Georgia State and Georgia Southern will gain a new conference opponent and Kennesaw State will lose one in football when it will be reportedly announced on Tuesday that Coastal Carolina is leaving the Big South Conference to join the Sun Belt Conference.
The Panthers and Eagles are members of the Sun Belt, while the Owls are about to start their first year of football as members of the Big South. Kennesaw State is a member of the Atlantic Sun for all other sports.
The Chanticleers will join the Sun Belt, based out of New Orleans, in 2017 with the remaining sports joining in 2016-17, according to various reports.
The Sun Belt has been looking for many years to add a 12th member — commissioner Karl Benson called it his biggest challenge.
Now that the challenge has been met, what does it mean?
For starters, the conference can discuss with the NCAA the possibility of hosting a championship game in football. The NCAA requires that conferences have a dozen teams to host a title game, though that requirement may soon be dropped.
The addition also means that scheduling for men’s and women’s basketball may undergo a radical change.
Benson said in March that adding a 12th team will allow the conference to consider a 16-game schedule in men's and women's basketball with divisions. Teams could play five division home-and-away games, with three home-and-away games against teams in the other division. It would potentially reduce travel and expenses associated with the conference's 20-game schedule.
That reduction would enable teams to pursue higher-profile non-conference games that could boost RPIs, which would help the Sun Belt overcome its recent reputation as a one-big league in the NCAA tournament. Georgia State earned the bid last year and upset Baylor in the tournament’s second round. Louisiana-Lafayette earned the big the year before.
The divisions would likely be Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, Troy, South Alabama and Coastal Carolina in the East. Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Arkansas State, Texas State, New Mexico State and Idaho in the West for football. In basketball, Texas-Arlington and Arkansas-Little Rock would replace Idaho and New Mexico State.
Other than the ability to streamline schedules and the beautiful location of Myrtle Beach, what does Coastal Carolina bring to the conference?
The Chanticleers are very good in football on the FCS level, having made the playoffs last year and favored to make them again this year. The Owls will play at Coastal Carolina on Nov. 14.
At the Big South Media Day in July, Coastal Carolina coach Joe Moglia said the rumors about the move to the Sun Belt wouldn’t affect his team.
“Whatever happens won’t happen right now,” he said. “My job and the job of everybody on the team is to focus on the 2015 season. That other piece might be a part of the future but has nothing to do with now.”
The baseball team has won 19 conference titles and twice advanced to the NCAA super regionals.
The men’s basketball team has advanced to the NCAA tournament four times, most recently earlier this year where it lost to Wisconsin.
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