Mid-Con Football

[89rabbit]

I have been giving some thought to an old idea. What if the Mid-Con offered football? Now before you laugh, think about this for a minute. The Mid-Con was instrumental in getting the Great West Football Conf. off the ground. If they added SDSU, NDSU, and UNC the Mid-Con would have 6 football playing schools (SUU - GWFC, Valpo - Pioneer League, and Western Ill. - Gateway Football Conf.). NDSU plays Valpo this year and SDSU plays Valpo next. All these things make me wonder if the Mid-Con might not just take over and re-name the GWFC, with or without our California friends as associate football only members.

It kind of makes sense or I could also be sleep deprived because of the new baby. Just an off season thought. What do you guys think? SDSU as an all sports (except Wrestling, and Equestrian) member of the Mid-Con.

Go State!

[bisonguy]

Re: Mid-Con Football

Valpo would have to offer scholarships for football. :-/

Western Illinois is already in one of the top football conferences, and has more schools that are a lot closer than what would be in the Mid-Con football conference.

[89rabbit]

Re: Mid-Con Football

Agreed on both points. Like I said I might be sleep deprived. That being said, looking at the travel costs that Valpo faces maybe it makes sense to add some scholarships, and play in a conf. that can get you into the playoffs.

Western Ill. is more of a challange but things change there are rumors that WKU may go I-A and become full members of the Sun Belt. Perhaps that makes the Gateway think about it's membership. Maybe the All Sports Conf. rivalries would be worth the move for WIU. Who knows, mostly some idle talk to help pass the off season.

Go State!

[Lurking_Dog]

Re: Mid-Con Football

I have been giving some thought to an old idea. What if the Mid-Con offered football?

The Mid-Con offered football back in the 80s, when Southwest Missouri and Northern Iowa were members. The Gateway was originally a merger between the I-AA members of the Mid-Con and Missouri Valley (minus Drake).

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Mid-Con Football

I been trying to come up with a thoughtful reply to this thread.  It is interesting how the Mid Con took interest in administrating the Great West Conference. I believe I am correct in saying that SUU was the only Mid Cont member in the Great West Conference.  The interest in the administrating this conference does make one wonder why they would do that.  I suspect the Mid Con is getting some form of compensation for their services what ever that may be.

Except for Western Ill, I would imagine the Mid cont could add football in order to make their conference stronger.  Football is a sport that is being dropped to cut expenses, so for other Mid Con members to add this sport will a big budget increase for those who do.  Would Western still have the option to play in the Gateway, if Mid Con added football?  It seems hard to imagine that WIU would be forced to play in the Mid Con.

The thing I dont like about the Big Sky is that they don't have baseball or wrestling, but Mid Con has baseball.

What happens remains to be seen, but who knows what is down the pike.

[Lurking_Dog]

Re: Mid-Con Football

I been trying to come up with a thoughtful reply to this thread. It is interesting how the Mid Con took interest in administrating the Great West Conference.

I don't think they actually administer the conference. Advisors to the conference--that might be more accurate.

This is in contrast to the Gateway and Pioneer, where the Missouri Valley Conference staff really does provide the administration.

The Mid-Con offices are in the Chicago area; the official GWFC office will apparently follow the chair. From the conference website:

The governance of the Great West Football Conference will remain primarily with the member institutions. Each member institution will be represented on the Presidents Council by its respective CEO. Dr. Steven Bennion (Southern Utah) will serve as the initial Chair with Dr. Warren Baker of Cal Poly as Vice Chair.

Scheduling of contests, assignment of officials and certain media relations functions will remain with member institutions.

I think the Mid-Con's initial involvement was a courtesy to SUU, nothing more.

[jackmd]

Re: Mid-Con Football

I was investigating this exact question the other day and could find no solid connection between the two except in the initial announcement of the conference formation. Can anyone lend solid facts/info to clarify this??

[89rabbit]

Re: Mid-Con Football

I think the solid facts are that the Mid-Con help us get the Great West Football Conf. started and now it is run by the member schools. I think the reason that the Mid-Con got involeved were simple. SUU is a member of the Mid-Con. UNC, NDSU, and SDSU were and remain the front runners for Mid-Con. invites.

My speculation, and it was only that (done at a time when the board was a little slow), only makes a sense if all four schools (SUU, UNC, NDSU, and SDSU) end up in the Mid-Con, so that the majority of GWFC members are also Mid-Con members (Even then it would be a long shot). The way it looks right now two of the four will probably end up in the Big Sky. So unless things change, and they could easily many times yet, I think the GWFC will continue be run by the members.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Mid-Con Football

I guess I should have paid a visit to the Great West Board before I posted my last post. I did not realize that the member schools controlled the conference. If there is a risk in the Great West, its not having a commissioner and a commissioner office. I think it takes a neutral party to control a conference, as he kind of acts like a father figure and settles all the disputes among members.

I wonder how the officals will be hired. Back in the old days of the NCC, each school hired their own refs from the local area. Some of these refs enjoyed the extra bucks and made some very biased calls just to keep their job. Home teams seldom lost on their own floor.
I hope the Great West will not fall into that trap.