Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[Seadragon76]

19 hours ago, Burmy said:

What are the odds they could convince Morehead State (an OVC member in every other sport) to start offering scholarships and thus join them in football too?

 

Slim to none with slim heading out the front door. For the OVC to bring Morehead State back in the fold for football requires the school to start doing scholarships, which isn't exactly something that could be justified in this time frame.

[Red Wolf]

Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss have announced that they intend to leave C-USA for the Sun Belt early in June. C-USA had apparently been planning on releasing the upcoming football schedule in March, which would have included the three departing schools. Should be much drama ahead.

[Geoff]

The Sun Belt is planning on releasing their football schedule 3/1 so a move had to be done this month. 

 

You'll notice the Sun Belt hasn't said a damn thing about this. The first post you see on the conference's website is about JMU playing in 2022. They're trying not to get sued. I think these announcements were made when they were because it became clear the negotiations between the schools and CUSA were not going well. Seems the schools are saying, "look, we know we're gonna have to pay, we just wanna know how much and you're dragging your feet."

[slapshot]

On 1/27/2022 at 12:29 PM, stumpygremlin said:

And U. of New Haven would be among other private institutions in the NEC, whereas the AmEast will be all public institutions once Hartford leaves.

 

Reading these hypotheticals has me thinking about NE-10 football. As of right now, the league only has 9 schools:  AIC, Assumption, Bentley, Franklin Pierce, Pace, New Haven, Saint Anselm, SCSU, Stonehill. In the past few seasons, they've lost LIU (CW Post) and Merrimack.

 

Non-football NE10 schools are Adelphi, Le Moyne, Saint Rose, and SNHU.

 

D2 is the smallest division of college football by number of schools. If you were to take out New Haven and SCSU, you leave the conference with 7 schools. I haven't heard any rumors of D2 schools adding football, nor have I heard of any D3 schools moving up a division. In New England, D3 has lost Mount Ida and Becker College in recent years with closures, and Maine Maritime from football (2010 from covid, 2011 for costs and lack of competitiveness).

 

D1 football in New England is very minimal. Only 3 schools are FBS: Boston College, UMass, and UConn. The rest are FCS. The biggest D1 schools without football are: UMass-Lowell (dropped football in 2003). Boston University (dropped it in 1999), Northeastern (2009) and Vermont (1974). I don't think Providence College ever had a football team in recent times, And I don't think any of these schools is bringing the program back.

[rams80]

On 2/10/2022 at 8:58 AM, Seadragon76 said:

 

At least two more football schools to help make up for Murray State's departure in 2023. This is where schools like Hillsdale and Grand Valley State would come in if they were looking to make the leap to Division I.

 

I'm not sure the OVC is "take Hillsdale" desperate, because I don't think any group of D1 league school presidents would be up for dealing with Hillsdale on a regular basis.

[sportsfan7]

43 minutes ago, rams80 said:

 

I'm not sure the OVC is "take Hillsdale" desperate, because I don't think any group of D1 league school presidents would be up for dealing with Hillsdale on a regular basis.

Yeah they're pretty much Liberty without the brand or money

[Red Wolf]

12 hours ago, Geoff said:

The Sun Belt is planning on releasing their football schedule 3/1 so a move had to be done this month. 

 

You'll notice the Sun Belt hasn't said a damn thing about this. The first post you see on the conference's website is about JMU playing in 2022. They're trying not to get sued. I think these announcements were made when they were because it became clear the negotiations between the schools and CUSA were not going well. Seems the schools are saying, "look, we know we're gonna have to pay, we just wanna know how much and you're dragging your feet."

 

Looks like the amount they'll have to pay isn't a whole lot. Conference payouts are low, which is part of why everybody is so eager to leave, and damages for their piddly media deal likely aren't that much either.

 

Quote

The buyout to leave C-USA is the forfeiture of two years of conference payouts. But C-USA has maintained the schools still have a contractual commitment and the early departure of the schools could lead to damages through less inventory for its media rights deals.

 

https://theathletic.com/news/sun-belt-bound-marshall-old-dominion-southern-miss-announce-plans-to-leave-conference-usa-on-june-30/EPNQzb3vH54Y/

[heavybass]

C-USA confirmed :censored: division.

[Red Wolf]

The drama continues! C-USA is still claiming that they plan to have Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss for the 22-23 athletic year. They even released the upcoming football schedule with all three still on it.

 

https://conferenceusa.com/news/2022/2/15/c-usa-announces-2022-football-schedule.aspx

 

 

EDIT: Marshall says they're not going to play any of these games. This is all very silly.

 

 

[GeauxColonels]

If CUSA didn’t already reek of desperation with their invites to Sam Houston, Jacksonville St, Liberty and NMSU…….

[4_tattoos]

Wow what's going on? At one point not too long ago C-USA was arguably the best mid major conference in both football and men's basketball. Now they've been lapped by the Sunbelt Conference.

[Geoff]

CUSA being the best mid-major was actually a while ago and they were lapped by the Sun Belt a few years ago. They did it to themselves too. Fans of both departing and remaining schools hate Judy MacLeod with a fiery passion. 

 

CUSA is threatening legal action, which is what the three schools wanted the whole time... lawyers talking.

 

UAB football's social media team killed it with this schedule announcement

 

 

[Walk-Off]

On 2/13/2022 at 2:06 AM, rams80 said:

I'm not sure the OVC is "take Hillsdale" desperate, because I don't think any group of D1 league school presidents would be up for dealing with Hillsdale on a regular basis.

 

On 2/13/2022 at 2:50 AM, sportsfan7 said:

Yeah they're pretty much Liberty without the brand or money

 

To me, Hillsdale College seems like a smaller, decidedly more old-money (if not more elite), and more secular (if not more libertarian) version of Liberty University.  Ironically, for a little more than a century after its founding in 1844, Hillsdale had a much more progressive image, particularly due to that school's early embraces of both mixed-gender education and racially integrated education.  As best as I can tell, not until the Civil Rights Era, when Hillsdale's leadership quarreled with the federal government over affirmative action requirements for federally funded colleges and universities and then chose to stop accepting any federal funding so as to escape such burdens, did Hillsdale become so beloved among political conservatives in the United States.

[Geoff]

NC A&T is likely going to the CAA less than two years after going to the Big South,

 

Lindenwood is supposedly moving up to D1 and will go to the OVC. I wonder if they'll finally announce their varsity hockey team.

[Burmy]

On 2/17/2022 at 8:43 PM, Geoff said:

NC A&T is likely going to the CAA less than two years after going to the Big South,

Most sports are joining on July 1, football in 2023 (so as not to risk the Big South champion's AQ spot in the FCS playoffs)

 

Quote

Lindenwood is supposedly moving up to D1 and will go to the OVC. I wonder if they'll finally announce their varsity hockey team.

Would be a big pickup for the OVC...not only do they need football schools, but going straight into the heart of traditional MVC territory sends a message after the MVC picking up their two best members.

[Geoff]

And the Lindenwood board voted to approve the transition to D1.

 

 

[rams80]

16 hours ago, Burmy said:

Most sports are joining on July 1, football in 2023 (so as not to risk the Big South champion's AQ spot in the FCS playoffs)

 

Would be a big pickup for the OVC...not only do they need football schools, but going straight into the heart of traditional MVC territory sends a message after the MVC picking up their two best members.

 

Is that message "Look, here's another one"?

[Seadragon76]

It is official now: Lindenwood is jumping to DI and the Ohio Valley Conference. This is important for the OVC because it adds another football body to the conference that is starting an alliance with the Big South to basically combine the two leagues in 2023.

 

The reason the Big South is making that move? They lost North Carolina A&T to the CAA.

[Red Wolf]

Remember when Conference USA released a football schedule that included Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss, all schools that said they were leaving? The Sun Belt just released a schedule with the three of them. C-USA hasn't amended their schedule yet. They should probably get on that so schools and their fans can plan accordingly.

[Geoff]

Marshall and Southern Miss have temporary restraining orders against CUSA right now. ODU is working on one too. This just makes it seem what we've all known: the most likely outcome will be financial compensation. Which is what the schools wanted anyway.