What do you guys think about this?
Would Savannah State be a decent member for the Atlantic Sun Conference? They remind me of USC Upstate-except they are already DI...
I sent the following message to the e-mail addresses below:
president@savstate.edu, bellairs@savstate.edu, masharik@savstate.edu, stephensc@savstate.edu, broadnax@savstate.edu, buskeyc@savstate.edu, gunterr@savstate.edu,
tgumbart@atlanticsun.org, ssturek@atlanticsun.org, sbooker@atlanticsun.org, mwilson@atlanticsun.org, emoyer@atlanticsun.org, jroberts@atlanticsun.org,
Dear Friends,
As you may be aware, the Atlantic Sun Conference recently dropped to 11 members with the departure of Gardner-Webb University. Wouldn’t our conference be stronger with 12 teams?
Personally, I believe Savannah State University would be a great fit in the Atlantic Sun Conference. I also believe belonging to a conference would strengthen Savannah State’s athletic program and enhance recruiting.
I am making this suggestion primarily because the Atlantic Sun Conference is based in my hometown of Macon, Georgia. I would like to see our local Division I conference grow to 12 teams and compete on the national stage.
Please check out these links for more information:
http://www.atlanticsun.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Sun_Conference
Savannah State’s membership in the Atlantic Sun Conference would be a win-win partnership for Savannah State, the conference, and member schools. The conference already supports most of the sports in which Savannah State University participates.
Please feel free to contact me if there is anything I can do to help our conference once again reach 12 members.
Warm regards
I would think it would do more for Savannah State than the A-Sun, seeing as how awful Savannah State usually is.
Then again, the A-Sun might provide the school the ability to grow.
More teams is not going to help the A-Sun (unless it's a team that's already good like Winthrop)... Our RPI would improve if we dropped to 10 members instead of climbing back to 12. So 11 is probably best for the time being. Sav. State is not going to help us.
Honestly, I feel like the A-Sun has hit rock bottom. So what do we have to lose?
It would dig a deeper hole. It's one more team that has to drastically improve. We have enough of those already! Besides, the A-Sun would have taken Savannah State already if they wanted them. They passed several times when it was obvious Sav. State wanted in.
It would dig a deeper hole. It's one more team that has to drastically improve. We have enough of those already!
I agree with you. But I think we have several teams that need to "drastically improve" (including Mercer).
I don't think they would be the worst team in our conference (they would be close), but I'll bet they would still beat upstate...
Just my opinion though...
Yes we are on the list of teams in need of improvement! And you're right about a couple things. Savannah State wouldn't be the last place team. I would trade them for North Florida right now.
North Florida actually does well in some other sports besides Men's Basketball. Savannah State would be a burden on the conference at this point in time. They definitely fit geographically, and if they get their act together they might make a good choice, but I think it is probably pretty clear that the ASun does not want them considering 4 DII schools making the transfer to DI were chosen over Savannah State who is looking for a conference.
My point in bringing up Savannah State is simply this: (1) the A-Sun has already hit rock bottom the only place to go is up and Savannah State wouldn't be our worst team, (2) more teams = more exposure & Savannah is a nice size market, (3) nice geographic location, (4) Savannah State already has DI football (which would add another football school to the conference), (5) more teams = more money for the conference, and (6) 12 is a nice round number...
You all made good points, but I still think it would be a great move (for the above reasons).
I do think Savannah State would be a good addition geographically to the A-Sun. It fits in well with JU and UNF plus some potential for a good "Battle of I-15" with Mercer.
Though honestly that's probably a tad optimistic, as I doubt Mercer's students will get fired up for playing a small HBCU or vice-versa. Truly, Savannah State made a mistake by moving to D-1 without ensuring the MEAC was going to take them.
That said, let's put them into perspective. Savannah State has 1-AA football and somehow they subsist on a
budget of 2.4 million. That's practically no funding for the other sports. They'd have to show some commitment to bringing their other sports up to a decent funding level.
Compared to other A-Sun budgets, Savannah State is clearly light years behind...(info from the US Dept of Education)
Stetson - 9.6 million dollars
Campbell - 8.2
Jacksonville - 8.2
Kennesaw St. - 7.6
Belmont - 7.4
Lipscomb - 6.8
UNF - 6.7
Mercer - 6.4
East Tennessee - 5.1
USC-Upstate - 3.2
FGCU - 3.7
In other words, the two D-2 schools that are newest to the league have budgets considerably larger than SSU's. And that doesn't say anything about the state of facilities etc. Obviously SSU has some work to do if they want to be an A-Sun member. And quite honestly, I don't think there's much of a chance they can do that without the A-Sun helping them...the school has about 2500 students and an endowment of $3 million. Not exactly a lot of money lying around, so if the A-Sun wants to take on a project then SSU would be in. Since they obviously don't care to do so and would probably prefer to either drop to 10 when a school leaves or simply wait on a better 12th candidate, I doubt SSU will ever be invited to the A-Sun without dramatic improvement. SSU really should consider moving back to D-2.
KB, I take back what I said about UNF. Their baseball team is a nice asset. Plus I just saw they're adding a top end track. I didn't realize UNF was basically football ready if they ever wanted to add it.
UNF is actually pretty set up to be a solid athletics institution. The campus is beautiful, well situated, and they are good academic school. The basketball program is very down right now, but it won't be forever. My guess is that at the end of this year Kilcullen will be looking for a new job. Just my best guess. He simply has had to rough of a run here in Division I to make sense. He did pretty well in Division II, but he may be a little out of his league. If he can come up with a surprise year this year and win some games then he might be ok for a little while longer, but I bet their athletic administration is already thinking of replacements.
I think UNF will be a very competitve DI Basketball team down the road. Right now though they are really awful.
If they were basketball only...then maybe.
That would be a great way to start. Add just basketball, or maybe a couple of sports. Do something like what the Big East is thinking of, or may be going to do with Army and Navy. It would divisionalize the scheduling, thus allowing for more OOC games.
I don't like it. I think we are good at 11 teams. A large conference schedule is what we need for now in my opinion...it will help the records of everyone involved, and most importantly help develop rivalries. You bring in another team, and all of the sudden we are back to divisions where you play half the conference only once a year. Kennesaw needs to play ETSU twice, needs to play Belmont, Lipscomb, etc... twice. We are in the early stages of our conference...we have a lot of growing up to do in my opinion before we expand again.
I'm with KB and CitrusUCF on this one. Savannah State is such a bad, bad idea on so many levels. I'm confident the conference will not be going in this direction. Our current membership is stable, everyone who could reasonably leave for greener pastures has already done so. The rebuilding can begin.
I don't think SSU wants to be in the A-Sun. If they wanted, they could have been, the opportunity has been there. They wanted to join the MEAC and then had some budgetary problems that they couldn't get thier finances up to what the MEAC required.
There was an AJC article within the last year that detailed the problems that they have had.
So I would imagine that if they had the budget to compete in the A-Sun, it would probably be sufficient to allow for MEAC membership. And they would chose the MEAC over the A-Sun.
SSU definitely wants the MEAC, no question. The MEAC doesn't want them and to the best of my knowledge it's not a budget issue, it's the fact that it took the Tigers all of 2 years in Division I to get themselves put on NCAA probation for eligibility violations. They've also turned over their AD job close to a half dozen times since 2002. It's just a really unstable situation until proven otherwise.
Good Stuff guys! I didn't realize. I knew the MEAC was about to have 12 teams and probably wouldn't add Savannah State to make 13. However, I was unaware of all of the other problems.
After looking at the list of independents, I would much rather have Longwood than Savannah State.
Longwood is a long ways away..VA is not a short trip. I don't think we need to spread our footprint out any further do you?
Longwood is a long ways away..VA is not a short trip. I don't think we need to spread our footprint out any further do you?
As I've said before, with the exception of Upstate, Longwood is closer to ETSU than any other A-Sun member. If folks think it is a long way away, that is EXACTLY the point we ETSU fans are trying to make. EVERY A-Sun school except Upstate is a LONNNG way from TRI.
Longwood is a long ways away..VA is not a short trip. I don't think we need to spread our footprint out any further do you?
As I've said before, with the exception of Upstate, Longwood is closer to ETSU than any other A-Sun member. If folks think it is a long way away, that is EXACTLY the point we ETSU fans are trying to make. EVERY A-Sun school except Upstate is a LONNNG way from TRI.
Doc - Farmville, VA is about the same distance from Johnson City as Kennesaw is from Johnson City, but Farmville is in the exact opposite direction of everyone else in our conference. Kennesaw, the Nashville duo, and ETSU make up the northwest corner of the conference. The ASun is pretty geographically stable compared to a lot of conferences. There are no true outliers (other than maybe FGCU, but there are two other Fla schools). I think we have a pretty solid footprint, but we definitely don't need to extend it 280 miles north.
Longwood is a long ways away..VA is not a short trip. I don't think we need to spread our footprint out any further do you?
As I've said before, with the exception of Upstate, Longwood is closer to ETSU than any other A-Sun member. If folks think it is a long way away, that is EXACTLY the point we ETSU fans are trying to make. EVERY A-Sun school except Upstate is a LONNNG way from TRI.
Doc - Farmville, VA is about the same distance from Johnson City as Kennesaw is from Johnson City, but Farmville is in the exact opposite direction of everyone else in our conference. Kennesaw, the Nashville duo, and ETSU make up the northwest corner of the conference. The ASun is pretty geographically stable compared to a lot of conferences. There are no true outliers (other than maybe FGCU, but there are two other Fla schools). I think we have a pretty solid footprint, but we definitely don't need to extend it 280 miles north.
It is a quicker drive from TRI to Farmville. I've driven it. My point is that ETSU doesn't fit the A-Sun footprint and never has.
There has to be one team that is the northern most point. I would say that the Nashville schools are farther outliers than you are...Look at any conference....take the ACC for example. Boston College? Miami? You think they are tight in the footprint? What about the Big East...South Florida? The Big 12 is spread over thousands of miles. We have a pretty tight footprint in my opinion when compared to other comferences. We might not be the closest, but we certainly aren't the furthest apart.
There has to be one team that is the northern most point. I would say that the Nashville schools are farther outliers than you are...Look at any conference....take the ACC for example. Boston College? Miami? You think they are tight in the footprint? What about the Big East...South Florida? The Big 12 is spread over thousands of miles. We have a pretty tight footprint in my opinion when compared to other comferences. We might not be the closest, but we certainly aren't the furthest apart.
I agree with you KB, I think the ETSU guys just don't want to be in the A-Sun... At least that is the sentiment I get from posts on here.
Maybe if ETSU could dominate the A-Sun for a few years another conference would take them...
On a side note, a friend of mine told me that Mercer's AD announced to the Perry Rotary Club (I believe it was the Rotary Club...) that Mercer would be reinstating football & would play in the Pioneer league; I have no other details.
On a side note, a friend of mine told me that Mercer's AD announced to the Perry Rotary Club (I believe it was the Rotary Club...) that Mercer would be reinstating football & would play in the Pioneer league; I have no other details.
WOW! That's great!!!!
Look at any conference....take the ACC for example. Boston College? Miami? You think they are tight in the footprint? What about the Big East...South Florida? The Big 12 is spread over thousands of miles.
When your teams have the luxury of air travel when appropriate, time for travel is a moot point.
Except in special circumstances ETSU offers a student athlete a seat on a team bus.
There has to be one team that is the northern most point. I would say that the Nashville schools are farther outliers than you are...Look at any conference....take the ACC for example. Boston College? Miami? You think they are tight in the footprint? What about the Big East...South Florida? The Big 12 is spread over thousands of miles. We have a pretty tight footprint in my opinion when compared to other comferences. We might not be the closest, but we certainly aren't the furthest apart.
I agree with you KB, I think the ETSU guys just don't want to be in the A-Sun... At least that is the sentiment I get from posts on here.
That is an entirely different discussion. This topic I believe was about Savannah State, and another poster brought up Longwood as an potential member, i.e. expand the footprint of the conference further east or further northeast.
It would be like asking a KSU fan if they would rather add UTC to the A-Sun, or ETSU. Naturally UTC would make more sense for the travel budget at KSU.