Big Ten schools will be meeting in DC Sunday-Tuesday for the AAU meetings and are expected to push the expansion issue. Reports indicate that the conference will aim to add 3-5 new schools. Notre Dame remains the top option. But the Big Ten is poised to include 2-4 other schools. East coast schools Rutgers and Syracuse remain top options after Notre Dame, along with Missouri and Pitt. Nebraska remains a potential target candidate as well, but likely only if Notre Dame is out of the mix.

Perhaps the top football program in FCS football, the University of Montana seems to finally be considering an upgrade to FBS within the next 2 years.

In a recent interview, UM Athletic Director Jim O’Day confirmed that the athlatic department is in the “preliminary talking stages” for an upgrade.

“Right now what we’re doing is we’re looking with an internal assessment. It doesn’t just talk about moving up to Division I or whatever, it’s just to have an independent study of where we’re currently sitting,” O’Day said. “It’s probably a very proactive approach knowing that there is going to be a lot of change in the NCAA over the next three to five years. So right now we’re just contemplating and looking at the possibilities.”

If such a move were to happen, the likely destination would be the WAC, comprised of schools such as Idaho, Boise St., Montana, Utah St., New Mexico St., Hawaii, Fresno St., San Jose St. and Louisiana Tech. Boise St. is an oft mentioned candidate for the Mountain West should they expand, and LA Tech as a potential replacement in CUSA or even the Sunbelt. Should wither team leave, the WAC will look to protect it’s membership numbers and with so few FBS programs in the footprint, might consider top rated FCS programs like Montana.

The Mountain West would remain Montana’s desired conference, but it’s highly unlikely they would be extended an invitation from them.

One hang-up to a Montana upgrade could come from within it’s own state. There is an unofficial understanding that in order for the state to fully support Montana ever upgrading, fellow state school Montana St. would need to be included in any such move. The Bozeman school is not anywhere near as ready as Montana to upgrade, so it’s likely this joint-upgrade idea would need to be shelved.

As part of the ongoing NCAA Leadership Council recommendations, schools in FCS conferences that seek to upgrade to FBS will need to have been invited by an FBS conference. This is similar to the recommendations that Division 2 upgrades need to be invited to join a Division I conference before upgrading. If put in place, the new rule would eliminate the ability for a school to upgrade to FBS football as an independent.

Schools rumored to upgrade in the near future include UTSA, Texas St, Charlotte and Georgia St. These schools considering FBS upgrades all have the luxury of being in the current Sunbelt footprint, which will soon be 10 football teams once South Alabama joins for football. The WAC is an option as well.

But for schools in the mid-west or northeast, this is one more obstacle to upgrading.

In a clear sign that that the Pac-10 is finding it difficult to target profit-generating expansion candidates, the conference is looking into the legislation behind staging a conference championship game. Current NCAA bylaw 17.9.5.2 (c) states that a conference must have 12 members to stage a championship game. It’s just that the Pac-10 doesn’t have any “homerun” expansion candidates to generate the necessary money to justify expanding under the current television deals they have. Utah and Colorado have long been considered the top two candidates, but the two of them would need to increase the Pac-10 television deal (currently $58 million total) by 12 million just for the all 12 schools to make the current $5.8 million each. But if the current 10 schools are going to add to their travel budgets, it’s going to take more than breaking even.

In a recent interview, Arkasas-Little Rock AD Chris Peterson revealed that UALR has had discussions with the Summit League about joining should they leave the Sunbelt.

Peterson said that the Trojans have had talks with the conference about potential membership given that the Sun Belt has toyed with the idea of wanting every member to field a football team, something UALR lacks.

“We’ve had discussions, but at this point we’re pretty committed to being in the Sun Belt,” said Peterson, whose dad, Gil, formerly served as the athletic director at Huron College. “We feel we’ve got a home as long as we want. There’s times you think about dealing with institutions that are more like you, that don’t have football. But at times, there are benefits to being involved in a league that has (Football Championship Subdivision) football.”

Some rumblings by The Spectrum (Buffalo). But I think they might be basing their reports on something Andy Katz wrote about in 2008, not recently. I think this is the case because in 2008 I wrote a similar blurb based on the same Andy Katz article.

There was more talk about expanding the league to 14 teams with adding Temple (Atlantic 10 for all sports but football) and Western Kentucky (Sun Belt) as full members. Temple plays a MAC schedule in football and has added MAC nonconference games for basketball. This kind of decision would be made for football, but if they did ever join the league in hoops, it would make this league even tougher and potentially put it in position to earn multiple bids (which hasn’t happened since 1999).

WKU has always seemed like a logical fit. Although Marshall was a logical fit as well. But when given the opportunity to join CUSA, they did. While the Sunbelt is not as attractive as CUSA, WKU is in a good situation: they could stay put and if the Sunbelt ever imploded due to moves by it’s current members, WKU could then move to the MAC.

Temple is another story.

The Atlantic 10 has been an ideal home for Temple. And this year alone, there were 6 teams going into the final month of basketball play poised for NCAA bids. Even with collapses by Charlotte, URI and Dayton, the A10 still will get 3 teams in. If URI or Dayton advance to the A10 finals, they will potentially get an at-large bid as well. The MAC might be too much a step down for Temple at this time. Right now, they can succeed in MAC football and A10 basketball, and improve their profile should the Big East ever split and need a Philadelphia presence.

If WKU were to join the MAC, the Sunbelt might be more aggressive in their pursuit of UTSA or Texas St, which have considered an upgrade. Other targets might be Georgia St. or Charlotte whom are launching football and hope to one day be FBS level.

If Temple were to leave the A10, the conference might just remain at 13 members. If they were to expand to 14, the A10 might revisit schools they once considered such as Butler, Detroit, Boston University and ODU.

It’s been a long time coming for Savannah St. After years without a home, they finally have gotten into the MEAC.

From the MEAC:

“The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announced today that Savannah State University has been extended provisional membership to the MEAC beginning July 1, 2010, as voted on by the conference’s Council of Chief Executive Officers (CCEO’s).

A press conference is set for 5 p.m. on Friday, March 12, in the post game interview room of the Joel Coliseum. An additional press conference will take place on Wednesday, March 24 in Savannah, Georgia.

“We are pleased to extend membership and welcome Savannah State University to the MEAC family,” said MEAC Commissioner Dennis E. Thomas. “The addition of SSU keeps us in compliance with our long range and strategic plan of adding up to 14 members. Adding SSU to the membership completes the geographical footprint that bridges our South Carolina and Florida institutions.”

Commissioner Thomas added, “I would like to commend Dr. Yarbrough, President, Dr. Flythe, and the entire SSU family for all their hard work as we welcome this outstanding academic institution into the conference.”

As a provisional member, SSU must be in compliance with three (3) stipulations by September 1, 2011 before full membership status into the MEAC is granted. The stipulations include (1) student-athlete scholarships, (2) athletic budget, and (3) staffing.”

Check out other MEAC schools on the Conference Realignment Grid

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick says the possible expansion of the Big Ten could create changes in major college football that force the Fighting Irish to give up their football independence.

The Big Ten and Pac-10 have both said they are exploring the possibility of adding schools.

Swarbrick says that looming realignment changes could be “relatively small … or they could be seismic.”

While Notre Dame prefers to remain independent in football, Swarbrick says, he and university president Rev. John Jenkins will evaluate whatever changes occur and assess how they effect the Fighting Irish.

Swarbrick told reporters Tuesday morning: “You can each come up with a scenario that would force our hand.”

The obvious move would be for Notre Dame to join the Big Ten, which would boost the conferences coverage of the BTN in markets such as New York. It is believed that Notre Dame would prefer joining the Big Ten if there were other Big East schools involved, such as Syracuse and Rutgers from the northeast. It does seem unlikely that Notre Dame would join the Big East for football, especially if they were to lose a Rutgers and/or Syracuse. But the school could probably negotiate their own deal with the Big East and maintain their current NBC TV contract.

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Big Ten officials have hired a research firm to assist in targeting expansion candidates. Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez says the number on the list is approximately 15 and that Texas is not included as a recommendation. That’s good news for admins and fans of schools hoping to be in the mix as Texas would seem like tough competition for that 12th spot in the Big Ten. However, Alvarez also states that “I think it could be one (school) or I think it could be multiple”. This comes a day after Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe made some comments to help keep the Big 12 members positive and unified.

Some key points by Alvarez:
1) The Big Ten could expand by 1 school or more (likely a total of 12, 14 or 16 teams)
2) Texas was not on the initial recommendation list
3) He expects Notre Dame to be out of the mix as they hope to remain independent.

Should the Big Ten chose to expand to 14 or 16, it could be a crushing blow to both the Big East and Big 12. Both conferences have schools that are considered to be potential candidates for the Big Ten. The Big East candidates could include Rutgers, Syracuse or Pitt, which seem to top most peoples lists in the 12 team scenario. Even UConn has to be included if indeed expansion ever did grow to 16 with 5 new schools. Missouri is the Big 12 school most likely to lobby for a spot in the Big Ten. But others such as Nebraska or Kansas could be targets in virtually any of the 13 to 16 team scenarios. Big 12 members Colorado is thought to be the top target by the Pac-10 should they decide to extend an invite.