NAU can't drop football without adding another men's sport, as they only sponsor 14 sports, the minimum number for Division I. Ironically, the Big Sky could bring Men's Golf in-house if a couple of its own schools added the sport; NAU already sponosrs Women's Golf. The Big Sky and America East co-sponsor a confernce for Men's Golf called the America Sky Conference, which is now made up primarily of Great West members.

with north and south dakota leaving in after the 2011-2012 season..is the great west pretty much dead? they are not an official conference, so they cannot invite D2 upgrades.

their only hope is to replace North and South Dakota with 2 of the following

Longwood
Cal St Bakersfiled
Seattle

with Seattle looking to join the WAC if the Great West cannot get Longwood and Cal St Bakersfield to come on board then they will pretty much never be a Full D1 Conference because they will never be able to get 7 full members playing together under the Great West Banner for 7 years.

The Great West will be significantly depleted.
they only ever had 5 for FB. Now all Associate FB members are associte FB members of the Big Sky.

So for everyday sports. I beleive the remaining teams are:
Utah Valley U.
Hoston Baptist
Texas Pan-Am
Chicago State
and New Jersey Tech.

Seattle is listed as an associate member for just about everything. Seattle didn't have a FB team, the GW can no longer sponsor FB.
So it would seem that Seattle is effectively a full member now.

CSU-B could join, or play an independent schedule (largely vs. Big West schools).

Longwood may think it makes more sense to play an independent schedule vs. eastern schools, than endure the ridiculous travel demands of belonging to the GWC.
I don't know why NJ Tech doesn't feel that way...

It almost seemed that the only reason for this conference to exist was to someday earn an AQ to the D-I NCAA BB tourney.
But honestly... the Summit (Mid-Continent Conference) was an absolute mess like this 5 years ago. That is no longer the case.

Great West exists as a scheduling alliance - it is tough to be an independent. This quarantees SOME home games for the members.

NAU sponsors 15 sports currently.

Don't see NAU dropping football, with the dome being renovated right now.

Seattle and Utah Valley are on the short list for the WAC. Right now there seems to be more buzz about Seattle, but geographical pairings and the addition of football members (i.e. Lamar, Portland State, etc.) may dictate who gets in the WAC, even if it is only a matter of timing. I have a feeling both will get in once a ninth football member is lined up, as 9/12 just works too well for scheduling:

WAC West - Seattle, Idaho, San Jose State, Utah State, Utah Valley, Denver/Football #9
WAC East - New Mexico State, Lamar, UTSA, Texas State, Louisiana Tech, Denver/Football #9

Houston Baptist and UTPA (and even the Sun Belt's UALR and the Summit's Oral Roberts) would be better off in the Southland once the Southland realizes FCS football enables the WAC and Sun Belt to keep restocking through them. If the Southland loses Lamar, they ought to bring in HBU, UTPA, and UALR. If any of those three start FCS football, it keeps Southland Football alive longer. If not, they'll be the stable ones once the WAC and Sun Belt come a-knockin' down the road. Ideally, the Southland adds UALR, UTPA, and HBU once Lamar departs to get back to 12 schools (7 for football-FCS requires only 6 schools).

Southland West - UT-Arlington, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin State, TAMU-Corpus Christi, UTPA, Houston Baptist
Southland East - Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, McNeese State, UALR, Central Arkansas

That leaves us with Chicago State and NJIT. Chicago State should try to join the OVC, which would give the conference a presence (albeit minimal one) in the nation's third largest market to go with a presence in Nashville (should Tennessee State stay) and suburban St. Louis (SIU-Edwardsville). CSU's shot at the OVC will ultimately hinge on the fates of Tennessee State, Jacksonville State, North Alabama, and possibly even Northern Kentucky.

NJIT needs to become the tenth member of America East.

That only leaves Longwood and Bakersfield State as a true independents.

I hope it plays out like this

WAC: adds Lamar, Seattle, Utah Valley, CS Bakersfield
SLC: adds UTPA, HBU, Abilene Christian
Summit: adds Chicago St., N.Dakota, UN-Omaha
OVC: adds N.Alabama
AEC: adds NJIT
A-Sun:adds Longwood, Lincoln Memorial

poof, everyone has a home and the GWC is gone. Of course this will never happen.

N.Kentucky, LeMoyne said they can't afford to move D-I in the near future. UNO, Bellarmine, UNA, Lincoln Memorial all still seem to have interest

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Such a beautiful location...always hated they have a dome there instead of an open air field.

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Ouch, Chicago st. to the Summit? They got rid of them already (by having CSU leave before being voted out). I do know that the Summit is not interested in CSU now.

As for NJIT, pecking order still stands: AE is still a tier up over the NEC. But if a school like CCSU moved to the AE (football upgrade potential if AE ever sponsored football), then the NEC might look for a replacement.

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I know - but in the 70's, NAU needed new football field and basketball arena, and multipurpose was the rage...

It's a shame. The Flagstaff/Sedona area is one of my favorites. I've spent ample time on the NAU campus too. I always thought that given the right circumstances, NAU could be a real factor, an FBS level school even. But there has been so much against them to prohibit that...money being the big issue. Just wish they could have an arena AND a football stadium too.

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First step is the arena, for which fundraising has started.

Geographically, NAU would be a perfect fit for the MWC

Quinn wrote:


I could see this happening w/ CCSU bouncing to AE to give them 10. Of course, UMBC remains the outlier.

NJIT, historically bad season aside a few years back, is a great fit for NEC: great academics (probably a little too good for NEC) and fits the geographic footprint. Only drawbacks are location (Newark). Nice campus, and they are pumping money into the surrounding area, but it's still Newark and not a place to inspire even a hardcore hoops junkie to visit. But then again, some of the other NEC teams don't exactly have rabid followings. Can't wait for a NJIT-FDU rivalry: sure to draw an additional 12 fans. BTW, I nominate FDU as worst DI campus in America. Could be nicer if they actually renovated; campus bathrooms look like they haven't been touched since the 50s.

dbackjon wrote:


Or WAC.

We've been talking about CCSU to the AEC for years. I wonder if the NEC football is keeping them there even though they could switch to the AEC and have NEC fb.

Quinn, I was just making it easy. I'm aware that CSU was kicked out. I posted the story when I blogged for you, didn't I? But you can't make everything fit neatly if you hold a grudge. Maybe if CSU shows they've changed and the Summit is down to 8, UNO and Bellarmine don't want to join. Seriously where is CSU gonna go if the HL and Summit don't want them? I don't see the OVC ever taking them either.

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WRANGLERS 153-55-1 CVFL CHAMPS '04 '05 '09 '12

NFL CHAMPS '29 '30 '31 '36 '39 '44 '61 '62 '65 '66 '67 '96 '10

BW/WAC/MWC CHAMPS '77 '82 '85 '88 '89 '91 '92 '93 '99 '12
['08 NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPS]