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Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

TeamBeer said

BMarkey said


GSU has, at best, a marginal football following, its basketball is mediocre and facilities are not impressive. It's a commuter school in a city and state that cares about UGA, then GT and then, far down the line, Ga. Southern, Ga. State, etc.


You just described FAU, save for the football stadium that was rectified 8 months ago.

:o :o :o
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

FAU has way, way more to offer (including a real, traditional campus) and region that can and will support sports. GSU will never have a stadium (downtown ATL) and the last time I looked, its gym made FAU Arena look like the AAA.

Regardless, the Sun Belt was making strides with key wins, three bowl games, major coaching hires, better schedules, growing budgets, fantastic new facilities … now it has taken a huge step back - back to the A-Sun.
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

Here's the release that just came in from the Sun Belt:


ATLANTA – The Sun Belt Conference announced today that Georgia State University has accepted an invitation to join the league on July 1, 2013 and will begin conference competition for the 2013-14 academic year.

“On behalf of the presidents and chancellors of the member institutions of the Sun Belt Conference, I am pleased to welcome Georgia State University home to the league that it helped start in 1976,” said Sun Belt Conference President and Troy University Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr.  “The Sun Belt Conference has never been stronger athletically, academically or financially, and today we took action that makes us even stronger.  For the Sun Belt Conference– the best is yet to be!”

"Georgia State is very much looking forward to joining the Sun Belt Conference as the university continues to set new goals for excellence, not just in athletics, but in research and everything that we do, over the next 100 years," said Georgia State President Mark Becker.

Georgia State, or GSU, is the second largest university in the state of Georgia with an enrollment of 32,000 and is located in downtown Atlanta.  The Panther athletic program was originally a founding member of the Sun Belt Conference in 1976, but left the conference in 1981.

Currently GSU offers 18 varsity sports at the NCAA Division I level and the Panthers began competing in the sport of football in 2010 and are led by head coach Bill Curry.  GSU will not be eligible for postseason football or the Sun Belt Conference’s football championship in 2013 as they complete their transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision; however its games would count towards the Sun Belt football standings.

“The addition of Georgia State to the Sun Belt Conference provides further strength for our league and is the beginning of a new era for GSU that will unquestionably be a time of great success for the Panther athletic program,” said Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson.  “We strongly believe that the addition of GSU will continue to help the Sun Belt Conference in its rise to prominence.”

GSU Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick added, "Under President Becker's leadership, Georgia State University is growing in size and stature as one of the nation's leading urban research institutions, so it is only fitting that our athletic program moves to the top level of college athletics.

"We want to thank Chancellor Hawkins and Commissioner Benson for this opportunity, and we look forward to an exciting new era in Georgia State Athletics," she continued. "The Sun Belt Conference is a tremendous fit for Georgia State, offering top-quality competition, increased exposure, and the chance to build rivalries with schools in driving distance for our fans."

GSU currently meets all standards with the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) and has a budget of over $22 million. The Atlanta metro area is the eighth largest designated market area (DMA) in the United States.
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

Rick said

The Panthers will be a familiar face for FAU though in hoops, they used to play against each other quite a bit in the TAAC, and A-Sun.

I'm quite familiar with Ga State lol. I used to hate them so much because back in the TAAC/ASun days they'd always beat us, until that 1 game when we beat them on a Free Throw to earn a bid to the big dance.

In fact, way back when there were probably less than 100 people in the burrow, I got threatened by a player on the Ga. State team because I told him he couldn't count lol

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

TeamBeer has a good point.

While I understand BMarkey is saying, the "problem" is that most of the schools you'd want to join the SBC - traditional schools with large followings and great facilities - are already in good FBS conferences, so they see little to incentive to join the SBC. That leaves you with FCS schools, primarily, until the conference can offer more money and national exposure than their current conference.

Georgia State is in Atlanta, good move there, and they play in the Georgia Dome, an awesome facility that any SBC school would be lucky to have.

The new Comish needs to tighten the belt on the schools and get everyone on the same train towards building a more traditional college environment, improve facilities across the board and continue drawing in the kind of coaching names we've seen recently.
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

Unfortunately , The Sunbelt being labeled a transition conference from I-AA  to D-1 (I hate the terms FBS and FCS so I prefer to call them their original names) makes the conference so unappealing for established D-1 schools to come here.

No offense to some of these FCS schools making their way into the Sunbelt like S. Alabama and Ga. State - I understand they are just trying to get their piece of the big pie too.

Hey, if the conference as a whole starts beating some teams from the Big 6 consistently, things could change real fast…but we're still looking at 5 years minimum for a major bowl tie in (No, not BCS bowls either, just something better than the Lysol Toilet Bowl tie-in we have now).

FAU Class of '87
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

As far as the belt goes if I am the commisioner I am trying to add large Universities in the Southeast.  Georgia State has the enrollment to up student's athletic fees and build thier programs.  I think that is the most important part.  The population in Atlanta is not going down anytime soon so I expect G State to keep adding students and growing.

I understand that G State is not where we would all like it to be at this very moment, but I am sure they have the desire to do the same things FAU has done and grow.  I think adding them, Texas State and UNC Charlotte (or just Charlotte) are good moves.  They are all schools with 25,000+ students in good areas that will continue to add population.  You could even throw UTSA in there.

Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

Now that we have added Ga. State and it's Atlanta media market, if we can hold FIU and N. Texas and their media markets, we "might" be able to draw those five CUSA schools (S. Miss, E. Carolina, Marshall, Tulane and UAB) to the Belt IF we can get a decent media contract and bowl tie ins. After all, it is all about the money to any of the schools now. After all, the Belt media markets are now better than CUSA OR the Mtn. West!

As of now a better chance of that than the CUSA/Mtn. West mega conference thingy.

Some wild week at FAU;

Sunday - draw close to 25,00 for Easter servicve in the stadium - Nice!
Monday - ADD Ga. State to conference - Nice!
Tuesday - President Obama speaks at FAU - Nice!

Now those are some great campus events and happenings - sounds like a real full blown traditional University to me! ;D

Side note - my daughter graduated from UGA and got her Masters from Ga. State, we now have an in-family rivalry, how cool! AND,  every other year FAU will be playing right here in Atlanta - again, how cool! :D
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

We all knew this decision was coming.

I still support it: We were in the same position and we all believe that FAU has the tools to move onto prominence.

Let's look at it from a recruiting standpoint: "Do you want to come play in the heart of Atlanta at the Georgia Dome? We are an up and coming school that just leaped into the FBS, how could ya not want to play for us?"

I'm sorry, but this is a good move. 2-3 years from now Georgia State will be a staple in our conference and will certainly earn their stripes.

However, none of this matters because Florida Atlantic University has the best recruiting grounds, facilities (somewhat), and academics that are most definitely on the rise.

As per academics, I know of two seniors this year who were denied and had B+ averages and 1700s on the SAT.


                                         ROLL OWLS
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Re: Sun Belt to Add Georgia State

Rick said

TeamBeer said

BMarkey said


GSU has, at best, a marginal football following, its basketball is mediocre and facilities are not impressive. It's a commuter school in a city and state that cares about UGA, then GT and then, far down the line, Ga. Southern, Ga. State, etc.


You just described FAU, save for the football stadium that was rectified 8 months ago.

:o :o :o

::).  Amazing….now if you were only by the beach  8)

It's Owl Time!
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