UMKC Studying Athletics Future

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: UMKC Studying Athletics Future

http://umkcroos.proboards.com/thread...trying-send-d2

At least UMKC has a fan board. Does Ft Wayne? No. Does Chicago State? Don't know, afraid to look.

[BTownJack]

Re: UMKC Studying Athletics Future

I'd be all for them coming back into the Summit League. Geographical fit and helps sustain our membership. I also thought it was very short sighted when they went to the WAC. You have to think they thought it would be easier to make the NCAA tourney in the WAC. How did that work out for you?

Doesn't matter which conference you are in, you have to run a solid basketball program to make the big dance. This is D-I athletics...not SD HS sports where if it is too hard, just add another classification!

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: UMKC Studying Athletics Future

I'd be all for them coming back into the Summit League. Geographical fit and helps sustain our membership. I also thought it was very short sighted when they went to the WAC. You have to think they thought it would be easier to make the NCAA tourney in the WAC. How did that work out for you?

Doesn't matter which conference you are in, you have to run a solid basketball program to make the big dance. This is D-I athletics...not SD HS sports where if it is too hard, just add another classification!

As OldHare mentioned on a similar post, the president at the time was quoted as saying that making the 64 was the Holy Grail in basketball, and they needed to find a conference where they could compete. As you say, it didn't work out, but remember when they went, the WAC had lost all but one of it's old members and was being assembled from (IMHO misfits) other teams in the process. There is no way they could add football. We went to UMKC for lots of games, and they had almost zero support.

[Hammersmith]

Re: UMKC Studying Athletics Future

I am guessing that the UMKC AD was wagering that the Roos would have a better chance of walking into the WAC and winning a conference tourney. That did not materialize. Notice that AD is gone and I think that president is also gone. They spent many years with Matt Brown hoping he could put a team at the top of the Summit. The men's team has never cracked the seal even though the women's team nearly took one in Sioux Falls. Will the Summit welcome back a program that is tipping? UND, Denver, UNO, and the Yotes have been more solid for the growth curve than the Roos. Remember the Roos had the WAC pay the exit fee from the Summit. How will they pay the entrance fee? It is a good geographical fit, but I am not sure Douple is rushing to KC with an offer. UMKC will need to be the aggressor.

I strongly, strongly suspect money was the primary reason for the move. I believe the WAC was flush with cash after all the bigger name schools left. Didn't they vote on a big exit fee and then a bunch of schools left anyway? I bet the WAC used that money to subsidize a couple established DI schools like UMKC to join the WAC in order to keep the conference viable. One has to wonder how long that money will last and if the exhaustion of that money is one of the reasons UMKC is considering its options.