Thoughts on Liberty’s departure from the Big South
It’s not surprise that Liberty has moved on as a Big South member. It is surprising though on where the Flames have decided to find a new home, the Atlantic Sun Conference. Liberty is a place with humongous aspirations and after not being able to land status in Conference USA, the Sun Belt, etc., the Flames has settled for a lesser move.
Impact on Longwood
The immediate impact for Longwood is tremendous. The only downside is losing rival, but I’m sure the two schools will still regularly play each other in many sports. Simply put, Longwood’s path to a Big South title just got easier in every sport. This is one of the main reason’s I thought Liberty should not have been offered a waiver after they broke from Big South football for the FBS.
Liberty is a school that doesn’t match up with Longwood in terms of size, mission, values, and budgets. The school with the most resources in the Big South is gone, and that’s something to be celebrated.
Kathy Riley can now go back to dynasty building. Basketball does not need to worry about a school down the road with a new practice facility and arena.
Impact on the Big South
On one hand every Big South member should feel like Longwood does. On the other hand, did the Kyle Kallander just get played?
The top priority for the Big South has always been football. In the shuffle of realignment years ago the Big South moved to product their football program by bringing on associate members. Those associate members are geographic outliers who eventually find a more natural home. It’s a vicious cycle where the conference loses members and then needs new ones to maintain their auto-bid in the FCS Playoffs.
A few years ago the Atlantic Sun was on it’s death bed. The conference had to take in Division I nomad NJIT to maintain an auto-bid for NCAA Tournaments in almost every sport. The ASun found a partner in the Big South. From the outside looking in, the agreement from the two conferences seem to be as such: The Big South would get any ASun members playing football as associate members (Kennesaw State, North Alabama), and the Big South wouldn’t poach the ASun and effectively kill the conference.
A couple of things here. First and foremost, Kennesaw State and UNA needed football homes anyways. The probability they would join the Big South as an associate member were pretty much guaranteed. The other thing is there is seemingly nothing else in the agreement. A basketball scheduling alliance would make sense, but nothing has been reported (SIDENOTE: Longwood is supposed to host ASun member Stetson this year).
So let’s put this good faith agreement aside for a moment and talk about Liberty. Last year the Flames announced their FBS transition in football. The Big South then had the option on the Flames future membership. Obviously the Big South did issue that waiver and even rewarded the Flames with postseason hosting bids. Meanwhile, Liberty attempted to bolt for the Atlantic Sun but was three votes short at the time according to reports.
Today, the Big South lost a member they went out of there way to keep and who has been trying to leave for over a decade to a conference they signed an alliance with. That’s just nuts.
While this does benefit every Big South members in the elimination of a headache and competent challenger, it doesn’t same much for the long term health of the league. Dominoes fall in college athletics when it comes to realignment and the Big South is at the bottom of the pecking order.
For example, there is no doubt Presbyterian is on shaky ground and the Blue Hose have been rumored to be dropping down for Division I for quite awhile. If that happens the conference drops to 10, which is no big deal and actually preferred. But what happens when that next domino above the Big South falls? It could be JMU going to FBS or William & Mary going to the Patriot League. Where would the CAA go shopping? Where would the Southern Conference go shopping if they lose a member? The answer is the Big South and when the conference gets to 9, that’s when everyone starts staring at each other and start scurrying to find a long-term home.
Basically, stability was flipped today. I feel like I’ve tried to be the canary in the coal mine for the better part of a decade now with this conference. Simply put, football can no longer drive the decisions of a conference that has five full-time members who do not sponsor the sport. Kyle Kallander has doomed a dinosaur conference before and I hope it doesn’t happen again.
The good news is Longwood’s President, Taylor Reveley, is now also the President of the conference. There is no doubt Longwood’s best interests will be represented.
