(08-13-2019 09:24 PM)Hilldog Wrote: Is this the Fairytale Thread? Where do some people get their information? Has any conference ever lost their NCAA D1 status due to lack of members? The NCAA has issued waivers for conference's automatic bids in other sports- that lacked the minimum number of schools. So, if the WAC ever fell below the required number, I'm sure the NCAA would give the WAC waivers, until they get enough members.
I could even see the NCAA reducing the number of years to make the NCAA tourney for D2 schools moving to D1, if that would encourage more D2 schools to make the move up.
The WAC is unstable because each member would bail out, if they were invited to a more regional conference. I can imagine each current WAC school trying to persuade D2 schools moving up, and the D2 school asks how can my school be assured that all current WAC members will stay in the conference by time I'm NCAA tourney eligible? I'm not blaming any school for watching out for themselves. All's fair in conference realignment!
The Great Midwest Conference teams were mostly absorbed by CUSA.
The Southwest Conference was dissolved.
The ECAC lost their bid when it became a number of single sports conferences. Most of its members associated full time in other conferences except hockey and minor sports.
There was also an East Coast Conference that lost its bid back in the 1990’s.
Read about it here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coa...ivision_I)
The Summit League also underwent major upheaval in 1994. It lost Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cleveland St, Northern Illinois, Ill-Chicago, Wright State, and Wisconsin-Green Bay to the Horizon and then absorbed the ECC destroying it. So the Summit soon had teams on the from East Coast Conference, South (Troy St and Centenary), Midwest (UNKC, NE Illinois, Oakland, and Chicago St) and West (Southern Utah).
Rest assured the WAC will pull in a number of schools from the Southland and even from the Big Sky.
The upcoming realignment will be bigger the the Horizon-Summit-ECC mess only this time no conference will go under.
New conferences can no longer be formed so older ones are guarded closely as the non-P5 now their autobids will be used mostly for P5 at large bids. Since the no new conference rule came, no conference autobid has been dissolved.
Massive movements in a conference occur, but rarely.