Conference Realignments - Take 2

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

3 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

Houston is from Franklin, NC, at almost the western tip.  Charlotte might be the closest FBS city.  Houston used to coach at Lenoir-Rhyne, a DII Lutheran school located not far from Charlotte.

Makes sense to me, Houston is happy and Charlotte gets a steal.  Mike just needs to win two more FCS games before he moves on!

[SiouxVolley]

So Dixie St will announce a DI move on Friday.

https://www.ksl.com/article/46464699/sources-dixie-state-to-join-the-western-athletic-conference-play-football-as-fcs-independent

Their feasibility study said Dixie St needed a football conference right away, but the WAC doesn’t have an FCS League or even teams.  Dixie St would not even count as a DI member for five years so the WAC can’t count apparently.

This could set of a chain reaction in the WAC, the Big Sky, the Big West and the Summit.

Dixie St should be much more competive than nearby Southern Utah just based on their locations as St George is much more populous than Cedar City.

[SIOUXFAN97]

1 hour ago, SiouxVolley said:

So Dixie St will announce a DI move on Friday.

https://www.ksl.com/article/46464699/sources-dixie-state-to-join-the-western-athletic-conference-play-football-as-fcs-independent

Their feasibility study said Dixie St needed a football conference right away, but the WAC doesn’t have an FCS League or even teams.  Dixie St would not even count as a DI member for five years so the WAC can’t count apparently.

This could set of a chain reaction in the WAC, the Big Sky, the Big West and the Summit.

Dixie St should be much more competive than nearby Southern Utah just based on their locations as St George is much more populous than Cedar City.

and there is your wac travel partner for suu...finally

[nodak651]

Dixie State has a 100% acceptance rate and only a 15 million dollar endowment... quite pathetic.  It's ridiculous that a school like this will allowed by the NCAA and the taxpayers in Utah to move up to D1. 

[SiouxVolley]

35 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Dixie State has a 100% acceptance rate and only a 15 million dollar endowment... quite pathetic.  It's ridiculous that a school like this will allowed by the NCAA and the taxpayers in Utah to move up to D1. 

Schools that have under $55mill endowment which UND has had trouble with:

Southern Utah

Idaho St

Eastern Washington

Utah Valley

 

Haven't checked WIU and PUFW, but suspect they are low too.

Dixie St was just a JC a few short years ago like Utah Valley, but Utah seems to provide their JCs and regionals great athletic facilities.

 

[SiouxVolley]

How is the WAC going FCS with Dixie St, which won’t count towards FCS for six years, and then presumably inviting Metro State of Denver too? 

https://roadrunnersathletics.com/news/2018/10/25/general-msu-denver-athletics-to-conduct-ncaa-division-i-feasibility-study.aspx

It still needs six new FCS schools to have an autobid.

[The Sicatoka]

Honestly, the WAC could be looking to stockpile western (Dixie of Utah, MSU Denver) newbie DIs because of the volatility of their membership roster (think geographic outliers Chicago State and UMKC).

Dixie may be serious in trying to make a go as an FCS indy. They'd need to find a way onto Pioneer and BSC schedules for a while. Not impossible. I wouldn't be surprised if their end goal wasn't the BSC for football but that could also cause fracture (aka realignments). 

 

[dmksioux]

I still believe there will be a new tier of football created soon.  The big boys will break off and have their own division.  I just hope UND positions itself to be in that second tier with the lower Profile FBS schools and the upper lever FCS schools.  

Dixie St. Going DI doesn’t change any of that.  They will still be in that third tier when all of this happens.  

[SiouxVolley]

According Jeremy Hoak of the Yankton paper, Grand Canyon U had interest in the Summit but the interest was not mutual.

The Summit must have other plans if a quality squad like GCU is not of interest.   UMKC and the Summit have talked too, but nothing happened.

https://mobile.twitter.com/jhoeck/status/1083098311266127872

[UNDBIZ]

14 minutes ago, SiouxVolley said:

According Jeremy Hoak of the Yankton paper, Grand Canyon U had interest in the Summit but the interest was not mutual.

The Summit must have other plans if a quality squad like GCU is not of interest.   UMKC and the Summit have talked too, but nothing happened.

https://mobile.twitter.com/jhoeck/status/1083098311266127872

Coming from the guy who says presidents make conference affiliation decisions, are you really surprised they don't want to affiliate with a school like Grand Canyon U?

[SiouxVolley]

1 hour ago, UNDBIZ said:

Coming from the guy who says presidents make conference affiliation decisions, are you really surprised they don't want to affiliate with a school like Grand Canyon U?

If the Summit was going to lose its autobid by the loss of PUFW, GCU would be taken.  If some other closer schools with fb are available, GCU would be rejected as it doesn’t have a travel partner.  GCU is not a for-profit school any more so ORU is the right kind of school to compare it with.   Augie even but not with near the enrollment or media.

[FargoBison]

2 hours ago, UNDBIZ said:

Coming from the guy who says presidents make conference affiliation decisions, are you really surprised they don't want to affiliate with a school like Grand Canyon U?

Yeah, GCU is pretty much the reason why Denver is in the Summit. 

[SiouxVolley]

5 minutes ago, FargoBison said:

Yeah, GCU is pretty much the reason why Denver is in the Summit. 

Disagree.  Denver knew UND would move down the road and DU wants to be in a conference with UND and Omaha because their main sport is hockey.

UMKC moved out of the Summit shortly after DU moved in.  DU’s excuse for leaving the WAC was because GCU was for profit, which is no longer the case.

[southpaw]

2 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

Disagree.  Denver knew UND would move down the road and DU wants to be in a conference with UND and Omaha because their main sport is hockey.

UMKC moved out of the Summit shortly after DU moved in.  DU’s excuse for leaving the WAC was because GCU was for profit, which is no longer the case.

Wrong again. The WAC's excuse for adding GCU was because it was hemorrhaging teams left and right.  The stability that was there when DU joined was gone and they jumped ship.

Adding GCU and losing Denver happened for the same reason , but the latter was not because of the former.

[jdub27]

11 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

Disagree.  Denver knew UND would move down the road and DU wants to be in a conference with UND and Omaha because their main sport is hockey.

Denver only cares about Denver. They moved into a conference that didn't require them to change their sports offerings. They preferred to move to the West Coast Conference but that would have required them to add sports which would have bloated their athletic budget. The Summit didn't care and Denver wasn't sticking around the WAC with the band of misfits.

It is a safe bet that they didn't make a decision in late 2012 to join the Summit because they knew UND going to join it 6 years later and just 2 years after UND announced it was joining the Big Sky.

Nov, 2010 - UND accepted into Big Sky
July, 2012 - UND officially a Big Sky member
????? - Denver realizes UND isn't going FBS in the Big Sky, but instead joining the Summit and will go FBS with that league
Nov, 2012 - Denver accepted in Summit
July, 2013 - Denver officially a Summit member
January, 2017 - UND accepted into Summit
July, 2018 - UND officially a Summit member

[jacksfan29]

3 hours ago, jdub27 said:

Denver only cares about Denver. They moved into a conference that didn't require them to change their sports offerings. They preferred to move to the West Coast Conference but that would have required them to add sports which would have bloated their athletic budget. The Summit didn't care and Denver wasn't sticking around the WAC with the band of misfits.

It is a safe bet that they didn't make a decision in late 2012 to join the Summit because they knew UND going to join it 6 years later and just 2 years after UND announced it was joining the Big Sky.

Nov, 2010 - UND accepted into Big Sky
July, 2012 - UND officially a Big Sky member
????? - Denver realizes UND isn't going FBS in the Big Sky, but instead joining the Summit and will go FBS with that league
Nov, 2012 - Denver accepted in Summit
July, 2013 - Denver officially a Summit member
January, 2017 - UND accepted into Summit
July, 2018 - UND officially a Summit member

Exactly. DU has an odd array of sports and the Summit was ok with them not adding any new sports. The WAC had just imploded and DU refused to be associated with the schools that were being brought in as replacements. The Summit was more then happy to provide them a landing spot. DU has always wanted into the WCC and will always want the WCC. DU going to the Summit had nothing to do with UND or Omaha. It was the best option for them at the time. 

GCU not being brought into the Summit was 100% likely due to two items. The stigma of the for profit and travel. Yes, they are now "non-profit" but if you look at the structure, the for-profit is still in control.

[SiouxVolley]

DU and Seattle were part of the four remaining WAC schools that had an intense negotiations with the Big Sky over three sessions in 2011.  UND and SUU were soon to be full members then and Poly and Davis were affiliates.  The Big Sky insisted that Denver and Seattle add football, but those two schools refused.  The DU blog that that was on became defunct.  

In order for trading of teams to work, there would have have to been more future FCS teams and more future FBS schools, so they apparently brought in the rest of the Dakota schools.   But then it would have to accommodate three conferences.  Dixie St will be added today to the WAC so the WAC can trade them to the Big Sky.

DU moved to the conference of its choice because it liked the future members and academically it would be strong.  Denver was repeatedly rebuffed from the then Big Sky, as that was much more preferable to the Summit of 2012.

[SiouxVolley]

Dixie St has an official invitation to DI and will start competing in 2020.

https://www.wacsports.com/general/2018-19/releases/20190111mx6862

[SiouxVolley]

Utah now will have seven DI schools.  Minnesota, with 2.5 million more people than Utah, has one.

U of Utah

BYU

Utah St

Weber St

Utah Valley St

Southern Utah

Dixie St

 

[southpaw]

7 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

 

In order for trading of teams to work, there would have have to been more future FCS teams and more future FBS schools, so they apparently brought in the rest of the Dakota schools.   But then it would have to accommodate three conferences.  Dixie St will be added today to the WAC so the WAC can trade them to the Big Sky.

In the history of college sports have two conferences ever "traded" schools? 

[SiouxVolley]

16 hours ago, southpaw said:

In the history of college sports have two conferences ever "traded" schools? 

Just last year, the Atlantic Sun lost USC-Upstate to the Big South, and in return the Big South lost Liberty to the Atlantic Sun.  It may have happened over two years, but in essence was a trade.

So much for you being the realignment guru here.  The Big South is a group of mostly small private schools and the ASun is moving away from that model.  The Atlantic Sun could be the beginning for an FBS league with Kennesaw St and the Florida public’s.  Expect Jacksonville St to go there from the OVC and Lipscomb to move from the ASun to OVC.  Stony Brook and Albany to go to the ASun and NJIT to move to America East.  By trading, it means going to more appropriate conferences for geography/cost effectiveness vs aspirational.

[SiouxVolley]

Two private schools that have grown impressively over the last decade in NC are High Point U and Campbell U, which are now both in the Big South.  Could see both try to up their game to the CAA if it is has openings.  High Point doesn’t have fb yet, but some other CAA schools  like UNC-Wilmington, Drexel, C of Charleston, and Hofstra don’t have fb either.  Campbell just started scholarship football, but see them continuously improving like Elon has.

Here is what HPU has done recently.  It borrowed a lot of money in addition to receiving many gifts, but managed to make it attractive for students from the Northeast money set.

http://www.highpoint.edu/blog/2019/01/continuous-growth/

[southpaw]

Suggestion that UConn should drop to FCS due to financials:

SB Nation: Why UConn should probably drop to FCS and leave the AAC.
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2019/1/18/18187320/uconn-football-aac-fcs

[SiouxVolley]

7 hours ago, southpaw said:

Suggestion that UConn should drop to FCS due to financials:

SB Nation: Why UConn should probably drop to FCS and leave the AAC.
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2019/1/18/18187320/uconn-football-aac-fcs

UConn thought it was a perpetual P5 as part of the Big East, only to be screwed by it so-called friends Pitt, Syracuse, UWV, and BC.  It got demoted to the G5 and lost sweepstakes for the ACC to Louisville and the B12 to UWV.  P5 only is secured if the networks say you are.

It refused to play UMass for years, and now that’s nearly the only school that brings in a semblance of a rivalry, as UConn fans don’t get excited about Tulsa, Tulane, SMU and Memphis.  Going to P5 status right from FCS is financially dangerous and never have suggested it contrary to you and Goon’s debased thinking.

Downsizing finally to a G5 budget and being part of the Big East’s much larger TV contracts are legitimate ways to to financially make it as a non-P5 school.

[cberkas]

6 hours ago, southpaw said:

Suggestion that UConn should drop to FCS due to financials:

SB Nation: Why UConn should probably drop to FCS and leave the AAC.
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2019/1/18/18187320/uconn-football-aac-fcs

Their fan base thinks they'll get in the B1G because of basket ball.