Sun Belt on the Rise for 2016
Sun Belt Media Day began and ended on Monday, with everyone wondering what would happen with the Big 12 expansion rumors and details about the conference championship game set to begin in 2018. The Sun Belt always feels the trickle-down effect of expansion, with Western Kentucky, North Texas, Middle Tennessee, Florida International, and Florida Atlantic all leaving the conference in recent years. Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson believes the Sun Belt has reached a point of stability, and addressed this in his State of the Sun Belt Address: “I will know when the Sun Belt has reached a level of sustainability and stability, when a phone call comes from one of the Sun Belt’s peer conferences to a Sun Belt president, the answer will be, thank you very much, but my university is very happy right where we are in the Sun Belt Conference. And that is exactly where I believe the Sun Belt is today.”
Benson also touched on the conference championship game and details that are bogging down specifics of the game. Benson said that it would make the most sense for the SBC to have an 8-game conference schedule with two divisions. He said the divisions would be pretty obviously split east and west, the trouble was where to put the two Alabama universities (Troy and South Alabama).
All of the coaches loved the idea of the championship game since it's another goal to add for the players who love competition, but one coach said it was "bittersweet." Coach Blake Anderson said the game could have positive and negative effects. He referenced that he has been in a championship game where a team having a special season lost in the championship game and had their hopes of a huge bowl game crushed. (Note: Anderson was referencing his time as an assistant coach at Southern Miss in 2011 when Southern Miss stunned #6 and undefeated Houston in the Conference-USA championship game, denying Houston a shot at a BCS bowl.)
Part of getting to a championship game is having great coaches, and three schools come into the year with a new head coach (Matt Viator at ULM, Tyson Summers at Georgia Southern, and Everett Withers at Texas State). While Viator and Withers have a lot to change to get their programs to success, Summers just has to keep the ball rolling. Summers was very adamant to let the media and fans know that their traditional triple option attack was not leaving.
The star-studded running back group in attendance stole the show for the student athletes. Whether it's pre-season Offensive Player of the Year Larry Rose III (New Mexico State), Matt Brieda (Georgia Southern), Elijah McGuire (Louisiana Lafayette), or Marcus Cox (Appalachian State), expectations are high for the running backs in the Sun Belt. Defenses will have to work very hard to keep these guys from going off, especially Rose. Rose had over 1600 yards last year, but said that wasn't enough. When asked how many yards he wanted, he smiled and said: "Yeah, there's a number. I'm not going to put it out there, though. It's a couple hundred more than 1600 though."
Benson also explained that there were several factors that most would not think about when it comes to scheduling the championship game. If the game is scheduled for Thursday night with ESPN, then the conference will have to decide on how to schedule the games the week before (which would be Thanksgiving week) so the teams would have time to rest and prepare.
Speaking of ESPN, Benson also made an announcement of an announcement regarding more TV games. Benson alluded to an almost-done deal with ESPN affiliates that would add 10 additional games to the ESPN affiliates that would extend to both men's and women's basketball; an official announcement is expected from the Sun Belt in the next week. The Commissioner was also excited that every home game for SBC universities was broadcast on ESPN 3, which is rising in views itself.
Benson seemed to hint that the Sun Belt was done adding schools, saying that the conference has finally established a good geographic footprint. He referenced the fact that the footprint would reach from Texas to the Carolinas, notably excluding both New Mexico and Idaho who are set to leave the league after the 2017 season.
The Commissioner also expressed the Sun Belt working closely with the SEC, extending the contract of Steve Shaw, coordinator of football officials for both the Sun Belt and SEC. Benson also compared the geographic footprint to that of the SEC and how the established geographic area made the SEC stronger, and will do the same for the Sun Belt.
The Sun Belt Conference has grown immensely since the 2012 season. The number of bowl games has gone from 2 to 5, conference revenue is 10 times higher than it was three years ago, resulting in checks to universities over $1 million per year. Coastal Carolina comes in with a championship in baseball, which Benson says sends a message to the rest of the Sun Belt: "Why not us? Why can't there be a Sun Belt team at the Cotton Bowl as the Group of 5 representative? It's possible." Time will tell if that is the case.