So please bear with me during this transition period and thanks again for your support!

(In other news: Did you see what our amazing baseball team did last night?)

The SoCon has been looking to add a few schools and Kennesaw State’s name has been dropped more than once.

For those of you who don’t know, Kennesaw State is located just 20 miles outside of Atlanta on top of (wouldn’t you know it) Kennesaw Mountain. They have a student population of 24,600 which makes them one of the larger possible SoCon adds.

Their mascot is Scrappy the Owl. Speaking of crappy, they currently have the 11th worst D-I men’s basketball team in the country by RPI. (They should fit right in.)

They were D-II until the 2009-2010 season, and they actually won quite a few national championships at that level (not in football obviously). Then they started their transition into the D-I Atlantic Sun conference. They decided awhile back that they wanted football, after a 10 month study. But the A-Sun doesn’t sponsor football. That and their location makes them an obvious candidate for the SoCon or Big South.

There was only one problem, the Board of Regents did NOT approve the proposed student athletics fee increase. Instead they sent it to their business committee for further review. Today the business committee finally came out with their recommendation to the Board of Regents to approve the fee increase, calling it a “sound” plan.

Now the Board of Regents itself will vote on the proposal and will likely take the advice of their business committee and approve it. The school will play football in their soccer stadium (that was supposedly built with football in mind). They plan to renovate it but not expand it. It currently seats 8,000. Now all they need is a coach, a few players,…and a conference.

The NCAA released the official 2012 football attendance figures recently. I made this infographic to help illustrate just how much we kick ass in this department.

Appalachian State head football coach Scott Satterfield continued his post-signing day media blitz as a guest on ESPN730. In it he talks about the transition from Coach Moore to himself, various new recruits, and the holes that these recruits fill. This is the quote that really stood out to me:

On getting 14 recruits:

You set you a number out there, and sometimes you’re gonna what you want, sometimes you’re not. Our kind of target number was around 13, and if we could get 14 that would be great. If we slipped to 12, yeah we’d still be fine in those numbers. We’re actually, by getting 14 we’re right on our target. It kind of worked out to get 7 & 7. Both 7 on offense and 7 on defense. We really think from top to bottom this may be the best recruiting class we’ve ever had at Appalachian State, just with the quality of players that we have. We filled all our needs I think.

Today was national signing day and head football coach Scott Satterfield was on the David Glenn Show to talk about it. Take a full listen, but here is my favorite quote from the interview:

The effect that being a former App State QB has had on recruiting:

I think the fact that I bleed black & gold, I played here, blood sweat & and tears were here, for the period of time that I played. Not only that, I’ve coached here for 13 seasons. I mean so obviously this is my school. I just believe it down to my core. Some of these guys, they are making alot of money to coach at these schools and you know, so their excitement comes from their paycheck so to speak. Mine comes from down deep. I really and truly believe in this school…It’s an easy sell.

2013 APPALACHIAN STATE FOOTBALL SIGNEES
Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown High School
Tyrell Brown DB 5-10 190 Hampton, Ga. Lovejoy
Parker Collins OL 6-3 290 North Augusta, S.C. North Augusta
Anthony Covington* DB 5-11 195 Charlotte, N.C. Mallard Creek
Marcus Cox RB 5-11 185 Dacula, Ga. Dacula
Kennan Gilchrist OLB 6-2 200 Abbeville, S.C. Abbeville
Colby Gossett OL 6-6 310 Cumming, Ga. North Forsyth
Brandon Hunter*^ OL 6-4 275 Chapel Hill, N.C. Hargrave Military Academy
Dante Jones WR 5-11 175 Raleigh, N.C. Southeast Raleigh
Taylor Lamb QB 6-2 200 Calhoun, Ga. Calhoun
Nathaniel Norwood OLB 6-2 225 Hampton, Ga. Lovejoy
Beau Nunn OL 6-4 265 York, S.C. York Comprehensive
Brandon Pinckney DB 6-0 175 Spartanburg, S.C. Dorman
Rashaad Townes DB 6-2 210 Macon, Ga. Howard
Terrence Upshaw RB 5-10 190 Duluth, Ga. Northview
George Vinson ILB 6-0 205 Damascus, Md. Damascus
Lee Wright OLB 5-10 195 York, S.C. York Comprehensive
* enrolled at Appalachian State for spring semester
^ junior-college transfer has two seasons of eligibility remaining

Check out GoASU.com for more details on this year’s signing class.

Appalachian State announced its new strategic plan today. You can view the full plan HERE.

In case you’re too lazy to read it, here are some of the highlights:

*Planned Facility Enhancements (Just the highlights)

• Football – Add premium seating and general seating
• Track & Field/Field Hockey – Permanent facilities
• Basketball – Establish an alternate practice location for basketball
• Basketball – Construct a weight room in the Holmes Center
• Baseball - Expand stadium seating to include all chair-back seating
• Baseball - On-site weight room
• Softball - Construct an indoor hitting facility
• Tennis - Develop indoor facility
• Soccer – Possibly build new on-campus facility
• Golf - Develop a driving range/short game practice area

Does this mean we are finally getting rid of the track around the football stadium? It didn’t spell that out, but it did say we were finding a new home for the track. If so, this is the facility enhancement I’m most looking forward to.

*Secondary reference is now “App State” not “ASU”

Thank goodness. As much as we would like to think we own “ASU” everyone immediately thinks of Arizona State. App State is our brand and personally I like it better anyway.

*Change the official website from GoASU.com to AppStateSports.com

I never did like GoASU as a name. Definitely an improvement.

*Cheerleading & Band Travel No Longer Funded with “Athletics” Money

I don’t really care how they’re funded, as long as they’re funded. If it means that more money is available for other athletics stuff, and cheerleading & band travel still get their money from somewhere, it sounds good to me.

*The slogan “No Equal” is no more.

It was getting old anyway. “Always Attack” anyone?

Overall, I think it’s an excellent plan. But I would make building a new track, and removing/covering up the old one, priority #1.

In case you’re new to the site, this is the 4th (and final) article in a series where I discuss conference realignment related e-mails that I obtained through a FOIA request on Georgia Southern. (See: Article 1, Article 2, Article 3)

This time we’ll be looking at 2 emails, 1 from MAC commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher and another from Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson.

This email (labeled “confidential” at the bottom) was sent from the MAC commissioner to all of the MAC athletic directors on Jan 8, 2013 @ 7:11AM. That was a full 8 days before the SDSU announced it would back away from moving to the Big East/Big West and remain in the MWC. He forecasts this development and makes some predictions on future MWC/Big East movements.

The main quote to take away is:

Based on discussions I have had with the commissioner of the Mountain West, I do not expect the conference to add other teams at this time. The Big East Conference is not expected to add any new members in the short-term. I look forward to discussing the membership landscape when we meet in the coming weeks.

Some have speculated that the MWC would think about adding a few of the following: BYU, Tulsa, Houston, UTEP, & NMSU. I still think they would add BYU if BYU wanted to come (which they don’t). As for the others, this e-mail makes me think that they’ll stand pat at 12.

As for the Big East, you would think adding more teams is a given. But this e-mail makes me think that they will wait until after a TV contract is finalized or perhaps even until next year. If the Sun Belt is waiting for the Big East to move before they move, we could be in for a long wait.

Some forget that App State could also be a candidate for MAC expansion. It makes sense if added as a package deal with say, JMU? But the MAC has been slow and steady as a turtle during this whole conference realignment shift. However, a few of their schools are in danger of being picked up by the Big East: Ohio, UMass, & NIU. They may not be able to sit on their hands forever.

Notes: After a few days of sitting on my kitchen table, my 4 year old finally got around to spilling water on my papers, so I apologize for the quality. Notice this is page “2 of 3″. I made the conscious decision to not post page 1 since it reveals who sent this to Georgia Southern AD Tom Kleinlein. It adds nothing to the discussion and since I’m not sure if they were actually supposed to forward it, I did not include it. Page 3 was just the end of the signature block.
____________

This email is a back and forth between Georgia Southern’s AD Tom Kleinlein and Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson sent on Jan 2, 2013. The e-mail chain ends with Kleinlein forwarding it to his President saying that he will “share thoughts tomorrow”.

Kleinlein’s comments give us an inside look as to how proactive Georgia Southern is being on the conference realignment front:

I am planning to meet with my President Thursday to begin to strategize the potential move. He would like to reach out to other Presidents to gain support but wants to do it at the proper time and in the proper fashion. Do you have any particular suggestions on how to handle this from a conference perspective?

He also would like to extend an invitation to anyone from the conference who like to visit our University to get a better feel for who we are and our plans for the future.

Karl Benson replies with:

Tom – Happy New Year. With the latest Big East defection – Boise St staying in Mt West – along with other possible changes re San Diego St, SMU and Houston – my guess is that we will slow things down until a little more of the dust settles. I will be in Miami beginning Sat and will be with my commissioner colleagues – hope to be able to find out more information then. Let’s plan to connect next Wed.

This ultimately confirms that what Georgia Southern’s AD has said publically is true. The Sun Belt is in a holding pattern (or at least they were a month ago) and no formal invitations have been given. It also pretty much shows that Georgia Southern is not dealing with Sun Belt schools directly, but rather, just the commissioner. I can only assume that Appalachian State is in a similar situation, but I can’t be sure.

I know a few of you are asking “Did this show us anything we didn’t already know?” Well it does confirm what we were told was indeed the truth. Don’t underestimate the value of that. Also, it gives us a better picture of how the negotiation process works. If anything, it’s interesting.

Notes: Once again I apologize for the quality. This e-mail is page “1 of 2″. Page 2 was just the end of the signature block.

____________

I hope everyone enjoyed reading these 4 articles on conference realignment e-mails from Georgia Southern. I had big aspirations when I started this site just under a year ago. I have tried, where possible, to MAKE the news and to find creative ways of doing that without the luxury of formal media credentials.

In the near future, big announcements will be made regarding the future of this site as I continue to try to take it to the next level. Thanks to everyone who follows the site for all of your support.

For all of the latest news on Appalachian State & conference realignment, follow me on Twitter: @AppStateNation

In case you’re new to the site, two weeks ago I filed a FOIA request with both Appalachian State and Georgia Southern for any documents pertaining to conference realignment. On Fri, I received Georgia Southern’s documents, which were essentially 50+ pages of e-mails. First, I posted an e-mail from Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson which showed a map of a potential expansion plan for the Sun Belt. Next, I posted a document from Karl Benson which listed all of the potential candidates for Sun Belt expansion.

Today’s papers raise more questions than answers, unfortunately. Below are five pages of e-mails between top administration officials of Georgia Southern and New Mexico State (NMSU). Initially, they are between GSU’s President, Dr. Keel, and NMSU’s Athletic Director, Dr. Boston. They schedule to meet in Atlanta at a steak restaurant on Nov 4 @ 6PM, to discuss “confidential” conference realignment info. Dr. Boston also schedules to bring one of his staff.

The third page is perhaps the most interesting, since Dr. Boston gives a vague description of what they will be discussing at this meeting:

Brooks, Look forward to a productive working dinner..We will forward you materials for your info and review highlighting our thoughts and those shared with us confidentially from the Commissioner..PS..President Manuel Pachceco of NMSU will call you in the future to discuss our strategy and share you my role and empowerment in the process..I felt that was important for you to hear..Mckinley

Here are the actual scanned e-mails:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

You’ll notice page #5 is a completely separate e-mail, sent after the meeting, that was planned in the first 4 pages. It says “1 of 2″ but the 2nd page was just a signature block so I didn’t include it. It is dated Nov 14 and begins from NMSU’s Dr. Boston to GSU’s Dr. Keel, essentially congratulating him on the hire of a new Athletic Director. But then they reflect on their “confidential” meeting in Atlanta a little bit and plan a new one in New Mexico.

As I mentioned during our visit in Atlanta, we looked forward to you all visiting with us here in the South West and doing some planning our joint efforts to secure membership in the Sun Belt. We will suggest some options for you and Tom [GSU's AD] to consider. Look forward to seeing you again. McKinley”

Then GSU’s President responds with:

I have briefed Tom [GSU's AD] on our recent conversation and the developing collaborations between Georgia Southern and New Mexico State. I have asked Tom to reach to you, and he should be getting in touch with you shortly. Please know that Tom speaks for me and Georgia Southern, so please feel free to share freely with him. I am copying Tom on this email. We look forward to having the opportunity to meet with you again in person soon. Until then, best regards. Brooks

So once again, very few details. Some of you may be asking “who cares?” Well it establishes the fact that Georgia Southern and NMSU are working together, and for me it raises some interesting questions.

Question 1: What was so important and confidential that NMSU’s Athletic Director felt the need to fly from New Mexico to Atlanta to discuss? It couldn’t be done via e-mail or phone? It wasn’t to see GSU’s facilities because apparently they never left Atlanta.

Question 2: Why does GSU care whether or not NMSU gets in the Sun Belt? They aren’t geographically close to one another, nor are they some sort of package deal. Are they just coordinating because it couldn’t hurt? Or do they have some sort of real plan to work together?

Question 3: Why are there e-mails between GSU and NMSU, but not a single e-mail between GSU and Appalachian State? Is it because App/GSU coordinate via phone & in person? Is it because GSU didn’t release those e-mails to me, for whatever reason? Or is it because Appalachian State isn’t being as proactive as GSU or NMSU? Who knows? But one thing is for sure, App State wasn’t invited to any of these confidential meetings. (Not cool GSU, we like steak too ya know.)

If anything these e-mails are interesting to read. They will be even more interesting if somehow NMSU and GSU are the one’s added and not Appalachian State. But in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed a small inside look at the conference realignment process. Stay tuned because I still have 1 or 2 articles worth of documents that are worth mentioning. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think in the comments.

Don’t forget, for the latest conference realignment news make sure to follow me on Twitter: @AppStateNation

If you haven’t already read my previous article, I submitted a FOIA request for conference realignment related documents from both Appalachian State & Georgia Southern. I received Georgia Southern’s documents today.

But after receiving the documents, I got an e-mail from Georgia Southern with additional documents that were not discovered in time to physically mail. There is a time limit associated with responding to a FOIA request in the state of GA, thus why they didn’t wait. Since my FOIA request specified that digital copies were acceptable, they e-mailed these additional documents.

In this e-mail, Georgia Southern’s AD Thomas Kleinlein received a “SBC EADA Fact Sheet” (Sun Belt Conference – Equity in Athletics Data Analysis - Fact Sheet) from Karl Benson the Sun Belt’s Commissioner. It basically compares financial numbers of a bunch of schools.

Kleinlein then forwarded it to someone named Jeff (within the athletics department?) asking for amplifying info on each school. It seems a bunch of the text of the e-mail was withheld by the school, unless Karl Benson’s email really did just say “and the sport expense data” and that’s it.

The fact sheet itself is the real jewel here, because it comes from Karl Benson and lists every Sun Belt school, then has the words “Potential Members” followed by a collection of school names. Note that I have no idea if these schools are SERIOUS candidates, but at the very least, these are schools that being somewhat considered.

This is the original copy of the attachment: SBC EADA Fact Sheet.PDF

Note that the date of the attachment is only today’s date because it was forwarded to me today from their lawyers. The date of the email was Dec 21, 2012 @ 11:31AM.

The schools it lists are:

Appalachian State
Delaware
Georgia Southern
Idaho
Illinois State
Jacksonville State
James Madison
Lamar
Liberty
Missouri State
New Mexico State
Richmond
Sam Houston State
Towson
UT Chattanooga

 I follow Sun Belt expansion as close as anyone in the game. Most of these are the usual suspects. Some of these are schools, like UT-Chattanooga and Illinois State, I thought only people on message boards were talking about. But apparently the Sun Belt is actually considering them as well. Other schools like Richmond & Towson seemed to come out of left field for me, but make sense in a way.

For those of you that wanted some kind of smoking gun/official invite, I’m sorry. I just requested the FOIA and this is what they gave me. I hope you find it interesting. Check back soon for more documents from my FOIA request.

For all the latest conference realignment news follow me on Twitter: @AppStateNation