether or not we even make a move right now. Its a big expense and I'm not sure we are ready just yet. We will go though at some point, that I'm sure of.

Shouldn't the goal be more of getting on UNI's and then NDSU's level first? Or is that not in the 20-year plan?

This all reminds me of Creighton joining the Big East and assuming it meant they were Syracuse. But even that wasn't this bad because Creighton was at least Creighton and not, well, SWOMO.

One thing I don't understand are the other Valley members talking about "if SWOMO goes, then WSU will definitely go someplace..." WSU doesn't have anywhere to go. If there was anywhere to go, WSU would be gone regardless of what SWOMO does.

Obvious success is important, but it is less important than marketability and potential TV sets. I'll be honest the sunbelt sucks. I think had the MVC done what our president asked of the MVC last year we would be more inclined to stay. But the easterns blocks complete refusal to look at western schools coupled with the rejection of NCAA unit distribution restructuring has turned him off to the MVC. He pushed and continues to push the 12 member structure. The MVC added a school in Chicago to get into that market. Let's not forget that they could not even meet the minimum requirements for a beat writer. MSU is attempting to be proactive, it may or may not work in thier favor.

[Cdizzle]

Obvious success is important, but it is less important than marketability and potential TV sets. I'll be honest the sunbelt sucks. I think had the MVC done what our president asked of the MVC last year we would be more inclined to stay. But the easterns blocks complete refusal to look at western schools coupled with the rejection of NCAA unit distribution restructuring has turned him off to the MVC. He pushed and continues to push the 12 member structure. The MVC added a school in Chicago to get into that market. Let's not forget that they could not even meet the minimum requirements for a beat writer. MSU is attempting to be proactive, it may or may not work in thier favor.

I have never in my life watched a Sun Belt football game. Nor have I seen a Sun Belt ad. Where is the marketability and TV exposure? Sounds made up.

[PantherSigEp]

I don't understand how SWOMO is so delusional as to think going to the Sun Belt will get them in line for a BCS invite. Springfield doesn't have 50k people to come to their football games, it's never going to happen. If I were to pick an FCS school to eventually make the leap to FBS and then BCS there are about 50 of them I would put ahead of SWOMO. Why aren't these 50 teams making the move? Is it because they don't have the "vision?" No, it's because they aren't stupid. Maybe SWOMO is making the move because they have nothing to lose. "Hey, if we go 0-13 for 5 straight years and average 4k fans a game, we'll just cancel our football program and no one will care."

The Sun Belt is already littered with teams with 0-13 potential and expectations. I don't think the Bears will be able to move right in and take that away from them immediately.

[BCPanther]

Wait, Missouri State wants more money from the NCAA tournament for NOT making it?? They also wanted a Western School to reduce travel??

Now they want to move to a league that is going to increase travel exponentially and have less NCAA tournament money...

That's just too good. Have fun in the Sun Belt guys. Tuesday Night Football on ESPNU and a basketball championship game that is on at 11:00 AM Sunday of Championship Week. That's really the 'Big Time."...

[CaseyGarrisonforPrez]

Obvious success is important, but it is less important than marketability and potential TV sets. I'll be honest the sunbelt sucks. I think had the MVC done what our president asked of the MVC last year we would be more inclined to stay. But the easterns blocks complete refusal to look at western schools coupled with the rejection of NCAA unit distribution restructuring has turned him off to the MVC. He pushed and continues to push the 12 member structure. The MVC added a school in Chicago to get into that market. Let's not forget that they could not even meet the minimum requirements for a beat writer. MSU is attempting to be proactive, it may or may not work in thier favor.

I have never in my life watched a Sun Belt football game. Nor have I seen a Sun Belt ad. Where is the marketability and TV exposure? Sounds made up.

I have a hard time believing that a real sports fan has never watched a Sun Belt football game. Two years ago ULM beat top 5 Arkansas the first week of the season and it was a huge story. I can still to this day remember watching Troy and DeMarcus Ware beat an overrated Missouri team in 2004 on a Thursday night. I am a complete deginerate football fan but I always watch the Sun Belt games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights late in the year. And I've never had a dog in the Sun Belt fight either. I figured most sports fans were the same. I have a real hard time watching a full college basketball game lately. I might be in the minority but I'd absolutely be willing to sacrifice a little bit on the basketball side to play a nationally televised football game 2-3 times a year.

[CaseyGarrisonforPrez]

I'll say this much too about Missouri State and the reaction here: people continue to pile on and ridicule us but this thread is bordering on five pages. If we are such a huge underperformer then nobody would care about us leaving but instead it is the talk of the Valley all this week. I want to be respectful to the Missouri Valley Conference and I have generally been that way, but you can only state facts stoically for so long before you start to get really frustrated.

Now on point in the whole RPI debate. You have to factor us and our steady progression as a program into the new SBC. And also our potential replacement in the Valley. If it's like UMKC to appease Wichita State then the disparity in our potential new league and old league isn't so great. Still not as good, but gap shrinks some.

[Cdizzle]

I'll say this much too about Missouri State and the reaction here: people continue to pile on and ridicule us but this thread is bordering on five pages. If we are such a huge underperformer then nobody would care about us leaving but instead it is the talk of the Valley all this week. I want to be respectful to the Missouri Valley Conference and I have generally been that way, but you can only state facts stoically for so long before you start to get really frustrated.

Now on point in the whole RPI debate. You have to factor us and our steady progression as a program into the new SBC. And also our potential replacement in the Valley. If it's like UMKC to appease Wichita State then the disparity in our potential new league and old league isn't so great. Still not as good, but gap shrinks some.

I'm not sure if anyone does care if SWOMO leaves. This hasn't been 5 pages of "what will we ever do without SWOMO?!?!" It's been 5 pages of "I can't believe SWOMO thinks this is a good idea."

In what world would adding UMKC appease Wichita State? Oh, right, these are the logical statements made by people that think moving to the SunBelt is a good idea.