Great West to become All Sports Conference?

[SiouxMD]

Coyotes make leap before NCAA steps in - www.argusleader.com

"You could say the moratorium is what brought the all-sports Great West about," said USD associate athletic director David Herbster. "It was the only way independent schools were going to be able to pursue having a conference and conference tournaments."

...

"There were 11 Division I independents out there when we began making our pitch for a conference. Nine of those schools attended at least one or two of the meetings we had about forming a league. Six of them said 'yes,' and a few more are still discussing it."

[Matt]

As much as I wanted them to move up together, I'm starting to think even if all four dakota schools moved at the same time, they probably wouldn't be together today anyway. None of the individual schools would want to wait for a newly formed conference to get their own autobid. As soon as one or two were offered a spot in the summit/gateway/big sky/etc any comraderie would have fallen away.

[WYOBISONMAN]

As much as I wanted them to move up together, I'm starting to think even if all four dakota schools moved at the same time, they probably wouldn't be together today anyway. None of the individual schools would want to wait for a newly formed conference to get their own autobid. As soon as one or two were offered a spot in the summit/gateway/big sky/etc any comraderie would have fallen away.

Very true.......

[bincitysioux]

ESPN-Wandering schools find a home in the Great West

With its rapid expansion, the league name has quickly become a misnomer -- any organization with the Great West title that counts a New Jersey-based school as a member falls into the same logic loophole that once put the Atlanta Braves in the NL Western Division, and maintains to this day that the Dallas Cowboys are NFC East members.

"It made sense at the beginning," said Grom. "The ADs sat in a room for a day and a half trying to come up with a name

[bincitysioux]

The Great West Conference's new website is up.

[dakotadan]

SITES DETERMINED FOR 2009-10 GREAT WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS

men's and women's basketball - Utah Valley (March 10-13, 2010)

men's and women's Cross Country Championships - NJIT (October 31, 2009)

women's soccer - NJIT (Nov. 6-9, 2009)

volleyball - Houston Baptist (Nov. 20-21, 2009)

Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships - USD

men's and women's Golf - Tex-Pan American (April 19-20, 2010)

baseball - Tex-Pan American (May 26-29, 2010)

women's tennis - UND (date TBD)

softball - HBU (May 15-17, 2010).

[dakotadan]

Interesting to see they have scheduled a softball tournament. I didn't think they would have enough teams.

[bincitysioux]

Interesting to see they have scheduled a softball tournament. I didn't think they would have enough teams.

Yeah, I wonder about that too.

No shock that Utah Valley will get the Basketball tournaments. They are the only school in the conference that is drawing well at all now, ~2,300 I think. They have a very nice facility as well. Chicago St. has the best facility in the conference, and being in a central Hub city is easiest to get to for all schools, but they can't draw squat.

Was really hoping that UND would have gotten the bid to host the volleyball tourney. By far and away best facility for that sport in the conference. Potentially could draw a few fans to an event like that.

[star2city]

WSJ: Great West's NJIT ends epic losing streak

When the blare of the final buzzer ended the Highlanders' unprecedented 51-game losing streak Wednesday night, fans and players at the New Jersey Institute of Technology jumped into group hugs and wagged their index fingers as if they had just won a conference championship rather than a single game.

"I feel good for the players," NJIT President Robert Altenkirch says of his school's hard-earned 61-51 win over Bryant University. "The only bad news is that we probably won't get much publicity anymore."

Last year, the Highlanders became the first Division I men's basketball squad to complete a winless season. NJIT home games rarely attract 750 fans, with the building staff seeming to outnumber attendees for games at the 18,000-seat Prudential Center in downtown Newark. The blowouts are often over before halftime.

Some schools say they wouldn't be able to survive over the long term without a big-time sports program to lure students. The University of North Dakota upgraded to Division I to attract the best students in a state where the population is shrinking.

[star2city]

Great West adds Northern Colorado and New York Tech as Baseball members

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The Great West has added New York Institute of Technology and the University of Northern Colorado as associate members in the sport of baseball for the 2009-10 academic year, commissioner Ed Grom announced today.

Teams will play four-game series over three days against each conference member, providing a 28-game Great West schedule.

NJIT - NYIT

Utah Valley - N Colo

UTPA - Houston Baptist

UND - Chicago State

Even if all the baseball independents (Dallas Baptist and LeMoyne) had also joined, the Great West would still lack six core core members to get the autobid after two years. (NYIT, UTPA, CSU, Dallas Baptist, and LeMoyne are all core members for the purpose of baseball - NoColo isn't a core member until like 2015.)

[dakotadan]

Three institutions added as associate members for soccer.

With the added members, the Great West will be broken into two four-team divisions - Delaware State, Howard, NJIT and South Carolina State will compete in the East and will play two matches against each opponent, while Houston Baptist, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah Valley will play in the West and will play a double round robin within their own division. All eight teams will be included into the post-season tournament, which will be held November 6-7, & 9 at NJIT.