ORU talking with Southland

[Nidaros]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

I wonder if UNO fans would outnumber ORU fans at a SF tournament.....

A very good question. I would put my money on ORU.

[Nidaros]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

Hoping ORU doesn't leave the Summit. Loosing a leading program is not good news. Realistically, IMHO, there will be other member(s) leaving both the Summit and MVFC. Other neighboring conferences will also be loosing/gaining members as the college athletics landscape changes, pretty obvious statements.

I do hope that the SDSU administration doesn't view a Summit that looks more like a D1 NCC as a security against these changes. There are certainly advantages to a restructured NCC in terms of cost. But, I fear that D1 NCC might become an island again and contribute an inertia against improvement of SDSU athletics and SDSU in general. The coming realignments just might present opportunity for SDSU to bigger and better things outside the Summit and MVFC.

I dont see that danger of being a SUPER NCC as long as Chicone is president. He has an interest in what goes on in the HPER department and attended a Difference Makers Meeting this past Tuesday. I believe he paid the fee to be a member, but he no doubts learns as much as anyone else in the room. Plus, in general, athletics are the cash cows to many institutions, and any way to bring in more cash, I am sure most presidents will favor. Our programs and those of USD and NDSU need to go to a higher level. Getting there they avoid being an island. We have to work on our images and doing so collectively by producing better and more competitive teams.

I see ORU looking at the Southland as a financial solution. ORU has had problems in the past. The son of Hobby Lobby founder David Green rescued them about two years ago, but even savy people can not solve the riddle when Richard Roberts is cleaning out the cash draw on a daily basis. I dont know that for a fact, but he could be driving new problems. I know they hate the trips to the Dakotas, but I think they could overcome that.

[LakeJack]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextr...5_OralRo356632

[LakeJack]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

On anohter thread I posted a story from UNK, the writter talked to two schools about the move to D-I. Both Schools are form the Summit League. Adding Northern Kentucky to replace ORU would tighten up our footprint and make the eastern schools happy I would think. We would trade the Tulsa market for the Cincinnati market, seems like an upgrade to me. It would give you five schools in the east and five in the west.

East

Oakland
Nothern Kentucky
IPFW
IUPUI
WIU

West

UMKC
UNO
USD
SDSU
NDSU

Nice grouping and if you added one to the East and one to the West you could go to divisional play


http://www.thenortherner.com/?p=10956

[joeboo22]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

I don't have a problem with adding Northern Kentucky if ORU would leave but am not a big fan of divisions.

[zooropa]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

I don't have a problem with adding Northern Kentucky if ORU would leave but am not a big fan of divisions.

NKU's big advantage is geography. Actually, it's their only advantage. They don't have doctoral or professional programs, they're probably #5 or lower in the Cincinnati market (behind Ohio State, Louisville, Kentucky, Xavier at least), and one wonders if they're ready to go all-in on the financial support required for a D-1 move. Another Summit member (IUPUI) wasn't and tarnished the conference's rep with NCAA sanctions last year.

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

I had hoped that SIUE would join the Summit, and think that UMSL would fill in the space in the middle of the conference, being close to UMKC, WIU and IUPUI. NKU has much better facilities, however. I've seen almost no coverage of SIUE in St. Louis, far worse than UMKC in the Star, so I think that either Northern Kentucky or UMSL would fare worse than ORU in the Tulsa market.

[joeybrownerHOF]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

Not really Summit or ORU related but mentions Air Force possibly to MoValley.

http://www.gazette.com/sports/gen-12...est-names.html

[zooropa]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

Not really Summit or ORU related but mentions Air Force possibly to MoValley.

http://www.gazette.com/sports/gen-12...est-names.html

Interesting.

Would the prestige of having a service academy outweigh the otherwise unattractive prospect of adding a school in Colorado Springs to the Valley?

[FargoBison]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

Air Force to the MVC?

That just sounds like an odd marriage, I'm not buying it.

[jacksfan29]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

Air Force to the MVC?

That just sounds like an odd marriage, I'm not buying it.

I agree. The only way this does make sense is if the MVC is planning to get raided and lose a couple members, one being Creighton. At that point they need to scramble to fill spots.

Lets be honest, no matter how bad they have been the last few years Air Force is still a more prestigious catch then any of the Summit schools, including Oakland, NDSU and SDSU.

[rabidrabbit]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

Is this all sports except FB, since AFA is a FBS school, along with Army/Navy. Can't see Air Force volunteering to leave the Mountain West. They are not WAC'ed. Being in the same conference with CSU, Wyo, some non-BCS TX, OK and western state schools makes much more sense than joining with a conference who's nearest member is 800 miles away.

[zooropa]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

Is this all sports except FB, since AFA is a FBS school, along with Army/Navy. Can't see Air Force volunteering to leave the Mountain West. They are not WAC'ed. Being in the same conference with CSU, Wyo, some non-BCS TX, OK and western state schools makes much more sense than joining with a conference who's nearest member is 800 miles away.

The article notes that they're looking for an 'easier' conference for their non-FB sports. Not sure that the Valley meets that definition, esp. in baseball, T&F and basketball.

The WCC is an option, but they're pretty competitive in basketball, baseball (IIRC), and T&F as well. The WCC might be interested because they can match Air Force to Denver.

[zooropa]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

You know, this ORU to the Southland thing, if all reports are true, displays an attitude that is exactly the opposite of that displayed by SDSU & NDSU when they went D-1.

- ORU is moving to a less competitive conference in every arena except baseball.

- ORU is looking to reduce travel costs

- ORU is apparently upset that their opportunities to host championships, etc., has been severely curtailed.

Compare that with what SDSU & NDSU had to accept when they went D-1:

- significantly higher standards of competition in every sport

- significantly higher travel costs

- no idea where championships would be held

My take is that there's this influential cadre of ORU admins/boosters/fans who feel that ORU should be 'first among equals'; a status that they more or less enjoyed in the Midcontinent, and did not enjoy in the Summit; I think that this group is quite happy to convince itself that it's stepping up a level by going to the Southland, when their only realistic step up from the Summit is the Valley.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: ORU talking with Southland

I agree with some of that, but you Are projecting a lot of things on a large group of people based on one thing that hasn't happened.And reducing travel costs is a good thing that I think all schools look to do.