妻友社区

One of the most dominant teams in Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) history is making the move to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). 妻友社区 has announced it has accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference.

鈥淭his is a milestone day for 妻友社区, and we are very excited to be joining the Sun Belt conference,鈥� Georgia Southern President Brooks Keel, Ph.D., told a standing room only crowd in the Williams Center during the official announcement. 鈥淭his decision was made with the long-term interest of our University in mind. The Sun Belt will provide our student athletes with an outstanding opportunity to compete at the highest level, and we are excited to contribute to the conference’s success both on and off the field. I am equally excited about the opportunity that it will provide Georgia Southern and the more than 75,000 alumni that make up the Eagle Nation.鈥� Commissioner Karl Benson visited Georgia Southern Wednesday morning to welcome the Eagles as President Keel formally accepted the Sun Belt invitation. 鈥淲e have built our reputation around a focus on the student, and this move will allow us to partner to provide our student athletes with the opportunity to compete on a national stage,鈥� said Georgia Southern Athletics Director Tom Kleinlein. 鈥淭oday, I invite the entire Eagle Nation to stand up and join us on this journey.鈥� Georgia Southern鈥檚 football team has been part of the Southern Conference (SoCon) since 1993 and won ten conference titles during that time and six national championships since 1985. The Eagles鈥� football schedule for this fall will not change; however, Georgia Southern won鈥檛 be eligible for the FCS playoffs. The Eagles will begin playing Sun Belt games and will be a revenue sharing member of the conference in 2014 and eligible for the Sun Belt conference title, but will not be eligible to play in a bowl game. In 2015, Georgia Southern will become a full member of the conference and be bowl eligible. With the exception of men鈥檚 soccer, all other Georgia Southern teams will begin Sun Belt play in 2014 and eligible for the conference championship. Since the Sun Belt does not field a men鈥檚 soccer program, Georgia Southern is negotiating to find a conference home for the team. The move to FBS comes after 65 percent of 妻友社区 students voted to pay $75 a semester to support the move to a new level of competition for Eagle Athletics. That fee will be collected starting in the fall. Ground will also be broken in a few weeks to build a new Football Operations Center in the east end zone of Allen E. Paulson Stadiium and add 6,300 additional seats for football games. Students, faculty, alumni, fans and supporters can learn more about Georgia Southern鈥檚 FBS move by visiting 妻友社区, a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 120 degree programs serving more than 20,500 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚 and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered approach to education. Visit:   PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES   QUOTING: Brooks A. Keel, Ph.D., PRESIDENT, GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY Our student-athletes deserve the opportunity to compete and perform on聽a national stage, and all of our academic people deserve to perform on聽a national stage as well. This move helps us market the university and聽get the word out beyond the reaches of Statesboro and our region. Some folks are just afraid of change, just afraid of moving forward,聽and I understand that and respect that. But we鈥檙e all about trying to聽make this university the greatest we possibly can, and this an聽opportunity to take us to another level and do just that. So I鈥檓聽hoping folks will get on board with this and will help us not only聽because they love athletics but more importantly, because they love聽this university and they love what this university is going to do for the future of our country. QUOTING: 聽TOM KLEINLEIN, DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS What a great day for this institution and what a great day for Eagle聽Nation. There are a ton of people to thank for this moment. This is a聽great time and great opportunity for our athletic department to serve聽the mission of the institution, and our job is to put our institution聽on a bigger platform so we can talk about the great academic things聽that are done on our campus. That鈥檚 why this movement is about our聽entire institution. Obviously, we know with this move, there will be challenges. Some of聽them are immediate. But Eagle Nation has always stepped up. They鈥檝e聽always fought against the challenges, and they鈥檝e always defeated the聽challenges. I know the people who make up this institution will go out聽every day and do the best they possibly can. It鈥檚 a tremendous opportunity not only for our student-athletes but聽it鈥檚 a tremendous opportunity for our economic area as well. When we聽can play on a game on a Tuesday night or a Thursday night or on a聽Saturday and we can bring ESPN here, that鈥檚 tremendous exposure not聽only for our university but for corporate entities around Statesboro,聽Savannah, Jacksonville and Atlanta that want to be a part of it. In 10 years, I see us competing for championships within the Sun Belt聽Conference. I see us being a nationally-recognized institution for聽athletics and academics because of the exposure this move will have聽given us. Regarding football postseason eligibility: If we declare June 1st, which is what our intention is, we will play聽the 2013 season ineligible to compete for postseason in the FCS, which聽renders us ineligible to compete for the Southern Conference聽championship. We will be eligible for the football championship for 2014 in the Sun Belt Conference, and we will be eligible for a聽football bowl game and the Sun Belt football championship in 2015.聽Also, by declaring the way we will declare, we will be eligible to聽start receiving and be a part of the revenue distribution associated聽with the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. QUOTING KARL BENSON: COMMISSIONER, SUN BELT CONFERENCE Our member鈥檚 chancellors and presidents have evaluated Georgia聽Southern, and there is a real affinity. The Sun Belt just got better聽from a football standpoint with the addition of Georgia Southern.聽Georgia Southern fits in the Sun Belt footprint, and I鈥檓 very聽confident that under the leadership of Dr. Keel and Tom Kleinlein and聽the coaches and all the student-athletes that Georgia Southern will be聽a contributing member of the Sun Belt immediately when they start play聽in 2014. This is a very volatile and fluid time in college athletics and what聽the Sun Belt is looking for from Georgia Southern is stability and聽solid, credible programs that will allow the Sun Belt take a part here聽in this region and build the Sun Belt in the state of Georgia. One of the things that come with being an FBS member is greater聽representation in the NCAA governance structure. So it鈥檚 important to聽get that FBS label not just from a promotional and recruiting聽standpoint but also from just the landscape of college athletics聽standpoint. By adding Georgia Southern, we will get back to that six-team division聽in the east, and it will be compact. We鈥檝e heard about the travel聽demands that joining the Sun Belt will have on student-athletes and聽teams, and we will minimize that because of the divisional play. It is our intention that we would do a football championship game in聽2014 and even though Georgia Southern would not be eligible for a bowl聽game in 2014, if Georgia Southern wins the Eastern Division of the Sun聽Belt, the first Sun Belt championship game could be right here in聽Paulson Stadium. Regarding football postseason eligibility: The requirement and the expectation was that Georgia Southern start聽that clock as soon as possible to be able to get to full FBS status by聽the 2015 season. As the Sun Belt is going through reinventing itself 聽and re-establishing its membership, we needed Georgia Southern to聽start that clock. We know that it does create some concern and some issues for student-athletes, but whenever they start that clock, there聽is going to be a certain number of student-athletes who won鈥檛 be聽eligible for the FCS.