So will the Atlantic Sun add Lincoln Memorial U, as implied in this article?
Lincoln Memorial contemplating DI move
Quote:The Railsplitters currently compete in the NCAA Division II's South Atlantic Conference. But they are also reportedly planning a move to Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2011
Lincoln Memorial? Jesus...
Sounds like a mutual fund or a bank.
Guess one day Stetson will capitalize on these up-starts and maybe win a basketball championship. The way we look this year, I doubt it.
Cheers to the A-Sun!
Well it's official: Ted Gumbart and the other people who vote in members of this conference are complete morons with brains that aren't quite fully functional. LMU? Really? Maybe Trevecca Nazarene University will move up next!
ETSU.....move to the Big South.
If they would take us, I would LOVE to see ETSU in the Big South. Immediate rivalries with VMI, UNC-A, Gardner-Webb and Campbell, and I don't think it would take long to see one built with Coastal
ASUN if this is true that's a complete embarrassment. The league is finally starting to climb out of the hole with these DII's. We've suffered enough.
C'mon, one out-of-the-loop writer used the word "reportedly", as in "reportedly interested in moving up..."; like I'm "reportedly" waking up next to Jessica Biel tomorrow morning.
Everybody off the ledge, please.
I am glad Campbell is leaving the A-Sun if this is the case. The Railspliters. Sounds like some guys off the chain gang from the prison work farm.
ETSU should move on over to the Big South with us and reinstate football.
This is not the first I have heard of this rumor, so there may be some truth to it. I'd rather take Longwood or Savannah State. Atleast they are DI programs.
Mr. ASUN commissioner,
Listen to my words very carefully. This is with out a doubt one of the worst possible moves that you could make, concerning bringing a new school into the ASUN.
First off, I'm sure that you were mildly impressed with the Tex Turner arena. Sure its a fairly nice arena, seats 5,000 people, but don't let this facade fool you. That arena is overly large for a non-existant fan base. Besides this arena, LMU has nothing, its basically just a cluster of buildings, in a field, in the middle of no where.
If you didn't know, LMU is in a little town called Harrogate TN. This place is in the boone docks, ages from civilization. The town has no infrastructure to speak of, unless you count the Exxon across the street. So mr. commissioner, if you thought that LMU would be a nice place to hold the Asun basketball tournament think other wise; you would have a hell of a time trying to get a hotel seeing as there are only two within a 20 mile radius.
On the topic of LMU fans, there aren't any. No one gives a damn about LMU athletics. Most people don't even know that LMU even exists, let alone plays sports. Keep in mind that not only does LMU not have fans, but they have no chance of ever gaining a fan base considering they are in what is known as big orange country. and believe me claiborne county tn is big orange country. I might also add that LMU sit in between two of the poorest counties in the country. So if your hopeing that LMU will boost ASUN attendance numbers, wrong, poor people don't buy tickets to college sporting events. "Its a fact"
Also you may be thinking to yourself, wow, LMU has opened a brand new medical school, thats cool. Well, no thats not cool. Osteopathic medicine is the biggest sham in the medical world. (just in case you didn't know osteopathic doctors practice a sect of medicine in which they believe that they can heal people by orienting internal organs in different directions with their hands.)
It is also worth noting that LMU will bring the whole conference down, and if you thought we were already rock bottom you were wrong. Put this load on the shoulders of the Asun and next thing you know the ground is cracking and we're plumiting to hell. Do this and there will be a whole new classification for conferences, forget low-major, we would be a solid very low-major. Who knows, the ncaa might just wake up and say, umm, Asun your basically just a glorified D-2 so we're go to reclassify you as such.
Bringing LMU into the asun is absolutely stupid. Your not stupid are you commissioner? Well, I hope not.
Save face as soon as you can, call off this whole LMU thing. Before this league turns into the *** crack of college athletics. I can already tell you that this league is starting to stink.
Sincerely,
Basketball then homework
All right then, panic away if you will. I wager eleventy trillion internet dollars that this school never becomes a member of the A-Sun.
Hatter, I hope you are right!
The president stated that LMU will be moving to Division-1 in 2011. What conference to do you imagine will take in this pathetic school? I have a strong feeling that it will be the Asun. LMU is within the conferences region and realistically the only conference that would possibly take the school is the ASUN. For instance the OVC, Southern, and big south won't take them because they don't have football. And LMU can't instate football because a chunk of there endowment stipulates that football is not to be played at the school or else the money goes away. (I'm pretty sure that one of the major contributors to the endowment had a family member die during a football game, hence the no football rule.)
Can anyone else think of a conference that might take in LMU?
For one thing, no conference HAS to take anybody. Savannah State and Longwood moved up years ago and are both still independent. Secondly, the OVC dropped the "must play football" requirement when they brought in SIU Edwardsville. As you know the OVC was seriously entreating Belmont, Lipscomb and ETSU but was rebuffed.
I don't believe a majority of A-Sun presidents will support such a bid by LMU. Gumbart has stated the A-Sun will only expand again if the right opportunity presents itself; it's not going to take teams just to have numbers. It did that during the bleed-off earlier this decade to survive but still managed to land 4 young, growing state universities. Lincoln Memorial doesn't fit the profile.
Lincoln Memorial? sounds like a high school.
I like our 10 team league as it is. I see no reason to move us to 11 teams again once Campbell leaves. If North Florida continues to improve all the D2 teams that have made the move will be very competitive by that point and time and we will have a solid basketball conference (which without football is really the only sport that matters). Would be stupid to grab another team unnecessarily. I have never even heard of that school.
(11-19-2009 03:33 PM)KennesawBasketball Wrote: [ -> ]Check out this video that is on the front page of the LMU web site.
Someone shoot me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd2KcoIQa..._embedded#
............and boom goes the dynamite.
Much like the hairbands from DAVID lipscomb.....there are no words for this
HA
I do, however, like that ABE was played by a black guy. Poetic in a way.
sort of.
That may take the place of the infamouse Appalachian State is HOT HOT HOT video. That being said, they don't have bad facilities, but I can't imagine LMU being added. TERRIBLE location, and while I should be supportive (After all good ol' Great Uncle Jerry best I remember was the old university president) I just can't see how this would help the A-Sun. Maybe if the area around it grows a little bit, then it could be discussed.
But, for the sake of discussion and a great counterpoint, how would you guys feel about Western Carolina? Cullowhee, NC is about the size of a port a john yet they are division I and put Kevin Martin in the NBA (leading scorer for the Sacramento Kings until he got hurt). If they had a partner come with them, say Longwood and went to 12 teams and divisional play, it would certainly cut down travel costs in the conference.
***DISCLAIMER: The views and counterpoints expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster. It's brought up merely for viable debate and discussion amongst the posters on the A-Sun boards.
I'll take you up on that bet Stetson fan. Nothing would surprise me.
For what it's worth, I spoke to some higher-ups at Stetson and they said there's no way Lincoln Financial Group is joining the A-Sun. $1 million dollar Division I athletics costs....it ain't gonna happen.
I certianly hope we never see Lincoln Continental in the ASUN, but I was surprised we got a school like Upstate.
(11-20-2009 10:08 PM)Stetson_1883 Wrote: [ -> ]For what it's worth, I spoke to some higher-ups at Stetson and they said there's no way Lincoln Financial Group is joining the A-Sun. $1 million dollar Division I athletics costs....it ain't gonna happen.
It may never happen, but if it doesn't it won't be because of money. They have a donor that anyone in this conference would envy. Obviously the higher-ups at Stetson don't know much about LMU's finances.
Link is below. The article states that DeBusk is quite illusive about his family's net worth, as an outsider I would estimate it to be more than a billion. The Duncan School of Law referred to in the article did indeed open on schedule. DeBusk is the founder of the entire orthopedic softgoods industry, diversified into other related medical industries such as custom surgical packs and advanced wound care products.
LMU is DeRoyal founder Pete DeBusk's vehicle for elevating Appalachia
I say we stick at 10 teams. Without Campbell our footprint is much reduced. We have 10 universities that I think will be strong athletic contributors in the future.
(11-21-2009 08:19 AM)KennesawBasketball Wrote: [ -> ]I say we stick at 10 teams. Without Campbell our footprint is much reduced. We have 10 universities that I think will be strong athletic contributors in the future.
The ASUN needs to maintain 7 core members to keep it's autobid. Losing Campbell would be a major loss.
Kennesaw, N Florida, FGCU, and SC-Up don't meet the core criteria for five more years.
West Florida is either going to move to DI or add football and stay DII. Odds are they go DI. Mercer would be a reasonable travel partner for them.
Could the Atlantic Sun please focus on improving the schools they already have rather than being the first step for any D-II to enter?
(11-21-2009 12:47 PM)NoDak Wrote: [ -> ] (11-21-2009 08:19 AM)KennesawBasketball Wrote: [ -> ]I say we stick at 10 teams. Without Campbell our footprint is much reduced. We have 10 universities that I think will be strong athletic contributors in the future.
The ASUN needs to maintain 7 core members to keep it's autobid. Losing Campbell would be a major loss.
Kennesaw, N Florida, FGCU, and SC-Up don't meet the core criteria for five more years.
West Florida is either going to move to DI or add football and stay DII. Odds are they go DI. Mercer would be a reasonable travel partner for them.
Losing Campbell is already a given....they will be gone after 2011...they are joining the Big South. Next year will be their last year in the conference.
(11-21-2009 08:19 AM)KennesawBasketball Wrote: [ -> ]I say we stick at 10 teams. Without Campbell our footprint is much reduced.
again....agreed.