MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

Centenary LA to receive ban on post-season play in basketball and baseball

Now is the time for Centenary to review its mission and vision for athletics.

The Shreveport LA liberal arts school is the alma mater of Boston Celtics great Robert Parrish.  Unfortunately, there has not been another Robert Parrish since his departure.

Centenary has peer institutions in the  Associated Colleges of the South.

When do we see them move to D-III?

[awadelewis]

I'd suspect we will see Centenary do something within the next 18-24 months.   The combination of their academic struggles and the economy isn't going to leave them with many options.   I really don't see how they've managed to stay at the D-I level for so long.

I'd also watch the University of New Orleans.   They were having serious problems pre-Katrina keeping up with the rest of the schools in the Sun Belt.   Now they're facing a conference that has a bunch of schools wanting to improve their standing of their D-I football programs, a mandate from the Sun Belt to add a number of sports to match the rest of the conference, and a substantial reduction in their state funding.  I can quite easily see them killing off most of their program and wanting to move what teams they keep into D-3.

Here's a summary from one of our local TV stations about the UNO situation: http://tinyurl.com/b5694h

[Ralph Turner]

I'd suspect we will see Centenary do something within the next 18-24 months.   The combination of their academic struggles and the economy isn't going to leave them with many options.   I really don't see how they've managed to stay at the D-I level for so long.

I'd also watch the University of New Orleans.   They were having serious problems pre-Katrina keeping up with the rest of the schools in the Sun Belt.   Now they're facing a conference that has a bunch of schools wanting to improve their standing of their D-I football programs, a mandate from the Sun Belt to add a number of sports to match the rest of the conference, and a substantial reduction in their state funding.  I can quite easily see them killing off most of their program and wanting to move what teams they keep into D-3.

Here's a summary from one of our local TV stations about the UNO situation: http://tinyurl.com/b5694h

Thanks for the link.

To meet the requirements of the SCAC, they actually need to add sports!

http://www.unoprivateers.com/?DB_OEM_ID=4100

I count only 9 sports and no men's fall sport!  They would need to add at least 3 sports, in light of NCAA proposals for D-III schools with greater than 1000 pupils.

How many more sports would  the SCAC want UNO to add?  (M/W soccer?  Softball? M/W Cross Country?  W Golf?)

They might be a better fit for the NAIA Gulf Coast Athletic Conference[/url].

[Pat Coleman]

Conversely, they wouldn't have to give any scholarships, so it should be a net gain, unless they wanted to add football.

[Ron Boerger]

I'd suspect we will see Centenary do something within the next 18-24 months.   The combination of their academic struggles and the economy isn't going to leave them with many options.   I really don't see how they've managed to stay at the D-I level for so long.

I'd also watch the University of New Orleans.   They were having serious problems pre-Katrina keeping up with the rest of the schools in the Sun Belt.   Now they're facing a conference that has a bunch of schools wanting to improve their standing of their D-I football programs, a mandate from the Sun Belt to add a number of sports to match the rest of the conference, and a substantial reduction in their state funding.  I can quite easily see them killing off most of their program and wanting to move what teams they keep into D-3.

Here's a summary from one of our local TV stations about the UNO situation: http://tinyurl.com/b5694h

Thanks for the link.

To meet the requirements of the SCAC, they actually need to add sports!

http://www.unoprivateers.com/?DB_OEM_ID=4100

I count only 9 sports and no men's fall sport!  They would need to add at least 3 sports, in light of NCAA proposals for D-III schools with greater than 1000 pupils.

How many more sports would  the SCAC want UNO to add?  (M/W soccer?  Softball? M/W Cross Country?  W Golf?)

I doubt the SCAC wants any more schools.  The addition of BSC got them to their stated goal; adding schools would complicate scheduling in most sports.

[Ron Boerger]

The SCAC had three student-athletes named to their respective CoSIDA/ESPN 2009 Academic All-District Men's Basketball Team.  Congratulations are in order to:

Chad Songy, Millsaps - 1st team, District 6 College Division
* 3.95 GPA, majoring in Business

Danny Noll, Centre - 2nd team, District 4 College Division
* 3.81 GPA, majoring in Economics / pre-dental

Charles Houston, Trinity - 2nd team, District 6 College Division
* 3.37 GPA, majoring in Business Administration

College Division = D2, D3, NAIA. 

[awadelewis]

I count only 9 sports and no men's fall sport!  They would need to add at least 3 sports, in light of NCAA proposals for D-III schools with greater than 1000 pupils.

How many more sports would  the SCAC want UNO to add?  (M/W soccer?  Softball? M/W Cross Country?  W Golf?)

I doubt the SCAC wants any more schools.  The addition of BSC got them to their stated goal; adding schools would complicate scheduling in most sports.

I realized after hitting "Post" that you could interpret what I wrote as implying that UNO might be a fit for the SCAC and that certainly wasn't my intent.  I think with the economy being as it is that you will see a lot of schools looking at what B-SC did and asking themselves if they shouldn't consider the same move.    

UNO might, with some of the same additions that Ralph suggested, be a good fit into the ASC as then they would match well with UT-D and/or UT-Tyler.    Whatever happens, I hope they can find a reasonable solution.

I'd agree about the SCAC not wanting any more schools.  To be honest (and bring the focus back to our league), the geographic distribution of our league has got to causing some budget pain for our ADs.  

[pbrooks3]

I'd suspect we will see Centenary do something within the next 18-24 months.   The combination of their academic struggles and the economy isn't going to leave them with many options.   I really don't see how they've managed to stay at the D-I level for so long.

I'd also watch the University of New Orleans.   They were having serious problems pre-Katrina keeping up with the rest of the schools in the Sun Belt.   Now they're facing a conference that has a bunch of schools wanting to improve their standing of their D-I football programs, a mandate from the Sun Belt to add a number of sports to match the rest of the conference, and a substantial reduction in their state funding.  I can quite easily see them killing off most of their program and wanting to move what teams they keep into D-3.

Here's a summary from one of our local TV stations about the UNO situation: http://tinyurl.com/b5694h

Thanks for the link.

To meet the requirements of the SCAC, they actually need to add sports!

http://www.unoprivateers.com/?DB_OEM_ID=4100

I count only 9 sports and no men's fall sport!  They would need to add at least 3 sports, in light of NCAA proposals for D-III schools with greater than 1000 pupils.

How many more sports would  the SCAC want UNO to add?  (M/W soccer?  Softball? M/W Cross Country?  W Golf?)

They might be a better fit for the NAIA Gulf Coast Athletic Conference[/url].

Just curious, do you and Ron see any similar situations going on currently in Texas with any D1 schools? 

[Walter17]

Hi all, sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been out of town quite a bit.  On topic about the SCAC being complacent with 12 teams, I wouldn't be surprised if they actually wanted to INCREASE the number of total schools and create more of a cost efficient "divisional play" scenario.  That's just my opinion though.  I'm sure every conference is looking for best case scenarios for handling their economic situations. 

Also, congrats to Songy, Noll and Houston - not only are they great ball players, but they are great students apparently as well!

In fact, right now I think I have Noll along with Mike Moore and Luke Caldarera as my top three candidates for SCAC POY (obviously I would like to say Caldarera should be POY, but we all know that Trinity players don't put up the stats to be voted POY - for example, possibly the best player to come through the SCAC, Sean Devins)  I'm sure there will be plenty of argument on that, so let the discussion begin...

[kid nice]

I believe UNO suspended all athletics for next year.  If they come back to athletics it will have to ge at the NAIA or D3 level.  I know thier basketball facilities will be the best or close to the best in either level. 

[Ralph Turner]

I believe UNO suspended all athletics for next year.  If they come back to athletics it will have to ge at the NAIA or D3 level.  I know thier basketball facilities will be the best or close to the best in either level. 

NAIA is the easiest entry.

[awadelewis]

I believe UNO suspended all athletics for next year. 

Hasn't happened yet.  No reports about it on any of the news outlets here in Louisiana.

[Ron Boerger]

Just curious, do you and Ron see any similar situations going on currently in Texas with any D1 schools? 

A few years back there was speculation about Rice going D3 but they decided they were happy where they were.  As far as schools having academic/financial issues making a transition to a lower division, not really, but Ralph is probably more in tune with the scene than I.

[Ralph Turner]

Just curious, do you and Ron see any similar situations going on currently in Texas with any D1 schools? 

A few years back there was speculation about Rice going D3 but they decided they were happy where they were.  As far as schools having academic/financial issues making a transition to a lower division, not really, but Ralph is probably more in tune with the scene than I.

The Rice president used the D3 ploy to raise funds.  Of course, Rice is a big power in baseball.

[pbrooks3]

Thanks - we'll see how things play out in 09 across the country. There may be some less prestigious D1 
schools checking alternatives.   

A side note.....Rice had a nice year in football in a pretty weak football conference.