Sun Belt identifies Coastal Carolina, Eastern Kentucky for expansion

Dan Wolken | USA TODAY Sports

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The Sun Belt Conference has enough internal support to add a 12th member and has focused its search on current Football Championship Subdivision members Coastal Carolina and Eastern Kentucky, a person with knowledge of the conversations told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is supposed to be private.

A decision on which school to add and formal vote should come within the next few weeks, if not days. The Sun Belt's current plan is to add one of the two, but not both.

"They have enough votes," the person said. "They have already visited the campuses."

Commissioner Karl Benson, reached by phone Friday, declined to comment. Asked if there will be a vote next week, he said, "I don't know."

Adding a football school would allow the Sun Belt to host a conference championship game, possibly as early as 2016. The league would be split into Eastern and Western Divisions, with the additional team helping the Sun Belt's geographic balance.

Idaho and New Mexico State are currently football-only members. The person with knowledge said if the league for some reason voted against football expansion that an alternative would be adding New Mexico State in all sports, as the Sun Belt has just 11 basketball members.

"Basketball scheduling would be much easier (with 12 teams)," the person said.

Eastern Kentucky was an FCS (then Division I-AA) power from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, with a pair of national titles, but hasn't advanced out of the first round of the playoffs since 1994.

Coastal Carolina has become a national story under coach Joe Moglia, the former CEO of Ameritrade who left the company in 2008 to pursue a coaching career. Moglia has been a smashing success, going 32-10 in three seasons while advancing to the national quarterfinals the last two seasons. The Chanticleers are No. 5 in the preseason FCS poll, but one issue could be its stadium, which has capacity of 9,400. According to the Coastal Carolina web site, it could be expanded to 20,000.

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