Power 5?!? Look, SBU has arguably the highest ceiling of any current FCS school as far as aspiring to be in a P5 conference some day (UC Davis is the other that comes to mind) because of our academics, but my God how are we going to get a P5 invite we're not even FBS yet? It's clear the AE/CAA holds us back. That's beating a dead horse at this point. I have no doubt SH is doing everything he can to position SBU the best he can athletically, but these things must be done in steps.
Next step is going FBS and hopefully upgrading everything else in the process. Our best path to FBS is the MAC. That's far and away our best option. We'd be the strongest school academically in that conference and have a natural rival in Buffalo. Plus some of the western schools such as Western Michigan, Toledo, and NIU while not all that great academically, field competitive football teams. The MAC would be good for us. In the process we'd upgrade basketball (MAC was almost a multi-bid league this year) and I'm sure we could figure out where to put the rest of the sports. LAX could probably stay in the AE if push came to shove.
Alternatively, if other schools are willing to move up with us (I'm looking at JMU and Delaware specifically), going FBS as an independent is an option. I'd be VERY wary of winding up like Umass if we did this, but it's an option and with Umass, Liberty, Army, JMU, Delaware, NMSU, and BYU to schedule as fellow independents, it wouldn't be very hard to put together a decent schedule. If we wanted to throw caution to the wind and get SBU into the strongest conference situation possible, we'd go all-in on A10 while shooting for football-only membership in the MAC or C-USA. That would give us the opportunity to shine on all fronts and make us attractive to the AAC if we did well. As enticing as that would be, I think being in the MAC and having the stability of a conference, plus outside shot at the NY6 access bowl is the best situation for SBU to be in.
If SBU moves up to FBS between now and 2025, and then does well there, while keeping the academics up and growing the endowment to beyond $1B (why the hell haven't they given Simons' hedge fund a big chunk of the money to manage!?) maybe by the late 2030's when the ACC's GOR expires, and the Big Ten finally realizes adding a school in New Jersey with the expectation they'd deliver New York was a mistake (lol Rutgers) they'll look at SBU. Either conference would be a slam dunk. I think I'd prefer the ACC simply because I'd prefer winning a conference title in football more than once every 200 years.
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