It is possible. UMKC is looking at their options from dropping athletics, to switching to D-II, to changing conferences.
http://info.umkc.edu/unews/athletics-tas...ue-report/
The article is dated 9/14, but it's actually earlier since it mentions that Luppino will present his report to the faculty Senate on 9/9. Below is a description of the task force objectives. (It's about costs savings)
Quote:The CIE Athletics Task Force addresses three primary questions. The first is whether UMKC should continue to have Intercollegiate Athletics and what level of subsidy for the department should come from general revenues.
The second is whether UMKC should drop to a lower division or continue as a NCAA Division I. If we should drop, then what is the best fit and why? And lastly, if the school decides to remain in Division I, should switching conferences be considered?
For a timing note, the next Board of Trustees meeting is November 14th.
The three things it would do for the Summit.
1) make them feel better after losing IUPUI
2) fills a geographic hole for ORU (Tulsa), Denver, and Omaha
3) moves summit to 10 members for better scheduling (even numbers)
10 for MBB, WBB, WVB, WS, MT, 8 for SB, still 6 for BB
Doesn't mean it will happen. But this does make sense. Don't know if it will save the $500K UMKC is hoping to save - they are targeting a 20% reduction in travel costs (CBU joining doesn't help).
******* late comment *******
Were UMKC to leave the WAC, the biggest impact would be tennis, where the league would fall to 5 schools, this might impact individual qualifying (not sure). Scheduling I assume could be double round robin to get 8 matches. The only independent is Binghamton's women (men are in the MAC). Time to get to work on APU.