What would I do if I were Sun Belt commish......and focused on baseball.

With the recent conference shuffle, it is beginning to affect Sun Belt baseball.  Obviously using baseball as the base of a conference is a dream, but this is what I would do if it was.  First, you have to look at the geographical footprint of the Sun Belt.  As of now, with the addition of Georgia State, Texas State, and UT-Arlington, the Sun Belt stretches from Georgia to Texas and north to Kentucky.  So, where to look for the next baseball programs to add? I’ve looked at 10 schools that all have one thing in common; they have made major investments in baseball since 2000.  I’m sure you are wondering what schools I’m looking at.  However, based on the criteria for being a “successful” program I’ve already kicked two schools out of my dream.  The football crowd won’t agree, but UT-San Antonio is the first team kicked out.  While they have made multiple renovations to Roadrunner Field (Built 1992 with a seating capacity of only 800), the Roadrunners only have a winning percentage of 47.03% in the past four years, and no regional appearances.  The second school kicked out is Jacksonville, not because I think Florida schools don’t belong in the Sun Belt (as you will see), but mainly because I believe the Sun Belt should focus on expanding north.  So here they are with some information about their facility.

• College of Charleston; Opened 2001 (Renovated 2007); Capacity 2,000
• Dallas Baptist; Opening 2013; Capacity 2,000
• Appalachian State; Opened 2008; Capacity 1,000
• Elon; Opened 2001 (Renovated 2010); Capacity 2,000
• Charlotte; Opened 2007; Capacity 1,100
• Florida Gulf Coast; Opened 2004; Capacity 1,500
• Creighton; Opened 1988 (Renovated 2000); 2,000 [Has access to TD Ameritrade Park Omaha]
• Wichita State; Opened 2000; Capacity 7,851 

Facilities are only one part of the equation, but these schools definitely have quality stadiums that fans will want to visit. Of course, the second part of the equation is whether the program has been “successful” in the past four years. This is the part where the state of Florida is left out of the conference.  While Florida Gulf Coast can be described as a program on the rise, they have failed to make a regional appearance and are a middle of the pack team in the Atlantic Sun since the departure of 2010 NCAA Pitcher of the Year, Chris Sale.  So, how do the remaining seven program hold up to the “successful” test?  The answer is that they hold up very well.

• College of Charleston; 156-85 (64.73%); 2 Reg App
• Dallas Baptist; 149-83 (64.22%); 2 Reg App
• Appalachian State; 145-84 (63.32%); 1 Reg App
• Elon; 148-89 (62.45%); 2 Reg App
• Charlotte; 136-87 (60.99%); 1 Reg App
• Creighton; 131-96 (57.17%); 2 Reg App
• Wichita State; 145-97 (59.92%); 1 Reg App 

So, now that I’ve listed the stats, I guess it’s time to rank these schools in that order that I’d want them.  All the schools have had recent success, including regional appearances, but here’s my list.

1. Wichita State : Great history with an amazing ballpark, and not too far north especially if the Sun Belt can also add #2 on the list (Really 1A)
2. Dallas Baptist : Upstart program with plenty of success in recent years and a new stadium being built (Really 1B)
3. College of Charleston : Very successful and only about 320 miles from new member Georgia State
4. Elon and/or Charlotte : Really a tie with comparable stadiums history, also brings in the state of North Carolina
5. Appalachian State : Also brings in North Carolina, but that’s about it

So if I were Karl Benson, and building a baseball conference, I would immediately be on the phone with Wichita State and Dallas Baptist.  The Sun Belt is normally a top ten conference, but the addition of these two programs will bring up the conference RPI and be enough teams for a division split if wanted.  However, if the Sun Belt were to expand east, the calls would go to the College of Charleston (RPI bump) and either Elon or Charlotte.  Appalachian State is really just there to make the football fans happy and would be a last ditch addition. So what’s the next question?  Guess it depends on who jumps next.

Here we go again, what about my baseball theory?

Well, the conference shuffle is in full swing with the mid-major conferences.  Today's news brings Louisville heading to the ACC, along with Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic heading to CUSA.  So once again, what about baseball?  Well, Louisville heads to a top notch baseball conference to compete with the likes of Clemson, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, and Virginia.  There is no doubt that if Louisville is contending for a conference title in the future, then they won't be on the bubble to host a regional.

So what about CUSA? While they are losing some quality programs, they still have East Carolina (for now), Rice, and Southern Miss.  The addition of Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic is a good thing for CUSA baseball. Sun Belt baseball had a down year in 2012, and the departure of these two definitely will hurt. Using the same criteria for successful programs as I have before, these are the numbers.

Middle Tennessee; 128-106 (54.70%)
Florida Atlantic; 131-97 (57.46%); 1 Reg App

While Middle Tennessee falls just below the threshold for "successful", their facilities make up the difference.  Reese Smith Jr. Field, while built in the early 1980's, was built the right way.  The seating capacity is 2,600 and it's on my list of stadium to visit.  Florida Atlantic's numbers qualify as successful, but their facilty leave much to be desired.  FAU Baseball Stadium was built in 1991, and the largest crowd ever for a game was 2,300 in 2008 when they hosted Miami.

Today, Louisville baseball finds itself in a much better position for the growth of their program.  However, Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic are making a lateral move basically replacing Central Florida and Tulane.  So next question, how does this affect Sun Belt baseball?  Guess that's a topic for tomorrow.........unless more schools switch conferences.

What is the Big East doing.......building up baseball, maybe?

Okay, so now the conference carousel continues with the addition of Tulane (all sports) and ECU (football only) to the Big East.  Of course, everyone knows that the motive behind the move is the all mighty dollar.  The big-boy conferences sold their souls to ESPN years ago, and now the mid-major conferences are selling their souls to the Regional Sports Networks.  The unfortunate outcome of this is the sacrifice of other sports such as baseball.  But here’s a crazy idea, since the Big East is no longer a big-boy football conference, are they actually working on building a big-boy baseball conference?

The Big East was formed in 1979 with a focus on basketball and has a long history of success on the court.  The conference also has a long history of in-fighting between the “football” schools and the “basketball” schools.  The past few years have brought on the defection of several of the top basketball programs (Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburg, and Notre Dame) and several of the top football programs (Miami, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech).  While the core of the original basketball schools remain (Georgetown, UConn, Providence, St. John’s, and Seton Hall), it seems the conference is searching for a new identity.  Since the “football” schools never got along with the “basketball” schools, maybe that new identity is the original one, a top-tier basketball conference as well as a top-tier baseball conference.

When I look at baseball programs, the main criterion for being “successful” is regional appearances.  The secondary area I look at is winning percentage, and anything over 55% is successful in my opinion.  So I looked up the numbers for the past four seasons and this is what I found.

TEAMS STAYING IN THE BIG EAST

• Louisville; 170-83 (67.19%); 3 Reg App
• UConn; 160-87 (64.78%); 2 Reg App
• St. John’s; 149-87 (63.14%); 3 Reg App
• South Florida; 123-108 (53.25%)
• Seton Hall; 112-103 (52.09%); 1 Reg App
• Villanova; 99-110 (47.37%)
• Cincinnati; 106-123 (46.29%)
• Georgetown; 88-127 (40.93%)  

TEAMS JOINING THE BIG EAST

• Central Florida; 139-97 (58.90%); 2 Reg App
• Tulane; 135-95 (58.70%)
•  Memphis; 110-117 (48.46%)
• Houston; 97-120 (44.70%)

TEAMS LEAVING THE BIG EAST

• Pittsburg; 127-90 (58.53%)
• Notre Dame; 118-111 (51.53%)
•  Rutgers 103-112 (47.91%)

The Big East is keeping together is top baseball schools that have combined for 9 regional appearances in the past four years, while adding some quality programs that have recently invested in baseball.  Tulane may have been down the past few years, but they are a quality program with a stadium that was just built in 2008 for $10.5 million with a seating capacity of 5,000.  Central Florida brings in back-to-back regional appearances.  They have invested in their stadium in the past five years and now have a seating capacity of 3,600.  Memphis brings a program on the rise with plenty of financial backing and the opening of brand new FedExPark in 2010.  Houston has invested in their stadium as recently as this year and can seat up to 5,000.

So what are they losing?  Pittsburg has a new stadium that opened in 2011, but only has a seating capacity of only 900.  Notre Dame has some good history in baseball, but their stadium was built in 1994.  Rutgers has invested in a turf playing surface in 2007, but still only seats 1,500.  While these schools have made investments in their baseball programs in the recent past, it’s nowhere near the investment of the schools being added.  These three schools have invested in their football programs and are being rewarded with addition to big-boy football conferences.

Looks like the Big East may just be doing what I have suggested, building a top-tier baseball conference.  Based on my numbers, they are adding two schools that have been recently successful and two other that have invested in order to be successful in the near future.  All the while, losing three schools that are focusing on football, and being able to keep most of the basketball core in the conference.  Next question, will the Big East have four or more regional teams in 2013?