Chicago State is gone....

[tmh8286]

As talk shifts to Mid-Con expansion and the possibility of a two division league, it would pay to keep in mind the location of the schools being considered and the relative travel distances for the two divisions.

This was posted before, but is worth reviewing in light of the CSU departure:

http://www.medary.com/staticpages/index ... 1151846815

It's a nice little map showing the locations of all (or nearly all) of the D1 programs around the country. Thanks to 89Rabbit for the link.

While the splits that EagleBackr suggests make sense geographically, either option leaves travel challenges for ORU that I suspect would be undesirable.

It seems like someone from Valpo looked at relative mileage between schools and did some divisions based on that. I might look back and see if I can find that post again.

[ORUTerry]

My guess is that Chicago State is 'transitioning' to either D-II status or will be dropping athletics completely. Trying to compete in D-1 as an independent is a struggle. Cannot see CSU doing that - at least for very long.

[vcboy2000]

I wonder if Royce Parran would mind backing up Adam Liverty....... he'd have to pay his own way too now that I think about it... hmm.....Naaah!

[ORUIsbig]

Nice Facilities boys,

though they are not up to par with the Mid-Con standard of CSU's practice gym and centenary's Historic "Dark" Dome.

I say we take both of them. A trip to the northern states sounds fun.

JackRabbit, maybe your boys up there can make us a scoreboard that will work in the maybe center if we take you guys in? Sound like a plan?

[ORUJason]

Are there financial reasons why it makes more sense to have fewer teams in the Mid-Con (9), versus more teams (10 or more)?

As an example, I know that each team receives an equitable amount of the NCAA payout on a per game basis for the basketball tourney. If you add more teams, then each team receives fewer $.

Obviously, the costs of travelling to Southern Utah, Oakland, MI, etc., for all the athletic teams are probably a bigger concern than how much of the NCAA payout a team gets, but usually $ are a big factor in these decisions.

I'm not familiar with all the $ ramifications, just wondering if anyone else was....

[89rabbit]

To me a bigger issue then how the money is divided up is how the conference is perceived. This speaks to where the conference representative is seeded. If the conference's representative has a higher seed there is a better chance that the school will advance (I thought it was a joke the ORU was a 16 seed this past tourney). If the Mid-Con representative advances that means additional monies to be divided. Who knows with a stronger conference, could come additional bids to the dance (this of course would take time, it would be a long term goal) and even more $$$ to divide up (and before anyone jumps all over me and says it will never happen, remember that the Missouri Valley has been a one bid conference in the past and look at them now). Adding two well funded, and supported State Universities would go a long ways in helping folks have a better perception of the Mid-Con and would far outweigh the tiny change in allocation from 9 schools to 10 (9 before CSU dropped out, 10 after CSU drops and SDSU and NDSU are picked up).

Clearly I have a vested interest in the topic and in your (hopefully our) conference, but I do believe that a rising tide lifts all boats and I believe that SDSU can be part of that rising tide for the Mid-Con.

[89rabbit]

Nice Facilities boys,

though they are not up to par with the Mid-Con standard of CSU's practice gym and centenary's Historic "Dark" Dome.

I say we take both of them. A trip to the northern states sounds fun.

JackRabbit, maybe your boys up there can make us a scoreboard that will work in the maybe center if we take you guys in? Sound like a plan?

I'm sure the boys at Daktronics would love to help. They have already worked with OU and OSU.

http://www.daktronics.com/

[Stl VU Fan]

My guess is that Chicago State is 'transitioning' to either D-II status or will be dropping athletics completely. Trying to compete in D-1 as an independent is a struggle. Cannot see CSU doing that - at least for very long.

Kevin Jones Jr just signed 4 recruits for next year. I seriously doubt they are dropping athletics completely.

[ORUTerry]

Your supposition is that Kevin Jones is in the loop as far as decisions concerning the athletic department.... not sure that is correct.

The rational decision would be for CSU to drop athletics.... as an independent, they are going to have a very difficult time finding games after January 1st (conference season). Their only options are to play the other independents and that means a heavy travel schedule (and attendant costs). They won't get a pay day for those games. They make no money from their home games (attendance of 200 - and that is stretching it). That means they will have a lot of road games. Maybe they can go an entire season and never play at home.....

[89rabbit]

There was a story today in the Indianapolis star about expansion. Not a lot of new info but we do have conformations that expansion will be a big topic at the next President?s meeting in June.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a ... -1/ZONES01

Mid-Con commissioner Tom Douple said expansion will be looked at in depth at the June meeting of school presidents.

"We're looking at all the options for the conference," said Douple, former athletic director at Mid-Con member Southern Utah.

"There are a lot of schools involved, and certainly Fort Wayne is in that group, along with others."

Two other schools prominently mentioned as possible expansion targets are independents South Dakota State and North Dakota State. . . .

[ORUJason]

From a quick glance at facilities, records, RPI, etc., it doesn't look like IPFW (Fort Wayne) brings much to the table except regional proximity for Valpo, IUPUI, Western Illinois, etc.

I would not be in favor of adding IPFW.

I think SDSU and NDSU both offer better quality facilities, and they would also be the sports focus of their respective states, instead of IPFW, which is probably an afterthought to the Indiana sports media.

Even Utah Valley State appears to offer more from a facilities standpoint than IPFW, although I would not be in favor of adding another Utah team, because I assume Southern Utah will probably move on to another more regional conference at some point in the future, and Utah Valley State's teams do not appear to be very competitive.

[ORUTerry]

I think the Presidents and AD's meet either this month or next to discuss conference issues. It will be interesting to see what they decide. Don't be surprised if the answer is just to sit tight - at least for a while.

With eight conference members, the league is subject to a defection (SUU or Centenary) that would eliminate the automatic bid. If I understand the rules though, the NCAA would give the league a two year grace period to find a replacement school if that should happen.

The decision makers may want to wait and see what happens in other leagues in the future to see what schools come available. The last time the conference made a 'quick' decision, we got stuck with Centenary.

The nice part is that we only have to split the NCAA money between 8 schools instead of 9.....

[89rabbit]

Highlights from the Fargo Forum (sub. site but it is free).

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index. ... ion=Sports

NDSU to submit profile to Mid-Con

By Jeff Kolpack, The Forum

Published Friday, May 12, 2006

The Mid-Continent Conference has taken the first step toward expansion by asking a few schools, including North Dakota State, to submit an institutional profile to the league office.

It?s preliminary action for serious discussion, which is expected to take place in June at the Mid-Con Council of Presidents meeting in Chicago. . . . .

The Mid-Con profile request includes enrollment, accreditation status, graduation rates, degrees offered, media outlets, local hotels, budgets, fundraising, season tickets for basketball, student SAT scores and student-athlete SAT scores.

?Just a lot of general information about the institution,? Taylor said.

The report is due May 19. South Dakota State and Indiana University Purdue-Fort Wayne were also asked to submit a profile.

SDSU athletic director Fred Oien confirmed as much, but declined to publicly discuss it. . . . (read more)

[89rabbit]

Here are a couple of more news items.

from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... S/60512012

SDSU submitting profile to Mid-Continent

By Chris Solari

csolari@argusleader.com

May 12, 2006

South Dakota State has been asked by the Mid-Continent Conference officials to submit a profile of the school for possible inclusion in the league.

Athletic Director Fred Oien confirmed Friday that the eight-team Mid-Continent asked for materials. He refused to comment further.

?This was not a deal for us to put a press release out ? it?s a conference issue,? Oien said. ?The bottom line is we?ve been contracted. Any further information has to come from the Mid-Con office.?

Commissioner Tom Douple was out of the office Friday, attending the league?s softball tournament in Utah, and could not be reached for comment. The Mid-Continent?s presidents will meet June 27 in Chicago, said Kristina Petersen, the league?s director of media relations.

. . . (read more)

Also WDAY TV up in Fargo is reporting that the Big Sky Conference has put expansion on their agenda. The Big Sky Presidents meet May 23rd.

[89rabbit]

Here are links to another story:

http://www.i-aa.org/article.asp?articleid=78478

The Mid-Con is big news right now.