I hate to post this . . . Big Sky news

[89rabbit]

Here is a story coming out of Big Sky country that may effect SDSU.  :P

http://www.easterneronline.com/vnews.../41ede2a0021da

Big Sky considers Northern Colorado

By Brandon Hansen, Sports Editor
January 17, 2005


The conference schedule may be getting a little longer for EWU as the Big Sky Presidents Council looks into possibly allowing Northern Colorado to become a member of the 42-year-old organization.

The move would bump the number of schools in the conference from eight to nine and open up EWU athletics to a whole new region of the country.  Located close to Denver in the town of Greeley, Northern Colorado will pose no problems for traveling teams and will widen the Big Sky spectrum for recruitment.  .  .  .

Four schools applied to become a member of the Big Sky: Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Southern Utah.

“The presidents decided unanimously that Northern Colorado was the only unanimous selection in terms of moving forward today,” said Barnes, who stressed the word today, meaning that the landscape could be different in the future.

That means that Northern Colorado is the only school the Big Sky that will consider at this moment in time, but that could change.

“They’re the only one we’re going to visit at this point,” said Barnes.  .  .  .

Barnes has been slated to be the athletic director who will make up part of that team. This opens up a whole new slew of possibilities for the Big Sky. There has been talk of splitting the conference into divisions if more teams come in, creating a possible East-West format.  .  .  .

The Big Sky President’s Council will make the final decision on whether or not Northern Colorado is a good fit for the conference. If this new school comes in the conference, it will benefit by including one less football non-conference game that the Eagles have to schedule.

“That may not sound like a lot,” said Barnes. “But it is, it’s very difficult to fill the schedule especially out here in the west with I-AA opponents.”

Div I-AA football has the majority of its schools east of the Rocky Mountains. The Big Sky is the only football conference on the west coast that has Div I-AA football.

“It gives us another viable Div I home basketball game,” said Barnes. “We’ve really struggled to fill our home schedule.”  .  .  .

While nothing has been decided yet, it certainly is an exciting time for Big Sky fans as their conference could possibly be expanding.

However, there could be growing pains.

Every team in the Big Sky has a traveling partner school, and moving up to nine teams would mean that an institution would be left out every weekend. An odd number seems to create a problem with scheduling.  .  .  .

“Just because we’re seeing Northern Colorado,” said Barnes, “It doesn’t mean that ultimately that’s the only school we’re going to consider, but certainly it’s the first one we’re going to consider.”.  .  .


I personally grow weary of being yanked around by the Big Sky.  I hope we find a nice Mid-Western conference to call home and don't have to worry about them anymore.  Like I said I hated to post this, but I thought the story was post worthy.

Go State!  ;D

[JackTwice]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

I for one am not too worried about the whole conference situation just yet. I believe we will be in a much better position with conferences when we are playoff eligible. Worst case, I would bet the Big Sky comes knocking on our door in 2007-8 when they won't be held hostage by teams threatening to leave. I can see the word unanimous dropped from their language at that time.

There seems to be no need to worry right now. We have shown we are able to schedule games for all sports (if I remember correctly our BB schedule is already pretty full next year) and we are going to see many quality D-I teams in both Coughlin and Frost next year. Could it be better? Sure, but we all knew going in there was going to be some ups and downs.

[FargoBison]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

89 rabbit your wish for a nice mid-westren conference might be starting to come true, rumor has it that Gateway football conference member Westren Kentucky may be looking at leaving the Gateway and playing IA football in the MAC. I know this would be football only but membership into the Gateway conference may help establish better contacts with other schools in the Horizen, Mid-Con, and MVC conferences.

[jackmd]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

From Greeley Tribune.  What great support from the community?  Anyone have more info about this wrestling only conference?

Big Sky officials to visit UNC, weigh in on Bears

Sam Mustari,
January 27, 2005

The dates are set.
On Feb. 1 and 2, five Big Sky Conference officials will visit the University of Northern Colorado to help
determine if the Bears are a good fit for the conference, should it decide to expand. UNC is in the third year of a five-year transition from NCAA Division II to Division I (I-AA for football).

Officials from three Big Sky Conference schools, along with two conference administrators, will tour UNC's campus, its athletic facilities and the community to get a feel for UNC's academic standing and its plans for the future.

UNC first-year athletic director Jay Hinrichs has formed a Big Sky Conference committee, which has met weekly to prepare for the official visit.

Hinrichs indicated UNC "won't do anything overly-special, but we'll set up venues just as they would be for competition and emphasize what we already have -- our quality of education, athletics and what great support we have from this community."

Big Sky Conference officials have said there is no definite plan to expand, but if they do, UNC is their first choice.

UNC was one of four schools invited to apply for admission to the Big Sky Conference but was selected as the only one conference officials are interested in.

The other schools were North Dakota State University, South Dakota State University and the University of Southern Utah.

Like UNC, all three are in the transition from Division II to Division I, and looking to join a conference.

The Big Sky Conference offers competition in football (I-AA), men's and women's basketball, men's and women's outdoor and indoor track, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, women's soccer, women's golf, men's and women's tennis and women's volleyball.

If accepted, UNC would have to add men's cross country and men's and women's indoor track.

The Big Sky committee scheduled to visit UNC will report to the President's of each Big Sky Conference school.

The Big Sky Conference has indicated it will make a decision in March or April on whether to expand.

The conference currently consists of the University of Montana, Montana State University, Portland (Ore.) State University, Northern Arizona University, Eastern Washington University, Idaho State University, Sacramento (Calif.) State University and Weber (Utah) State University.

If accepted, the Bears would still be in search of a conference for women's swimming and diving, baseball, wrestling, men's golf and women's softball.

UNC wrestling coach Jack Maughan has been instrumental in attempting to form a wrestling-only conference that would consist of UNC, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Fresno State, Utah Valley State, Wyoming, Air Force, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

Let's see...no track and field teams, relatively zero support from the fan base (at least in terms of butts in seats), and even less attention from the local sports media? Yeah, I see them definitely more worthy than SDSU or NDSU.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

That would be a pretty good wrestling conference.

[GoJacks]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

Big Sky Conference Site Visit Team to Tour Campus on Feb. 1-2
Five members of the Big Sky site visit team will be on campus next week.

GREELEY, Colo. - Five members of the Big Sky Conference's site visit team will be on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado on Feb. 1-2 to get a first-hand account of what the Bears have to offer.

The members of the site visit team include:

Doug Fullerton - Big Sky Conference Commissioner
Scott Barnes - Eastern Washington Director of Athletics
Sherri Frye - Portland State Senior Assoc. A.D./SWA
Dr. Bob Oakberg - Montana State Faculty Athletic Representative
Ron Loghry - Big Sky Conference Chief of Staff

In a release from the Big Sky Conference on Dec. 13, 2004, the league decided to take a closer look at the University of Northern Colorado. The league received several applications from various other schools including North Dakota State and South Dakota State but in the end chose to come to Greeley. The Presidents Council established criteria to evaluate the interested schools. The criteria included academic quality, athletic competitiveness, commitment to gender equity, commitment to student-athlete success and geography with regards to cost of travel and travel time.

The traveling team will report to the Presidents Council during a conference call in March. A formal invitation for membership could come as early as March, sometime in April, or not at all.

The Big Sky Conference is currently made up of eight institutions over seven states - Eastern Washington University, Idaho State University, The University of Montana, Montana State University, Northern Arizona University, Portland State University, Sacramento State and Weber State University.

Members of the media wishing to speak with commissioner Fullerton are asked to come to Nottingham Field and the High Plains Club on Wednesday (Feb. 2) at 3 p.m. for a 10-minute interview period.

[Dakota]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

That would be a pretty good wrestling conference.

That would be a great wrestling confrence. Also of the 8 other schools (UNC, North Dakota State, Fresno State, Utah Valley State, Wyoming, Air Force, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois) we wrestled 5 of them. One must also consider that  the 2004-05 Jackrabbit preseason wrestling roster is made up of 26 wrestlers. By class, two are seniors, five are juniors, five are sophomores, four are redshirt freshmen and 10 are first-year wrestlers. Other notable named schools on the schedule are Princeton, Oregon, Pacific, Portland State


[hr]
2004-05 SDSU Wrestling Schedule
Oct. 30 Coaches Clinic/Alumni Meet Frost Arena 9 a.m./2 p.m.  
Nov. 6 Warren Williamson/Daktronics Open Frost Arena 9 a.m. No Team Scores
Nov. 13 Harold Nichols Open Fort Dodge, Iowa 10 a.m. No Team Scores
Nov. 20 Kaufman-Brand Open Omaha, Neb. 9 a.m. No Team Scores
Dec. 5 Northern Iowa Open Cedar Falls, Iowa 9 a.m. No Team Scores
Dec. 9 University of Mary (N.D.) Frost Arena 7 p.m. W, 30-15
Dec. 10 Princeton (N.J.) SDSU Intramural Bldg. 7 p.m. W, 18-15
Jan. 7 Oregon Classic Duals Redmond, Ore. All Day  
vs. Oregon Deschutes County Fairgrounds 12:30 p.m. PT L, 12-34
vs. Pacific (Calif.) Deschutes County Fairgrounds 2:30 p.m. PT L, 20-22
vs. Portland State (Ore.) Deschutes County Fairgrounds 4:30 p.m. PT W, 29-20
Jan. 14-15 Virginia Duals Hampton, Va. First Place American Division
Jan. 14 vs. Millersville (Pa.) Hampton Coliseum 11 a.m. ET W, 21-19
Jan. 15 vs. Davidson (N.C.) Hampton Coliseum 2 p.m. ET W, 31-15
vs. Duquesne (Pa.) Hampton Coliseum 8 p.m. ET W, 29-12
Jan. 22 Northern Colorado Frost Arena 1 p.m.  
Jan. 28 Wyoming Laramie, Wyo. 7 p.m. MT  
Jan. 29 Air Force Colorado Springs, Colo. 7 p.m. MT  
Feb. 5 Southwest Minnesota State Frost Arena 2 p.m.  
Feb. 11 Northern Iowa Frost Arena 7 p.m.  
Feb. 15 Northern State/Dakota Wesleyan Frost Arena 7 p.m.  
Feb. 18 Millersville (Pa.) Millersville, Pa. 7 p.m. ET  
Feb. 20 American University Washington, D.C. 2 p.m. ET  
Feb. 25 North Dakota State Fargo, N.D. 7:30 p.m.

[89rabbit]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

From the Collegian:

http://www.sdsucollegian.com/news/20...s-840784.shtml

Conference search continues
Football has Great West; Big Sky still unresponsive
By Casey Wonnenberg
Published: Tuesday, January 25, 2005


SDSU is halfway through its first year as a Divison I school, but most of SDSU's athletic teams are not part of a conference and can not compete in Division I postseason.

Athletic Director Fred Oien, along with others, have continued to remain in contact with administrators and present a positive image of SDSU athletics to other conferences. The conferences, however, must want to expand. Because many conferences do not need to expand, finding a conference may prove a difficult task.

"We don't get to pick a conference," Oien said. "We have to be invited into one."

SDSU was invited to apply to the Big Sky Conference. However, the Big Sky has not responded. Contrary to what some believe, Big Sky did not refuse SDSU.

"Big Sky never said they turned us down," Oien said.

The only SDSU sport that has entered a Division I Conference is football. The football team competed in the Great West Conference, which also includes North Dakota State University, Northern Colorado, UC Davis, Cal Poly and Southern Utah, this past season.

All SDSU athletic teams will be allowed to compete in postseason Division I play by the 2008-2009 season. Because volleyball and wrestling were granted reclassification, they will be able to compete in the postseason by 2006-2007.  .  .  .

Go State!  ;D

[89rabbit]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

From the Denver Post:

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,...671931,00.html

A place to call home

Pioneers' search for new conference stays on hold

By Mike Chambers
Denver Post Staff Writer

The University of Denver's search for an athletic director coincides with the school joining a more recognizable and geographically friendly conference.

A prerequisite for hiring an athletic director is finding a person to sell the potential of the DU men's basketball program to a Western-based conference. Commissioners from the Western Athletic Conference, West Coast Conference and Big Sky Conference confirmed they have spoken with DU chancellor Dan Ritchie in recent weeks about the Pioneers' desire to part ways with the far-flung Sun Belt Conference after five years.

Ritchie said DU has not applied to another conference.

"We agreed to stay at least five years (in the Sun Belt). That's the deal. And after that, we'd give fair notice," he said. "We haven't applied, or been asked to apply, to any conference. ... (The Sun Belt is) working fine."

DU has interest in the Mid- Continent Conference, but without football - or a men's basketball team that draws large crowds - it faces a tough sell to get into a new league.

"The DU program is certainly well on its way to being an excellent, broad-based program," said Karl Benson, commissioner of the Englewood-based WAC. "But in order for them to be attractive to any other league, including the WAC, it starts with their men's (basketball) program."

Benson said the WAC wouldn't rule out adding a university that doesn't play football, but only if the men's basketball team drew upward of 5,000 fans a game. The Pioneers (10-6, 5-0 Sun Belt) are averaging only 1,808 fans through eight home games.  .  .  .

If DU can't find a new conference, it is free to stay in the New Orleans-based Sun Belt, according to DU associate athletic director Ron Grahame. The Sun Belt has 11 basketball schools and 15 overall members.

"We've been happy with the Sun Belt, but obviously, there have been limitations because of geography," Grahame said. "We've talked to Karl Benson. We're looking at possibilities."  .  .  .

The West Coast and Mid-Continent conferences wouldn't help DU much with geographical alliances. The eight-member WCC is based in San Bruno, Calif., and consists of teams in California, Oregon and Washington.

"Our presidents have had no expansion discussion for a few years," WCC commissioner Mike Gilleran said. "We don't feel like there is anything broken. But never say never."

The Illinois-based MCC has nine basketball programs, but commissioner Ron Bertovich said he's not looking to expand to 10 anytime soon.

Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton said he considered DU as a prospective new member, but the Pioneers pulled out of the discussions. "They didn't want to carry forward," he said.

DU has no chance of joining a conference such as the Mountain West because the league's bylaws require fielding a football team.  .  .  .


Go State!  ;D

[89rabbit]

Re: I hate to post this .  .  . Big Sky news

And yet another story about Conference expansion. This time from Texas:

http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProces...Section=Sports

Southland seeking new membership
January 26,2005
Wade Baker
The Monitor


EDINBURG — The Southland Conference is interested in expansion, its board of directors announced Monday.

The Southland Conference, which consists of six Texas and five Louisiana members, is set to lose Louisiana-Monroe to the Sun Belt Conference in June 2006. With the league then falling to 10 members, the Southland Conference is fielding letters of interest for membership inquires tentatively until March 1, 2005.

That move could open the door to the University of Texas-Pan American to finally gain conference affiliation after spending the past seven years roaming among the Independents.

"From a geographic standpoint, it would be a good fit," UTPA men’s basketball coach Robert Davenport said. "The one drawback is it’s known as a football league, and we don’t have football. That’s something I think will weigh heavily in their decision."

Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett didn’t hide the league’s commitment to football when questioned Tuesday.

"We have (six) football schools now, and we’d like to have eight or nine," Burnett said. "If a school doesn’t have football, it’s not going to prevent us from taking a serious look at it. But this is a football conference. It was that way prior to my arrival and from all indications, that’s the direction the Southland Conference wants to continue to move.

"That issue will probably never go away here."

The Southland Conference has been an 11-team league during the past five years, but Burnett didn’t rule out the possibility of it expanding to 12 members, which would ultimately make scheduling easier with even teams.

Central Arkansas, currently an NCAA Division II school toying with the idea of jumping to NCAA Division I, is considered by many to be a shoe-in for an invite to the Southland Conference when league expansion does occur. That scenario, if the conference does expand to 12 teams, would leave one spot remaining, which would likely come down to either UTPA or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

"Realistically, you’d think it come down to either us or Corpus," Davenport said. "If that’s the case, then I think one thing in our favor would be that we’re a member of the (University of Texas) system, and they already have two other schools (Texas-San Antonio and Texas-Arlington). I’m pretty sure the Southland doesn’t have any A&M members right now. . . .

Burnett, however, doesn’t consider Central Arkansas a lock to join the Southland Conference.

"You can’t say they’re a shoe-in," he said. "That’s just not true at this point. They still have a lot of decision making over there."

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi already has been in contact with the Southland Conference about becoming a member, Burnett said. UTPA, which is in the middle of a director of athletics search, still hasn’t contacted the Southland Conference, Burnett said. . . .

The other suitor for a possible home for the Broncs’ athletic program is the Mid-Continent Conference. UTPA’s advantage toward becoming a member of the Mid-Con is it’s a non-football conference. . . .


So many variables when you are talking about a conference invite, it almost makes your head swim.

Go State! ;D