And that’s the thing. Some of us would rather fight for a seat at their table instead of building up our own tables.
The problem with that table is, since no one wants to say it, is it's gotten you bottom 3 in conference rankings nearly across the board with no type of improvement. That's the argument people are always going to be able to use when it comes to this topic to pretty much end it. It's basically like, we're cool, we want to get better but, almost none of us are really going to do what it takes to make it happen. It shouldn't be... as long as this conference has been playing football, that schools can create a program from scratch that dominates the conference within 5-10 years of playing their first down.. but that's how it goes in actuality.
The press from Deion is good, but, if he turns them into a powerhouse, the inevitable will draw him somewhere else. Will the recruiting and draw power leave with him? It's cool not to want to "rub elbows" with them, but, when beating you to sleep is what "them" is doing, I don't see how teams wanting to be a part of that is bad simply because they're not in an hbcu conference. When the white schools do it, there are no "c**n" or any of that nonsense lol. But if you're an hbcu, naw, you can't go nowhere but the meac or the swac. Also, if you can't admit that conference affiliation definitely has far more benefits than just sports then I dunno what to tell you. Hell even the academic profiles of the MEAC and the SWAC were night and day. And that's not to demean anyone's school but, it's no secret that Howard, Hampton, A&T and the likes focused more on academics than the SWAC did...thus them having more of an academic pedigree vs an athletic one. (Which is weird considering the swac SHOULD be beating them more often than the other way around.)
ACC, BIG 10.. academics
SEC.. athletics
Alabama would be far better off in the SEC than the ACC and there's no denying that. Just like GT and UNC make much more sense in the ACC. Yes, that puts Hampton in better company, in rankings at the least, than where they were before. And that's if you want to go the way of academics or athletics. Monmouth and Stony Brook fit that profile as well.. which is why Monmouth bailed on their conference just the same and so will Stony Brook if they get an invite. For them it's just what they view as a conference improvement. But for Hampton, it's coonin. Sometimes you have to just get past the bias to see clearly lol.