Welcome to the SoConversation, featuring The Citadel beat writer Jeff Hartsell of the Charleston Post and Courier, Elon beat writer Adam Smith of the Burlington Times-News and UTC beat writer John Frierson of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
This special edition of the SoConversation isn’t about the games themselves, but the league and its present and future. In the wake of Appalachian State and Georgia Southern finally announcing that they were leaving for the Sun Belt, and the College of Charleston’s announcement in December that it was going to the Colonial Athletic Association, there is much to discuss.
What should the SoCon do now that it’s soon to be a nine-team league? How many schools should it add and what are the characteristics of those schools?
ADAM: The exits of Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, while no doubt undesirable, were inevitable. Their moves up had been taking shape for years – publically, out in the open – and so everybody associated with the SoCon saw this coming.
It was about a year ago that commissioner John Iamarino said he had compiled a list of possible replacement options, should the league experience departures. Now it’s time to go shopping with that list.