Summit League Expansion

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:08 pm

Quinn wrote:

Unreal. Seemed like there was a chance that the Summit/MVFC and UND could all correct an inconvenience. Not now. UND is fine in the Big Sky, but does anyone think they are going to prosper having to travel outside their own timezone, sometimes 2 times zones away, for every sport? Meanwhile, the 3 other Dakota schools are in a comfortable conference footprint that now includes nearby Omaha? Sure, UND will get some better recruits with the "you get to travel to the great land of California every year" which will be a positive selling point with some North Dakota locals. But even the Big Sky was caught off-guard when USD pulled out at the last second. It appeared the Big Sky was building some safety around the idea of Montana and possible others leaving...especially when the rumored schools other than Montana are on the west coast (PSU, Sac St...FB only CP and UCD). Now they really are stuck in the awkward 11/13 membership, not ideal for anyone. And schools like PSU, NAU, and Sac St. must also fly 1000 to 2000 miles for even non-revenue sports. We all joke about the WAC and LA Tech being in that conference. But they at least had the BCS revenue shares to help out. UND made it's bed because it had no other choice...as did the Big Sky...now they both have to deal with it.

UND can try and hope for a few things. MVFC goes to 11 or Indiana St. drops football opening a spot or YSU somehow gets a CAA fb only invite or another D-II in the Summit footprint moves up that keeps football and they go to 12.

wbyeager · **Posted:** Sun Mar 13, 2011 7:26 pm

or UALR decides not to be the only non-FBS school in the Sun Belt and runs (or is pushed) away. This would actually give the Summit three distinct quads:

North Dakota/ND State
South Dakota/SD State

UNO/UMKC
UALR/Oral Roberts

WIU/IUPUI
IPFW/Oakland

Quinn · **Joined:** Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:05 am **Posts:** 3757

wbyeager wrote:

or UALR decides not to be the only non-FBS school in the Sun Belt and runs (or is pushed) away. This would actually give the Summit three distinct quads:

North Dakota/ND State
South Dakota/SD State

UNO/UMKC
UALR/Oral Roberts

WIU/IUPUI
IPFW/Oakland

You're forgetting the football problem. UND only passed on the Summit because they had no MVFc invite. No UNO football, no 12th team for MVFC...and MVFC does not want an 11th member.

Quinn · **Joined:** Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:05 am **Posts:** 3757

Fresno St. Alum wrote:

Quinn wrote:

Unreal. Seemed like there was a chance that the Summit/MVFC and UND could all correct an inconvenience. Not now. UND is fine in the Big Sky, but does anyone think they are going to prosper having to travel outside their own timezone, sometimes 2 times zones away, for every sport? Meanwhile, the 3 other Dakota schools are in a comfortable conference footprint that now includes nearby Omaha? Sure, UND will get some better recruits with the "you get to travel to the great land of California every year" which will be a positive selling point with some North Dakota locals. But even the Big Sky was caught off-guard when USD pulled out at the last second. It appeared the Big Sky was building some safety around the idea of Montana and possible others leaving...especially when the rumored schools other than Montana are on the west coast (PSU, Sac St...FB only CP and UCD). Now they really are stuck in the awkward 11/13 membership, not ideal for anyone. And schools like PSU, NAU, and Sac St. must also fly 1000 to 2000 miles for even non-revenue sports. We all joke about the WAC and LA Tech being in that conference. But they at least had the BCS revenue shares to help out. UND made it's bed because it had no other choice...as did the Big Sky...now they both have to deal with it.

UND can try and hope for a few things. MVFC goes to 11 or Indiana St. drops football opening a spot or YSU somehow gets a CAA fb only invite or another D-II in the Summit footprint moves up that keeps football and they go to 12.

Would be great if UMass and Nova leave CAA and they want a football only school...and considered YSU. Bit of a hoof from YSU to other CAA football schools though

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:28 am

Quinn wrote:

Fresno St. Alum wrote:

Quinn wrote:

Unreal. Seemed like there was a chance that the Summit/MVFC and UND could all correct an inconvenience. Not now. UND is fine in the Big Sky, but does anyone think they are going to prosper having to travel outside their own timezone, sometimes 2 times zones away, for every sport? Meanwhile, the 3 other Dakota schools are in a comfortable conference footprint that now includes nearby Omaha? Sure, UND will get some better recruits with the "you get to travel to the great land of California every year" which will be a positive selling point with some North Dakota locals. But even the Big Sky was caught off-guard when USD pulled out at the last second. It appeared the Big Sky was building some safety around the idea of Montana and possible others leaving...especially when the rumored schools other than Montana are on the west coast (PSU, Sac St...FB only CP and UCD). Now they really are stuck in the awkward 11/13 membership, not ideal for anyone. And schools like PSU, NAU, and Sac St. must also fly 1000 to 2000 miles for even non-revenue sports. We all joke about the WAC and LA Tech being in that conference. But they at least had the BCS revenue shares to help out. UND made it's bed because it had no other choice...as did the Big Sky...now they both have to deal with it.

UND can try and hope for a few things. MVFC goes to 11 or Indiana St. drops football opening a spot or YSU somehow gets a CAA fb only invite or another D-II in the Summit footprint moves up that keeps football and they go to 12.

Would be great if UMass and Nova leave CAA and they want a football only school...and considered YSU. Bit of a hoof from YSU to other CAA football schools though

I thought about that but the whole CAA & YSU are eastern time zone. The 3 Dakota schools, Missouri St. and NIU are pretty far away from YSU so maybe the CAA can work.

tute79 · **Joined:** Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 1493

WoW !

My thinking is that when the Summit contacted UNO, they must have asssumed football was part of the equation.
At that point, Trev and his Sport Center Div. 1 ego determined that the priority was to go for Div. 1 at all costs.
Numerous people have told me that certain elements of the Nebraska legislature let it be known that Nebraska would fund ONE Div 1 football team - the Huskers.
I don't know if UNO is totally autonomous, or is treated as a branch campus, and reports to any admin. officials at UN-Lincoln....
But maybe the vision was for UNO to carve it's own identity as an urban school, and be the campus with the D-1 hockey team.
So UNO does not have unlimited funds to push forward with D-1 hockey, a new high-profile coach, football, new on-campus arena...
They have decided on which sports they will concentrate their money.
Dumping Football and wrestling really eliminates issues with Title IX compliance.

So perhaps the choice was status quo in D-2 MIAA, or D-1 Summit (minus FB and wrestling, plus golf and soccer !)

As the knight in Indiana JoOnes and the Last Crusade would say: "Did they choose WISELY ?"
D-1 = higher profile. But their high profile sports appear limited now to basketball and golf.
Was UNO having issues sustaining the status quo in the MIAA ? Don't know...
the spin wil be to have you think that somehow this move was designed to "fix" their current situation, but is that true ?
Is D-1 more or less expensive than D-2 WITH football ?

accseahawk · **Posted:** Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:42 am

from what little i have read it sounds like UNO is a hockey first school like North Dakota and a lot of northeastern schools that wanted their other sports to be division 1 due to the fact that their biggest rivals (the 4 dakota schools) had all recently left the conference. As unfortunate as it is, eliminating football was the easiest path for everyone involved. The Summit and the school did not have to worry about finding the school a D1 football home and the school did not have to worry about upsetting the Cornhusker focused politicians. Eliminating wrestling was also unfortunate but I would venture to guess that the Summit sponsors men's soccer and men's golf (and not men's wrestling) and the Summit was UNO to help the league out by providing teams for conference sponsored sports.

The Summit is actually turning out to be a very stable league with UNO and the 3 Dakota schools. Plus stopping at 10 right now allows them to keep their options open in case another promising D2 school wants to upgrade in the future.

tute79 · **Joined:** Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 1493

ACC -

You are correct about wrestling (NO), soccer (YES), and golf (YES).
Matching up with Summit-sponsored sports was UNO's rationale for axing and adding, per one of the articles posted.

Regards,
Tute

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:31 am

On the D-II board today we were talking about the other schools the Summit was looking at. In case they go to 12 these were the other 3

1. UALR- you guys knew about them, they would have went to the Summit if the SBC wanted to have all members sponsor football.
2. St.Cloud St.- they were considering dropping football which would have likely forced them out of the NSIC, so they were talking to the Summit. They decided to keep football.
3. Bellarmine- They have wanted to be D-I for a while, their president thinks of them like Notre Dame

accseahawk · **Posted:** Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:30 am

im not to big on d2, but i know they have a strong hockey program. would following the same route as UNO be something they would be interested in? They could be paired with UND for the 11 and 12 Summit spots and the 11 and 12 MVFC spots. The summit could even start a hockey league by adding these two, which I think would be huge for them, especially since the Big 10 is finally starting hockey.

Quinn · **Joined:** Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:05 am **Posts:** 3757

Northern Kentucky University planning D1 upgrade:

http://collegesportsinfo.com/2011/04/08 ... 1-upgrade/

Gotta think the Summit is the top candidate to extend an invite...

dbackjon · **Joined:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:50 pm **Posts:** 267

Quinn wrote:

Northern Kentucky University planning D1 upgrade:

http://collegesportsinfo.com/2011/04/08 ... 1-upgrade/

Gotta think the Summit is the top candidate to extend an invite...

What about the OVC - they will be at 11 with SIU-E next year.

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:30 pm

dbackjon wrote:

Quinn wrote:

Northern Kentucky University planning D1 upgrade:

http://collegesportsinfo.com/2011/04/08 ... 1-upgrade/

Gotta think the Summit is the top candidate to extend an invite...

What about the OVC - they will be at 11 with SIU-E next year.

OVC wants N.Alabama to be #12.

accseahawk · **Posted:** Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:33 pm

http://letsgoguins.com/fan-blog/375-fan ... town-state

this does not directly effect the Summit but we all seem to agree that if a MVFC slot became open, than UND to the Summit becomes a no brainer. With UNO not bringing football and a 12th MVFC team unlikely if Youngstown were to leave, UND would have the spot they need in the MVFC

Kim Jong Skillz · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 10:37 pm

northern kentucky is looking to transition to division 1 & would be a perfect fit in the summit league. the SL sponsors all of NKU's sports and is relatively close to 4 other member schools. with their new arena they could potentially put in bids to host the SL conference tournament. that would put the summit at 11 & open the door again for ND to join to make it 12.

grand valley st.(mi) & bellarmine (which is NKU's cross town rival actually) are both looking to transition to division 1 as well & i believe would be other good fits for the summit league. getting the league over 12 i think is key, because then we can have divisions.

hypothetically how do these divisions look? i REALLY like how it looks & how it could help put the SL more on TV & gain our conference & schools some well earned coverage.

western division
north dakota
north dakota st
south dakota
south dakota st
omaha
kansas city
oral roberts

eastern division
western illinois
oakland
fort wayne
indianapolis
northern kentucky
bellarmine
grand valley st.

Summit League Expansion

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