Southern Conference Adds Three To Its Football Membership

GREENVILLE, S.C.–It’s a new, old beginning for the Southern Conference, as three members, two of which were once longtime league members, are set to join the nation’s fifth-oldest Division I conference effective July 1, 2014, it was announced by the Southern Conference office Thursday.

The additions of East Tennessee State, VMI and Mercer are in response to what have been a tough six months for the league office, which has lost five league members to other conferences, including three football-playing members. The SoCon, of course, is known as one of the most innovative conferences throughout the world of Division I athletics, having staged the first NCAA Division I conference basketball tournament in 1921.

College of Charleston, a non football-playing member, first announced they were leaving the SoCon for the Colonial Athletic Association back in early December, and then the league’s most successful football-playing members–Appalachian State and Georgia Southern–decided to make the jump to the FBS and the Sun Belt Conference it was announced in late March.

Three weeks ago, Davidson, the league’s most successful basketball member, with 12 Southern Conference titles, left to join the Atlantic 10, and just last week, Elon announced that it had made the decision to make the move to the CAA, marking the second member to leave to join that particular conference affiliation and the third football-playing member.

East Tennessee State and VMI were once proud members of the Southern Conference, and both programs enjoyed a large majority of their successes on the basketball hardwood rather than the football gridiron during their previous tenures as league members, with no one soon to forget the Buccaneers’ four-straight Southern Conference Basketball titles, No. 10 national ranking, and upset win over Arizona in the 1992 NCAA Tournament, while VMI rode the coattail of standout player Ron Carter all the way to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament in 1976-77.

East Tennessee State was a member from 1978-2005, but just ended its tenure as a football-playing member following the 2003 season, while finishing out the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons on the basketball hardwood. The success of the East Tennessee State baseball team as of late has helped the Bucs come full circle so to speak, as the Atlantic Sun baseball champion Bucs will begin play in the Nashville Regional tomorrow night against No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The last time the Bucs advanced to the NCAA Tournament on the baseball diamond was back in 1981 as a Southern Conference member.

Hamstrung by financial instability accrued over several decades, East Tennessee State was forced to disband its football program following the 2003 season, and it eventually led the Bucs’ departure from the SoCon for the Atlantic Sun Conference two years later. The Bucs began a determined fundraising effort several years back to help re-launch football, which will begin play once again in the fall of 2015.

The campaign to re-ignite football excitement around the Tri-Cities area was none other than former Tennessee Volunteers legendary coach Phillip Fulmer, who was the consultant and the face of the project, which ultimately sees the Bucs return to the SoCon and also plans for a new outdoor football facility, which will seat 14,000 and should be ready in time for the 2015 football season.

The Bucs were successful during their Atlantic Sun membership, winning 33 men’s regular-season or tournament titles, while claiming 19 titles in women’s sports. During their previous membership in the Southern Conference, the Bucs won 13 regular-season and tournament titles in men’s basketball, and recorded their best finish as a football-playing member in 1996, finishing 10-3 and advancing to the Division I-AA playoffs for the first time in school history.

The Bucs dropped only two games during the regular-season, which came against eventual Southern Conference and national champion Marshall 34-10 before a sell-out crowd at the Memorial Center, while also dropping a game to Division I-A foe East Carolina (45-21) in non-conference play. The Bucs opened the playoffs with a win over a Villanova team that featured the nation’s top receiver, in Brian Finneran, getting a 35-29 win inside the dome.

VMI is also back in the SoCon, after serving the league from 1924-2003, joining the league just three years after its inaugural season of 1921.

Most of VMI’s success on the gridiron came in the 1950’s and ’60’s, claiming five football titles during that time span, but were eventually asked to leave the conference affiliation in 2003, as the Keydets were no longer able to consistently compete with league, which was seemingly becoming stronger and stronger as Division I-AA’s top football conference in the early 2000’s.

Mercer, a charter member of the Atlantic Sun (formerly the Trans-America Athletic Conference), becomes the newest member of the Southern Conference, and the Bears will bring a Southern Conference connection to their new home.

Head football coach Bobby Lamb spent 29 years as a player, assistant coach and head coach at Furman University before taking the reins of the Bears’ football program in 2011. Mercer will be resurrecting its football program after a 72-year hiatus from the gridiron when it begins play in the Pioneer League for one season in 2013.

The Bears, like East Tennessee State, will be participating in the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, playing as the No. 3 seed in the Starkville, Mississippi Regional against No. 2 seed South Alabama on Friday afternoon.

The Mercer basketball program has won 51 games over the past two seasons on the basketball  hardwood, including winning the College Insider.com Tournament in 2012 and claimed the Atlantic Sun regular-season basketball title in 2013, garnering an invite to the postseason for a second-straight season with an invitation to the National Invitational Tournament. In the NIT this past March, the Bears knocked off SEC member Tennessee (75-67) on the road in the opening round before eventually eliminated by BYU (90-71) in Provo in the succeeding round.

The Bears have a couple of regular non-conference foes, which now compete as regulars in the Southern Conference, namely Chattanooga and Samford. The Mocs were a regular football opponent for homecoming before the Bears disbanded their football program in 1942.

A Look At Football Traditions Of The Former SoCon Members

VMI’s Greatest Moments:

Though the Keydets struggled during their previous membership in the Southern Conference, few will forget the Keydets tradition and the players that made a significant impact on the landscape of Southern Conference football.

VMI,which plays football currently in the Big South Conference, had one of the better atmospheres in Southern Conference football during their 80-year membership in the league. The Keydets, which call Foster Stadium (former Alumni Stadium) home (pictured left), have made significant renovations to their home stadium, and will provide the SoCon with another state-of-the-art venue on Saturday afternoons.

The Keydets’ football program has produced five Southern Conference Football titles, with the last coming in 1962.

There have been some great names to come through the ranks at VMI over the years, such as the late Bill Stewart, who was the head football coach at VMI from 1994-96 and went on to become the head coach at West Virginia later, succeeding Rich Rodriguez when he moved from the Mountain State to the University of Michigan in 2008.

But for all of Bill Stewart’s accomplishments as a head coach, one of the more memorable ones came in 1994, when he led a winless VMI team into Boone, N.C., to take on a mighty Appalachian State club, who needed only a win in the final Southern Conference game to secure the Southern Conference title.

The Keydets came into the contest 0-10 on the season, but led by a budding star named Thomas Haskins at running back, the Keydets produced one of the single greatest regular-season upsets in Southern Conference football history, with a 26-23 overtime win over the Mountaineers. The sophomore Haskins produced 277 all-purpose yards in the unbelievable win, including 225 yards on the ground. Stewart also spent time as an assistant coach at Marshall (1980), and was one of the beloved coaches in college football, always having a kind word to say. Stewart passed away just a little over a year ago, serving at the time as an assistant to the athletic director at West Virginia.

Haskins is one of the greatest running backs to ever play in the Southern Conference, currently ranking fifth in league history in all-time rushing yards, as he finished his career with 5,349 career yards, and when he graduated in 1996, held 21 school records. Haskins scored a school-record 50 TDs in his four years toting the football for the Keydets.

The Keydets featured one of the most prolific rushing attacks in the Division I-AA football ranks in the early-mid 1990’s, utilizing the wishbone offense under the direction of Jim Shuck, Bill Stewart and later, Ted Cain and Cal McCombs.

There have been some memorable signal-callers to suit up for the Keydets as well, including Dave Brown (1985-88), Tony Scales (1989-92), and Joey Gibson (1999-2002). Scales, which starred during the days of the wishbone attack for the Keydets, remains the top rushing quarterback in school history, having finished the 2,475 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Brown and Gibson stand out as the top two passers in program history. Brown threw for 5,603 yards in his four years as the VMI signal-caller, while Gibson would eclipse Brown’s passing record some 17 years later, throwing for 5,607 career yards. Gibson also holds the school passing marks for completions (465), attempts (908) and TD passes (38) in a career.

In recent years, the Keydets have been led by a former Southern Conference coach the remains close to the minds and hearts of Appalachian State fans, in Sparky Woods, who led the Mountaineers to their first of 12 Southern Conference titles in 1986. It would be the first of back-to-back SoCon crowns for Woods and the Mountaineers, before he moved on to the University of South Carolina following the conclusion of the 1988 season.

Woods took over as the VMI head coach in 2008 and has a 13-42 record at the helm. The Keydets posted a 6-6 record in their last campaign as a Southern Conference member in 2002, and followed that up with another 6-6 win in 2003. However, it has been a struggle to maintain success and get back to that six-win total, as the Keydets have won no more than four games in a season in the nine subsequent seasons since.

The Keydets have been apart of one of the greatest rivalries in the FCS and Southern Conference in previous seasons, as it is the FCS version of Army vs. Navy, when VMI

and The Citadel get together on the gridiron in a rivalry known as the “Military Classic of the South.” The two teams battle for a trophy, which is the “Silver Shako.” The Citadel holds a 36-30-2 lead in the all-time rivalry between the two programs.

The Silver Shako has been the trophy awarded to the winner of this game ever since the 1976 meeting between the two programs, with the Bulldogs holding the 22-10-1 all-time edge in those games with the trophy on the line. The Keydets haven’t won the trophy since a 23-21 win in 2002 in Charlotte, N.C.

ETSU’s Greatest Moments:

A school that was once asked to leave the Southern Conference might be one that is an attractive addition once again. East Tennessee State, which fielded a football program from 1920-2003, including a 25-year relationship with the Southern Conference, as the Bucs joined the league in 1978 and were a member until shutting down their program for at least the cited reasons being financial ones in 2003.

With the funding and backing now in order for the school to bring back football to the Tri Cities on fall Saturday afternoons, will East Tennessee State be a candidate to re-join a conference which the Bucs called home for 24 years. The school hired former Tennessee head coach and 1998 national champion Phillip Fulmer to help a feasibility study and to garner support for bringing back the program.

The Bucs were a solid program in most seasons during their league membership, but certainly weren’t Appalachian State, Georgia Southern or Furman in terms of championship success. There were moments, however, such as the Bucs’ 29-14 win at North Carolina State in 1987, and that 1996 season which few ETSU fans will  soon forget, saw the Bucs win 10 games, make a playoff appearance and win a playoff game against Villanova. The Bucs came within one game of winning the Southern Conference in that historic season.

ETSU has had its share of talents equate at the next level, with the most notable of those next-level Donnie Abraham, who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Jets, making a Pro Bowl appearance in 2000.

Though the Bucs didn’t have any championship seasons during their previous tenure as a SoCon member, they have produced some outstanding football talents in addition to Abraham, particularly in at the skill positions on offense, as well as on the defensive line.  ETSU is home of a one of the greatest receivers  in SoCon history, in B.J. Adigun. Adigun was the 1997 Southern Conference Athlete of the Year and Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

In a season which saw the Bucs finish just out of the playoff hunt with a 7-4 campaign, ETSU spent most of the season in the national rankings and it was due in large part to the play of Adigun in the Bucs’ passing attack. Adigun, who garnered All-American honors as the nation’s second-leading wide receiver, hauled in 68 passes for 1,389 yards and 12 TDs, and was part of what was the greatest offense in school history, which finished the season averaging 432.3 YPG. Adigun finished his career in that ’97 season, as he hauled in a school-record 172 passes for 2,802 yards, while also finishing with a program standard 26-career TD catches.

When talking quarterbacks that starred at the school located in the Tri-Cities, not many folks get far without mentioning the likes of Greg Ryan (1993-96), Randy Meredith (1988-91) and Todd Wells (1997-2000). Ryan would set virtually every passing record in program history, finishing his career as the program’s all-time leader in completions (743), attempts (1,236), yards (8,376) and TD passes (61). It was Ryan that led the Bucs to their only playoff appearance in 1996.

Wells finished his career as the SoCon’s and program’s total offense leader (8,711 yards), which would later be broken multiple times, but first by Appalachian State’s Richie Williams in 2005. Wells also ranks second in the program history in passing yards (7,735) and TD passes (45). Meredith was another flame-throwing signal-caller, and finished third in career completions (484) on the school’s all-time charts, while finishing fifth in all-time passing yards (5,411) and seventh in TD passes (25).

The offensive backfield has also seen some great ones don the Blue and Gold, namely Brandon Walker (1996-99), Brian Edwards (1994-98) and George Searcy (1986-89). Walker took the league by storm as a freshman in 1996 and helped the Bucs post the most balanced offense in program history en route to making a playoff appearance and recording the only 10-win season in school history. His 4,095 career rushing yards rank as an ETSU school standard. Edwards, who was part of the greatest backfield in the history of the program for two seasons along with Walker, battled injuries to finish as the school’s second all-time leading rusher, with 2,930 career yards.

Searcy had the best single season by a running back in ETSU history, as his 1,324 yards and 17 rushing scores in 1989 are both school standards. Searcy was one of three Buccaneers to ever garner Southern Conference Player of the Year accolades on the gridiron, as he was named the league’s top offensive player in 1989.

The defensive side of the football also had its share of greats, including players like defensive end Brandon Calton (2000-03/pictured left), defensive end James Russell (1993-96) and linebacker Mario Hankerson (1994-97).

Calton and Russell were hard-nosed performers that were the personification of toughness. Russell posted school career marks for tackles-for-loss (63) and sacks (32.5), while Hankerson is the only Buccaneer to ever be named Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year, earning that distinction in 1997. His 452-career tackles are a school standard.

The Bucs were no strangers to knocking off some of the SoCon’s big boys, as ETSU recorded some truly shocking results. In 1997, the Bucs went to Boone and Kidd Brewer Stadium and handed No. 6-ranked Appalachian State one of its worst home losses in school history, with a 51-27 win. In that same season, the Bucs handed Furman its worst home loss in 30 years, posting a 58-28 win over No. 16-ranked Paladins, scoring 48 unanswered points en route to the road win, spoiling Furman’s Homecoming festivities. The 34 points in a quarter and 58 points by an opponent still rank as the most ever scored by a visiting foe against the Paladins.

In 2000 and ’01, the Bucs would once again produce some shocking results against some of the SoCon’s elite programs, posting a 23-21 win over No. 6 Furman by virtue of a Con Chellis game-winning field goal. A year later, the Bucs recorded their first and only win over a top-ranked foe in program history, stunning Georgia Southern with a 19-16 upset win over the Eagles in the Mini-Dome.

The additions of ETSU, VMI and Mercer should no doubt be solid additions to the historic conference, and no doubt will produce some exciting battles on the gridiron in future seasons.