Post by TheFireman89 on Jan 10, 2021 8:15:03 GMT -6
This thread is related to the "WAC is Back" thread. It recently became known that it will likely be announced this month that Sam Houston State, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin, and Abilene Christian will be leaving the SLC to join the Western Athletic Conference as the WAC will again start sponsoring football as a FCS conference in 2022 with intentions to move back to FBS within the decade. Also recently found out is Central Arkansas is also expected to leave the SLC, joining the Big South Conference for football and the Atlantic Sun Conference for all other sports.
So who would be left in the SLC?
The conference would be left with only six football members in the four Louisiana teams (Nicholls, McNeese, SELA, NW State) and two Texas teams with little history in the conference (Houston Baptist joined from the Great West in 2014 and Incarnate Word joined from D2 in 2013). Also left in the SLC would be the two non-football members in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and New Orleans, giving the SLC a grand total of eight members.
What is the future of the SLC?
The six football members is the minimum amount of teams a conference can have while maintaining it's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs so expanding the conference is highly likely. Expanding back to the 13 teams the Southland had before being poached by the WAC and A-Sun doesn't seem likely to me. I think its more likely that the SLC tries to add 2-3 schools with football programs to bring the football membership to 9 teams and total membership to 11. The Southland will have to do this to continue as a conference. One possibility suggested by the American Press of Lake Charles is renaming the conference once they have re-filled their ranks to give the conference a fresh new start. If the Sun Belt decides it wants to expand then they will no doubt see if McNeese or Nicholls are interested, which losing one or both of those teams would effectively kill the SLC.
Who could the SLC add in?
There aren't many candidates from the D1 ranks that the SLC could realistically add to the conference. Texas Southern seems to be the most realistic option as it was rumored last year that TSU was considering moving from the SWAC to the Southland but the SWAC seems to be in a better position than it was at that time last year after they added Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman from the MEAC and though things seem to have stabilized in the MEAC it is still possible that more MEAC teams could bolt to the SWAC as the conference is still very unstable, much like the Southland is now.
It has been discussed on this board before that UL-Monroe dropping back down to FCS and returning to the Southland would be a good future plan for ULM since they have been completely uncompetitive in most of their sports in the Sun Belt. Top people at ULM have vehemently denied that this is an option and it seems very unlikely that it would happen.
Bringing up a few teams from D2 looks like the most feasible and realistic option the SLC has at this point. There are two ways the SLC can go with this method. Expanding back into Texas and calling up teams from the Lone Star Conference and expanding east, bringing in teams from Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, or Tennessee. Lets look at some D2 options for the SLC
Westward Expansion Candidates
West Texas A&M (Canyon, TX)
Texas A&M-Commerce (Commerce, TX)
Texas A&M-Kingsville (Kingsville, TX)
Midwestern State (Wichita Falls, TX)
East Central (Ada, OK)
Angelo State (San Angelo, TX)
Texas-Permian Basin (Odessa, TX)
Central Oklahoma (Edmond, OK)
Northeastern State (Tahlequah, OK)
Eastward Expansion Candidates
Delta State (Cleveland, MS)
West Alabama (Livingston, AL)
West Florida (Pensacola, FL)
Arkansas Tech (Russellville, AR)
Harding (Searcy, AR)
Ouachita Baptist (Arkadelphia, AR)
Henderson State (Arkadelphia, AR)
Southern Arkansas (Magnolia, AR)
Further Food for Thought
www.midmajormadness.com/2020/11/16/21569697/report-asun-expansion-atlantic-sun-ovc-southland-eku-jacksonville-state-central-arkansas
footballscoop.com/news/return-of-the-wac-wac-reportedly-planning-southland-conference-raid/
www.sltrib.com/sports/2021/01/06/report-two-utah-schools/
athlonsports.com/college-football/atlantic-sun-wac-becoming-potential-players-college-football-2020
www.texasfootball.com/article/2020/12/09/four-texas-colleges-expected-to-join-western-athletic-conference
www.12newsnow.com/article/sports/ncaa/lamar-athletics/lamar-expected-to-announce-move-to-wac-next-week/502-4b69b7c9-1a7e-4200-8efa-e940b40c81a8
So who would be left in the SLC?
The conference would be left with only six football members in the four Louisiana teams (Nicholls, McNeese, SELA, NW State) and two Texas teams with little history in the conference (Houston Baptist joined from the Great West in 2014 and Incarnate Word joined from D2 in 2013). Also left in the SLC would be the two non-football members in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and New Orleans, giving the SLC a grand total of eight members.
What is the future of the SLC?
The six football members is the minimum amount of teams a conference can have while maintaining it's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs so expanding the conference is highly likely. Expanding back to the 13 teams the Southland had before being poached by the WAC and A-Sun doesn't seem likely to me. I think its more likely that the SLC tries to add 2-3 schools with football programs to bring the football membership to 9 teams and total membership to 11. The Southland will have to do this to continue as a conference. One possibility suggested by the American Press of Lake Charles is renaming the conference once they have re-filled their ranks to give the conference a fresh new start. If the Sun Belt decides it wants to expand then they will no doubt see if McNeese or Nicholls are interested, which losing one or both of those teams would effectively kill the SLC.
Who could the SLC add in?
There aren't many candidates from the D1 ranks that the SLC could realistically add to the conference. Texas Southern seems to be the most realistic option as it was rumored last year that TSU was considering moving from the SWAC to the Southland but the SWAC seems to be in a better position than it was at that time last year after they added Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman from the MEAC and though things seem to have stabilized in the MEAC it is still possible that more MEAC teams could bolt to the SWAC as the conference is still very unstable, much like the Southland is now.
It has been discussed on this board before that UL-Monroe dropping back down to FCS and returning to the Southland would be a good future plan for ULM since they have been completely uncompetitive in most of their sports in the Sun Belt. Top people at ULM have vehemently denied that this is an option and it seems very unlikely that it would happen.
Bringing up a few teams from D2 looks like the most feasible and realistic option the SLC has at this point. There are two ways the SLC can go with this method. Expanding back into Texas and calling up teams from the Lone Star Conference and expanding east, bringing in teams from Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, or Tennessee. Lets look at some D2 options for the SLC
Westward Expansion Candidates
West Texas A&M (Canyon, TX)
Texas A&M-Commerce (Commerce, TX)
Texas A&M-Kingsville (Kingsville, TX)
Midwestern State (Wichita Falls, TX)
East Central (Ada, OK)
Angelo State (San Angelo, TX)
Texas-Permian Basin (Odessa, TX)
Central Oklahoma (Edmond, OK)
Northeastern State (Tahlequah, OK)
Eastward Expansion Candidates
Delta State (Cleveland, MS)
West Alabama (Livingston, AL)
West Florida (Pensacola, FL)
Arkansas Tech (Russellville, AR)
Harding (Searcy, AR)
Ouachita Baptist (Arkadelphia, AR)
Henderson State (Arkadelphia, AR)
Southern Arkansas (Magnolia, AR)
Further Food for Thought
www.midmajormadness.com/2020/11/16/21569697/report-asun-expansion-atlantic-sun-ovc-southland-eku-jacksonville-state-central-arkansas
footballscoop.com/news/return-of-the-wac-wac-reportedly-planning-southland-conference-raid/
www.sltrib.com/sports/2021/01/06/report-two-utah-schools/
athlonsports.com/college-football/atlantic-sun-wac-becoming-potential-players-college-football-2020
www.texasfootball.com/article/2020/12/09/four-texas-colleges-expected-to-join-western-athletic-conference
www.12newsnow.com/article/sports/ncaa/lamar-athletics/lamar-expected-to-announce-move-to-wac-next-week/502-4b69b7c9-1a7e-4200-8efa-e940b40c81a8