Great West to become All Sports Conference?

[dakotadan]

UTPA looking into Great West conference

Great West Commissioner Ed Grom said Tuesday he's been working with UTPA and several other independent schools for six to eight weeks on adding an all-sports division under the umbrella of his conference, which is a five-team Football Championship Subdivision-only league.

...

"Right now it's just an idea of turning the Great West into an all-sports league, and (we) just threw out some ideas to people and different schools out there to see if there's any interest in doing that," Grom said. "That's as far as it's gotten at this point."

The University of Texas System Board of Regents is holding a special meeting Friday in Austin, and one item on the agenda indicates UTPA is seeking "authorization to accept an invitation from the Great West Conference" and to finalize terms for membership therein.

Outgoing Broncs athletic director Scott Street and Dr. John Edwards, who oversees the department, have hinted for weeks they've been working closely with someone on affiliation, and Edwards promised a "significant" announcement by June 23.

"Obviously you wouldn't get an automatic bid from the NCAA out of it right away, but I think there is some interest in having the games mean something at least on a conference level since we all play each other anyway," Camp said.

The new conference likely would include UTPA's basketball, baseball and volleyball teams, and possibly women's tennis, golf and track & field. The men's track & field team is joining the Ohio Valley Conference for 2008-09, the men's golf team is in the American Sky Conference and the men's tennis team competes in the Southland Conference.

Grom said if the independents do join together in the Great West, they likely wouldn't begin a conference schedule until at least 2009-10.

[dakotadan]

Basically it looks like an all sports scheduling alliance. But I am sure there are people who have their fingers crossed that it may someday grow into more than that. Highly unlikely though.

With an announcement to be made by UTPA by June 23, my thoughts are that these schools are already onboard.

UND

USD

Texas - Pan American

Houston Baptist

Utah Valley University

Chicago State

Seattle U

And I believe that these independent schools are still on the fence. My guess is that they are possibly looking at only joining in specific sports due to the huge travel that would be involved.

NJIT (M & W basketball)

Longwood (M & W basketball)

Savanah State (M & W basketball, football?)

Possible others

Idaho State (softball)

Weber State (softball)

Northern Colorado (softball & baseball)

Hawaii - Hilo (baseball)

Can anyone else think of school that may look to join in individual sports?

[BrickTamland]

Can anyone else think of school that may look to join in individual sports?

Northern Colorado, New York Tech, LeMoyne and maybe Dallas Baptist in baseball.

Highly unlikely that DBU gets in, and I don't know if NoCol, NYT and LeM would want to schedule trips all over the place for baseball.

[star2city]

Northern Colorado, New York Tech, LeMoyne and maybe Dallas Baptist in baseball.

Highly unlikely that DBU gets in, and I don't know if NoCol, NYT and LeM would want to schedule trips all over the place for baseball.

Even Syracuse in lacrosse is joining a conference so it has a chance for an auto bid. Dallas Baptist in baseball is no Syracue.

Baseball

East

NY Tech (Core)

LeMoyne (Core)

NJIT

Savannah St (Core)

Longwood (eligible)

Chicago St (Core)

West

UTPA (Core)

NoCol (eligible)

Dallas Baptist (Core)

Utah Valley St (eligible by time league forms)

N Dakota

Houston Baptist

No travel between divisions to keep costs down. Top two eligible teams in each division go to tournament. That way, Dallas Baptist can keep a difficult schedule, and have an autobid if they have a poor season. Seattle and CSU-Bakersfied probably wouldn't participate based on distance.

[bincitysioux]

Can anyone else think of school that may look to join in individual sports?

Weber St. in softball, they are adding the sport next year.

I agree with what star2city said in the other thread, this is basically a formation of a "feeder" conference for, and administered by the Summit. If someone leaves the Summit in an untimely fashion jeopardizing their auto-bid, they can re-align Chicago St. or UTPA into the Summit.

It is a good deal in the interim, providing x-amount of guaranteed games and such. It is a glorified United Basketball Conference. I just hope that if it does come to fruition and UND is a part of it, that it does not mean making a long-term commitment to be a part of it, similar to the 5 year commitment we made to the Great West FOOTBALL Conference, which I don't nessecarily think was a great idea.

[bincitysioux]

Thinking long term, Denver will be out of the Sun Belt by 2012-13. They have alot of time to make preparations, but if they cannot find a new home, one has to consider that they could eventually be a possibility to be a member of this "conference". Hopefully we have an established home by then, but there is a good possibility that we may not.

Starting 2009-10, the Great West (all-sports) could look like this:

UND

USD

UTPA

Houston Baptist

Utah Valley

Chicago St.

*Seattle

I'll include Seattle because they're already working with the UxD's and SIU-E this year on scheduling so they could possibly do the same with the others, despite travel costs.

That is how I'd like to see it for now anyhow. I doubt that New Jersey Tech, Longwood, and Savannah St. would join on an all-sports basis because there are so many schools out east for scheduling options and travel would be horrendous, but I could see them joining as basketball members. New Jersey Tech and Longwood have had home-and-home arrangements with UTPA, UVU, and CSU for a several years. Same idea for CSU-Bakersfield. Maybe some basketball games, but they have alot of scheduling options for other sports on the west coast.

If 2012-13 rolls around with no huge shake-ups along the conference landscape, I could see Denver joining, or replacing Seattle (I think they have a better shot at the WCC than DU).

[bincitysioux]

Regents to decide UTPA conference membership on Friday

The regents are expected to authorize the acceptance of the Great West Conference's invitation for UTPA to join.

Next Tuesday and Wednesday, all of the possible new schools meet to finalize the terms for conference membership.

An announcement is expected to be made next Thursday.

[bincitysioux]

USD looking to form new conference

Nielsen said a Great West all-sports conference would likely include between six and eight schools, with the possibility that conference tournaments in some individual sports could be in place by 2008-09.

The basketball programs and other team sport affiliations would likely not begin until 2009-10.

[mksioux]

I hope there will not be meaningful notice and penalties requirements for leaving this new "conference". I understand the benefits of having a scheduling alliance with other independents, but I hope UND does not make too much of an investment in it.

[Hansel]

http://wcco.com/localsportswire/22.0.html?...-Conference.xml

''We're definitely interested,'' Brian Saison, UND's athletic director, said of the potential new conference

[dakotadan]

Did we get a new athletic director?

[star2city]

Starting 2009-10, the Great West (all-sports) could look like this:

UND

USD

UTPA

Houston Baptist

Utah Valley

Chicago St.

*Seattle

I'll include Seattle because they're already working with the UxD's and SIU-E this year on scheduling so they could possibly do the same with the others, despite travel costs.

I could see this "conference" allowing SIU-E in, just for travel and scheduling purposes. The OVC won't let them in for basketball for several years. Travel wise, this might be easiest:

UND-Chicago St (no 390+ bus ride to USD)

USD-SIU-E (Sioux Falls - St Louis connection)

UTPA - HBU

UVSU - Seattle

If SIU-E is not let in, this would probably be the travel partners:

UND-USD

Chicago St-NJIT (plenty of Chicago - Newark flights)

UTPA-HBU

UVSU - Seattle

[star2city]

I hope there will not be meaningful notice and penalties requirements for leaving this new "conference". I understand the benefits of having a scheduling alliance with other independents, but I hope UND does not make too much of an investment in it.

Doubt there would be much of any commitment other than verbal and an annual fee. Most conferences give each school a payout at the end of the year. This conference, which wouldn't be recognized by the NCAA and wouldn't be eligible for NCAA disbursements, would probably require some "pay-in" for officials, etc.

[GeauxSioux]

While not ideal, this is probably a necessary short term step with a view to the long term. As mksioux said, I would hope that UND wouldn't lock into a long term commitment to such a wide spread conference.

UND may join all-sports conference

[Herd]

While not ideal, this is probably a necessary short term step with a view to the long term. As mksioux said, I would hope that UND wouldn't lock into a long term commitment to such a wide spread conference.

UND may join all-sports conference

It is almost deceptive journalism calling this a conference when the it would not be recognized as a conference by the ncaa for 10 years, and 13 years for basketball (unless exceptions were granted). It is an alliance at best, but a good scheduling alliance beats having no affiliation. Where is this outlined in the article? The uneducated reader is probably thinking that having a conference with ncaa autobids is the greatest thing ever.

[BrickTamland]

It is almost deceptive journalism calling this a conference when the it would not be recognized as a conference by the ncaa for 10 years, and 13 years for basketball (unless exceptions were granted). It is an alliance at best, but a good scheduling alliance beats having no affiliation. Where is this outlined in the article? The uneducated reader is probably thinking that having a conference with ncaa autobids is the greatest thing ever.

You are so correct.

The uneducated reader probably doesn't understand that the Great West is ALREADY a conference, just is now trying to become an ALL SPORTS CONFERENCE.

Kinda like the title of the thread says......

But that is what an uneducated reader might infer from an uneducated writer spinning a story.

[GeauxSioux]

As I mentioned previously, a revised Great West is not ideal, but it does accomplish a couple of short term goals, scheduling and conference championships for the student/athletes. These were a couple of the main points of the article from Faison....

Competing for conference titles in the transition would be a big help for UND, Faison said. So would being able to play Division I opponents within a conference, he said.

“I don’t know if one is more valuable than the other,” Faison said. “They’re both pretty important.”

It may not be a recognized conference by the NCAA insofar as post season, but it does provide a goal for the student athlete.

[Bison Dan]

As I mentioned previously, a revised Great West is not ideal, but it does accomplish a couple of short term goals, scheduling and conference championships for the student/athletes. These were a couple of the main points of the article from Faison.... It may not be a recognized conference by the NCAA insofar as post season, but it does provide a goal for the student athlete.

Actually scheduling these teams are easy as they are independents that are alway looking for games. So called conference championships - well I think even student athletes can figure that one out. Good luck wining all those "conference championships" I can already see the banners hanging!! I think this is more about taking the pressure off the AD for finding a conference. Now you have one.

[GeauxSioux]

Actually scheduling these teams are easy as they are independents that are alway looking for games.

Sorry, I think I would trust an experienced AD more than you on the difficulties in scheduling, "conference" vs. "no conference"

So called conference championships - well I think even student athletes can figure that one out. Good luck wining all those "conference championships" I can already see the banners hanging!!

I didn't say anything about hanging banners or what a championship would be mean to the U, I simply stated that it would be a nice achievement for the student/athlete to shoot for.

I think this is more about taking the pressure off the AD for finding a conference. Now you have one.

I highly doubt that Faison is thinking that this is the end game for conference membership. It would be a first step toward a much bigger goal.

Thanks for caring so much about North Dakota athletics.

[choyt3]

Actually scheduling these teams are easy as they are independents that are alway looking for games. So called conference championships - well I think even student athletes can figure that one out. Good luck wining all those "conference championships" I can already see the banners hanging!! I think this is more about taking the pressure off the AD for finding a conference. Now you have one.

Didn't NDSU football award rings for winning a conference championship in a "so called conference"? Thought I heard that the players on that team even are allowed into the "Champions" room at the BSA. For winning a "so called conference" championship?

[sultan]

I believe NDSU formed a pretend independent league during their transisition years and gave out certain weekley and season awards. I don't think all the schools even took part in the voting. I'm not sure all the schools even knew about it. I'm not sure NDSU loyalists should probably be pointing fingers. Bison dan and his cohorts sure have short memories. If I'm not mistaken NDSU is known as the trophy and banner capital of the world. They hold press conferences in Fargo almost every day to announce they have no news that day. And then they give banners to anyone that shows up.

[sultan]

NDSU is possessed with getting awards for almost anything. They will make up a category to enable themselves to get an award. To this day NDSU still acknowledges all attendance records they set for football at old Dacotah field. Remember when they totally made up all the attendances for football games for years which helped them buy more home playoff games. It's hard to believe that those attendance figures haven't been stricken from the records. In Fargo they hand out trophies all the time and engrave them later when they figure out what to write on them.

[Bison Dan]

I believe NDSU formed a pretend independent league during their transisition years and gave out certain weekley and season awards. I don't think all the schools even took part in the voting. I'm not sure all the schools even knew about it. I'm not sure NDSU loyalists should probably be pointing fingers. Bison dan and his cohorts sure have short memories. If I'm not mistaken NDSU is known as the trophy and banner capital of the world. They hold press conferences in Fargo almost every day to announce they have no news that day. And then they give banners to anyone that shows up.

At least NDSU fans know what's going on instead of the non reporting going on at UND. The big difference is NDSU was a leader in their transition to DI and guess who is following.

[UND-1]

At least NDSU fans know what's going on instead of the non reporting going on at UND. The big difference is NDSU was a leader in their transition to DI and guess who is following.

Congratulations. 5-10 years from now who will know the difference between who started first? We will all be the same level.

[mksioux]

At least NDSU fans know what's going on instead of the non reporting going on at UND. The big difference is NDSU was a leader in their transition to DI and guess who is following.

The UND fans on this board know exactly what's going on regarding this development. I've not seen anyone over excited about this news. We recognize this for what it is, a (hopefully) short-term glorified scheduling alliance. I agree that the writer should have put the story into proper context by stating the time and membership requirements for a new conference to get an automatic bid in the various sports. Perhaps you should email your frustration to the writer of the story. Or better yet, email the Forum and tell them to write an article about how insignificant this conference will be.