In yet another twist in the now long and confusing realignment drama, Texas State blogger Brent Thibodeaux (@brentthibodeaux) reported yesterday that Liberty is no longer under consideration for membership in the Sun Belt. This, like most realignment news, comes from unnamed sources inside the Sun Belt. Thibodeaux has been fairly reliable in his Sun Belt connections, and his report was mirrored by several other new media outlets yesterday.
Sources within the #SunBelt have confirmed to me that #Liberty is no longer under consideration & is not expected to receive an invitation.
— Brent Thibodeaux (@BrentThibodeaux) April 16, 2013
According to Thibodeaux’s sources, the league was in discussions with Liberty (which was obvious), but league officials decided LU was not a good fit. Rumors also surfaced yesterday that the Louisiana schools, particularly University of Louisiana at Lafayette were particularly opposed to the addition of the Flames. This is particularly interesting because ULL has been rumored to be under consideration for Conference USA membership, along with Arkansas State. Is it possible that as a condition of ULL staying in the league, Liberty was kept out? We have no information to confirm that, but it is certainly a possibility if one connects the dots.
This development of course continues the apparent flip-flopping, bipolar nature of the Sun Belt expansion rumors. At the beginning of April, Liberty was considered the favorite for membership to the league by ESPN among other national sources. Then JMU became the front runner with Liberty as a second choice. Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson stated in a radio interview that reports of Liberty being next in line were “far, far, far from the case.” It then became known that JMU is less than enthusiastic about the Sun Belt, and Liberty was again perhaps in the driver seat. Our own Freedom of Information Act request revealed plans of an eastern division that included both Liberty and JMU. Then came the reports of a scheduled visit to Liberty’s campus by Sun Belt officials, followed by yesterday’s news.
So where does this leave the Sun Belt? And where does this leave Liberty?
If reports are true, the Sun Belt will be making a decision between waiting a year for JMU to make their intentions known, or adding another school, of which apparently Liberty is no longer a candidate. The bulk of reports seem to suggest that other school is Jacksonville State, but could possibly include Lamar. If the Sun Belt decides to wait, Missouri State could come into play as well. JMU is obviously a strong FBS candidate, but they have shown a reluctance to pull the trigger, and perhaps the belief that they are better than the Sun Belt. If the Sun Belt does decide to “wait for JMU”, expect Liberty to be brought out again in an attempt to influence JMU’s decision. The fact that the Sun Belt is apparently having to dig deep into the FCS ranks to find a school that is even remotely ready for FBS, and willing to join speaks volumes about how they view Liberty.
As it stands right now (and let’s face it, it will probably change again), it looks like our Flames are going to be left on the outside looking in. It is highly unlikely that Liberty will receive consideration from another FBS league, and barring Conference USA raiding the Sun Belt again, we may be stuck in the Big South for the foreseeable future. Then again, we are only one good blog report away from being at the top of the list, and getting our hopes up all over again.
Hey ULL, we want David Dees back.
Please reconceder Liberty U. for invite to The Sun Belt Conference. Before June 1, 2013
Please invie Liberty University, home of the Flames, to become part of your wonderfull Sunbelt Conference. This is the only way to the FBS it seems. I would perfer Coastal Carolinia, because they would be a great travel partner for both Liberty University and APP. State home of the mountainneers. I would try to invite the Chattanooga Mocs too, so the SBC would have an even amount of football teams at fourteen (14). This would be so great if a true envite from all of the presidents of the SBCwould vote for the Liberty Flames to join the SBC by before June 1, 2014 or next year (By May 31, 2015) at the lateist. Please invite the Flames of LU for its great athletic teams and don’t miss out on a fantastic private college thats expanding both academicly and athleticly. The football stadium will be 30,000 seating capacity before football season 2015 and LU home of the Flames have plans to incrase ultimately to 60,000 seating capacity sometime in the future.