(05-22-2013 11:17 AM)NoDak Wrote:  

(05-21-2013 04:52 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(05-21-2013 04:45 PM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  

(05-21-2013 04:23 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  This is a pretty big move for Elon and kind foreshadows a SoCon counter raid of the ASun.

The SoCon is now down to 7 schools and forced into a position where it has to expand immediately. If they take 5 schools from the ASun that would reduce the conference down to 5 and make them susceptible to folding.

I would have to think Northern Kentucky could be enticed to join the Summit at that point, IMO.

Based on what I've read from NKU fans, they are ready to jump to the Summit as soon as invited. I don't blame them.

The Summit is a midwestern basketball conference. Its a lot easier from a branding perspective than to be stuck in a low major southern private school conference.

The Summit really brings nothing: no TV contract, no branding, the minimum NCAA payment, a tournament in the media capital of Sioux Falls. The ASun exceeds the Summit in every single category, with FGCU bringing the ASun a lot of credibility and money.

NKU rejected the Summit before, as it chose traveling to Florida over going to the Dakotas. If anything, NKU and Lipscomb are trying to get IUPUI and IPFW to switch to the ASun, or pushing for a Summit / ASun merger (as ridiculous as that sounds). There is no one in the Summit that isn't looking at an exit strategy (SDSU and USD desparately want the Summit saved, but there's no indication anyone wants to join).

The ASun could likely pull in DII moveups like Bellarmine, S Indiana, Lincoln Memorial, and later Lindenwood to a north division. Only Lindenwood seems to be open to the Summit, as Minnesota DII schools just wouldn't have the state support they would need to move up.

IUPUI is about equidistant to Jacksonville as it is to Fargo, with cheaper airfares to Florida, better recruiting (athletes and students), and more alumni. Almost a no brainer for IUPUI / IPFW and maybe even W Ill to jump to the ASun if saving the ASun is still possible. The exit fee from the Summit is only $250 k.

Yes, good points. I misspoke earlier when I said NKU people would just to the Summit as soon as invited. I meant the Horizon. I definitely hope a Summit/A-Sun merger is not in the future. It does not serve anyone well.

(05-22-2013 11:31 AM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  Yes, good points. I misspoke earlier when I said NKU people would just to the Summit as soon as invited. I meant the Horizon. I definitely hope a Summit/A-Sun merger is not in the future. It does not serve anyone well.

NKU's main problem is that it still has three years left on a DI transition. Think the Horizon wants NKU, but will wait three years for the transition to be complete. Why divide up conference money 10 ways instead of 9 when one member can't contribute anything? Until NKU is fully DI, it really doesn't help the ASun, Horizon, or the Summit.

Pete Thamel tweeted that Elon is holding a press conference tomorrow at 2 PM to discuss this.

VMI is also apprently joining the SoCon.

Yes...Elon to CAA will be official today...

http://www.thetimesnews.com/sports/elon-...n-1.147515

As well, reports coming out of UNCW that Albany is likely to be added in all sports soon and that Furman also targeted to move...UNCW is happy with this scenario because it creates a southern division of...

College of Charleston (SC)
Furman (SC)
Elon (NC)
UNCW (NC)
William & Mary (VA)
JMU (VA)

where in basketball you play home and home within your division (10) and then 1 game each against the Northern division....so only 3 games away across the division. CAA tourney being held in Baltimore, which is centrally located.

The private schools in the south are interested in the CAA because they recruit heavily in the northeast for not just athletes but regular students. JMU and Delaware would be the most likely to leave the CAA in the future if they move up in football to FBS...so the private school type model is likely to be the future of the CAA.

Certainly anything is possible in this era of realignment. However, I don't see Furman jumping ship without Wofford or the Citadel. Furman is much more interested in staying "southern."

(05-23-2013 11:29 AM)hapapp Wrote:  Certainly anything is possible in this era of realignment. However, I don't see Furman jumping ship without Wofford or the Citadel. Furman is much more interested in staying "southern."

Elon and College of Charleston would be going with them. And joining William & Mary would be a bad thing?

I highly doubt they would care about the Citadel when they have CoC and Wofford when they have Elon. Davidson already left and the Southern Conf is on the verge of adding East Tennessee State.

The writing is on the wall.

Gotta say, Elon hopped off a damaged ship and into the sinking one.

It says something about the SoCon and CAA when CAA's Virginia core is almost all but gone. Though some might not think the highest of Furman, Wofford, or Chattanooga, their AD's at least said "this is our conference" and didn't even hang any conditionals.

Best of luck, Elon. Given how much of a PiTA schools like Hofstra, Drexel, and Northeastern were toward all-sport northern members, go figure "the new guy" is a southern private school.

(05-21-2013 04:20 PM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  

(05-21-2013 04:13 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  The SoCon wants nothing to do with Lipscomb and Stetson.

Ease up, you've been part of the current conference for 5 minutes. You may want to check into the institutional makeup of Samford, Wofford, Furman, and Mercer (official yet?) and get back on if the Southern Conference wants nothing to do with small, private universities in the region that have solid academics and, at least in Lipscomb's case, more money than they know what to do with.

You hold up. I know the SoCon very well. We were a part of that league for a number of years and I still follow it and know the dynamics of the league. The SoCon is not dipping into Florida for a basketball only school. Yes I know Stetson is going to start non-scholarship football, but that's irrelevant. If you are dipping into Florida, get FGCU. The SoCon will not add lipscomb because they are a another central time zone school.

A quick run down on the conference moves at this level:

CAA (10): Elon, College of Charleston
Southern (10): VMI, ETSU, Mercer

Damaged Conferences:

Big South (11)
ASun (8)
Summit (8)

I'm sure the Big South will raid the ASun of another school. Can the ASun raid the Summit? Will the Big Sky raid the Summit?

Somebody is going to get eaten up here, who will it be?

The SoCon needs to get over it and add Coastal and be done with it.

(05-23-2013 12:36 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  

(05-21-2013 04:20 PM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  

(05-21-2013 04:13 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  The SoCon wants nothing to do with Lipscomb and Stetson.

Ease up, you've been part of the current conference for 5 minutes. You may want to check into the institutional makeup of Samford, Wofford, Furman, and Mercer (official yet?) and get back on if the Southern Conference wants nothing to do with small, private universities in the region that have solid academics and, at least in Lipscomb's case, more money than they know what to do with.

You hold up. I know the SoCon very well. We were a part of that league for a number of years and I still follow it and know the dynamics of the league. The SoCon is not dipping into Florida for a basketball only school. Yes I know Stetson is going to start non-scholarship football, but that's irrelevant. If you are dipping into Florida, get FGCU. The SoCon will not add lipscomb because they are a another central time zone school.

Considering the landscape, saying the SoCon wants "nothing to do" with either Stetson and Lipscomb does not seem accurate considering the makeup of the conference. Stetson and Lipscomb could both move as easily from non-football to non-scholarship football consideration to Southern Conference membership as quickly as ETSU or Mercer. Lipscomb already has a good high school stadium on campus with plenty of room for expansion, and they could go to a 15,000 seat stadium in no time. With the exception of Jacksonville and Stetson, the A-Sun has become and will likely continue to be a directional state/commuter school conference for upcoming DII schools. When Lipscomb joined the A-Sun, the membership included Samford, Mercer, Stetson, Belmont, Gardner-Webb, Campbell, Jacksonville, Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, and Troy. It is simply not the same conference. If the Furman rumor stated above has any truth to it and the SoCon does indeed backfill with Coastal, then perhaps the Big South looks at Lipscomb. In any case, I have little doubt that Lipscomb is looking to move sooner than later. Stetson has less need for urgency because so much of the A-Sun is now in Florida, but it will become less and less of a cultural fit for them.

Some wild things being thought about memberships in the SoCon.
Doubt Furman goes anywhere, but do not know anything about some of those schools.
Will be interesting.

(05-23-2013 12:39 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  A quick run down on the conference moves at this level:

CAA (10): Elon, College of Charleston
Southern (10): VMI, ETSU, Mercer

Damaged Conferences:

Big South (11)
ASun (8)
Summit (8)

I'm sure the Big South will raid the ASun of another school. Can the ASun raid the Summit? Will the Big Sky raid the Summit?

Somebody is going to get eaten up here, who will it be?

The situation for the ASun and Summit is even worse than 8 members, as each as one DII in transition so those two really are at the minimum for membership (7) for at least two more years. The Summit also only has 4 full members in baseball, which they have designated as one of two sports which must maintain autobids from the NCAA to retain their multisport status. There are no available unaffiliated baseball teams in the region. The Dakota schools have demonstrated that repeatedly that they will put the health of the football programs above the welfare of the Summit. (steadfast against moving their football from the MVFC to the Summit to make the Summit viable to other football-playing FCS schools in the region).

Since the ASun and Summit actually overlap footprints in the Ohio Valley, if either league gains one of the other's full members, that conference effectively wins temporarily (granted, the Big South can still raid ASun members). IUPUI/IPFW or Lipscomb/NKU are prizes now. In addition, there are DII teams in the OVC region that want DI status (Bellarmine, S Indiana, Lincoln Memorial, Lindenwood), so eventually a whole Ohio Valley division can be formed in either league. The ASun also has several DII schools in Georgia and Florida that aspire to DI.

(05-23-2013 01:37 PM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Some wild things being thought about memberships in the SoCon.
Doubt Furman goes anywhere, but do not know anything about some of those schools.
Will be interesting.

Agreed. I don't see Furman leaving the SoCon. They have more in common with Wofford, the Citadel, and Samford than they do with the CAA schools. I don't think they have any interest in joining what is essentially a mid-atlantic to northern conference. The addition of Mercer would seem to solidify their commitment to the SoCon.

(05-23-2013 02:05 PM)NoDak Wrote:  The situation for the ASun and Summit is even worse than 8 members, as each as one DII in transition so those two really are at the minimum for membership (7) for at least two more years. The Summit also only has 4 full members in baseball, which they have designated as one of two sports which must maintain autobids from the NCAA to retain their multisport status.

Since the ASun and Summit actually overlap footprints in the Ohio Valley, if either league gains one of the other's full members, that conference effectively wins temporarily (granted, the Big South can still raid ASun members). IUPUI/IPFW or Lipscomb/NKU are prizes now. In addition, there are DII teams in the OVC region that want DI status (Bellarmine, S Indiana, Lincoln Memorial, Lindenwood), so eventually a whole Ohio Valley division can be formed in either league. The ASun also has several DII schools in Georgia and Florida that aspire to DI.

Teams who have football like Minnesota-Duluth won't make that jump to the Summit, or Lindenwood to the ASun. Where are they going to place football? Neither conference sponsors it so any DII schools looking to move up will have to take that into strong consideration.

(05-23-2013 02:14 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(05-23-2013 02:05 PM)NoDak Wrote:  The situation for the ASun and Summit is even worse than 8 members, as each as one DII in transition so those two really are at the minimum for membership (7) for at least two more years. The Summit also only has 4 full members in baseball, which they have designated as one of two sports which must maintain autobids from the NCAA to retain their multisport status.

Since the ASun and Summit actually overlap footprints in the Ohio Valley, if either league gains one of the other's full members, that conference effectively wins temporarily (granted, the Big South can still raid ASun members). IUPUI/IPFW or Lipscomb/NKU are prizes now. In addition, there are DII teams in the OVC region that want DI status (Bellarmine, S Indiana, Lincoln Memorial, Lindenwood), so eventually a whole Ohio Valley division can be formed in either league. The ASun also has several DII schools in Georgia and Florida that aspire to DI.

Teams who have football like Minnesota-Duluth won't make that jump to the Summit, or Lindenwood to the ASun. Where are they going to place football? Neither conference sponsors it so any DII schools looking to move up will have to take that into strong consideration.

The Big South will be badly hurting for football teams (have given Monmouth affiliate membership) so they likely would be open to football affiliation for southern schools like North Alabama or West Georgia, that would otherwise be going to other conferences.

The MVFC wants nine football schools, not ten. A number of DII schools that might otherwise want full DI in the Midwest are effectively blocked: Grand Valley St, Wayne St, Saginaw Valley St, Minn St-Mankato, UMDuluth. Lindenwood has a sister Lindenwood school operating at the NAIA level to which it could essentially transfer its football program. Think Lindenwood's real intention of eventually going to DI is to provide the St Louis area with DI lacrosse and ice hockey (and hopefully for them a decent basketball program).

(05-23-2013 02:08 PM)hapapp Wrote:  

(05-23-2013 01:37 PM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Some wild things being thought about memberships in the SoCon.
Doubt Furman goes anywhere, but do not know anything about some of those schools.
Will be interesting.

Agreed. I don't see Furman leaving the SoCon. They have more in common with Wofford, the Citadel, and Samford than they do with the CAA schools. I don't think they have any interest in joining what is essentially a mid-atlantic to northern conference. The addition of Mercer would seem to solidify their commitment to the SoCon.

Couldn't the same be said for Davidson and Elon? Sometimes a move is meant to differentiate a school from other regionals and at the same time be more attractive to recruits, students, and alumni that live further north. Furman may also forced to accept Coastal Carolina, which might be totally unacceptable to them.

It's official now. Elon will join the CAA on July 1, 2014

http://www.caasports.com/SplashPage.dbml..._ID=714641

Stuff is starting to get kind of nasty.

http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.d...EM_ID=4000

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino released the following statement regarding Elon University:

“In recent years, it became increasingly evident that Elon’s negative view of the diversity in the Southern Conference was not shared by the majority of the membership. Our core group remains firmly committed to each other and to the academic and athletic success of the Southern Conference. We are preparing specific initiatives to achieve that success.”

To the press, Iammaniro also said "They're your problem now CAA".

He's fed up.