BEARZ77 wrote:Some of you seem to want to turn this conversation ugly but I'm not sure why. I don't think that will serve any good purpose for the board, but choose your path. Personally I have nothing but good things to say about the Valley overall , and generally hope we stay for the long term; but conference affiliations like many other aspects of collegiate sports are undergoing huge shifts and I certainly won't apologize for MSU trying to look after it's best interests even if I don't always agree with our choices. Unlike WSU , I don't think the majority of Missouri State fans see MSU as being above the Valley, and we wouldn't be moving for that line of thinking.I don't recall seeing any scathing posts from MSU fans about getting out of the Valley and disparaging conference rivals . But some here seem to want to go that way towards MSU and are being disingenuous , because I frequent most team fan boards here and it's a rare board that doesn't have fans speculating or some wishing they could move to a next level league at some point. But like i said, choose your path.
I'm going to echo this. I love the MVC and its culture. I basically come from an MVC family: my grandparents met at SIU, my aunt and uncle met at Evansville, and my brother and I both graduated from Missouri State. I enjoy the rivalries, the history, and the competitiveness of the conference.
At the same time, I'm all in on Missouri State joining an FBS conference, and if C-USA is the conference that's offering that opportunity then I want it to happen. The path forward for Missouri State is to continue raising its profile as a major statewide institution with a national profile. Now, I'm not talking delusions of grandeur like P5 or anything like that (even in the distant future I see that as incredibly unlikely), but the strides we're making are huge: 25k student population, an increasingly engaged alumni base, frequent academic building renovations and construction projects, and probably most importantly the Carnegie classification as a doctoral/professional university.
Like it or not, being an FBS program is an integral part of the profile of major public university. Of course there are exceptions, but this is something that makes a difference in the minds of a lot of people in how they view public colleges. And Missouri is the second populous state without a second FBS school (New Jersey is the biggest, Minnesota being the next biggest after Missouri). The void is there for us to fill, and it'd be foolish for us to not take hold of an opportunity if it presents itself.
Why the rambling? What it comes down to is that Missouri State isn't too good for the MVC at all. The MVC is a great home for Missouri State. But if there are opportunities for growth and pushing forward then we need to take those opportunities. I understand that people can feel slighted when another fanbase wants to move conferences. The "What, are we not good enough for you?" question gets asked. But that's not it at all. Even if we do move conferences I'm still going to love Valley basketball.