West Georgia

[apaladin]

They are moving to FCS and just announced a home and home with Samford starting next year and a home and home with ETSU starting in 2025. Would they be a good addition to the SoCon? They have a 10k seat stadium. A 6-7000k seat basketball facility. They are 45 minutes west of Atlanta.

[Jasper]

Who or what is West Georgia?

[greenvegas]

Apparently it is located in Carroll County where I heard they have a picture show called the Carroll County Picture Show. Frogs are now not allowed inside the Carroll County Picture Show.

[Thorny]

They are moving to FCS and just announced a home and home with Samford starting next year and a home and home with ETSU starting in 2025. Would they be a good addition to the SoCon? They have a 10k seat stadium. A 6-7000k seat basketball facility. They are 45 minutes west of Atlanta.

My gut reaction is they would be preferable to UTM, EKU, Austin Peay, etc. but not as preferable as Elon, W&M, Richmond, and NC A&T. I also have no idea what I'm talking about. How well various institutions fit in the SoCon involves a lot of variables that are beyond me.

So, if the SoCon needed another public school on the west side of the conference to keep the Tennessee schools happy then they don't seem like a bad option but if the SoCon is expanding to build a stronger conference they aren't where I would start either.

[The Jackal]

West Georgia has been a D2 school for a while. We played them at Furman a number of years ago.

They come out of the Gulf South Conference, which has produced a number of FCS programs - Southeastern Louisiana, UTM, Troy, North Alabama, Jax State, etc. I believe its the same football conference in which North Greenville plays.

They are moving to the UAC - the football only mashup of the ASUN and WAC. Honestly, that conference is kind of a loose confederation of teams that need a home in the constant shift of the college football landscape.

While UWG would have little in common with Furman from an institutional standpoint, they fit geographically.

[The Jackal]

If I had a guess, I'd wager that at some point we'd see the southern FCS break apart from these football mashups BigSouth/OVC and UAC and form another "southern" conference:

North Alabama
West Georgia
Charleston Southern
Gardner Webb
UT-M
Tenn Tech
Tenn State
Central Ark
Austin Peay

You might also see one of the still big fish at D2, Valdosta State, make the jump.

[The Jackal]

They are moving to FCS and just announced a home and home with Samford starting next year and a home and home with ETSU starting in 2025. Would they be a good addition to the SoCon? They have a 10k seat stadium. A 6-7000k seat basketball facility. They are 45 minutes west of Atlanta.

My gut reaction is they would be preferable to UTM, EKU, Austin Peay, etc. but not as preferable as Elon, W&M, Richmond, and NC A&T. I also have no idea what I'm talking about. How well various institutions fit in the SoCon involves a lot of variables that are beyond me.

So, if the SoCon needed another public school on the west side of the conference to keep the Tennessee schools happy then they don't seem like a bad option but if the SoCon is expanding to build a stronger conference they aren't where I would start either.

It's been my inclination that the Southern Conference needs to be strategic. They are still the top conference at this level in this part of the country.

With James Madison and Delaware leaving, the SoCon might be positioned to siphon off some of the southern CAA schools.

To this point, the SoCon has not shown much interest in expanding beyond its core members. I still look at it this way - if the FBS conferences come for Kennesaw State, with their 5,000 fans, they'll come for anyone.

[apaladin]

I really would not be in favor of expansion if the current members stay. It’s a perfect number, play everyone in football and play everyone home and home in basketball. If someone leaves replace them and keep the current number of teams.

[Thorny]

I really would no be in favor of expansion if the current members stay. It’s a perfect number, play everyone in football and play everyone home and home in basketball. If someone leaves replace them and keep the current number of teams.

Things *might* not be that simple. ETSU and Chat are beginning to grumble. If the Tennessee schools leave do WCU and UNCG feel they have a future with the conference? If the Tennessee schools leave would the SoCon still look like a good place to end up for other institutions or have the pull to poach schools from other conferences?

I'm not saying the SoCon needs to do anything as I truly do not understand what the SoCon's options are or the pluses and minuses of various decisions would be.

However, I'm not sure I want the SoCon to be a conference of nothing but liberal arts peer institutions, I think it would be cool to have Richmond and W&M as conference mates, ETSU and Chattanooga don't seem like the worst conference mates, and I could totally see Wofford dropping scholarship football.

The SoCon not doing anything may be the best option but I hope the powers that be realize that it isn't the only option.

[paladinfan12]

SoCon is in a good spot now - first time I can say that confidently in a while. Splitting a 1-bid basketball league 10 ways instead of 12 is preferable, and football looks to be a solid multi-bid conference. I would not try to expand or leave unless the status quo changes.

If someone were to leave I think you have to look seriously at the CAA first as both a landing spot for Furman and a place to potentially poach southern schools from. Up-and-comers like West Georgia don't really appeal to me right now. Luckily the SoCon is the desired landing spot of nearly every Southern School who wants to play competitive FCS football.

[gofurman]

MORE SCHOLARSHIPS to dilute football in the south. Good grief - it is no coincidence that the winners are in the Dakotas and Montana. There are VERY FEW new FCS schools there to divide the talent ( "hey come play at Western Dakota and start as a freshman instead of waiting to be a junior at SDSU") -

Here I can't even name all the talent that is getting siphoned off.
Coastal Carolina 85 scholarships (was ZERO 20 years ago)
App State added 22
GSouthern added 22
KSU didn't exist now they are going to eat 85 scholarships at FBS; and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Georgia State didn't exist - now 85 scholarships; and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Campbell didn't play football?
Wofford was D2 and now takes 63 right up the road
Samford was D2(?) and now takes 63
Mercer did not have football and now takes 63 and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Charlotte did not have football and now takes 85 scholarships right up the road

Who did I not list that is nearby?

[Bootie]

MORE SCHOLARSHIPS to dilute football in the south. Good grief - it is no coincidence that the winners are in the Dakotas and Montana. There are VERY FEW new FCS schools there to divide the talent ( "hey come play at Western Dakota and start as a freshman instead of waiting to be a junior at SDSU") -

Here I can't even name all the talent that is getting siphoned off.
Coastal Carolina 85 scholarships (was ZERO 20 years ago)
App State added 22
GSouthern added 22
KSU didn't exist now they are going to eat 85 scholarships at FBS; and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Georgia State didn't exist - now 85 scholarships; and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Campbell didn't play football?
Wofford was D2 and now takes 63 right up the road
Samford was D2(?) and now takes 63
Mercer did not have football and now takes 63 and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Charlotte did not have football and now takes 85 scholarships right up the road

Who did I not list that is nearby?

I imagine if you also counted up all the athletes added in the south via growing population and/or high school numbers and sizes in all those places, that would be a much larger number than 20 years ago too. So it’s not as though the athlete supply has stayed constant while demand increases.

[apaladin]

Correct Bootie just in SC the populatiin increased by over 90k this year.

[The Jackal]

MORE SCHOLARSHIPS to dilute football in the south. Good grief - it is no coincidence that the winners are in the Dakotas and Montana. There are VERY FEW new FCS schools there to divide the talent ( "hey come play at Western Dakota and start as a freshman instead of waiting to be a junior at SDSU") -

Here I can't even name all the talent that is getting siphoned off.
Coastal Carolina 85 scholarships (was ZERO 20 years ago)
App State added 22
GSouthern added 22
KSU didn't exist now they are going to eat 85 scholarships at FBS; and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Georgia State didn't exist - now 85 scholarships; and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Campbell didn't play football?
Wofford was D2 and now takes 63 right up the road
Samford was D2(?) and now takes 63
Mercer did not have football and now takes 63 and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Charlotte did not have football and now takes 85 scholarships right up the road

Who did I not list that is nearby?

I imagine if you also counted up all the athletes added in the south via growing population and/or high school numbers and sizes in all those places, that would be a much larger number than 20 years ago too. So it’s not as though the athlete supply has stayed constant while demand increases.

Greenville metro area alone has more people than the entire state of South Dakota. And South Carolina is a comparatively small state to its southern neighbors.

[gofurman]

MORE SCHOLARSHIPS to dilute football in the south. Good grief - it is no coincidence that the winners are in the Dakotas and Montana. There are VERY FEW new FCS schools there to divide the talent ( "hey come play at Western Dakota and start as a freshman instead of waiting to be a junior at SDSU") -

Here I can't even name all the talent that is getting siphoned off.
Coastal Carolina 85 scholarships (was ZERO 20 years ago)
App State added 22
GSouthern added 22
KSU didn't exist now they are going to eat 85 scholarships at FBS; and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Georgia State didn't exist - now 85 scholarships; and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Campbell didn't play football?
Wofford was D2 and now takes 63 right up the road
Samford was D2(?) and now takes 63
Mercer did not have football and now takes 63 and many from Atlanta which is a big recruiting place for us
Charlotte did not have football and now takes 85 scholarships right up the road

Who did I not list that is nearby?

I imagine if you also counted up all the athletes added in the south via growing population and/or high school numbers and sizes in all those places, that would be a much larger number than 20 years ago too. So it’s not as though the athlete supply has stayed constant while demand increases.

Greenville metro area alone has more people than the entire state of South Dakota. And South Carolina is a comparatively small state to its southern neighbors.

But that’s MISSING a piece of data. we are not getting the full picture. How many colleges draw from our high schools in Gville versus draw from South Dakota. Kids here want to play for Clemson or us. Or …. See my next post