Danielr11220
March 20th, 2013, 12:47 PM
http://www.macon.com/2013/03/16/2398969/football-is-in-a-suns-future-how.html
By MICHAEL A. LOUGH — [email protected]
Before arriving at the basketball facility, most fans attending the A-Sun tournament last week at Mercer had to pass some construction of another athletics facility.
The Bears open play in the fall in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League, and the new stadium and construction equipment were in the purview of any fans parking next to Claude Smith Field or in the Hilton Garden Inn lot.
Football was no doubt a topic during the tournament, considering that the A-Sun doesn’t sponsor football. One member is playing football, two more start this fall, one more has finally received state approval, and another appears on the verge of announcing the resumption of the sport.
And with college administrations open to moving their programs almost anywhere, the future of the A-Sun and football’s impact on it are on the table.
A-Sun commissioner Ted Gumbart is more than aware of all of that and has been for years. He talked about everything from lacrosse to football in a 90-minute sit down a week before the tournament.
Football, in one form or another, is part of the A-Sun’s future.
“We are not starting this exploration today,” Gumbart said. “It’s been ongoing, and I do feel like there’s progress being made. If in five years, there’ll be some changes, whether we’re in the football business or we’re part of a football operation or we’ve changed the way the Atlantic Sun operates, I think those are all logical outcomes.
“We’ve got to deal with that dynamic.”
Not long before the A-Sun tournament, Kennesaw State was approved by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to begin play in 2015 after the regents affirmed the school’s studies and business plan.
The first kickoff is expected to come six years after Kennesaw State began publicly exploring the addition of football.
East Tennessee State dropped football in 2003 and had to leave the Southern Conference for the A-Sun because of that move.
Now, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern are awaiting seemingly inevitable invitations from the FBS Sun Belt Conference to join, which combined with non-football College of Charleston leaving after this athletics year for the Colonial Athletic Association puts the Southern Conference in something of a bind.
ETSU has mobilized in recent months toward reinstating football, with that official announcement expected in the next few weeks. And its fan base desperately wants to return to the Southern Conference, which has other options, including Kennesaw State, Virginia Military Institute and Mercer, to name a few.
Jacksonville plays non-scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League and will be joined this fall by Mercer and Stetson.
So with Kennesaw State officially adding football and ETSU ready to, half of the A-Sun’s membership will have football teams by the fall of 2015.
And then what?
“Without a crystal ball, I can’t make predictions,” Gumbart said. “But the issue of football and dealing with that as a sport is obviously a primary concern of a number of institutions, and we aim to address that and will explore a number of avenues that could provide the support that the Atlantic Sun needs in the sport of football.
“It’s clear that there’s interest and dynamics, and football will be a factor in our future. And we’re examining ways that we can address it.”
Football has been a topic on some level within the A-Sun for some time but has taken on concrete momentum in recent years, forcing the A-Sun to analyze some sort of football connection.
The A-Sun is already part of a consortium for swimming and both men’s and women’s lacrosse. Furman, High Point, Richmond and VMI are with Mercer and Jacksonville in men’s lacrosse. Jacksonville, Kennesaw State and Stetson have women’s lacrosse with Detroit and will be joined by Mercer.
And Gumbart is the executive director of the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association, which includes teams from the A-Sun, Big South, Mid-Eastern and Southern conferences.
There are several sports conferences made up of teams that are based in other conferences, like the Eastern Wrestling League (mixing Division I and II programs) and East Atlantic Gymnastics League (with the ACC, Big East and Atlantic 10).
The Pioneer Football League is like that, with the programs representing the A-Sun, Big South, Southern, Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Ohio Valley and Horizon conferences. And there are scores of situations in which a school is in one conference in one sport and in a home conference in all others.
So being part of something similar for football is an option.
“I think there are other models, as well,” Gumbart said.
For all of the models and possibilities Gumbart mentions, some sort of connection with the Big South appears logical. And any conversation wouldn’t be the first.
The Big South has had football since 2002, and its website notes, “After attempts to form a joint football conference with the Atlantic Sun Conference failed, the Big South began recruiting more members to join its fledgling football league. On May 23, 2001, the dream became a reality when the Big South’s Council of Chief Executive Officers voted unanimously to add football as the Conference’s 18th championship sport.”
Campbell helped start the Big South, left for the A-Sun and then returned to the Big South after reinstating football, which it plays in the Pioneer League. Gardner-Webb became a Division I athletics program in 2002-03 and was in the A-Sun from 2002-08 when it left for the Big South, where it competes in football.
Interim ETSU athletics director Richard Sander broached the subject in a Johnson City Press story before the A-Sun tournament began.
“I think they are looking into creating some sort of alliance with the Big South,” Sander said. “Both have football-playing members, and there’s probably some kind of alliance where the A-Sun and Big South can work together.”
The Big South loses New-York based Stony Brook (an America East member in all else) in June to the Colonial Athletic Association but gets New Jersey-based Monmouth (Northeast Conference) for football in 2014.
So the Big South is in flux a bit, as well, and there is a history of negotiation, or at least talk, with the A-Sun.
The Southern Conference is in something of a hurry to adjust to impending departures but also may expand before those announcements are made, which could mean patience regarding Kennesaw State’s startup and the apparently impending reinstatement at ETSU.
The A-Sun is working to strengthen its basketball competitiveness, which might have been underrated in recent years, and it is a top-12 baseball conference -- it was 10th last year, passing Southland (14th), Sun Belt (16th) and Ohio Valley (20th).
Nevertheless, Gumbart and the A-Sun have several options to consider, in conjunction with non-member schools and other conferences. But the conference and football becoming connected appears inevitable, once some dominoes actually fall.
“We’re trying to create options for ourselves just like schools are trying to create options for themselves,” Gumbart said, noting not just football as options for schools and conference. “But what is the best?
“The best is basketball rises, and football, everybody’s desires are accommodated without having to abandon your basketball aspirations.”
Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2013/03/16/2398969/football-is-in-a-suns-future-how.html#storylink=cpy
By MICHAEL A. LOUGH — [email protected]
Before arriving at the basketball facility, most fans attending the A-Sun tournament last week at Mercer had to pass some construction of another athletics facility.
The Bears open play in the fall in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League, and the new stadium and construction equipment were in the purview of any fans parking next to Claude Smith Field or in the Hilton Garden Inn lot.
Football was no doubt a topic during the tournament, considering that the A-Sun doesn’t sponsor football. One member is playing football, two more start this fall, one more has finally received state approval, and another appears on the verge of announcing the resumption of the sport.
And with college administrations open to moving their programs almost anywhere, the future of the A-Sun and football’s impact on it are on the table.
A-Sun commissioner Ted Gumbart is more than aware of all of that and has been for years. He talked about everything from lacrosse to football in a 90-minute sit down a week before the tournament.
Football, in one form or another, is part of the A-Sun’s future.
“We are not starting this exploration today,” Gumbart said. “It’s been ongoing, and I do feel like there’s progress being made. If in five years, there’ll be some changes, whether we’re in the football business or we’re part of a football operation or we’ve changed the way the Atlantic Sun operates, I think those are all logical outcomes.
“We’ve got to deal with that dynamic.”
Not long before the A-Sun tournament, Kennesaw State was approved by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to begin play in 2015 after the regents affirmed the school’s studies and business plan.
The first kickoff is expected to come six years after Kennesaw State began publicly exploring the addition of football.
East Tennessee State dropped football in 2003 and had to leave the Southern Conference for the A-Sun because of that move.
Now, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern are awaiting seemingly inevitable invitations from the FBS Sun Belt Conference to join, which combined with non-football College of Charleston leaving after this athletics year for the Colonial Athletic Association puts the Southern Conference in something of a bind.
ETSU has mobilized in recent months toward reinstating football, with that official announcement expected in the next few weeks. And its fan base desperately wants to return to the Southern Conference, which has other options, including Kennesaw State, Virginia Military Institute and Mercer, to name a few.
Jacksonville plays non-scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League and will be joined this fall by Mercer and Stetson.
So with Kennesaw State officially adding football and ETSU ready to, half of the A-Sun’s membership will have football teams by the fall of 2015.
And then what?
“Without a crystal ball, I can’t make predictions,” Gumbart said. “But the issue of football and dealing with that as a sport is obviously a primary concern of a number of institutions, and we aim to address that and will explore a number of avenues that could provide the support that the Atlantic Sun needs in the sport of football.
“It’s clear that there’s interest and dynamics, and football will be a factor in our future. And we’re examining ways that we can address it.”
Football has been a topic on some level within the A-Sun for some time but has taken on concrete momentum in recent years, forcing the A-Sun to analyze some sort of football connection.
The A-Sun is already part of a consortium for swimming and both men’s and women’s lacrosse. Furman, High Point, Richmond and VMI are with Mercer and Jacksonville in men’s lacrosse. Jacksonville, Kennesaw State and Stetson have women’s lacrosse with Detroit and will be joined by Mercer.
And Gumbart is the executive director of the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association, which includes teams from the A-Sun, Big South, Mid-Eastern and Southern conferences.
There are several sports conferences made up of teams that are based in other conferences, like the Eastern Wrestling League (mixing Division I and II programs) and East Atlantic Gymnastics League (with the ACC, Big East and Atlantic 10).
The Pioneer Football League is like that, with the programs representing the A-Sun, Big South, Southern, Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Ohio Valley and Horizon conferences. And there are scores of situations in which a school is in one conference in one sport and in a home conference in all others.
So being part of something similar for football is an option.
“I think there are other models, as well,” Gumbart said.
For all of the models and possibilities Gumbart mentions, some sort of connection with the Big South appears logical. And any conversation wouldn’t be the first.
The Big South has had football since 2002, and its website notes, “After attempts to form a joint football conference with the Atlantic Sun Conference failed, the Big South began recruiting more members to join its fledgling football league. On May 23, 2001, the dream became a reality when the Big South’s Council of Chief Executive Officers voted unanimously to add football as the Conference’s 18th championship sport.”
Campbell helped start the Big South, left for the A-Sun and then returned to the Big South after reinstating football, which it plays in the Pioneer League. Gardner-Webb became a Division I athletics program in 2002-03 and was in the A-Sun from 2002-08 when it left for the Big South, where it competes in football.
Interim ETSU athletics director Richard Sander broached the subject in a Johnson City Press story before the A-Sun tournament began.
“I think they are looking into creating some sort of alliance with the Big South,” Sander said. “Both have football-playing members, and there’s probably some kind of alliance where the A-Sun and Big South can work together.”
The Big South loses New-York based Stony Brook (an America East member in all else) in June to the Colonial Athletic Association but gets New Jersey-based Monmouth (Northeast Conference) for football in 2014.
So the Big South is in flux a bit, as well, and there is a history of negotiation, or at least talk, with the A-Sun.
The Southern Conference is in something of a hurry to adjust to impending departures but also may expand before those announcements are made, which could mean patience regarding Kennesaw State’s startup and the apparently impending reinstatement at ETSU.
The A-Sun is working to strengthen its basketball competitiveness, which might have been underrated in recent years, and it is a top-12 baseball conference -- it was 10th last year, passing Southland (14th), Sun Belt (16th) and Ohio Valley (20th).
Nevertheless, Gumbart and the A-Sun have several options to consider, in conjunction with non-member schools and other conferences. But the conference and football becoming connected appears inevitable, once some dominoes actually fall.
“We’re trying to create options for ourselves just like schools are trying to create options for themselves,” Gumbart said, noting not just football as options for schools and conference. “But what is the best?
“The best is basketball rises, and football, everybody’s desires are accommodated without having to abandon your basketball aspirations.”
Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2013/03/16/2398969/football-is-in-a-suns-future-how.html#storylink=cpy