OP/ED
Texas State was at the center of college athletics and national headlines when the Bobcats became targets of both the Mountain West and the Pac-12.
With both conferences needing eight members to maintain their FBS status, Texas State became a favorite in the musical chairs that is called realignment.
However, in an official statement released by the school, Texas State opted to stay in the Sun Belt Conference, which the Bobcats have called home since 2013.
In the end, Texas State made the right decision in staying with the Sun Belt Conference.
One of the reasons Texas State looked at possibly leaving the Sun Belt was the chance at making more television money.
Under the Sun Belt’s current television contract, the conference’s payout is currently at $2 million. Compared to the Mountain West, the conference’s payout is at $4 million whereas the Pac-12 conference could potentially have a payout of $8 million However even if the Bobcats wanted to join either conference with a bigger cut of the TV revenue pie, shipping Texas State athletics across multiple time zones is not beneficial for anyone involved.
Though Texas State is on a relatively western island in the Sun Belt, trading one island for another further island is not the way to go.
To put in perspective, Texas State is closer to Louisiana in Lafayette [380 miles] to UTEP [572 miles] even though both the Miners and the Bobcats share the same state.
Even the Bobcats longest conference road trip to James Madison [1,433 miles] is shorter than Texas State making a trip to Washington State [1,977 miles].
Needless to say, traveling thousands of miles more than what you face in the Sun Belt is not worth the mileage and the headaches it would cause.
But perhaps the most important reason for staying in the Sun Belt is the strength of the conference.
Since adding James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss in 2022, the conference has grown into a superior mid-major conference that sends multiple teams to multiple sports to the NCAA Tournament.
In the last year’s NCAA Volleyball tournament, Sun Belt sent four teams to the tournament, including Texas State. In softball, three teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament, also including Texas State. In baseball, four teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Last season in football, the Sun Belt had 12 teams qualify for bowl games, beating out the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC for most teams to qualify.
Simply put, the Sun Belt is slowly becoming the premier mid-major conference in college athletics.
History has also shown that teams that leave the Sun Belt Conference have arguably been worse off.
During conference realignment in 2013, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, North Texas and Western Kentucky all left the conference for Conference USA in hopes of seeing greener pastures. Instead, everyone has been left with a false bill of goods.
Florida International, Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky find themselves trapped in a C-USA that is now a former shell of itself while North Texas and Florida Atlantic are on the bottom tier of the American Athletic Conference compared to their in-state counterparts in South Florida and UTSA.
As active as Texas State is in realignment over the years, to the point where the university formed its own conference to become a FCS program in 1984, the Bobcats must remain smart in making their move.
Texas State has built great momentum over the past couple of years with all six major team sports [Football, Volleyball, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Baseball and Softball] either winning a conference title or making the postseason. But being successful for a couple of years is not good enough.
The key to being a valuable realignment target is not to be just good for a couple of years but rather an entire decade. One just needs to look at Houston with the success of both football and men’s basketball as well as Central Florida and Cincinnati, which Texas State strives to be.
By staying in the Sun Belt, Texas State has the chance to build their program on the level of Houston and be the next prime target of perhaps a Big 12 conference or a bigger conference than the Mountain West or Pac-12.
The foundation is set for the Bobcat athletics to take that next step. Now it’s time to build the mansion.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
