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MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
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Max Power Offline
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Post: #21
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
The MVC has historically been a top soccer conference. It used to have national MSOC powers SMU, TCU and Creighton along with Vanderbilt, but those programs left about a decade ago and it’s fallen into the mid range. Missouri State made the S16 a couple years ago and UIC and Bradley made E8s in the 2000s. This MVC moving forward should be a good MSOC conference capable of at large consideration.
(This post was last modified: 11-13-2022 09:14 AM by Max Power.)
11-13-2022 09:13 AM
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niu1980 Offline
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Post: #22
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
(11-12-2022 04:17 PM)Big Red Wrote:  
(11-12-2022 03:56 PM)Huskie D Wrote:  
(11-12-2022 01:00 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  I am not upset about the MVC affiliation, just as nobody seemed upset that the now-SBC teams affiliated with MAC msoc (until the SBC formed its own). Or got Chicago State to affiliate as a 6th member.

It's obvious the MVC welcomed the "MAC Three," which boosted it to 10 teams. They had 7, which is the minimum for an NCAA autobid (same concern that plagued MAC msoc). That "problem" is now solved for all concerned.

NIU msoc has a "home" with reasonable geography and travel with teams that seem, over time, to be competitive (see the MVC link above for ranked teams). None of them is Akron, but Akron with its record and far-east conference location has more options.

Also, be interesting to see if/how teams we recognize attract any attention to matches. Not all/many fans know the details of who is/not a "national" power. But as a casual fan, I recognize Bradley, UIC and Drake moreso than I ever would Georgia Southern or Georgia State, no matter how good they are.

I also applaud uiniu57 for great research, which helps understand how it works in the msoc world.

(Note to NIUfilmmaker: I am upset about the overall staid, stale, stagnant but stable MAC leadership, which is reactionary rather than pro-active. They're too content to "monitor the situation" in their warm-and-fuzzy little world. But with 12 MAC presidents and commissioner Jon Steinbrecher being that leadership, not sure how it gets changed.)

I too applaud uiniu57 for the research. Yes, collegiate futbol vs football at the higher level D1 can not be compared.

MAC totally threw the towel in on this one! I have been saying since pre pandemic that the MAC needs to expand the conference, including soccer. Instead of expanding, they let good programs go elsewhere and replaced them with the likes of Chicago State and Georgia Southern. The MAC says they will revisit this at some point. This is about as likely as NIU joining the Big 10!

Hoping this opens up new recruiting channels and additional exposure for the program.

It's probably hard to try to boost a conference with some level of focus on sports like men's soccer. They apparently tried to expand the conference last year with Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, but neither of those schools offer soccer but...they were apparently available to be added. Neither offer wrestling either but both offer Men's Track and field. Not sure what they'd have done with the men's team had they come aboard.

The MAC does sponser men’s track and field.
11-13-2022 07:32 PM
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Big Red Offline
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Post: #23
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
(11-13-2022 07:32 PM)niu1980 Wrote:  
(11-12-2022 04:17 PM)Big Red Wrote:  
(11-12-2022 03:56 PM)Huskie D Wrote:  
(11-12-2022 01:00 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  I am not upset about the MVC affiliation, just as nobody seemed upset that the now-SBC teams affiliated with MAC msoc (until the SBC formed its own). Or got Chicago State to affiliate as a 6th member.

It's obvious the MVC welcomed the "MAC Three," which boosted it to 10 teams. They had 7, which is the minimum for an NCAA autobid (same concern that plagued MAC msoc). That "problem" is now solved for all concerned.

NIU msoc has a "home" with reasonable geography and travel with teams that seem, over time, to be competitive (see the MVC link above for ranked teams). None of them is Akron, but Akron with its record and far-east conference location has more options.

Also, be interesting to see if/how teams we recognize attract any attention to matches. Not all/many fans know the details of who is/not a "national" power. But as a casual fan, I recognize Bradley, UIC and Drake moreso than I ever would Georgia Southern or Georgia State, no matter how good they are.

I also applaud uiniu57 for great research, which helps understand how it works in the msoc world.

(Note to NIUfilmmaker: I am upset about the overall staid, stale, stagnant but stable MAC leadership, which is reactionary rather than pro-active. They're too content to "monitor the situation" in their warm-and-fuzzy little world. But with 12 MAC presidents and commissioner Jon Steinbrecher being that leadership, not sure how it gets changed.)

I too applaud uiniu57 for the research. Yes, collegiate futbol vs football at the higher level D1 can not be compared.

MAC totally threw the towel in on this one! I have been saying since pre pandemic that the MAC needs to expand the conference, including soccer. Instead of expanding, they let good programs go elsewhere and replaced them with the likes of Chicago State and Georgia Southern. The MAC says they will revisit this at some point. This is about as likely as NIU joining the Big 10!

Hoping this opens up new recruiting channels and additional exposure for the program.

It's probably hard to try to boost a conference with some level of focus on sports like men's soccer. They apparently tried to expand the conference last year with Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, but neither of those schools offer soccer but...they were apparently available to be added. Neither offer wrestling either but both offer Men's Track and field. Not sure what they'd have done with the men's team had they come aboard.

The MAC does sponser men’s track and field.

I guess I wasn't aware. But, now that I think about it, T&F is typically co-ed or Men's AND Women, as in, it just all comes together.
11-13-2022 09:32 PM
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Post: #24
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
(11-12-2022 04:40 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  We're talking about soccer here. I would have been fine if we dropped the program all together. We've only won the MAC soccer tournament twice.

Can't agree with this at all.

We have a baseball team and spend money on a new field, dug outs, turf, and TRAVEL to southern climates so that they could actually play.... but we wouldn't keep soccer???? A team that actually has had success.... without as high expense? Makes no sense.

Glad no one realistically is considering this.
(I agree with those that say it is sad the MAC can't maintain men's soccer.)

Maybe we should be looking at the sunbelt. Maybe add a Northern Division to the Sun Belt with NIU, Ball State, Toledo, Bowling Green, Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State. You play 5 games in your division. One game with an opponent in the East and West Divisions, three "money games," and one FBS game (E.g., Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Eastern nd Western in rotation.)
11-14-2022 01:35 PM
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pvk75 Offline
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Post: #25
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
Officially, as posted elsewhere, Akron is in the Big East ...

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/spor...651420007/
11-16-2022 02:28 PM
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NIUfilmmaker Offline
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Post: #26
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
(11-16-2022 02:28 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Officially, as posted elsewhere, Akron is in the Big East ...

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/spor...651420007/

I wonder how much if at all the MAC suggested all programs stick together in their move? Not a great look teams shooting off to different conferences.
(This post was last modified: 11-16-2022 02:32 PM by NIUfilmmaker.)
11-16-2022 02:31 PM
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pvk75 Offline
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Post: #27
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
IMO the best that could happen has happened.

As to keeping the four MAC teams together, recall that MAC members decide what programs they want after the required football, mbb, wbb, etc. The MAC cannot require msoc, and 8 of the 12 members decided not to offer it (for whatever reasons). That means facilitating moves to conferences -- with autobids to the NCAA tournament -- for the four MAC members. Three in the MVC and one in the Bid East is how it played out.

Let's walk through what happened and why ... the MAC dropped sponsorship to allow its four msoc-playing members to affiliate so they could play in a conference that has an autobid to the NCAA tournament.

That followed the SBC teams and some affiliates (West Virginia, Kentucky) leaving the MAC for the newly-formed SBC msoc conference. After that -- despite the addition of Chicago State as an affiliate -- the MAC was shy two members/affiliates to keep its autobid after a 2-year grace period, which had one more year remaining.

So ... instead of being an msoc conference with affiliates, which existed for a number of years, the four MAC members are now affiliates to conferences. They are still playing and competing for NCAA autobids.
11-16-2022 03:08 PM
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epasnoopy Offline
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Post: #28
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
(11-16-2022 03:08 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  IMO the best that could happen has happened.

As to keeping the four MAC teams together, recall that MAC members decide what programs they want after the required football, mbb, wbb, etc. The MAC cannot require msoc, and 8 of the 12 members decided not to offer it (for whatever reasons). That means facilitating moves to conferences -- with autobids to the NCAA tournament -- for the four MAC members. Three in the MVC and one in the Bid East is how it played out.

I think most MAC members choosing not to field men's soccer programs shows how little our MAC peers care about soccer. Most MAC members feel soccer isn't a worthwhile sport for their school and don't want to spend resources on it.
11-16-2022 06:35 PM
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Big Red Offline
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Post: #29
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
(11-16-2022 02:31 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  
(11-16-2022 02:28 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Officially, as posted elsewhere, Akron is in the Big East ...

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/spor...651420007/

I wonder how much if at all the MAC suggested all programs stick together in their move? Not a great look teams shooting off to different conferences.

To be honest, I'm sure almost no one noticed.
11-16-2022 06:35 PM
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Big Red Offline
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Post: #30
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
(11-16-2022 06:35 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  
(11-16-2022 03:08 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  IMO the best that could happen has happened.

As to keeping the four MAC teams together, recall that MAC members decide what programs they want after the required football, mbb, wbb, etc. The MAC cannot require msoc, and 8 of the 12 members decided not to offer it (for whatever reasons). That means facilitating moves to conferences -- with autobids to the NCAA tournament -- for the four MAC members. Three in the MVC and one in the Bid East is how it played out.

I think most MAC members choosing not to field men's soccer programs shows how little our MAC peers care about soccer. Most MAC members feel soccer isn't a worthwhile sport for their school and don't want to spend resources on it.

Its possibly that or its a victim of Title IX.
11-16-2022 06:37 PM
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epasnoopy Offline
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Post: #31
RE: MAC suspends msoc; NIU + 2 join MVC as affiliates
(11-16-2022 06:35 PM)Big Red Wrote:  
(11-16-2022 02:31 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  
(11-16-2022 02:28 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Officially, as posted elsewhere, Akron is in the Big East ...

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/spor...651420007/

I wonder how much if at all the MAC suggested all programs stick together in their move? Not a great look teams shooting off to different conferences.

To be honest, I'm sure almost no one noticed.

Right, this is soccer. Unless this is college football it's not like anyone cares who is moving to where for conferences. I think Akron is the only MAC school that really cares about soccer and made an investment to want to be good in it. I wouldn't be surprised if their head coach makes 5× as much as our's.
11-16-2022 07:52 PM
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