Sports Writer, Beaumont, Tx

To clarify

I thought the American South, as it was, WAS a solid basketball league, but with a slim roster. I thought merging with the Sun Belt was a mistake because the league became too spread out, thus increasing costs and decreasing the fans' ability to relate to these mostly unseen rivals. I'm of the opinion that unless you are a serious TV league, the best way to build rivalries is through playing schools that are driving distance so your fan base can build its familiarity through actually driving to the rival campuses for games.

I would bet the typical Lamar fan in the SBC days never made it to Bowling Green, Ky. for a game or Murfeesboro, Tenn. When it was in the SLC the first time around, they did go to Ruston, Denton (of course, UNT is in the Sun Belt now anyway), Arlington, Lake Charles, Lafayette, etc. So they had a better "feel" for the signicance of a game against La. Tech than they did when they joined the Belt.


And a word on the term "mid-major": Indeed, the term is thrown around quite liberally, but I think early 1980s Southland Conference basketball qualifies. You're talking about an era when Lamar had the above-mentioned success noted above by Johnny, Louisiana Tech had top 25 teams with Karl Malone, including a Sweet 16 appearance, USL (now Louisiana-Lafayette) had some good teams (they were in and out of the SLC lineup back then) and Joe Dumars was playing at McNeese. I think their success was comparable to what the West Coast Conference is doing now with Gonzaga and St. Mary's, or what Butler or George Mason are doing (minus a Final Four appearance, although Malone's last Tech team could have been there if Waymon Tisdale didn't beat them at the buzzer for OU).

It was the breaking up of the SLC (along with the effects of prop 48 on the academically-challenged deep south) that sent all of the old Southland members spiralling down to the low end of D-I basketball.

 

I heard they filled this position, but I don't know the name.

 

So, when do you start?

 

It ain't me ... but that doesn't mean that, often, I don't wish it was (man, there's some good grammar, huh?). ;D

Seriously, I know Beaumont is going through some tough changes, but I believe it will weather the storm. I think there are good ideas floating around there, and good people pushing things along. In the end, growing pains are just that -- growing pains. Better than shrinking pains (or dying-slowly-on-the-vine pains).

And the guy they got is good. Not as good as me ... I'm just sayin' ...

 

So, if the guy knows he got the job, and the staff knows, why doesn't someone share that bit of info with the rest of us?

 

Maybe he hasn't told the people at his current job yet.

 

I can't find much on the history of the SLC on the web, but if I remember right, a number of members in the 1980s were eager to return to I-A status and the league insisted on remaining I-AA. A majority of the teams that were members in the 80s (La. Tech, Ark. State, North Texas, ULL, ULM) went their separate ways (not all at the same time) and four of them are now in the Sun Belt.

As a I-AA conference (I still ain't switching, dammit!), today's SLC is pretty competitive. And they're adding to their ranks. Not only is Lamar returning to football, but UT-San Antonio has a new football team, and today I heard talk that UT-Arlington will bring football back.

 

Actually, I don't think it was a return to I-A status for UL-L. It left the Southland before it ever played a game as a member of I-AA and before the Southland became a I-AA conference (1982). The Southland champion represented the league in the Independence Bowl before that.

Louisiana Tech made the decision soon after but played in some I-AA playoff games in the years before it finally moved to I-A. UL-Monroe was not in the Southland at the time all of this happened, and its decision to join the conference, I think, hastened Louisiana Tech's decision to bolt. North Texas was not a member of the conference until well after that.

I can't recall Arkansas State's exact timeline, but it played in a I-AA title game in 1986.

 

Has the Sun Belt ever NOT been spread out too thin? Back in the 80's, when they had their most success, they had two schools in Virginia (Old Dominion and VCU), two in Alabama (South Alabama and UAB), two in Florida (South Florida and Jacksonville), one in North Carolina (the then-UNC Charlotte) and one in Kentucky (Western Kentucky).

Wonder what would have happened had the schools that added football did so earlier? UAB, WKU and SoFla have I-A, Jax is I-AA, ODU starts I-AA this season, Charlotte is starting in a few years, and isn't SoAl doing so too?

 

The problem with the American South Conference was they only had six teams, which made scheduling tough. Too many non-conference dates to fill. So they went shopping for other partners at a time when schools were jumping from league to league like crazy.

I somewhat enjoyed my time in SE Texas and learned a lot from guys I worked with in Port Arthur and colleagues in Beaumont. Just don't want to go back there at this stage of my life.

 

Only 91 schools have been NCAA Division I-A members since its inception in 1978.

ULL is the only Sun Belt member school in that group.