It is not news that ETSU will be losing the football program after the 2003-04 season. However, one unresolved issue is the fact that there may not be a place for ETSU in the Southern Conference after this season.
The Southern Conference requires that their members must compete in football, men’s basketball and at least four other sports. ETSU can stay with the conference if nine out of the 12 athletic representatives vote for a waiver that would allow them to remain in the conference.
Wofford, Furman, Georgia Southern and the Citadel have been vocal over the summer about voting ETSU out of the conference.
Three schools already exist in the conference without football. They are Davidson, the College of Charleston and UNC-Greensboro. They were given waivers to this rule prior to entering the conference.
VMI is one school that has had problems similar to ETSU’s. They left the conference for the Big South without waiting on a vote for a waiver. VMI officials felt that they would not have enough votes to remain in the conference.
Coaches within the Southern Conference have been vocal about the fact that whether or not ETSU stays in the conference, without their participation in football, a scheduling balance within the conference will have to change. Teams in the past have had trouble scheduling three non-conference games, and the current schedule gives the teams four home and four away games.
Without ETSU football, the conference will drop from nine to eight football teams.
One idea that has been proposed is that ETSU remains in the conference as a non-football member, and the conference would find another school that would play as an associate member in football only.
Athletic Director Dave Mullins has spent the summer talking to other conferences. Although Mullins has not mentioned any conferences in particular, possible options include Big South, Ohio Valley, Colonial and Conference USA.
The Southern Conference fall meeting is scheduled for November.
By that time which conference ETSU will participate in for the 2004-05 season should become clearer.

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