University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic director Rick Hart said Tuesday that he and senior associate athletic director Matt Pope have been “keeping our eye on” Georgia State’s possible move to the Sun Belt Conference.
A CBCSports.com report early Tuesday stated that an invitation to join the Sun Belt could be presented to Georgia State “as early as Thursday.” Later in the day, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its website that talks were happening but nothing was imminent.
“No invitations have been extended, no decisions have been made,” Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson told AJC.com. “We have had a continued dialogue.”
Georgia State has been in the Colonial Athletic Association since 2005, and this fall the football team will play a CAA schedule for the first time since the sport was started at GSU two years ago. According to the CBSSports.com report, Georgia State could begin playing in the Sun Belt in 2013.
The UTC football team is scheduled to play a home-and-home series with Georgia State in 2013 and ’14. If the Panthers do head to the Sun Belt, a bowl subdivision conference, that could affect those games.
“We’ve been watching it, and it could range from we play them anyway to we play them some of the years anyway, to we don’t play them at all,” Hart said during a phone interview from the New Orleans airport before his return from some NCAA meetings during the Final Four.
“We don’t know. We’re not concerned about it, but we’ve been keeping our eye on it. As soon as there is something to react to, we will.”
If Georgia State does go to the Sun Belt, UTC would not be opposed to keeping the scheduled games. The Mocs did that with Western Kentucky several years ago as it transitioned to the Sun Belt.
“I don’t really think we’re going to have a concern about playing them,” Hart said. “I don’t see us requesting any changes, but they may need to.”
The Mocs are scheduled to play Georgia State at the Georgia Dome on Sept. 7, 2013, with the Panthers visiting Finley Stadium on Sept. 6, 2014.