HUNTINGTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Rumors became reality Friday afternoon when Marshall University confirmed its athletic programs are moving from Conference USA to the Sun Belt Conference.
It was a move widely favored by MU alumni. The conference change, triggered by realignment of most of the ten major conferences, is seen as a up by Thundering Herd fans.
A source close to the negotiations to switch leagues said the SBC agreed to add soccer to its list of sports as a concession to Marshall, the current NCAA DIvision I national champion.
Additionally, the source said MU is set to earn 15 times the amount of money from ESPN than it got from Conference USA.
The Herd is the third team this week to leave Conference USA for the Sun Belt.
The Thundering Herd will join fellow ex-CUSA schools Southern Miss and Old Dominion in the Sun Belt. Marshall and the conference made the announcement by social media. The MU message said, “Now let’s have some fun in the Sun Belt.”
The school has been rumored headed to the Sun Belt for three weeks but officials said no decision would be made until a new president was installed. The Board of Governors announced the appointment Brad Smith as school yesterday.
Marshall gives the Sun Belt Conference 15 schools, 13 of which play football. James Madison is expected to become the Sun Belt’s 16th member as soon as next week. Non-football members Little Rock and Texas-Arlington are expected to leave the Sun Belt in the coming months, making it a 14-team league in all major sports.
Southern Miss and Old Dominion previously announced they will do so no later than July 1, 2023. It is assumed MU will join then or sooner.
Marshall adds West Virginia to the Sun Belt, which previously included Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Mississippi and Virginia were added with Southern Miss and Old Dominion, giving the league an unbroken “footprint,” stretching from San Marcos, Texas (Texas State) in the west across the I-10 corridor in the south, to Norfolk, Va., (ODU) in the east and on up to Huntington, W.Va. (Marshall) in the north.
It will be the third conference affiliation for Marshall in the last 20 years.