Aggie Pride stepping outside the MEAC, with a move in the making to the Big South Conference

Rainy day and rainy day news is flooding in on the East side of Greensboro, as I work at my table on Phillips Avenue…Seeing these reports floating around the internet that the N.C. A&T Aggies are about to make an announcement that they will moving into the Big South Conference…

A&T leaving behind the MEAC/Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for the Big South Conference…

As some are saying on the web, that is a bold move in the makings, for the Aggies of North Carolina A&T State University….

Lots of history and long-time conference foes to be left behind in the forks of the road, not to mention the fact that back in the heyday of the MEAC, their offices were located right here in downtown Greensboro, and local sports leader, Ken Free Sr. was the commissioner of the MEAC back in the day, back in 1970’s through the 1980’s…

Heck after A&T left the CIAA, they used to play the MEAC men’s basketball tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum, which has always been looked upon as being the mecca of college basketball, the mecca hosted the MEAC….

Lots/loads of ties between Greensboro, the MEAC and N.C. A&T and to clear the overall air on a cloudy and rainy Thursday afternoon, N.C. A&T isn’t leaving Greensboro, the Aggies are just pulling up stakes and severing ties with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference/MEAC….

A&T will play out next season(2020-2021) in the MEAC and then make the full jump to the Big South Conference in 2021-2022, or at least that is what the scuttlebutt is down here on Phillips Avenue this afternoon, and we are not too far away/too far removed from the N.C. A&T campus, and I just drove by there about 20 minutes ago and all looked relatively quiet, which would be the expected norm for a rainy Thursday afternoon….

But things will start heating up tomorrow/Friday over at A&T with a 10am news conference slated/scheduled to formally announce the decision that A&T is headed to the Big South Conference…

That Celebration Bowl thing had to be getting a bit old, don’t you think and with Hampton having made a successful jump to the Big South, from the MEAC, why shouldn’t A&T branch out and test the waters in a bigger conference???

I say and declare bigger conference, because it has been duly stated/noted that this NEW conference is, “The BIG South Conference”…..

Current Big South Conference Members:
Campbell University
Charleston Southern University
Gardner–Webb University
Hampton University
High Point University
Longwood University
Presbyterian College
Radford University
University of North Carolina at Asheville
University of South Carolina Upstate
Winthrop University

Associate Big South Conference Members playing football only:
Kennesaw State University
Monmouth University
University of North Alabama

So for football A&T would be facing Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Hampton, Kennesaw State, Monmouth, and the University of North Alabama…That would leave and make room for four non-conference games and maybe A&T could convince N.C. Central and South Carolina State to stay on the Aggies non-conference schedule…I think those two, Central and S.C. State, are the only two MEAC brethren worth saving for your schedule…

2019 Football Big South Conference top teams were Monmouth, from New Jersey at (11-3) overall and (6-0) in the Big South, and Kennesaw State, from Alabama, (11-3) overall and (5-1) in the Big South Conference….

History and League info on the Big South Conference:
Established 1983; 37 years ago
Association NCAA
Division Division I
Subdivision FCS
Members 11
Sports fielded
19 (men’s:9/women’s:10)
Region South Atlantic States
Headquarters Charlotte, North Carolina
Commissioner Kyle Kallander (since 1996)
Website www.bigsouthsports.com

Here is what the ticker is saying on the N.C. A&T move to the Big South Conference:
Jeff Mills at the News and Record CLICK HERE.

Ed Hardin at the News and Record CLICK HERE.

ESPN.com CLICK HERE.

Ultimate Recruit.com CLICK HERE.

HBCU GameDay.com CLICK HERE.