DI Conference Hunt

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Tons going on with the Conference Hunt. Tons of Rumors about the Big Sky, Sac-State may be looking at the Big West and GWC, this might open the door for SDSU and NDSU.

I am watching the Mid-Con game of the week on Fox Net - Central (Oakland vs Chicago St.) and at half time the TV crew talked with Oakland's President Dr. Gary Russi. Dr. Russi said that expansion is a "hot topic" that the Mid-Con will be having meeting about soon. He said they would possible go to 12 teams and have divisional play "East-West".

I of course thought with 9 teams currently making up the Mid-Con, that leaves three spots for SDSU, NDSU, and UNC. Just an idea. By the way we would kill both Oakland and Chicago St. in Basketball!

Go State!

[footballfan]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Interesting web page to check out www.freewebs.com/great_western_conf

[jackmd]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Nice stadium at UC Davis. Coughlin Alumni could easily be structured in this fashion. We just need the bucks$$$$.

http://www.freewebs.com/great_wester...umpictures.htm

[JACKGUY]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

I agree Coughlin could easily take on this type of look. I think we really need to focus on generating dollars to enhance Coughlin.

[Alumguy]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Yes, Coughlin needs a major overhaul. But, before that is done the Athletic Department desperately needs to find a donor to plunk down about $1.5-$2 million dollars to erect a quality locker facility. Prospective student-athletes place great emphasis on locker facilities. They are great recruiting tools.

I'm assuming all of this is in the great plans spearheaded by Sid Bostic. But, first things first. We need to find $12-$14 million dollars for the scholarship endowment. As I understand it, there will be incremental increases in the number of scholarships offered by the various sports. For obvious reasons we are not able to make a jump from 36 full riders in football to 55 full rides.

This is why it is so frustrating knowing we have to do it on our own. There is so much that has to be done.

If political leaders were truly visionary, they would understand. Just recently, it was announced that Brookings had a 14% increase in sales tax revenue this past year. Do you know where that jump came from? I'll tell you where. It came as a result of hundreds of more students attending SDSU.

If the Regents, the Legislature, and the Governor want to see some real economic development, they would share a little of their fortune with a school that just made a gutty decision to go Division I. If they would do that, the sky is the limit.

[filbert]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

OK, we've only got a couple of weeks of D-II basketball left.  Time to start thinking seriously about the future.  

It sure ain't the GWFC, but we could be looking at a de-facto Leftovers Conference for Basketball for 2004-05 made up of this year's independents plus the newbies from D-II:

South Dakota State Jackrabbits, Brookings, SD.(26-6)
Utah Valley State College Wolverines, Orem, UT (23-5)
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, Corpus Christi, TX (15-11)
North Dakota State Bison, Fargo, ND (16-13)
Texas Pan American Broncs, Edinburg, TX (14-14)
Northern Colorado Bears, Greeley, CO (6-22)
Longwood University Lancers, Farmville, VA (5-22)
Savannah State Tigers, Savannah, GA (4-24)
IPFW Mastadons, Fort Wayne, IN (3-25)

Not much of a conference, but think about making the Texas trip some time in January or February...can anyone say Padre Island?

Plus, that's sixteen D-I games to help fill up January and February when everyone else is in conference, and a nice 9-team tournament to finish up the year.  Let's face it, we've got a few years of wandering in the wilderness in front of us before "real" D-I conferences take us seriously.  Might as well have a temporary conference to call home while we do our penance in Reclassification Purgatory.

Oh, and I can't seem to come up with a better name than the Leftovers Conference...anyone care to take a shot at it?

[Charger13]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

I wouldn't mind playing these teams, and I'm sure we'll see most of them on our schedule in the coming years, but I think that's the only connection I want with them. I think scheduling these teams and maybe having a tournament at the end of the season like they did this year with the National Provisional Tournament would be best.

[Texas_Jacks_Fan]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Any type of organized conference with these schools will not happen, We may see some of them on our schedule in the future, but thats about all. I think the conference hunt is going fine and we should secure a decent D1 conf. in the next couple of years. Its a huge undertaking, and with the formation of The Great West, we have some nice inroads to the Mid Con.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

I have heard more about the Mid Con and the Big Sky, but it seems the Missouri Valley would be a good fit for us as well.  Is that not a possibility, or have we looked that direction but not received any feedback?  To me the Mid Con just doesn't seem to fit as well as the others.  

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

The midcon championship game was on ESPN last night and it looked as if there was about 300 people there. I think we would definately boost the attendence of conference if we would join. The two teams (valpo and iupui) didn't look too spectacular.

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Jackrabbit1979,

They were playing in Kemper Arena, it seats something like 20,000 but you are right the crowd was poor.  Valpo beat out the host team (UMKC) the night before so the crowd dropped down.  

There is no doubt in my mind that the Mid-Con could benifit from having SDSU, NDSU, and UNC in the Conf.  I live in Kansas City and have watched a lot of Mid-Con basketball, and IMHO SDSU is ready to compete and win right now.

To answear your question from the post before, SDSU is looking into many options for Conf. affiliation, with NDSU so that we offer a good package (SDSU & NDSU as travel partners).  The conf. that I have heard the most are Missouri Valley, Horizon, Big Sky, and Mid-Con.  Recently the Sun Belt has also been added to the list.

My understanding is that the Missouri Valley (my first choice) told us that we would need to work our way up to them.  They are working hard at becoming one of the top Mid-Major Conf. and didn't want to take the RPI hit that they would take if they let us in right away.  The Big Sky has said that they don't want to add us because we are so far East of the rest of the conf.   The Mid-Con is probably the front runner.  They helped us form the new Great West Football Conf. (Southern Utah who is in the GWFC is also in the Mid-Con) and the Mid-Con. has a history of letting new D-I schools in (see History at the Mid-Con. link below).  I have heard that UNC will be a member by 2007.  The Horizon and now Sun Belt are also out there.

http://www.mid-con.com/

There is a lot of shuffling going on in D-I right now so what is true today may not be true tomorrow.  I think it is a great time for SDSU and NDSU to be looking for a new home, it is only a matter of time before one of them gives us an invite and by 2009 (if legislation that is working its way through the NCAA is adopted) we will have a shot at the Big Dance (we will be eligible for the NIT next year)!  How cool is that?

Here is a link to a site that tracks all the shuffling that is going on in D-I.  It is a nice place to start if you want to know more about this subject.

http://collegesportsinfo.com/grid/

Go State!

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

The midcon championship game was on ESPN last night and it looked as if there was about 300 people there.  I think we would definately boost the attendence of conference if we would join.  The two teams (valpo and iupui) didn't look too spectacular.

Trent Green and I were speakers at a Builders Dinner tonight here in Kansas City.  He told me that he took his kids to the game last night.  He said that there were a little over 3,000 people at last nights game.  Down from the night before due to UMKC being beat by Valpo.  It looked bad on TV because Kemper is such a large Arena.  The next two years the Mid-Con tourney is being played in Tulsa.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

3000 for a conference championship game with a chance to go to the big dance on the line, that's still pretty weak. We get over 3000 to our non conference game in december versus Northern. If we did get in the mid con we would definately show the teams what real fans are.

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

1979,

you are right we are going to be a big asset to what ever conf. we get into because we will bring lots of fans.  Eastern Washington made the Big Dance from the Big Sky and they had around 5,000 at their game.  I printed this before, but I think it is very telling, here is a list of schools and their Arenas from the Big Sky and Mid-Con.  As you can see SDSU - Frost Arena (9,000) fit in, at or near the top.

Big Sky:

Weber State - Dee Events Center (12,000)  
Montana - Adams Center (7,500)  
Montana State - Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (7,250)  
Northern Arizona - Walkup Skydome (7,000)  
Eastern Washington - Reece Court (5,000)  
Idaho State - Reed Gym (3,040)  
Portland State - Scott Center (1,500)  
Sacramento State - Hornet Gym (1,300)  

Mid-Con:

Oral Roberts - Mabee Center (10,575)            
UMKC -  Municipal Auditorium  (9,827)      
Southern Utah - Centrum Arena (5,300)      
Western Ill. -  Western Hall (5,139)      
Valpo - Athletics-Rec. Center (5,100)      
Oakland - Athletic Center O’rena (4,005)      
Centenary - Gold Dome (3,000)      
Chicago St. - Jacoby Diickens Center (2,500)        
IUPUI - IUPUI Gym (1,500)


Go State!

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Here are highlights from the latest Argus story on the subject:

http://www.argusleader.com/sports/Sundayarticle1.shtml

Jackrabbits patiently waiting for conference bid
Chris Solari
Argus Leader

published: 6/6/2004

Shake-ups across the nation could eventually open a place for SDSU

As the domino effect among Division I college conferences around the country continues, South Dakota State remains patient and confident that its purgatory will soon be lifted.

Such is the case when you're the new kid on Division I's block.

It's been about a year since the Atlantic Coast Conference-Big East shakeup caused chaos among athletic alliances. As some of the mid-major conferences begin to pluck schools from lesser leagues, SDSU remains that kid in the corner at the dance scanning the room for an available partner.

"I think it's hard for the public to understand," SDSU Athletic Director Fred Oien said. "The conferences are not meeting on expansion daily. They go about it periodically. It just takes time."

SDSU and North Dakota State will officially be recognized as Division I universities on July 1. However, less than a month before that date, the bulk of the Jackrabbits' sports appear headed toward independent status for this coming fall.

SDSU has a conference for football. The Jacks are charter members of the six-team Great West Football Conference, along with former NCC rivals NDSU and Northern Colorado. But SDSU's other 19 sports, including the highly successful basketball programs, remain without a league.

SDSU and NDSU approached the Big Sky Conference about membership last year, but were essentially turned away and told to look elsewhere. While the Big Sky is still a possibility, other possible homes include the Mid-Continent Conference, the Horizon League and the Missouri Valley Conference, which remains a long shot.

"There isn't a way to predict what is going to happen," said Jack Mehl, athletic director at Oakland University, a Division I school in Michigan that belongs to the Mid-Continent. "I think a lot of conferences are pausing at this moment to wait and see what the next big shark is going to do."

Matt Peloquin owns a Web site (www.collegesportsinfo.com) that is predominantly devoted to tracking the shuffling within college leagues. He calls the situation SDSU and NDSU face "unique."

He said having the Great West league in place helps considerably, although if the Big Sky comes calling SDSU would end its association with the new football conference.

"Life is a lot easier when you're just looking for basketball," Peloquin said. "It opens up your options." . . .

Conference expansion is not an exact science. University presidents typically have conference calls to trade information on schools they plan to woo or invite, then work within the structure of their league by-laws to add the right institutions.

At the same time, SDSU has to sell itself to the leagues.

"It's exactly where it has been," Oien said about SDSU's conference aspirations. . . .

"It would be nice if the Big Sky would just look at their membership issues and say, 'We can bring a little stability to ourselves by increasing by two,' " Peloquin said.

One potential roadblock for SDSU's hopes of get into the Big Sky was cleared late this week.

The eight-school league had reportedly been salivating at the chance to have the University of Idaho back in the league if the Vandals returned to Division I-AA in football. However, Idaho accepted an invitation Friday to join the Western Athletic Conference, which plays Division I-A football, for the 2005-06 season.

The Big Sky's official position is listed on its Web site: "At this time, the Big Sky Conference is not looking to add an additional member. Its membership is satisfied that having an even-numbered membership is better for scheduling purposes. However, the world of collegiate athletics is always changing - more so out in the West - and so Conference leaders 'never say never,' but NCAA Championship ramifications have made it more difficult for a Division I conference to add institutions moving from Division II."

SDSU and NDSU will not be eligible for Division I postseason competition until 2008-09, when they will complete the process of reclassification.

Idaho is currently a member of the I-A mostly Southeast-based Sunbelt Conference for football - not exactly the type of geographical fit that a school desires. The decision to join the WAC shows the school is confident it will satisfy any potential I-A requirements.

"Idaho fits geographically," University of Nevada President John Lilley told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "It fits in terms of the mission of the university. It is a research and land-grant institution."

These are the same reasons SDSU have given the schools in the Big Sky as to why it should be invited to join their ranks.

"Obviously, it's not our decision whether (conferences) will expand and what their criteria will be," Oien said. "Our part is to explain the positives we can bring to a conference."