Explain this to me

[wsushox1]

Why does Missouri State want to go into irrelevancy and get into the Sun-Belt??

You just had a game on ESPN (you're welcome) and that will NEVER happen in the Sun-Belt.

Explain it, using 400 words or less, why they want to do that.

[BCPanther]

Football. blah, blah, blah. John Q Hammonds (RIP) blah blah blah. Major conference, blah blah blah. Big 12 blah blah blah

There you go...

[saluki762]

MVC is becoming a dumpster fire?

[saluki762]

MVC is becoming a dumpster fire?

For what its worth, I don't believe this.

[squirrel]

As the Big East found out, football is the only thing that matters. In other words, outside of the Missouri Valley Conference, basketball's imprint in the big picture outside of a few weeks in March is probably less than 10% of the marketplace.

It's sad, and even sadder that our football-centric society is a bunch of mind-numbed robots, but that's the reality of it.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

I believe MSU's rationale is they're sold that Football - not Basketball - is the vehicle more apt for marketing Missouri State University, under the pretense that MSU reaches the BXII or AAC long-term.

While I admire idealism, I find the notion laughable and factually incorrect. First, the Sun Belt fails to move any needle -- the conference has never in a single week produced a team with a Top-25 ranking. Furthermore, the Sun Belt hit its apex of 7 bowl eligible teams last year (mostly due to easy scheduling), yet only 2 of those 7 received bowl invitations -- those being the New Orleans and GoDaddy.com Bowls. That tangibly renders the accomplishments of the 5 non-invited teams' moot. Their seasons concluded in vain.

Futhermore, who -- out of the non-Western, non-BCS Football brethren -- has truly "won" in conference realignment? The former SWC schools of late, but they had decades upon decades of tradition and ridiculous endowments. UCF and USF -- one is knocking on the door of becoming the highest enrollment university, the other is the home to the #3 populus state and the #2 recruiting state. San Antonio? #1 recruiting state, massive market, massive stadium. Old Dominion and Charlotte? Again, the latter offers the untapped Charlotte market. The former offers a track record of fan support at the FCS level and fertile recruiting grounds.

Yes, Western Kentucky was able to parlay the Sun Belt into Conference USA. The odds of replication are lower than when WKU pulled it off, due to there being a declining finite number of spots, and Arkansas State and Louisiana have far more established fan bases to receive the next 2 CUSA spots that open (and it could be awhile).

An invitation to Conference USA is not what it once was. The old Conference USA is now the AAC. The new Conference USA is the old Sun Belt. The new Sun Belt is glorified FCS Football, sans Arkansas State and Louisiana.

The only avenue Missouri State can achieve notoriety through the FBS avenue, IMO, is by earning the access bid. They'll be up against 70 schools to do so -- 70 schools with more history and track record of support (with maybe 2-3 exceptions). Good luck with those odds.

Otherwise, football will suck the athletic budget dry. Basketball attendance will decline in the Sun Belt. Yes, Missouri State's realistic best case scenario is a 3.5 hour bottom-tier bowl game on ESPN2. Is that reward really worth all the athletic expense (and deprivation of the basketball program) to boot?

Missouri State is completely capable of establishing itself as a Top-10 non-BCS/AAC/BE Basketball school, if the President would just commit to it. Springfield has a track record of supporting Basketball for decades, as opposed to 9k attendance on beautiful outdoor fall Saturdays for Football. They lose that capability with the combination of Sun Belt basketball and Football sucking Basketball dry (which will happen in the Sun Belt).

Winning a game (or two) in the NCAA Tournament warrants far more marketing for MSU than the realistic best case scenario in Football -- a bottom-tier 3.5 hour bowl game on ESPN2.

I'm for idealism -- but realistic idealism. Not the other kind that drove Woodrow Wilson into Veracruz poisoning American-Mexican relations for decades. I fear Clif Smart is driving this great University into Football and athletic purgatory under the false belief MSU will one day be a major player in the FBS theatre.

[MSUBear42]

Why does Missouri State want to go into irrelevancy and get into the Sun-Belt??

You just had a game on ESPN (you're welcome) and that will NEVER happen in the Sun-Belt.

Explain it, using 400 words or less, why they want to do that.

I'm under the firm believe that we are at the top of where we can be without moving up football.

If we want to become a top-level school (even if it's 100 years from now), we can't do it without the highest level of football. Period.

The school itself is making ridiculous improvements. Our enrollment is breaking records every year, even with higher admission standards. Fast forward 2-3 years from now and our campus will hardly be recognizable. The bad thing is the athletics side of things hasn't caught up yet, but it will get there.

You can't argue about it being a step down in basketball, it is, but it's an enormous step up in football and is a step up in baseball. We would go in and immediately be the best basketball program and best soccer program. We would continue to dominate swimming and diving.

So, attack us all you want, but once Wichita leaves for the Big East, AAC, or Mountain West, the conference is officially screwed. As evidence by the add of Loyola, Elgin lacks the ability to bring in the right programs. So, have fun with North Dakota, South Dakota State, NDSU, and UMKC.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Why does Missouri State want to go into irrelevancy and get into the Sun-Belt??

You just had a game on ESPN (you're welcome) and that will NEVER happen in the Sun-Belt.

Explain it, using 400 words or less, why they want to do that.

As evidence by the add of Loyola, Elgin lacks the ability to bring in the right programs. So, have fun with North Dakota, South Dakota State, NDSU, and UMKC.

Loyola was the most financially equipped of any potential add. Indications are Loyola is who WSU's President wanted to add, and Play Angry's podcast with Elgin gives substance to this rumor.

I think you need to look up NDSU's basketball RPIs of recent, their fan base, and growth.

SDSU and UMKC are terrible adds. There's also zero evidence either is knocking on the door of an MVC invite. I wouldn't base your argument on that.

[jwa123]

There are only a limited number of seats at the table to move from FCS to FBS. If MSU feels as MSUBear42 points out that they are best served going forward with football as their lead sport then any overture by the Sunbelt or any other FBS conference needs to be considered. It's that simple. What one thinks of the Sunbelt now may not be the same Sunbelt going forward and is irrelevent if football is the thing because the Sunbelt has one of the few remaining seats & some would argue the only one.

Now the rumor is the Sunbelt is going to add someone this spring in the eastern United States and the rumor goes on to think it is either JMU or Liberty. Then the door is effectively closed for further Sunbelt expansion many would argue. This would give the conference the 12 teams it needs for a football playoff. With the revenue sharing the NCAA has worked out with the G5, there is a financial disencentive to going beyond 12.
I suppose a G5 conference could go beyond 12 for the right reasons but those right reasons would only be to make up and add to the lost money of the NCAA revenue sharing.

Therein lies the possibility of an opening for MSU. Maybe their addition adds the market that conference wants and reduces travel costs for those schools on the western front of the conference. From a geographic standpoint MSU basically fits the Sunbelt footprint. So in the end, if they want football to be the big dawg in Springfield the possibility of the Sunbelt calling would have to be considered strongly.

I for one hope it doesn't happen but if it does I understand why.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I believe MSU's rationale is they're sold that Football - not Basketball - is the vehicle more apt for marketing Missouri State University, under the pretense that MSU reaches the BXII or AAC long-term.

While I admire idealism, I find the notion laughable and factually incorrect. First, the Sun Belt fails to move any needle -- the conference has never in a single week produced a team with a Top-25 ranking. Furthermore, the Sun Belt hit its apex of 7 bowl eligible teams last year (mostly due to easy scheduling), yet only 2 of those 7 received bowl invitations -- those being the New Orleans and GoDaddy.com Bowls. That tangibly renders the accomplishments of the 5 non-invited teams' moot. Their seasons concluded in vain.

Futhermore, who -- out of the non-Western, non-BCS Football brethren -- has truly "won" in conference realignment? The former SWC schools of late, but they had decades upon decades of tradition and ridiculous endowments. UCF and USF -- one is knocking on the door of becoming the highest enrollment university, the other is the home to the #3 populus state and the #2 recruiting state. San Antonio? #1 recruiting state, massive market, massive stadium. Old Dominion and Charlotte? Again, the latter offers the untapped Charlotte market. The former offers a track record of fan support at the FCS level and fertile recruiting grounds.

Yes, Western Kentucky was able to parlay the Sun Belt into Conference USA. The odds of replication are lower than when WKU pulled it off, due to there being a declining finite number of spots, and Arkansas State and Louisiana have far more established fan bases to receive the next 2 CUSA spots that open (and it could be awhile).

An invitation to Conference USA is not what it once was. The old Conference USA is now the AAC. The new Conference USA is the old Sun Belt. The new Sun Belt is glorified FCS Football, sans Arkansas State and Louisiana.

The only avenue Missouri State can achieve notoriety through the FBS avenue, IMO, is by earning the access bid. They'll be up against 70 schools to do so -- 70 schools with more history and track record of support (with maybe 2-3 exceptions). Good luck with those odds.

Otherwise, football will suck the athletic budget dry. Basketball attendance will decline in the Sun Belt. Yes, Missouri State's realistic best case scenario is a 3.5 hour bottom-tier bowl game on ESPN2. Is that reward really worth all the athletic expense (and deprivation of the basketball program) to boot?

Missouri State is completely capable of establishing itself as a Top-10 non-BCS/AAC/BE Basketball school, if the President would just commit to it. Springfield has a track record of supporting Basketball for decades, as opposed to 9k attendance on beautiful outdoor fall Saturdays for Football. They lose that capability with the combination of Sun Belt basketball and Football sucking Basketball dry (which will happen in the Sun Belt).

Winning a game (or two) in the NCAA Tournament warrants far more marketing for MSU than the realistic best case scenario in Football -- a bottom-tier 3.5 hour bowl game on ESPN2.

I'm for idealism -- but realistic idealism. Not the other kind that drove Woodrow Wilson into Veracruz poisoning American-Mexican relations for decades. I fear Clif Smart is driving this great University into Football and athletic purgatory under the false belief MSU will one day be a major player in the FBS theatre.

I admire this post muy mucho.

I might add one more bullet point - common sense or absence thereof.