Old Titan Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I'm betting it's just a matter of time until the University of New Orleans is extended an invitation to join the Southland, and from a PR standpoint it's a home run: what UNO may lack financially in the wake of Katrina is FAR outweighed by the national brand recognition the school enjoys. UNO Hosting Site Visit Team From Southland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I totally agree! UNO would improve the perception of the Southland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I think UNO would be a great add. We were conference mates with them in the American South Conference and our years in the Sun Belt Conference. Always enjoyed games with them. UNO had some really good teams when Tim Floyd was coach there. They had some pretty good baseball teams too. (Speaking of good basketball and baseball, I'm looking forward to competition with ORU.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 New Orleans would be an excellent addition to the conference.....however, the thought of Bogus and OT partying on Bourbon St. when ORU travels to play there is a bit scary....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 Southland Conference Impressed With UNO, Its Facilities (New Orleans Times-Picayune) Southland Conference Completes Site Visit To UNO (SportsNOLA.com) - includes video According to the first article, the review committee will also visit Incarnate Word in San Antonio on the 19th, and Abilene Christian on the 31st. The league presidents will then reconvene some time in August to discuss inviting any - or all - to join the league. Exciting times in the ol' Southland! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Incarnate Word?......geez.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Incarnate Word is the 4th largest private school (Catholic) in Texas and was established in 1881. They have 8,500 undergraduate students and are located in San Antonio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 What kind of basketball and baseball teams do they have?.....do they play football?....I guess they are D-III now and would have to move up?......a couple of the current Southland teams are leaving shortly so it seems the conference is moving to get immediate replacements..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Incarnate Word is currently NCAA Division II. Their football stadium seats 6,000 and is named after New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson. Their baseball stadium seats 1000 and their softball stadium seats 250. Their basketball arena seats 2000 and is also used for volleyball. They appear to have a nice acquatics center (natatorium) for hosting swimming and diving events. Their tennis courts appear to be about the same as what ORU has. Many of their facilities were built in the early 1990s or early 2000s. Here is a link to their facilities info... http://www.cardinalathletics.com/sports/2009/7/2/GEN_0702095708.aspx?tab=facilities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Abilene Christian also competes in Division II. Their football stadium info doesn't say how many the stadium seats but it looks like probably 6000 or so from the picture (kinda hard to tell). They share the football stadium with 2 Abilene high schools and it sounds like they also use the football stadium for soccer games. Their basketball arena seats 4600 and is also used for volleyball. Their tennis courts have a pavilion with a small area of covered seating for about 175 people. Their baseball stadium seats 4000 (although there does not appear to be any covered seating) and Nolan Ryan helped kick off their fundraising efforts years ago for building the baseball stadium. Their softball stadium appears to seat about 200. They also have a stadium dedicated to the track and field team that appears to seat around 1000 or so. Several of their facilities look nice but appear to have been built in the 1960s. Here is a link to their facilities info. Click on the facilities tab... http://www.acusports...lmer_Gray.aspx? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 I frankly have no problem with either IWU or ACU - the league needs more schools from Texas, having just lost three from that state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 Yeah....I guess it sure beats having our boys travelling to North and South Dakota.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 Abilene Christian also competes in Division II. Their football stadium info doesn't say how many the stadium seats but it looks like probably 6000 or so from the picture (kinda hard to tell). They share the football stadium with 2 Abilene high schools and it sounds like they also use the football stadium for soccer games. Their basketball arena seats 4600 and is also used for volleyball. Their tennis courts have a pavilion with a small area of covered seating for about 175 people. Their baseball stadium seats 4000 (although there does not appear to be any covered seating) and Nolan Ryan helped kick off their fundraising efforts years ago for building the baseball stadium. Their softball stadium appears to seat about 200. They also have a stadium dedicated to the track and field team that appears to seat around 1000 or so. Several of their facilities look nice but appear to have been built in the 1960s. Here is a link to their facilities info. Click on the facilities tab... http://www.acusports...lmer_Gray.aspx? Interesting Topic. Abilene Christian plays football at Shotwell Stadium in Abilene. Listed capacity is 15,000. That's a pretty good capacity for a Division I-FCS program so probably no problem there. They averaged around 7,000 in football attendance last year - above two of the current members and near three others. Basketball attendance averaged around 500 with a high of 1,900. Baseball attendance fluctuated between 200 - 550 most of the season. For the trivia folks, ACU was a charter member of the Southland Conference, but left for the Lonestar Conference a couple of years before the SLC moved up to Division I. ACU has had pretty good success in athletics at the Division II level. They have a history of a really strong in Track & Field program at the DII level and have also had success at other sports at that level. As far as travel expense, Abilene is 386 miles from Tulsa according to Google Maps so that would be about a 6 hour drive using an average of 65 miles an hour...All Interstate & HE Bailey Turnpike highways . Might be less time since the Texas Interstate speed limit has been recently raised to 75 mph on most of the interstates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 So right now the Southland Conference has 10 members including 8 football teams. Houston Baptist will add next year and if there are no defections, then there will be 11 members and 9 football teams. If UNO, Abilene Christian, and Incarnate Word are added either next year or the year after and there are no other defections, then there will be 14 members (including 14 baseball teams) and 11 football teams (since UNO does not have football). That is quite an expansion. I suppose it is likely that since the Southland recently lost 3 football members who moved up to D-1 football and were then picked up by the Sun Belt or WAC, they want to add enough football schools so that if they were to lose 1 or 2 football schools down the road they would still have football stability. I don't recall if there are any current Southland schools who are planning to move to Div. 1 with football. With the uncertainty around Div. 1 football expansion and the battle between the haves and have nots, possibly some who might consider moving up may instead hold off until all the dust settles. It seems possible to me that the Southland may stay with 14 members (assuming these 3 teams with current site visits will be added). I assume they would break the conference into 2 separate 7-team divisions. I wonder what that would look like and how traveling partners would be designated. If I remember correctly from earlier discussions, this is the first year that the Southland will use the travel partner Thursday/Saturday format which should definitely save some travel $. In that 14 team scenario, separating into 2 separate 7-team divisions could be tricky. There would be 5 LA schools, 7 TX schools, 1 AR and 1 OK. If ORU, LA, and AR teams were grouped into 1 division and the 7 TX teams were in another division, that wouldn't be a good travel situation for ORU. Most likely, the 5 LA teams and Central Arkansas would be grouped together, so if ORU wasn't included in that group, then one of the TX schools would be, probably either Lamar (Beaumont) or Stephen F. Austin (Nacogdoches). In that scenario, each team would probably play 19 conference games (12 in their own division - home and away and 1 vs. the 7 teams in the other division). That would lead to unbalanced schedules where half the teams play 9 home games and 10 road games in a year while the other half play 10 home games and 9 road games. Who knows what will happen but I think the Southland will be an interesting ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 Good stuff, Jason. Any divisional format will most likely be driven by football - basketball balance will be something of an afterthought. Can't imagine an East-West scenario with the larger, richer Texas football schools all in one division and the smaller, poorer Louisiana football schools in the other. The Texas schools would never agree to it. More likely would be a North-South configuration, or some sort of geographically-ambiguous grouping based on competitive balance in football, ala the Big 10 and its goofy "Leaders & Legends" arrangement. Football-playing Central Arkansas could wind up anywhere in that scenario, depending on what factors ultimately drive the decision. Where they land might directly impact ORU, if we in turn remain their travel partner in basketball and other sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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