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from: RALPH D. RUSSO, Associated Press
Posted: 10/22/2021 / 6:22 PM CDT
Updated: 10/22/2021 / 7:05 p.m. CDT
Southern Mississippi (left) and the UAB face each other on the Line of Scrimmage in the third quarter of an NCAA college football game in Hattiesburg, Miss., Saturday, October 16, 2021. (Dominic Gwinn / Hattiesburg American via AP)
South Mississippi accepted an invitation to the Sun Belt Conference on Friday and dealt another blow to Conference USA, which this week already had six members, which announced its departure.
Two people familiar with the decision told The Associated Press that Southern Miss had agreed to leave a conference she co-founded in 1995 and join the Sun Belt on a date yet to be determined.
People spoke on condition of anonymity because the Sun Belt was not yet ready to make an announcement and was still working on further expansion steps that it did not want to address publicly.
Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill did not promptly return a message left by The AP.
Yahoo! Sports first reported that Southern Miss had agreed to join the Sun Belt.
The Southern Miss news comes a day after the American Athletic Conference announced the addition of six C-USA schools – UAB, Charlotte, Rice, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, and UTSA – also on a date yet to be determined.
Conference USA is limited to seven schools with long-term league commitments – Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Florida International, Marshall, Louisiana Tech, and UTEP – and that could wane as the Sun Belt continues to grow.
Various media outlets have reported that the Sun Belt is interested in adding Marshall and Old Dominion, and have also discussed inviting FCS powerhouse James Madison.
The chairman of the Marshall Board of Governors said in a tweet that the university’s decision on conference membership will come after a new school president is installed next week.
“The Marshall Board of Governors will appoint a new president at the board meeting next Thursday,” Patrick Farrell wrote on Twitter. “We’ll wait for the new president to get involved before making a decision about whether we will be part of the athletics conference. We are confident that we are in a great position. “
C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod released a statement Friday that did not mention the departure of Southern Miss, but said the conference had “a strong core to build around”.
“There are several institutions that would like to attend Conference USA, both FBS and FCS, some of which we have already met in person,” said MacLeod. “Every step we take will be deliberate, strategically sensible, and deliberate. We take the time to add future members who are the best fit from an athletic and academic point of view, and give potential institutions time to complete their process. We continue to believe in the regional concept and will try to integrate this into our structure and scheduling. There are certainly a lot of questions out there, but a lot is going on behind the scenes. If necessary, we will publish further information, but out of respect for those involved, we will continue to operate outside the public space. “
Earlier this month, MacLeod sent a letter to AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco suggesting some sort of merger between the two far-flung conferences. The AAC was not interested and instead poached almost half of the C-USA.
Based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Southern Miss fits perfectly into the Sun Belt’s smaller footprint, between the Alabama-based Troy and South Alabama schools to the east and Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette to the west.
USM football has a decades-long track record, including Brett Favre who led the Golden Eagles to the excitement of Florida State, Alabama, and Auburn during his career from 1987 to 1990. Southern Miss won four C-USA titles at the start of the conference.
When the make-up of C-USA changed, Southern Miss lost many of its longtime rivals such as Louisville, Memphis, Houston, and Tulane, and the program lost its relevance.
The sun belt offers Southern Miss the chance to cut travel costs and build new regional rivalries.
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