Article out of Burlington pondering the question of whether or not Socon member Elon is considering a conference change at http://www.thetimesnews.com/sports/elon ... ns-1.38436

Blog article out of Carolina(previously posted in another thread)reporting that SoCon member CofC BOT has scheduled a meeting tomorrow regarding possibly leaving for the CAA.Link at http://carolinasportsthoughts.blogspot. ... going.html

SoCon could really take a hit here, if C of C goes to CAA, and Appalachian State and Georgia Southern go to the Sun-Belt.

Are North Alabama and / or West Georgia likely replacements ? Both are FB schools.

Hey still have all the Big South schools to choose from if that happens

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Yeah. wreck another conference, that seem to be standard procedure. for the course.

This will never settle down until the BE finally splits, and Notre Dame joins a conference for FB.
Until then, oh so many schools are stuck in a holding pattern playing a guessing game.

It's gotten sort of silly where so many schools pay a hefty exit and entrance fee, feel temporarily elated to be in thier new stable conference,
and a month later get blind-sided by events beyond their control, and beyond anyone's ability to predict.

The ACC has the old BE FB schools.
BE FB is now the old CUSA.
CUSA is the old SunBelt.
SunBelt is mostly D-2 call-ups.

For a while the WAC looked like the old Big West.

It's fun to watch, but you feel a bit sad for schools deemed "undesirable" by a bunch of ****-head TV execs.
It'd be nice if the inevitable moves would hurry up and happen, and the blood-letting and pain could happen quickly and be done with.

On the bright side for the SoCon there are still plenty of eligible Big South schools and/or Jacksonville St that they can replace any departures with. Sure, none are as illustrious as Georgia Southern and Appalachian St but at least their conference will survive. Big South football might not make it through this round of realignment.

As expected,SoCon member College of Charleston BOT has announced unanimous vote to leave the SoCon for the CAA.
Reported by live twitter at http://twitter.com/CofCSports

Also,link to CofC Sports article reporting CofC Bot vote at http://www.cofcsports.com/ViewArticle.d ... vE.twitter

i wonder if the socon begins to focus on small private geographically friendly schools since the big publics like CoC, App, and GA Southern are or are likely to be gone.

I was thinking Gardner-Webb unless they want to stay at 9 Fb

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The old Big West is now in the MWC: SDSU, Fresno, SJSU, Utah St, UNLV, Hawaii, Nevada, Boise State all old BWC schools.

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With CoC definitely leaving, if I were the SoCon I would get ETSU to fill their slot. UTC has flirted with the OVC before and if the SoCon does not add ETSU for UTC ,then I could really see UTC and ETSU selling themselves as a package deal to the OVC, which would allow them to be a 14 team league. UTC cannot be excited about the possibility that App and Ga Southern are likely leaving. If ETSU is not desirable I bet UNCA gets a strong look to fill the CoC slot with Winthrop another likely choice.

To fill the likely departures of Ga Southern and App St the top 2 public candidates are Coastal Carolina and Kennesaw State while the top 2 Private candidates are Gardner Webb and Liberty (even though they have the religious issues).

Who gets in depends on what direction the SoCon wants to go

Article out of Charleston with comments from SoCon Commish regarding this week's league meetings and conference realignment .Article mentions several "possible" SoCon expansion targets to include,Mercer,UNCW,VMI,Richmond,and EastTennessee State.Link at http://www.postandcourier.com/article/2 ... source=RSS

They might as well scratch Richmond off that list. I don't see UNCW either, C of C goes to CAA w/ App and Ga Southern probably gone, UNCW going to leave the CAA for that?

Mercer, ETSU, VMI are the targets, why the hell isn't CCU a target?

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Updated article from Charleston on SoCon expansion situation at http://www.postandcourier.com/article/2 ... source=RSS

So lets get an updated on this one.

SoCon currently at 11 once CoC leave after baseball season.

Sunbelt is likely to expand soon and top rumors are App St. and Ga Southern
If the OVC loses Belmont, a SoCon without App St. and Ga Southern might finally force UT Chat. to take the OVC plunge
Davidson is being heavily pursued by the SoCon and would probably like to bring a friend like Elon to go with them.

The Citadel, Furman, Wofford, Sanford, Western Carolina are likely stable. UNCG would probably like to do whatever Davidson and Elon do but might not be asked to join.

Assuming the SoCon likes their 9-12 allignment, they will likely need up to 4 football schools. A 9-10 alignment would work great if UNCG stays as a non football playing member. So who are the top FCS schools the SoCon might be interested in?

VMI i think is a definite as is ETSU, especially if they keep UT Chat. in the fold. Coastal will make a strong push for admittance and Kennesaw St will probably in the running to. Mercer is adding non scholarship football which doesn't really help the Socon, but if they could be convinced to go full FCS scholarships then they would be a top contender as well. Other Big South schools could always be added to fill in the gaps like Gardner Webb, Charleston Southern, and Presbyterian if necessary.

If the 9-12 alignment is desired some non football schools that would be top contenders include a non scholarship football Mercer, UNCA and Winthrop. USC Upstate, Radford, High Point, and non FCS scholarship Campbell too also remain gap fillers.

The Socon should be fine after realignment, but it will likely be a much smaller, more private school version.