FB: American Southwest Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Keith Allen was a great interview! And it was nice to get such openness from a conference commissioner. Lately we've gotten some flack from commissioners on social media so it's nice to have a commissioner sit down and have a frank conversation.

[ASCleatus]

Louisiana Christian used to be known as Louisiana College and competed as a member of the ASC until 2021 when they transitioned to NAIA.  Obviously they had their reasons - probably being able to sponsor fewer sports was one of them as they dropped XC, men's golf, women's tennis, and track. 

And if I'm another school the ASC is pitching, I'm asking for at least the same $4-4.5M the rumor mill (and Corey Hogue) says McMurry and Schreiner allegedly got.  Not sure the Baptist 4 or the donors who coughed up the original $8M have that much to contribute to the cause.

My memory is that LC had some accreditation issues, and maybe that factored into moving from D3 to NAIA?

as to why a team like wayland baptist and other NAIAs that are not already competitive in their existing conference don't want to move to D3. consider the following.

in some parts of the world NAIA is considered better that D3. Some NAIA schools, particularly in the midwest, have pretty good budgets and view themselves closer to D2 or FCS talent wise. so for some NAIA schools moving to D3 is viewed as a downgrade.

Now for Texas based NAIAs that is not really the case. however, when the ability to offer scholarships is the only edge you have over the "purple schools" and other ASC teams that aleady beat you, why would you give up that edge just to join their conference and keep getting beaten. without the ability to offer scholarships, teams like WBU, nelson, texas college, TW, langston would have an even tougher time getting recruits and fielding a team.

[Pat Coleman]

One of the biggest differences is that Division III requires members to field a certain number of sports, which is either not required in the NAIA or the required number is so low that it's easy to comply.

[Mavchamp]

I think you sell Dwayne Hanberry and the SCAC way short, Mavchamp.  Football may not go forward as planned but as he said in today's D3football.com podcast, "[t]he SCAC has never really made decisions based on football and football alone." 

Another very interesting thing that he mentioned was that in between ASC commissioners there had been a scheduling agreement reached between the two conferences, which the ASC turned away from by the time Flores came onboard.  He also went out of his way not to blame Commissioner Flores for that decision. 

The podcast is especially well worth listening to this time around; not only is there the very open discussion with Hanberry and a review of last week's ASC blockbuster, but a good interview with new Schreiner HC Keith Allen among other topics.  You'll find it at https://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2025/03/30/atn-podcast-378-the-texas-two-swap/ or your podcast host of choice.

I apologize if it seems I've been looking down on the SCAC in my posts.  I most certainly don't. 

As I've stated several times.....it would be my hope that BOTH the SCAC and the ASC could thrive in D3 football.  Choices just seem pretty slim at the moment for both....but as we all know...that could change on a dime.

Obviously I'm sympathetic to the SCAC...they are in a tough situation now...but not nearly as dire as the situation the ASC was in just a few weeks ago.

I don't think the SCAC has an existential crisis.  Football might be shaky right now, but the conference in all other sports is still very strong.  The ASC was on the verge of completely ceasing to exist unless they were willing to move forward with only 4, which I think most would agree was not sustainable.  It is still in desperate need of more members, particularly non-football members to shore things up.

While I'll admit...I don't like the issues some schools have with "the purple schools".....I DO understand.  While ETBU and HPU kind of got lumped together with them... the fact is... ETBU and HPU have been dominated by them too.

And all the talk about politics and social issues also driving things was disheartening.

I hope for football growth for BOTH conferences without picking off each others  members.  Same for all other sports too.

[Mavchamp]

I'd be interested in what changed with the SCAC/ASC agreement between Carlton and Flores.

It was changes that apparently the SCAC was no longer interested in keeping the agreement.

[Etchglow]

UMHB All Conference OL enters the portal

https://x.com/EricTeutsch2/status/1907501790670586131

[Crubacker]

WTH?

[Crubacker]

Wonder why he is leaving---that dude was a monster on the O-line!