Conference Realignments - Take 2

[SiouxVolley]

All that needs to happen is UND joins, more teams leave and you have the GWC 2.0, no thanks. Stay in the Big Sky.

Yeah, its kind of funny, all these Bison trolls telling us how we have such sh*tty teams. But now come here and demand that our "sh*tty" teams move to their sh*tty conference? Guess Bison fans think the Summit League should be renamed the Outhouse League.

[darell1976]

Yeah, its kind of funny, all these Bison trolls telling us how we have such sh*tty teams. But now come here and demand that our "sh*tty" teams move to their sh*tty conference? Guess Bison fans think the Summit League should be renamed the Outhouse League.

Just like their football scheduling problem..some of them think they need to get UND on the slate. Sorry FU slate's full see us next year (if GT allows it).

[UNDColorado]

After ND and MN, I would guesstimate the majority of UND alums live in #1 Arizona (mix, but primarily older alums) and #2 Colorado (younger alums).

That sounds about right, right off hand I can think six UND alums other than myself in the Denver metro area who are in their low thirties or younger.

[GeauxSioux]

http://www.freep.com/article/20130506/SPORTS08/305060097/oakland-horizon-league

Oakland University’s athletic department is inviting media members to Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of the Board of Trustees, presumably to announce that the school is leaving the Summit League and joining the Horizon League.

Officials from the school and league have declined to comment on the subject of the meeting, which will be followed by a news conference.

The Green Bay Press Gazette reported last month that OU will move to the Horizon, which already is home to Detroit Mercy.

Tuesday’s board meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m.

[Cratter]

The Dakota 3 should have no problem making the dance every year now. Might as well rename the Slummit league once again to the Dakota Athletic Conference.

[Dagger]

If Oakland does leave the Summit that would be a major blow to that conference. There will be a lot of sad and concerned people associated with the Summit league . There will be a lot of very sad people in Fargo also. Didn't the Oakland AD say that he hadn't talked to anyone about switching conferences?

[darell1976]

2014 SL baseball: NDSU, SDSU, WIU, IPFW (UNO not full DI member until fall of 2016).

[GeauxSioux]

Montana coach and AD on the conference realignment issue and where the Montana schools fit....

http://billingsgazet...39b8830334.html

[SiouxVolley]

Davidson is joining the A10, so the SoCon is down four teams (Appy St, Ga Southern, Charleston, and now Davidson). SoCon may also lose Elon to the Colonial. Some of these conferences are really being wiped out.

SoCon is talking with VMI, East Tennessee St, Mercer, two of which are really only starting football.

[UNDColorado]

Davidson is joining the A10, so the SoCon is down four teams (Appy St, Ga Southern, Charleston, and now Davidson). SoCon may also lose Elon to the Colonial. Some of these conferences are really being wiped out.

SoCon is talking with VMI, East Tennessee St, Mercer, two of which are really only starting football.

Wow, I didn't realize the SoCon was in that bad of shape. Appy and GA southern have also made it public that they want to move up to FBS the first chance they get.

[Hambone]

Wow, I didn't realize the SoCon was in that bad of shape. Appy and GA southern have also made it public that they want to move up to FBS the first chance they get.

Huh? They are moving to FBS to the Sunbelt.

[UNDBIZ]

Wow, I didn't realize the SoCon was in that bad of shape. Appy and GA southern have also made it public that they want to move up to FBS the first chance they get.

SiouxVolley was identifying the teams that have already left the conference.

[UNDColorado]

Yeah that makes more sense lol

[UNDColorado]

UND Sports Zone show talking about conference realignment: http://undhockey.areavoices.com/?p=94314

[GeauxSioux]

The Southern Conference is losing the College of Charleston, Appalachian State, Davidson and Georgia Southern. They appear to be taking East Tennessee State and Mercer University from the Atlantic Sun and VMI from the Big South Conference. The Atlantic Sun will be down to 8 members and likely looking to find new schools to fill the void. They are in somewhat of the same predicament that the Summit is in, with few available Division I schools in their footprint. Since Florida Gulf Coast did well in this years BB tournament, they have cash to spread around and they also have prime recruiting areas in the Southeast. Could they be looking for members in Indiana?

[SiouxVolley]

The Southern Conference is losing the College of Charleston, Appalachian State, Davidson and Georgia Southern. They appear to be taking East Tennessee State and Mercer University from the Atlantic Sun and VMI from the Big South Conference. The Atlantic Sun will be down to 8 members and likely looking to find new schools to fill the void. They are in somewhat of the same predicament that the Summit is in, with few available Division I schools in their footprint. Since Florida Gulf Coast did well in this years BB tournament, they have cash to spread around and they also have prime recruiting areas in the Southeast. Could they be looking for members in Indiana?

Looks like Douple has been talking with the Atlantic Sun Commissioner. The Atlantic Sun commissioner is probably checking out just how bright Douple is, as the Indiana teams might work for them grouped with the Tennessee and Kentucky teams. If you are IPFW and IUPUI, would you rather be in a Dakota focused league or a league that has a bigger payout with a big Florida presence plus regional teams ? The Summit could be dead within weeks if Douple can't keep the Indiana teams.

http://www.arguslead...-strong-members

Q: You’re down to five teams in baseball, which is one under the NCAA minimum to retain an automatic bid to the Division I tournament. Are you at a point where you have to consider trying to court schools that are active members of other leagues?

A: I think all options are on the table. If I’m going to do something like that, I’m going to definitely be up front and such. There’s still a lot of things that are going on at this time in conference realignment across the country, and I speak to other commissioners.I just spoke to the Atlantic Sun guy the other day and he’s getting hit from the Southern Conference – that’s the nature of our business now, unfortunately.

Douple is going to be upfront in talks with the Atlantic Sun about stealing its teams? While commendable, the Big Ten has never worked that way when grabbing who they wanted.

Guess Douple wants to add Northern Kentucky and Lipscomb.

[UNDColorado]

Here is an article by Boise State beat writer talking about the re-structuring of Division 1 football: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/05/12/2573213/where-does-bsu-fit-in.html

[zonadub]

Here is an article by Boise State beat writer talking about the re-structuring of Division 1 football: http://www.idahostat...bsu-fit-in.html

It appears that the question of how the split will be made may come down to paying the 'student' athletes a stipend:

"The fact that the bottom half of the FBS can't afford the cost of attendance stipend isn't a good reason not to do it," Barnhart wrote.

I agree with Barnhart's premise: Student-athletes should receive a cost of attendance stipend, particularly when coaches are being paid multi-million dollar salaries.

But the stipend issue is just another one driving a wedge between the Power Five (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12) and the Little Five (Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference and Sun Belt).

Read more here: http://www.idahostat...l#storylink=cpy

[darell1976]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130516/MAVS/705169834/1707

De

Despite last week’s announcement that Oakland was leaving the Summit League for the Horizon League, UNO Chancellor John Christensen said the Mavericks’ home for their programs other than hockey is in good shape.

“I think everyone in every conference nationally has a certain level of concern,” Christensen said Thursday, after addressing the Omaha Press Club. “There’s an enormous amount of change that’s taking place … but I really think the conference is stable. We’ve been very careful about who it is we might think would be a good fit, and that is an ongoing conversation.”

“I think eight is OK,” Christensen said. “I personally would rather see a conference that had at least 10 if change is going to continue.

“But we’ve had a number of requests to join (in the past), and they’ve been turned down because one of the primary factors for consideration is (similar) institutions with similar (geographic) footprint.”

Christensen said Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple and his staff are working with league presidents, who are working with their athletic directors, to help identify potential future league members.

“The success of our teams, already, is incredible,” Christensen said. “The baseball and softball teams have been out of this world. We’re going to have some fun with this.”

Eventually, Christensen said, UNO hopes to realize its long-stated goal to have baseball and softball facilities on campus.

“That will be our next effort,” he said. “We’re talking to people on a regular basis about that opportunity.”

UNO will not be happy with Douple (probably won't say it in public), if the SL loses its autobid in baseball and softball. Seems like the priority in Omaha is hockey first, baseball/softball second then basketball. Could you imagine to have the CWS in your city and your conference just lost a baseball/softball autobid when it had a chance to snag not one but two members (UND, UNC). Good luck Mavericks.

[bincitysioux]

Can someone please explain to me why there are sometimes extended waiting periods when teams leave for a new league, and sometimes there are not. UMKC gave the Summit about 5 months notice it was leaving for the WAC, then Oakland about two months notice that it was leaving for the Horizon.

North Dakota, SUU, and now Idaho all have had two year waits before beginning Big Sky play.

Is this just a Big Sky thing?

I would've liked to have Idaho on board this season rather than next...................

[supersioux]

It main things.

1) it usually comes down to the amount of the exit fee for the conference they are leaving...the quicker you leave the more you pay. I believe the WAC paid the exit fee for UMKC.

2) sometimes the new conference doesn't want to redo conference schedules as it may cause current members to have to pay contract buyouts for non conference games that could be caused by adding additional conference games.

[dakotadan]

Usually one of two reasons.

1. Most conferences have a buyout to leave. The longer notice you give a conference, usually the lower the buyout or if enough notice is given there might not be a buyout. So in some cases schools just have to decide if they are willing to pay the whole price to get out as soon as possible or if they would rather give notice and wait a year or two to save a few bucks.

2. On the conference side, it depends on how desperate they need the school. If they are losing a school on short notice the conference has to decide if they want them right away. The biggest concern from a conference standpoint is scheduling and if they can quickly redo sports schedules to fit a school in. For most sports that doesn't seem to be too difficult. The problems seem to pop up when football is involved. FB has a relatively short schedule compared to other sports and usually non-conference game contracts are signed years in advance. So there isn't a lot of flexibility. To completely redo FB schedules for the whole conference can get messy if trying to do it on short notice.

Also, if a conference is desperate for a school, they might be willing to pay the exit fee or part of the exit fee for the school they are targeting.

As far as Idaho, it was purely a money grab. They are in a unique situation because they and NMSU were the only remaining FB schools left in the WAC, so the two schools were splitting a ton of exit fee $$$ from all of the other football schools that recently left the WAC. By sticking around an extra year, they are getting a lot of extra pennies from those exit fees. I'm sure the Big Sky would have loved to have had them in this fall.

[GeauxSioux]

Saw this linked over on the ASunbbs at CSNBBS.. Grandville Calvin Christian seniors to play Division 1, NAIA softball - MLive.com

Looks like Columbus State could be a potential Atlantic Sun school to make up for some of the schools leaving soon.

[SiouxVolley]

Saw this linked over on the ASunbbs at CSNBBS.. Grandville Calvin Christian seniors to play Division 1, NAIA softball - MLive.com

Looks like Columbus State could be a potential Atlantic Sun school to make up for some of the schools leaving soon.

Less than a week to go and the Summit hasn't added another team from DII. Another year wasted. Think the Summit Presidents must have a conference deathwish.

[GeauxSioux]

Less than a week to go and the Summit hasn't added another team from DII. Another year wasted. Think the Summit Presidents must have a conference deathwish.

I thought it was June 30th, not June 1st, that was the deadline.