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Their travel budget is going to have to go up for sure.

Are these teams all going to be an FBS football as well? New Mexico State is currently an independent in FBS.

Has anyone seen anything about UCA to the WAC? The last I heard it sounded like we were ASUN bound. I have to admit it would be nice to continue to play the Texas 4 schools.

just from google searching... asun does not have football, but it's members that play football, play in the big south, but they are in the process of a major expansion / realignment and starting up asun football (fcs) with the asun's plan to go to (fbs) in a few years (as they get enough schools ready to make the jump) ... teams coming from ovc, big south, southland and some other conferences. Seems all this will be a much stronger and better conference to be in, than the southland and a possible path for UCA to becoming a FBS school ... but this is all just guessing from google searching reading, if true, sure the ASUN, UCA and the other schools will be announcing more as it comes together... if I am reading the tea leaves wrong... post back any corrections/thoughts or where it's a wrong guess... it seems all is in the making and lots going on that still coming together for asun football.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Sun_Conference

related...

NOVEMBER 20, 2020
Thomas Ashworth, Correspondent

The Atlantic Sun Conference released a statement on Monday detailing a “major expansion plan” for the conference, with the potential of adding Jacksonville State and others, according to media reports.

“On November 6, the ASUN Presidents’ Council confirmed its commitment to multi-school expansion, and approved specific action steps to put the ASUN at the forefront of mid-major conference realignment in the southeast,” the ASUN press release reads.

Kendall Rogers, the co-managing editor of D1Baseball, tweeted Monday that the conference voted to enter into a 60-day negotiating period with hopes of adding Eastern Kentucky, Central Arkansas and Jacksonville State. An hour later, Jeff Goodman of Stadium later confirmed Rogers’ tweet, saying that the conference is “likely” to add those three teams.

“Despite changing dynamics in conference realignment based on institutional moves over the past six months and the new reality of financial stress from the pandemic, the ASUN continues to lead the discussion on realignment in its footprint,” the press release read.

From 1995 to 2003, JSU was a part of the Atlantic Sun Conference before it joined the Ohio Valley Conference and has won 78 OVC championships since joining. This includes five straight OVC championships from the Gamecocks football team from 2014 to 2019.

ASUN league members who play football are considered provisional members of the Big South Conference for football, but the conference itself doesn’t have that sport.

Attempts to reach JSU Athletic Director Greg Seitz for comment on Friday were unsuccessful.

Lamar AD on WAC Rumors

https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/spor ... 785206.php

And from Matt Brown on Twitter
@Mattbrownep
Hearing that the WAC's official additions of Southern Utah, Sam Houston State, Lamar, Abilene Christian and Stephen F Austin will be finalized in the next two-ish weeks.

https://www.texasfootball.com/article/2 ... view_title

Dec 10 12:45 pm

Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian and Lamar are expected to leave the Southland Conference for the Western Athletic Conference.

If the move becomes official, it would be a strong blow to the Southland Conference. Sam Houston State has been the most consistent national contender in the conference over the past decade. Central Arkansas, which has won the Southland Conference two of the past three seasons, has also been linked to the non-football Atlantic Sun.

an old post (Jan 29, 2020) by Matt Brown...

https://extrapoints.substack.com/p/the- ... nsion-plan

This basically sums it up from Matt Brown: "...the rationale I’ve heard from multiple sources is that there’s a tension between the four departing Texas schools, and the remaining Texas institutions (Incarnate Word and Houston Baptist) and the Louisiana programs, mostly over financial investment in athletics. The ability to pay for additional facility improvements, staffing upgrades and other athletic department investments does not appear to be uniform across the Southland right now, and that gulf may only get wider over the next few years"

UIW and HBU came into the conference under the guise that they would make an investment into athletics. 8 years later and HBU still plays in a jr. high basketball gym and neither institution has made any upgrades to their football facilities. The LA programs are not keeping pace with the rest of the upper tier of schools (Nichols is falling apart; SELA and McNeese have been under financial distress for 5 plus years; UNO still doesn't have football).

It has put UCA in a bad spot which is why we are hearing about overtures from different conferences. UCA doesn't have any natural rivalries with any FCS programs, so anything we do will have to be manufactured. It will be a struggle for UCA to be nationally competitive without a natural home to play in. We've done well to this point, but it seems we've hit a ceiling (at least in football), and I wouldn't project UCA to be any better than a 7, 8 or 9 win team in the next decade playing the TN and the better funded AL schools.

I've heard comments about Harding making a jump to FCS, and that might be the solution to get UCA into the national conversation. If some of the better funded AR programs can make the jump to FCS, it would be a win for UCA. UCA needs an Arkansas rival or a relatively close rival (2-3 hours away max) that can beat each other up on a annual basis.

It would be nice if ATU would move up. There is good history there, and I could see them being competitive across multiple sports.

I remember when UCA was in the Gulf South Conference, UCA and UNA had some rivalry aspect between them for some reason. It was always a fun game.

This kinda reminds me of Arkansas leaving the SWC and moving to the SEC...

As a matter of fact, the whole Southland thing is starting to remind me of that....

And the ASUN is not trying to go FBS.... as a matter of fact, more than half of the G5 FBS needs to go back to FCS in my opinion.

SFA officially announced moving to the WAC in 2022. First domino to fall...