FB: American Southwest Conference

Ralph Turner · July 12, 2023, 11:09:14 AM

A basketball topic, but has ASC implications and most of that talk is here.

Terry Butterfield, UT-D's very successful men's hoops coach, is retiring.
Might the qualifications/skills of that new hire tip the scales for UT-D to move to D2?

justafan12 · July 12, 2023, 01:20:54 PM

UT Dallas made the announcement to move to DII but stopped after a process after a year or two. I heard it was over facilities. Their baseball and softball fields are right on top of each other. Only saw their gym once; wasn't anything that caught my attention. Seems like they had lots of tennis courts. Not sure about anything else.

I also heard that the UT System wants all of their schools to be at least DII. That is what prompted the move for UT Tyler.

Riley Zayas · July 12, 2023, 01:29:51 PM

Quote from: justafan12 on July 12, 2023, 01:20:54 PM
UT Dallas made the announcement to move to DII but stopped after a process after a year or two. I heard it was over facilities. Their baseball and softball fields are right on top of each other. Only saw their gym once; wasn't anything that caught my attention. Seems like they had lots of tennis courts. Not sure about anything else.

I also heard that the UT System wants all of their schools to be at least DII. That is what prompted the move for UT Tyler.

They'd do fine in D2...after all, a school of 29,000+ is very uncommon at the D-II or D-III level. From a finances standpoint, I don't think it'd be all that difficult to make the jump especially since that is what the UT system wants. IMO, UTD's facilities would be on par with most in the LSC, but that's just my opinion.

jekelish · July 12, 2023, 02:13:12 PM

Quote from: justafan12 on July 12, 2023, 01:20:54 PM
UT Dallas made the announcement to move to DII but stopped after a process after a year or two. I heard it was over facilities. Their baseball and softball fields are right on top of each other. Only saw their gym once; wasn't anything that caught my attention. Seems like they had lots of tennis courts. Not sure about anything else.

I also heard that the UT System wants all of their schools to be at least DII. That is what prompted the move for UT Tyler.

I've heard the same about the UT system but I've also heard that UTD ever moving up from D3 is highly unlikely; while they have a strong athletics program as a whole, from what I've been told it's not a major priority for the university, given they've got, what... 30k students? And only around 300-350 athletes, or so? At most, given they don't have football? What I've been told is that they don't think the cost would be worth it to make the move, which is why they've been so resistant.

Pat Coleman · July 12, 2023, 03:02:07 PM

17,968 full-time undergrads and 281 student-athletes as of the last report to the U.S. Department of Education.

Ron Boerger · July 12, 2023, 04:03:23 PM

Quote from: jekelish on July 12, 2023, 02:13:12 PM
Quote from: justafan12 on July 12, 2023, 01:20:54 PM
UT Dallas made the announcement to move to DII but stopped after a process after a year or two. I heard it was over facilities. Their baseball and softball fields are right on top of each other. Only saw their gym once; wasn't anything that caught my attention. Seems like they had lots of tennis courts. Not sure about anything else.

I also heard that the UT System wants all of their schools to be at least DII. That is what prompted the move for UT Tyler.

I've heard the same about the UT system but I've also heard that UTD ever moving up from D3 is highly unlikely; while they have a strong athletics program as a whole, from what I've been told it's not a major priority for the university, given they've got, what... 30k students? And only around 300-350 athletes, or so? At most, given they don't have football? What I've been told is that they don't think the cost would be worth it to make the move, which is why they've been so resistant.

If they'd add football the students would probably sign off on the athletic fees necessary to make the move. Hell, Tyler did it without. Probably the only thing stopping them is the school's focus on being a graduate research institution and you don't see many (any?) D2s from that category.

Ron Boerger · July 13, 2023, 12:35:37 PM

And coincidentally (edit) d3vbwest today made a post saying they estimate the chance of UT-D making the D2 leap at 90%. They have a decent track record on this kind of story: https://d3vbwest.wordpress.com/2023/07/13/another-going-to-dii/

jekelish · July 13, 2023, 01:27:05 PM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 13, 2023, 12:35:37 PM
And coincidentally d3fbwest today made a post saying they estimate the chance of UT-D making the D2 leap at 90%. They have a decent track record on this kind of story: https://d3vbwest.wordpress.com/2023/07/13/another-going-to-dii/

It's funny, just saw that and also just heard from two people with some knowledge that this suddenly looks a lot more realistic. Nice of them to get this out there right after I posted what I had been hearing previously. Let me put on my tinfoil hat and increase my paranoia and assume they were just trying to spite me! Hahaha

Riley Zayas · July 13, 2023, 02:08:20 PM

Quote from: jekelish on July 13, 2023, 01:27:05 PM
Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 13, 2023, 12:35:37 PM
And coincidentally d3fbwest today made a post saying they estimate the chance of UT-D making the D2 leap at 90%. They have a decent track record on this kind of story: https://d3vbwest.wordpress.com/2023/07/13/another-going-to-dii/

It's funny, just saw that and also just heard from two people with some knowledge that this suddenly looks a lot more realistic. Nice of them to get this out there right after I posted what I had been hearing previously. Let me put on my tinfoil hat and increase my paranoia and assume they were just trying to spite me! Hahaha

Haha. I can confirm that Robert (who runs D3VBWest) has been on this story for a couple weeks now. I've also been talking to sources and it definitely sounds like a move to D2 is in the works for UTD.

Etchglow · July 13, 2023, 02:45:10 PM

Quote from: jekelish on July 13, 2023, 01:27:05 PM
Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 13, 2023, 12:35:37 PM
And coincidentally d3fbwest today made a post saying they estimate the chance of UT-D making the D2 leap at 90%. They have a decent track record on this kind of story: https://d3vbwest.wordpress.com/2023/07/13/another-going-to-dii/

It's funny, just saw that and also just heard from two people with some knowledge that this suddenly looks a lot more realistic. Nice of them to get this out there right after I posted what I had been hearing previously. Let me put on my tinfoil hat and increase my paranoia and assume they were just trying to spite me! Hahaha

It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you

jekelish · July 13, 2023, 05:36:24 PM

Quote from: Etchglow on July 13, 2023, 02:45:10 PM
Quote from: jekelish on July 13, 2023, 01:27:05 PM
Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 13, 2023, 12:35:37 PM
And coincidentally d3fbwest today made a post saying they estimate the chance of UT-D making the D2 leap at 90%. They have a decent track record on this kind of story: https://d3vbwest.wordpress.com/2023/07/13/another-going-to-dii/

It's funny, just saw that and also just heard from two people with some knowledge that this suddenly looks a lot more realistic. Nice of them to get this out there right after I posted what I had been hearing previously. Let me put on my tinfoil hat and increase my paranoia and assume they were just trying to spite me! Hahaha

It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you

They're always after me Lucky Charms...

TheChucker · July 13, 2023, 06:22:43 PM

Quote from: justafan12 on July 12, 2023, 01:20:54 PM
UT Dallas made the announcement to move to DII but stopped after a process after a year or two. I heard it was over facilities. Their baseball and softball fields are right on top of each other. Only saw their gym once; wasn't anything that caught my attention. Seems like they had lots of tennis courts. Not sure about anything else.

I also heard that the UT System wants all of their schools to be at least DII. That is what prompted the move for UT Tyler.

The UTD softball and baseball ballparks are just fine for D2 in my opinion. Better than most ballparks in the northern half of the country. D1 might require upgrades.

Mavchamp · July 13, 2023, 06:23:25 PM

I've been told not to rule out the SAA for ETBU.

I understand the desire to be in the NCAA over the NAIA.....

But travel-wise....the Sooner Conference looks a lot more appetizing than the SAA does IMHO.

Looks like we really won't know much about any further realignment until after this season.

Ralph Turner · July 15, 2023, 11:26:36 PM

Quote from: Mavchamp on July 13, 2023, 06:23:25 PM
I've been told not to rule out the SAA for ETBU.

I understand the desire to be in the NCAA over the NAIA.....

But travel-wise....the Sooner Conference looks a lot more appetizing than the SAA does IMHO.

Looks like we really won't know much about any further realignment until after this season.

,,,and accept Centenary LA as a travel partner/

https://www.acsouth.edu/

Lots of familiar faces on that website...

Ralph Turner · July 15, 2023, 11:28:18 PM

Quote from: Ralph Turner on July 15, 2023, 11:26:36 PM
Quote from: Mavchamp on July 13, 2023, 06:23:25 PM
I've been told not to rule out the SAA for ETBU.

I understand the desire to be in the NCAA over the NAIA.....

But travel-wise....the Sooner Conference looks a lot more appetizing than the SAA does IMHO.

Looks like we really won't know much about any further realignment until after this season.

,,,and accept Centenary LA as a travel partner/

https://www.acsouth.edu/

Lots of familiar faces on that website...

With 12 schools you can divide into 2 divisions.