“Since July, our presidents and chancellors have expressed confidence in Sun Belt leadership and our member configuration amid national realignment conversations,” said Dr. The addition of JMU will bring the number of Sun Belt members to 16, with the Dukes joining current members-App State, Little Rock, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana, ULM, South Alabama, UTA, Texas State and Troy-and new additions Southern Miss, Old Dominion and Marshall, which were welcomed to the Sun Belt Conference last week. I am grateful to JMU President Jonathan Alger and Athletics Director Jeff Bourne for their leadership during this process and look forward to working closely with them moving forward.” “This move brings another strong brand and passionate fanbase into the Sun Belt and elevates the Dukes’ storied football program to the highest level of NCAA competition.
“We are thrilled to welcome James Madison University to the Sun Belt Conference,” said Keith Gill, Sun Belt Conference Commissioner. CT at the Atlantic Union Bank Center on the JMU campus and is open to the public. JMU will join the Sun Belt Conference no later than July 1, 2023.Ī press conference is set for this morning (Saturday, Nov 6) at 10 a.m. The Sun Belt is one of the few G5 conferences that can say that.Ĭory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network.The Sun Belt Conference announced Saturday the addition of James Madison University into the league after a unanimous vote of the Sun Belt CEOs. One of the reasons why we’ve worked so hard for CFP expansion, we really do think opening that up just a little bit would give us room to get there,” he said. However that arrives - if it does - Gill believes the Sun Belt is in position to to earn spots in a 12-team or bigger field. With the talk of super conferences in the near future for college football, playoff expansion would surely follow suit. That was a good thing because it got us positioned for what could come next.” “We’re well-positioned for this next round of realignment that’s going to result from the USC-UCLA ripple effect. But it’s a matter of, is there an opportunity for us to grow in ways that make sense?” Gill said. “I think for us, it’s really about, 'Is there an opportunity there?' We feel really stable, really good with our 14 teams. For the Sun Belt, how well it emerged from the last round of major moves gives it flexibility.
With the conference now sitting at 14 members, Gill said there’s no number he has in mind for possible further expansion. The Sun Belt was the only Group of Five league that didn’t lose any football members from 2021. No conference has been safe from some form of movement over the past calendar year. “It’s going to be a good springboard for us, the future is going to be bright for us. “We take pride that we’re so attractive that our 10 schools wanted to say and help us build this conference into what it is today. “We take pride in that fact that we were so attractive for four great schools wanted to join us,” Gill told The Daily Advertiser in a one-on-one interview Wednesday. The healthier-than-ever conference has placed itself among the top seven conferences in college football, finding a seat at the table as realignment continues. Media Days marked the first step into the spotlight for the league after Gill and the universities’ athletic directors and presidents were proactive from the news of Texas and Oklahoma inquiring last summer about joining the SEC. Keith Gill, commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, announces that Southern Miss will join the Sun Belt Conference at the Southern Miss Trent Lott Center in Hattiesburg, Miss.
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