Odd, since 3 of their members don't play fb in the conference and that includes 2 of their 3 newest members. I'm surprised they are being forced out.

East Tennessee State Receives Extended Withdrawal from Southern Conference


Southern Conference Media Relations, Steve Shutt





Buccanneers to leave SoCon following 2005 season

Spartanburg, SC -- The Southern Conference Council of Presidents on Tuesday granted East Tennessee State University an extended withdrawal from the Southern Conference. The extended withdrawal allows ETSU to remain a member of the conference until June 30, 2005 while it transitions into a new conference.

ETSU announced in May, 2003, that it would discontinue its football program following the 2003 season. That put the university in violation of the Southern Conference Bylaws, Article Six, Section 1, Part B which states that “Conference members shall field teams in men’s basketball, football and at least four other sports in which the Conference conducts championships.”

The extended withdrawal will allow ETSU to remain in the league in all sports in which it currently competes through the end of the 2004-05 academic year.

“We are very appreciative of the Southern Conference granting us this extended withdrawal,” said ETSU president Dr. Paul Stanton. “This will provide us with time to find a new conference and it will assist us during the transition period.”

Southern Conference Commissioner Dr. Danny Morrison said “I have been very impressed with how our member institutions have worked together on this complicated issue. There has been a great deal of respect shown by both sides for the other. It speaks volumes about the character of this conference that this parting of the ways has been done in such a first class manner.”

Maj. Gen. John Grinalds, the President of The Citadel and the chair of the Council of Presidents, said that “there has been a lot of additional thought and discussion on the East Tennessee State situation since our May meeting. This extended withdrawal was done in the spirit of helping ETSU with its transition as it has been a good-standing member of this conference for 25 years.”

Morrison said the accord gives the Southern Conference “time to evaluate how to proceed as we move forward. Ideally, we would like to have a 12th member that plays football. But we have the luxury of having 11 strong members and there are some outstanding 11-member conferences in Division I including the Big 10 and the Atlantic Coast Conference when it adds Miami and Virginia Tech next year.”

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The Bear may be dead but he still hates Tennessee. Roll Damn Tide

who are they bullet?

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The Bear may be dead but he still hates Tennessee. Roll Damn Tide

Davidson, College of Charleston, and UNC-Greensboro were all invited to join (or re-join in Davidson's case) the SoCon with a waiver for the football requirement. VMI tried to to waive its football requirement, but was denied, and has subsequently joined the Big South.

I thought davidson and c of c has a football program? I know unc-greensboro don't

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The Bear may be dead but he still hates Tennessee. Roll Damn Tide

Davidson is non-scholarship. They were forced to exit the SoCon in the mid-1980s when they no longer fielded a scholarship football team (they are one of the smallest D-I schools) and became a charter member of the Patriot League (then Colonial League and football-only). After some time as a basketball independent (yes, such a thing was commonplace for "normal" schools), Davidson became a member of the Big South before re-admission to the SoCon sometime in the late 1990s, even without football.

Charleston SOUTHERN has a football team, but not College of Charleston, which I had always assumed, until recently, was a private school, but that's neither here nor there...

wonder why they are kicking etsu out then. it seems they would be more competive than davidson.

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The Bear may be dead but he still hates Tennessee. Roll Damn Tide

Davidson is more centrally located, prestigious and has a better basketball tradition (Lefty Driesell, Larry Brown, etc.). Another thing is that Davidson's ties to the SoCon go back to the 1930s (ala Citadel, Furman), whereas East Tennessee's membership goes back to early 1970s. But yes, in light of recent events in basketball (past NCAA Tournament, teams of the early 1990s), the decision is somewhat surprising. Paradoxically, Davidson fits the "new" SoCon demographic; ETSU represents the "old."

wow alot of tradition there at davidson. It still don't make since to kick out etsu for dropping football when you have othere members who don't have a football program. Seems to be some shake up at 1-AA level too.

_________________
The Bear may be dead but he still hates Tennessee. Roll Damn Tide

I'm not sure if Larry Brown actually coached a game there, but he was the head coach for a time...

the southern conference seems to be heading in the direction of small private schools, see there latest addition of elon, and kicking out east tennesse state opens up another spot for a school such as liberty or garder webb. i have read somewhere, sorry i cant remember where, the etsu will join the atlantic sun. Since they dont play football anymore, that might be a good fit for them.

Atlantic Sun huh alot of teams go there before the save alot of money to go to division 1-A ie Troy St and Central Florida. So my guess would be ETSU saving money to go to Divsion 1-A but that wouldn't make sense seeing they could move to 1-A without spending alot money from 1-AA does that make sense.

_________________
The Bear may be dead but he still hates Tennessee. Roll Damn Tide

what I was trying to say would it not be less money to move to 1-A from 1-AA or save it with no football program get up savings and move to 1-A football as Independent from the start?

_________________
The Bear may be dead but he still hates Tennessee. Roll Damn Tide

nah, etsu is dropping football entirely. that is the reason they are leaving/getting kicked out of the socon