BU fans want new conference affiliation

[rlh]

YSU's titles all have come in track and field, I believe.  those are sports in which Valpo fields about a quarter of a full squad.  As a result we have had individual conference championships in those sports but will likely never have a team championship.  Same goes for Swimming and Diving

Why do we participate in these sports unless we're going to have full teams?  No team competition, no chance for team wins, an embarrassing public perception that we're either too small or too inept to pull together a full team.  It seems so obviously ridiculous that I'm wondering if there is more to the story than this?

you have to have a certain amount of D-1 sports to play D-1 basketball, so I'm guessing that might be the overriding factor.  I'm not sure what the number is, but I'm pretty sure there is a minimum.  I would guess that some of these sports are less expensive to run also, which would account for some of it.  Personally, I've always been amazed at how well we have competed some years with such limited facilities and scholarships available in many of the "minor" sports

[historyman]

If I remember correctly Valpo built a brand new Tennis complex several years back. Yet the mens tennis team was 0-7 against HL opponents this last season. What kind of scholarships are given out that we can't improve at all in mens tennis?

[crusaderjoe]

YSU's titles all have come in track and field, I believe.  those are sports in which Valpo fields about a quarter of a full squad.  As a result we have had individual conference championships in those sports but will likely never have a team championship.  Same goes for Swimming and Diving

Why do we participate in these sports unless we're going to have full teams?  No team competition, no chance for team wins, an embarrassing public perception that we're either too small or too inept to pull together a full team.  It seems so obviously ridiculous that I'm wondering if there is more to the story than this?

My guess is that these sports were historically put in place but not fully funded in order to draw more students to the university (not necessarily to draw more student athletes per se) and were used as a student recruiting tool to help increase overall enrollment.  This is more akin to D-III level thinking more so than D-I because you are basically offering sporting opportunities for students to partake in them in order to offer potential students an "overall academic and athletic experience" without having to pay or worry about offering either a full or partial athletic scholarship (eg. Title IX).  It therefore doesn't matter if these teams get waxed in D-I competition because academic tuition dollars have already been paid because the kid has chosen to attend VU academically and "oh by the way will also run track" as part of that experience.  This is a very general context but you get the point.

[valporun]

Another part of the problem with track is the lack of on-campus facility to lure quality track athletes to VU. Without a campus track to use as a selling point to recruits, Coach Moore and his staff have a very, very tough sell to anyone who wants to continue running in college and at VU. I'll admit, when I was considering VU, I was looking more at the music program, and the fact that there was cross country and track helped too because I wanted to keep running, but knew that I wasn't getting any scholarship offers. After that, I saw the conditions of our track facilities, and understood why the team wasn't very big, but we've had exceptional individuals over the years.

[blackpantheruwm]

Just a couple things.

To the Butler fan clinging to the basketball-only league - WKU is not basketball-only, they play football in the Sun Belt.  Tell Marquette and other basketball Big East schools that they should let the football schools go and team up with you.

[Coogles]

Just a couple things.

To the Butler fan clinging to the basketball-only league - WKU is not basketball-only, they play football in the Sun Belt.  Tell Marquette and other basketball Big East schools that they should let the football schools go and team up with you.

If the Big East split takes place it will be on the basis of growing the Big East football brand; those basketball-only schools won't have a say in the matter.  That's the theory, anyway.  TCU makes 17 schools, but with only 9 for football.  If they want to get to 12 so they can have their title game, that makes 20.  Does that model work?  If Kansas and K-State ditch the fading Big 12 for the Big East, does that do enough to ditch the basketball-only schools and keep a strong enough basketball brand?

Butler fans at that point would just be hoping and praying that some generous new league official would think "Hey, adding Butler to our league could make some sense."  Regardless of whether it's even remotely realistic or not, I still hate the idea.  It involves way too much time taking and "wait and see" approach instead of being proactive and finding another solution if that's what is truly desired.

To me, if you compare the MVC vs. the Horizon, the MVC has a pretty significant upper hand.  Historical success, facilities, fan following and marketing potential, that's a league that needs some direction and a shot in the arm in terms of media attention, but it's really not that close.  Their public universities are independent and don't live in the shadows of bigger state schools.  Creighton and Bradley have a tremendous following with their local fans and the facilities to be really, really good programs with the right pitch.

Not that I hate the Horizon - I actually think it's a really competitive league with some good basketball, but it's an absolute marketing dud.

[valpotx]

There is talk down here of UT possibly going independent in football, which would cause some shifts I am sure.  UT could definitely support itself as a fully independent athletics program, being one of the largest schools in the nation with a huge athletics budget.  I doubt it happens, but due to the Big 12 movement it wouldn't completely surprise me in a few years.

[dylanrocks]

"I'm always optimistic that the Horizon becomes a consistent multi-bid league, but that takes more than one team to put together an at-large resume.  That starts with scheduling, but more importantly, requires that teams who are talented (like Valpo and Milwaukee last year) play with focus and effort in each and every game of the season.  The margin for error is razor thin for all non-BCS teams ... you can't afford to let early season games slip away."



zville, I just couldn't agree with this more.