Sun Belt Conference men's soccer

Discussion in 'College & Amateur Soccer' started by jeffconn, Mar 5, 2018.

  1. jeffconn

    jeffconn Member

    Jul 25, 2004
    Norfolk, VA, USA
    Club:
    Hampton Roads Piranhas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Surprised this hasn't been mentioned, but what happens to Sun Belt men's soccer? With Hartwick dropping to Division 3, the Sun Belt now has five schools with men's soccer:
    Appy State
    Coastal Carolina
    Georgia Southern
    Georgia State
    Howard (affiliate)

    So what happens? There are no independent men's soccer programs left in NCAA Div. 1. North Alabama is jumping up to Division 1 and the Atlantic Sun Conference, but they don't have men's soccer.
     
  2. Fish On

    Fish On Member

    Oct 22, 2016
    Club:
    AC Mantova
    should merge with southern (6 teams) , asun or big south. Or those 4 conferences (sunbelt 5 included) merge and form 2 very good conferences.
     
  3. jeffconn

    jeffconn Member

    Jul 25, 2004
    Norfolk, VA, USA
    Club:
    Hampton Roads Piranhas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #3 jeffconn, Mar 6, 2018
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2018
    Well, let's see. Here's how those conferences you mentioned look for this fall men's soccer season:
    Big South: 10 programs, no affiliates.
    Southern: 7 programs. 6 full members, plus 1 affiliate (Belmont).
    Atlantic Sun: 6 programs, no affiliates.

    The Big South should be pretty satisfied with 10 programs. The ASun is at the bare minimum, and needs more programs, but the ASun schools are in Florida, New Jersey, and Tennessee, which means higher travel costs for the non-revenue sport of men's soccer. The SoCon will have 7 members, and the SoCon and SunBelt footprints overlap for men's soccer.

    I would have to guess that the SunBelt and ASun will come to some sort of agreement and join forces for men's soccer, mostly because they both need the numbers although merging the SunBelt and SoCon rosters for men's soccer would involve less travel expenses and less lost class time. ASun/SunBelt would create a roster of 10 men's soccer schools, 11 if Howard is included in the agreement.
     
  4. DrakeSC

    DrakeSC Member

    Aug 28, 2017
    Here are the schools that are in a conference which is 1) not their primary conference and 2) has 7+ members (so it could in theory lose someone):

    Conference USA (9 soccer schools)
    Kentucky
    South Carolina
    New Mexico

    Horizon (9 soccer schools)
    Belmont

    Missouri Valley (7 soccer schools)
    Central Arkansas

    WAC (10 soccer schools)
    Houston Baptist
    Incarnate Word
    San Jose State
    UNLV

    Belmont might be an option. Central Arkansas would make sense in other variations of the Sun Belt, but it doesn't make a lot of sense with the actual Sun Belt schools.
     
  5. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    This is a rather bleak situation.
     

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