Very possible they could already be on probation and their NCAA membership on the verge of being canceled due to sport sponsorship issues. They canceled their entire 2023 golf schedule (they only play in the fall) and don't have a team this year, so that's two years where they're sponsoring a maximum of five sports.

Today's release (https://mtmaryathletics.com/general/2024-25/releases/20241008g7tlho) also only references five sports (XC, SOC, VB, BKB, SB)

Quote from: Pat Coleman on October 08, 2024, 11:02:55 AM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on October 07, 2024, 09:56:53 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on October 07, 2024, 06:03:54 PMMount Mary (WI) leaving DIII for NAIA

Perhaps they think athletic scholarships will help drive some enrollment

It's more likely that joining the NAIA is a maneuver to cut one or more sports, since they're at the six-sport minimum required to maintain D3 membership ...

Ding ding ding. That was my take as well.

Quote from: Inkblot on February 08, 2022, 01:49:13 PM
Well, it's been a while since we had something to put in here... a year after Louisiana College (now Louisiana Christian) left D3 to join the NAIA, Lyon (AR) is making the opposite move. No indication of what conference they'll end up in, but the ASC seems most likely since I don't think they meet the SAA or SCAC academic standards. On the other hand, if the USA South keeps moving westward...

https://www.d3sports.com/notables/2022/02/lyon-college-applying-to-d3

ASC might be handy to give Ozarks a travel partner. Wouldn't count SLIAC out as they're currently in a St. Louis-centric NAIA conference and could pair with MUW for travel...trip to Spalding would be a bear, but who's to say that trip doesn't disappear altogether with the shifting landscape. Or - as Inkblot mentions - we could also see the USA South finally figure out an E/W split and the western schools pull in both Lyon and MUW...football could be an outlier/affiliate situation.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 22, 2021, 03:01:30 PM
The one obstacle Asbury will inevitably face, regardless of which D3 league (if any) it would join, would be finding a home for its newly-minted women's lacrosse program. Neither the HCAC nor the SLIAC sponsors that sport. In fact, the River States Conference doesn't sponsor it, either; the Eagles are forced to participate in a different NAIA conference in women's lacrosse.

While not directly sponsoring WLAX, the HCAC provides the admin support for the single-sport men's HCLC and women's HCLC. Asbury would get the HCAC to seven women's programs and they could bring the women 100% in-house and not have to wait for their AQ. No MLAX at Asbury, so the HCAC gets no help there.

USA South wouldn't be 100% out of the question. Berea's only about an hour away -- bit of a winding path, though, and nothing Kentucky-adjacent like MSJ or Hanover. Could probably get to 7 of 10 HCAC schools in the same time you'd get to the next closest USA South school other than Berea (Maryville-TN)

Spalding could make a nice two-fer IF the Heartland wanted them.

Dave - With Dean's move to the GNAC over the summer, I think Inkblot's (partially) right and the NECC would be into their grace period with their men's AQ sports (MSOC/MBB/BASE). Current membership is at 7, but one is Bay Path. That is, of course, NCAA waivers/allowances notwithstanding. Not sure about MVB...Dean gets replaced by Sage, which keeps them at 7, but Dean was a core member and there are now only three left (ENC, Elms, Lesley).

Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on October 15, 2020, 04:11:02 PM

Quote from: Inkblot on October 06, 2020, 01:52:32 PM
This ought to be year one of the grace period, meaning without any additions Elms is leaving as the conference falls into Pool B.

First, Elms isn't leaving now ... they are in the NECC currently. The announcement was a chance in the near future.

Then when they do leave as long as the NECC does not fall below four core members (and I honestly can't remember the numbers right now or what Elms' departure does to the numbers), then the NECC will have two years with the AQ during an automatic grace period despite being under seven members. IF they do NOT replace the numbers and get back to seven members by the end of that two year grace period, they will THEN lose the AQ. If they replace the numbers, then they will have never lost the AQ.

The one caveat to that ... IF the NECC falls below the four core members at any time, then the AQ is automatically pulled and they do then slip into Pool B ahead of the two year grace period.

The two-year grace period is automatic as it is written in the rules.

The loss of the AQ due to less than four core members is automatic as it is also written in the rules.

We are in a period of time where other grace periods and allowances are being granted, but the two year period of time will likely fall outside of this current time period. I think the chances the NECC loses it's AQ are more likely then being given a longer grace period.

Furthermore, this is likely a sign the NECC for traditional sports could be ending (it will likely flourish as an e-sport conference instead).

Quote from: Gregory Sager on June 09, 2020, 06:46:34 PM
I don't think that that's necessarily true. Remember, this is football we're talking about, a sport with a minimal number of contests per season and exclusively weekend travel. At most, a conference only plays a single round-robin in football. That means that Greenville and Westminster would each only have to make a trip every other year to Ashland, WI to play Northland. Now, if the UMAC sweetened the deal for Finlandia by offering full membership in all sports (realistically the only way that Finlandia would ditch the closer travel and better competition of MIAA football), then the two SLIAC schools would each make one trip per year to the shores of Lake Superior, alternating between Northland and Finlandia. And one trip per year is hardly a deal-breaker. Plus, given that it's a Minnesota-based conference, the Panthers and Blue Jays gridders are already used to long road trips, anyway.

Finlandia to the UMAC could make sense in a football-only context - with or without Northland/Superior. You may, as Gregory Sager suggests, trade level of competition, but I don't necessarily agree on the closer travel. You'd have a minimum of four UMAC opponents (Crown, UNW, Morris, MLC - all 460 miles or less from Houghton) that are closer than all but one current MIAA opponent (Alma - 445 miles; all others are 525+). Also, if Finlandia only travels to one of the SLIAC schools each year (and vice-versa), it's certainly a workable proposition. WCMO and Greenville would just be trading one 10+ hour trip (CSS) for another (Finlandia). It might then also serve as an entry point for full membership. Who knows?

Quote from: Inkblot on May 28, 2020, 01:13:59 PM
Why was the NACC able to inherit the IBFC's auto bid in football without going through the waiting period?

Wizards of the board feel free to pick me apart here, but the NACC didn't technically inherit the Illini-Badger AQ. Since the NACC was formed under a new charter, it had to wait two years across the board for AQs (06/07, 07/08), which it did. Once the fall of 2008 rolled around, they had eight core members sponsoring football - five in the IBFC plus Rockford (UMAC), WLC (MIAA) and Maranatha - so they brought football under their own umbrella and could be awarded an AQ in their own right. I think they've done this since with men's volleyball and men's and women's lacrosse.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on May 28, 2020, 02:23:14 PM

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on May 28, 2020, 12:20:11 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on May 27, 2020, 02:04:00 AM
Same conference, new name. They keep the AQ, like the ARC.

So the LMC and the NIIC combined, with a different conference name. But the CAC takes all the ACAA teams and changes the name, but that's different somehow?

Also, you can't compare what the CAC/ACAA "merger" as "Same conference, new name. They keep the AQ, like the ARC" because the ARC just changed their name, they didn't add a different conference's members.

Well, they added Nebraska Wesleyan.  A lot of the New England conference swip swap members all the time - if they also changed names at the same time, would you want them to go back to square one for AQs?  I don't see the problem with this.

The NCAA recognizes conferences - once you have recognition, you're eligible for AQs when you qualify.  I don't believe there's a waiting period if schools within an existing conference add sports in sufficient numbers to get an AQ, is there?

I don't follow football, so I don't know all the specifics, but I know the CCC merged with a football only conference a few years back (one that consisted almost entirely of CCC schools), and just assumed the football AQ.  I'm guessing this was because the CCC was already a recognized conference, so once they had seven schools offering the sport, they got the AQ right away.

CCC's situation is a little different. They assumed administrative operations of the NEFC and rebranded as CCC Football while retaining the NEFC charter. There are only six core CCC members sponsoring football (Becker/Husson are associates) and, I believe, the magic number is seven core members (plus some time element that escapes me) to be able to receive an AQ while bypassing the waiting period.

I'd say six. Delhi's already out the door. Full member of the NAC as of last year (2019-20). Basketballs/softball presumably left in the ACAA one final year to sync up with NAC's scheduling rotation.

Just imagine if Carthage was still in Carthage, Illinois...

It's actually the other way around -- the MWC predates the ACM by some 36 years (1921 vs 1958). While it certainly makes sense to think that the association with the ACM schools could be a benefit, it could also be an albatross.

Once Cornell rejoined the MWC, it meant that 8 of 11 members were also members of the ACM. Since that time, Carroll (not an ACM member) has retreated to their former home in the CCIW and SNC has announced their exit to the NACC. Would it be fair to say that the remaining non-ACM member of the MWC - Illinois College - might be on the clock? They face travel extremes similar to - if not worse than - that of SNC. It's roughly two hours from Jacksonville to their nearest MWC opponent/s (Knox/Monmouth) and no other MWC school is within 200 miles. The closest MWC school to Illinois College - past or present - is Millikin (74 miles), whose membership lasted roughly three years.

Quote from: judgetrainer on April 04, 2019, 01:39:45 PM
I would just like to thank Gregory Sager for noticing and mentioning the ACM. In fact, the MWC grew out of the ACM nearly a century ago.