FB: American Southwest Conference

[Etchglow]

Looks like we at least know two games for asc members this year. Hardin-Simmons opens play on August 20th against North American University and Sul Ross plays them on October 9th.  I don't know that they're actually affiliated with anyone but they played a mix of divisions last year.

https://www.na.edu/football/

[jknezek]

They don't appear to be affiliated with any athletic association. Students have to pay to be on the athletic teams as well. $1900 a season, for everything except men's soccer with is $1000.

[Ron Boerger]

That's surprising on HSU's part, after another non-D3 non-conf opponent likely cost them a playoff bid last season.

[Pat Coleman]

Looks like we at least know two games for asc members this year. Hardin-Simmons opens play on August 20th against North American University and Sul Ross plays them on October 9th.  I don't know that they're actually affiliated with anyone but they played a mix of divisions last year.

https://www.na.edu/football/

That's surprising on HSU's part, after another non-D3 non-conf opponent likely cost them a playoff bid last season.

Aug. 20 would be a scrimmage. You can't play a countable game on that date.

[Inkblot]

Aug. 20 would be a scrimmage. You can't play a countable game on that date.

Unless they get accreditation, you can't play a countable game against North American on any date.

[Etchglow]

Aug. 20 would be a scrimmage. You can't play a countable game on that date.

Unless they get accreditation, you can't play a countable game against North American on any date.

Makes sense, Sul Ross's game last year was an exhibition for their homecoming.

They don't appear to be affiliated with any athletic association. Students have to pay to be on the athletic teams as well. $1900 a season, for everything except men's soccer with is $1000.

I was kind of wondering how they managed to have 160+ on their football roster (according to their website), but only had like 300 people enrolled.

[Ron Boerger]

Yeah, hit their website.  Their athletic program looks pretty sketchy and has zero accreditation by any organizing body.   

[Etchglow]

Yeah, hit their website.  Their athletic program looks pretty sketchy and has zero accreditation by any organizing body.

Yeah, it is strange. From what I can read they were trying to join NAIA last year or this fall. I guess last year was only their second year of football.

[TLU02SA]

Lyon College in Arkansas is planning to transition from NAIA to D3 and has football (see https://d3sports.com/notables/2022/02/lyon-college-applying-to-d3).   That means they are likely looking at the ASC for an affiliation - their profile doesn't really fit the SAA and the SCAC doesn't play football (unless things change dramatically).

Doesn't this just scream SCAC?  In light of the recent amendments to the AQ, with the SCAC voting unanimously for the 6 AQ, along with Centenary starting a football program, I would predict there will be an announcement that Lyon is joining the SCAC (I have no actually knowledge of this).  That is your 6 for a football AQ: Austin, Centenary, Lyon, Southwestern, Trinity and TLU. The addition of Lyon would also get the SCAC in other sports back to 10 (the previous six plus Colorado, Dallas, Schreiner and St. Thomas).  Distance will play a role because Lyon is not really close to the other SCAC schools but this seems to be the end game here.  And Lyon is Presbyterian.  Fits the SCAC profile (Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics and Lutherans).  I could be wrong.

[UMHB03]

Lyon College in Arkansas is planning to transition from NAIA to D3 and has football (see https://d3sports.com/notables/2022/02/lyon-college-applying-to-d3).   That means they are likely looking at the ASC for an affiliation - their profile doesn't really fit the SAA and the SCAC doesn't play football (unless things change dramatically).

Doesn't this just scream SCAC?  In light of the recent amendments to the AQ, with the SCAC voting unanimously for the 6 AQ, along with Centenary starting a football program, I would predict there will be an announcement that Lyon is joining the SCAC (I have no actually knowledge of this).  That is your 6 for a football AQ: Austin, Centenary, Lyon, Southwestern, Trinity and TLU. The addition of Lyon would also get the SCAC in other sports back to 10 (the previous six plus Colorado, Dallas, Schreiner and St. Thomas).  Distance will play a role because Lyon is not really close to the other SCAC schools but this seems to be the end game here.  I could be wrong.

How are Lyon and Centenary academically? I've always gotten the impression that Trinity and Southwestern are fairly snooty when it comes to the academics of the schools in conferences that they have full membership in.

[Ron Boerger]

Lyon College in Arkansas is planning to transition from NAIA to D3 and has football (see https://d3sports.com/notables/2022/02/lyon-college-applying-to-d3).   That means they are likely looking at the ASC for an affiliation - their profile doesn't really fit the SAA and the SCAC doesn't play football (unless things change dramatically).

Doesn't this just scream SCAC?  In light of the recent amendments to the AQ, with the SCAC voting unanimously for the 6 AQ, along with Centenary starting a football program, I would predict there will be an announcement that Lyon is joining the SCAC (I have no actually knowledge of this).  That is your 6 for a football AQ: Austin, Centenary, Lyon, Southwestern, Trinity and TLU. The addition of Lyon would also get the SCAC in other sports back to 10 (the previous six plus Colorado, Dallas, Schreiner and St. Thomas).  Distance will play a role because Lyon is not really close to the other SCAC schools but this seems to be the end game here.  I could be wrong.

How are Lyon and Centenary academically? I've always gotten the impression that Trinity and Southwestern are fairly snooty when it comes to the academics of the schools in conferences that they have full membership in.

Centenary is already in the SCAC.  The SCAC's academics aren't what they once were, the eastern half of the conference didn't like the academics of the western half which is why you now have the SAA (oh, they'll tell you travel time and cost was the primary reason but don't be fooled, one of the school presidents even admitted it before retracting his statement).  I did a quick look and Lyon fits in with some of the other schools in the conference today.

But as I said earlier, I think they end up in the ASC.   You already have an AR presence and would be happy to have another football school to make non-conference scheduling easier, especially starting 2023 when Southwestern heads to the SAA.

[TLU02SA]

Lyon College in Arkansas is planning to transition from NAIA to D3 and has football (see https://d3sports.com/notables/2022/02/lyon-college-applying-to-d3).   That means they are likely looking at the ASC for an affiliation - their profile doesn't really fit the SAA and the SCAC doesn't play football (unless things change dramatically).

Doesn't this just scream SCAC?  In light of the recent amendments to the AQ, with the SCAC voting unanimously for the 6 AQ, along with Centenary starting a football program, I would predict there will be an announcement that Lyon is joining the SCAC (I have no actually knowledge of this).  That is your 6 for a football AQ: Austin, Centenary, Lyon, Southwestern, Trinity and TLU. The addition of Lyon would also get the SCAC in other sports back to 10 (the previous six plus Colorado, Dallas, Schreiner and St. Thomas).  Distance will play a role because Lyon is not really close to the other SCAC schools but this seems to be the end game here.  I could be wrong.

How are Lyon and Centenary academically? I've always gotten the impression that Trinity and Southwestern are fairly snooty when it comes to the academics of the schools in conferences that they have full membership in.

Centenary is already in the SCAC.  The SCAC's academics aren't what they once were, the eastern half of the conference didn't like the academics of the western half which is why you now have the SAA (oh, they'll tell you travel time and cost was the primary reason but don't be fooled, one of the school presidents even admitted it before retracting his statement).  I did a quick look and Lyon fits in with some of the other schools in the conference today.

But as I said earlier, I think they end up in the ASC.   You already have an AR presence and would be happy to have another football school to make non-conference scheduling easier, especially starting 2023 when Southwestern heads to the SAA.

No doubt the ASC is in play here. Maybe even the SAA (or are we ignoring any conferences north of Northeast Arkansas that might make more geographical sense for Lyons?).  I just think the timing of this, the 6 AQ changes, and how the SCAC voted on that issue is interesting.  The SCAC also has a recent precedent for inviting schools transitioning to DIII (St. Thomas and Johnson & Wales (NLE, at least in Colorado)).  If Lyons joins SCAC, I will not be surprised.

I don't think the non-conference schedule is really the issue here.  You still have the same number of DIII schools in Texas, regardless of what Lyons does.  If the SCAC restarted football with 6 members, the ASC/SCAC schools would still continue scheduling each other for non-conference games and such games would not have the same win or else ramifications with both conferences having an AQ.

I don't know about the academics of each school in the SCAC .  Given I am TLU alum, I think very highly of the education I received and it has served me very well.  But I don't know what its reputation is amongst other SCAC schools.  I certainly couldn't speculate on Lyon's fit/place on that criteria.

[Ron Boerger]

One other reason the ASC would likely welcome them with open arms:  Belhaven is leaving for the USA South next season, which costs them a football-playing member.  After SW leaves next year the conference would be at 6 core football schools + 2 affiliates, meaning everyone would be looking to schedule three non-conference games when some have problems lining up one today.  It also unbalances the east/west alignment in other sports; Belhaven's departure would leave 6 schools in the west and only 4 in the east.  Lyon would keep the ASC from having to do something like move UMHB or Concordia to the east, or get rid of the east/west alignment altogether. 

The SCAC is a possibility, certainly, *if* everyone in the conference is aligned on resuming football sponsorship.  There's been radio silence from Centenary since they announced they were putting their program back together but the November announcement said they planned to announce a coaching hire in "early 2022."  My guess is they will announce their plan for conference affiliation at the same time.

[Ralph Turner]

Contrarian thought...
I posteed this on the Conference Changes boards

Quote from: Inkblot on February 08, 2022, 12:49:13 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


Lyons, in Batesville AR, is 6+ hours away from Dallas but 4.5 hours from St Louis.
Univ of Ozarks, in Clarksville AR, is roughly equidistant to St Louis and Dallas, 5.5 hours.

UTD, LeTourneau and ETBU are all about 5.5 hours away from Clarksville.

In the ASC, beyond Dallas, it is another 2 hours to UMHB, 3 hours to Concordia TX, HPU, HSU, and McMurry and 7+ hours to Alpine.

Might Lyons pull Ozarks as a travel partner and both join the SLIAC?

IMHO, Ozarks would be more competitive in the SLIAC than in the ASC.



For football, the downside for Lyon is the 13.5 hour bus ride (and for all sports) from Batesville to Alpine TX.
In the UMAC for football, Lyon would have to go to Hancock, Michigan, every other year, 15 hours away, or a neutral site like HU vs Hendrix did

[Hawks88]

If the SLIAC could get Blackburn and Principia to restart football then Lyon would give them 6.