Mid-Continent Conference Expansion

[star2city]

Threads from the Oral Roberts U board provide some decent information on future Mid-Continent Conference expansion (it's been a slow day ). On that board, there is speculation that Northern Colorado will team up with Denver for travel purposes and join the Mid-Con. Denver supposedly is looking at options outside the SunBelt. If there is any truth to this speculation, UNC's chances of getting a conference bid would be greatly improved.

It may also explain UNC's seemingly low key approach for conference admittance, as they have to protect Denver U's current affiliation with the Sun Belt.

Here's a poll of ORU fans, and two threads:

Mid-Con still growing?

Who should be the next Mid-Con member?

[UND92,96]

I always thought that UNC was a geographical misfit in the NCC. But you have to scratch your head at the idea of joining a conference where you'd be flying from Colorado to Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Louisiana, among other places.

[bisonguy]

Wasn't the Mid-cont. described as a "worst possible conference" earlier on this board?

There has been talk that Valpo is looking to leave the Mid-cont. leaving the conference with only eight teams. With most DI conferences looking to move to twelve teams, UNC and Denver would only bring the total up to ten. I wonder if there are any other travel partners looking for a conference?

If the Mid-cont. moves to twelve teams, one of the biggest arguments about it, namely geographic disparity, could be resolved. The formation of two divisions would reduce travel costs significantly.

[Bison_Kent]

At first, it did look like the Mid Cont. was the worst possible conference to be associated with. However, I am not so sure now. The reason we thought the Mid-Cont. was so bad was that they do not offer football. But the other sports are at least equal with the Big Sky, in my opinion. Look at what this conference has done in men's basketball. Valpariso has had success in the men's basketball tourament over the past 6-7 years with the exception of this year. They have pulled off many upsets in the first round and one year, I believe, made it to the Sweet Sixteen. They were knocked off by Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis this year so it proves that it is not just a Valpo dominated conference. This would be very compariable to the Big Sky's basketball tournament reprentative over the same time period.

In baseball, Oral Roberts has made it to the College World Series in the past and at least make a good run into the baseball tournament year after year. Baseball isn't a sport that the Big Sky offers.

Another plus about the Mid Cont. would be the locations of the members. There are member schools in the following metro areas: Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Tulsa. These areas would be great recruiting areas which NDSU is just tapping into.

Although, I still think the Big Sky would be the better possibility, the Mid-Cont. isn't as bad as we were intially thinking.

[star2city]

Wasn't the Mid-cont. described as a "worst possible conference" earlier on this board?

It is the only 'Midwestern' conference that will typically even consider adding a school moving up from Div II. Many of the schools in the Horizon and some in the MoValley 'graduated' from the MidCon, so the MidCon offers very little continuity.

I wonder if there are any other travel partners looking for a conference? 

If NDSU and SDSU were fully eligible Div I schools today, almost certainly the Mid-Con would snatch you up. But since one of the most important reasons for expansion is to protect the automatic bid should membership drop below six Div I eligible schools (in the event the Mid-Con gets raided again by other conferences), NDSU, SDSU, and UNC don't provide any protection as they wouldn't be counted. They may consider one ineligible member (if it brings in or keeps an eligible member), but probably not two , and certainly not three ineligible members.

For now, the pecking order is probably:

IP-Fort Wayne

TxA&M- Corpus and UT-PanAm (as a travel pair)

UNC and Denver (if Denver really is serious)

Utah Valley State (as a travel partner with SUU)

NDSU and SDSU

In several years when full NCAA eligibility is closer, you'd probably be at the top of the list. If you can partner with an existing Div I school or find a sponsor within the conference that will go all out for you, the odds of acceptance increase.

[bisonguy]

For now, the pecking order is probably:

IP-Fort Wayne

TxA&M- Corpus and UT-PanAm (as a travel pair)

UNC and Denver (if Denver really is serious)

Utah Valley State (as a travel partner with SUU)

NDSU and SDSU

IPFW- already rejected by the Mid-Cont. for membership. They haven't done anything to improve their program. A significant drop in the RPI would result.

Texas duo- might be good for baseball, but definitely not for BB. Pan Am's BB record is 375-1367, not many winning season's there. Pan AM probably could beat IFPW, which is another knock against them. A significant drop in the RPI would result.

Denver is supposedly more than content in the Sunbelt.

Utah Valley State-who knows, but SUU is rumored to be looking for a western conference, so they aren't the only team playing two time zones away anymore.

There will be a lot of conference shuffling in DI conferences over the next few years.

[Bison_Kent]

Star2City,

I don't think you are correct in your thinking on this one. By far NDSU & SDSU would provide more fan fare, who can bring the Conference more notarity, and more money for the conference. And you need colleges to do this. Having transition DII to DI schools, I think, will be picked if the money and notarity are there for these schools to outway the possibility of teams leaving. Also, only one team has left the conference in the past 6 years. The only team that has a chance of moving is Valpariso. Other then that, there aren't going to be any other changes in my opinion. The other schools won't have any better offers and still have a chance at NCAA national tournaments. This might be the reason Valpo stays in the conference as they have dominated the highest payout sport of men's basketball. Why leave when you have gone to the NCAA tournament 4 of the past 5 years? Will the same opportunity be there at the supposedly better conference? Probably not.

Ultimately, money and national exposure will be the reasons the Mid-Con expands not to add current bottom feeder Division I independants. If they really wanted these schools they would already be in the conference.

[bisonguy]

Hmmmm.......

Mid-Continent possible D-I match for NDSU and

Mid-Con accepted Centenary quickly

[jimdahl]

One of my first posts ever in this forum includes the following prophetic quote:

They keep talking Big Sky, but what is their incentive to fly to Fargo for games? I think three years from now NDSU will be a member of the Mid-Continent conference.

Despite my confusing use of the pronoun "they" twice with different antecedents, I still agree with the entire crowd on this one -- MidCo was and is the only conference I can think of that would be very likely to welcome a new arrival from D-II with open arms.

I understand Star's concern about the waiting period and argument that NDSU would be at the top of the list only if full eligibility were closer. However, I'm not sure the conference is that paranoid about the danger of dropping below a core of 6 in the next few years (or is there something I don't know?)

Here's a completely random new thought: might there be some concern from MidCo that NDSU is just using them for the transition and would then be interested in "graduating" to a more presitigious football-sponsoring conference? If so, would MidCo be more interested in a less attractive bottom-feeder who is more likely to be a long-term stable member? My guess is that NDSU could sell itself well enough to overcome any such concerns.

[Bison_Kent]

JimDahl,

I don't think the Mid-Cont. is ever going to be concerned with NDSU or SDSU moving. At least not any more so then the other members of the conference. Football will most likely be in a different conference and if all goes well with that, why would we want to leave unless there is an all sports conference that we could go to? With the unstability of all of college atheletics now, there aren't any guarantees but I don't think either NDSU or SDSU would make any move until the 13 year probation it up. (Of course, this number may be lowered this summer with the Big West's addition of Cal-Davis and this Mid-Cont. expansion move). I would hope it would be 6-7 years if you get into an existing conference.

We will see. I feel the Mid-Con, although maybe not as good for us as the Big Sky, is still a very good option.

[star2city]

The thought my postings may be in synchrony with Forum articles is certainly disconcerting.

I believe everyone agrees that the MidCon is the best (and probably only) hope for NDSU or SDSU for getting a conference membership. What we disagree on is the timing.

What is surprising is that no one at NDSU seems to have contacted the MidCon yet. Didn't they have a plan B if plan A (Big Sky) failed? Maybe they should have hired Star2City as a consultant? Really, I would have expected some sort of contact with MidCon officials would have been done well over a year ago.

NDSU president Joseph Chapman has not had discussions with any Mid-Continent schools, said David Wahlberg, director of university of news for NDSU.

But Wahlberg did say that if NDSU athletic director Gene Taylor wants Chapman to pursue discussions with members of the Mid-Con President

[bisonguy]

star2city,

That's only one scenario you stated out of thousands of possibilities.

It's probably fairly useless to contact the Mid-Con until they have a new commish.

Throw in the new Div 1A football rules, and there is even more potential for a real conference mess.

There was a thread about this on one of the conference realignment forums. If one reads the complete bylaw, Troy State and four Sunbelt teams would be the only ones in trouble. The Sunbelt has added Utah State and Troy State may still become a member. If the majority of a conference passes the criteria, the whole conference passes the criteria. The influx of IA to IAA will not be nearly as much as first speculated.

[WYOBISONMAN]

It looks as if NDSU is going to give the Mid-Con a serious look. I am not happy with this option as I think the Mid-Con is really a second rate conference. This was in the 6-18 Fargo Forum.

NDSU targets Mid-Continent head

By Jeff Kolpack

The Forum - 06/18/2003

North Dakota State athletic director Gene Taylor has never met Ron Bertovich, the new commissioner of the Mid-Continent Conference. That could change.

Bertovich was hired Tuesday by the Presidents Council of the nine-team league. If expansion is a league priority, then it appears NDSU may try to get noticed.