Jump to content

A future Mid-Con member?


mrmaguda

Recommended Posts

There's a school just east of Saint Louis called Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). It is a DII school that is just about to begin the process of becoming a DI school pending a vote by the school's board of trustees. The school has a lot better academic reputation than its sister school in Carbondale and its enrollment is surging unlike Carbondale which is really stuggling to attract students. Despite this, SIUE still feels overlooked because of SIUC's basketball success. Based on prior articles, it's obvious that the only reason the school is going DI is so that it can try to beat Carbondale in basketball. The school is also delusional in the sense that they think that they will be able to join the Missouri Valley right away.

Anyway, there were a couple articles this morning in the Saint Louis paper that admit that if SIUE is ever allowed into a conference, it will probably be the Mid-Con. They even interview Douple about it and he has a funny quote about the fact that being a DI school in a major metro area doesn't always lead to widespread attention in that metro area's press (ex. Oakland and IUPUI). It's an interesting article that I hope will further convince ORU that they desperately need to get out of the Mid-Con. I hope you guys find it interesting at least.

Conference Affiliation article

General article about SIUE's move to DI

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oklahoma City University, a former rival and fellow charter member of the Midwestern City Conference (now the Horizon League), has announced that they, too, are making the leap from NAIA back to NCAA D-1.  From what I understand, the approval process is currently an 8-year ordeal, with a boatload of requirements along the way in order to qualify.

I asked Mike Carter a few months back if the Mid-Con was considering adding OCU anytime soon and making them our travel partner.  His response was that OCU was not even a blip on the conference radar yet, because of the long approval process.  My guess is that SIUE would fall into the same category.

Bad enough to have an "Ooo-ee Poo-ee" in the Mid-Con.  Must we also deal with playing "Soo-ee"?!?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...