MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

Randy Lambert muses in the Daily Times about the economy encouraging conference realignments.  Especially whether SCAC schools can continue their expensive travel habits.

http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20090128/SPORTS/301289989

Pull quote...

Randy Lambert, former Scots athletic director and men's basketball coach, said thinning travel budgets could present a huge opportunity for Maryville. After being denied admission to the mammoth Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in the past, Lambert said he thinks the Scots could become part of a divisional alignment of schools in that conference from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama. The SCAC currently stretches from Georgia to as far away as Texas and Colorado.

He wishes.

Sewanee, Centre and Rhodes are charter members of the SCAC, founded in 1962. Millsaps and Trinity joined in 1988; Hendrix and Oglethorpe in 1991.

He is hoping for Sewanee, Centre, Rhodes and Oglethorpe to leave the SCAC and join Maryville, BSC, Piedmont, LaGrange and Huntingdon.  Schools in their exploratory year with the NCAA, Covenant and Berry, might even be invited.

That gives 7 football schools, but it abandons four women's colleges.

The SCAC is actually going the other way.  They have expanded towards higher profile colleges, with larger endowments and Phi Beta Kappa chapters.  That includes Austin College, BSC and Colorado College.  Oglethorpe's Phil Ponder was interviewed on Hoopsville on Sunday night.  He gave no indication that the SCAC was doing anything with respect to re-organization and that their (OU) president is trying to strengthen Oglethorpe's position in the SCAC, with all of its travel.

My thought about that article is what happens for travel in the USA South.

Shenandoah has travel demands.  The closest school to Shenandoah is CNU, 211 miles away.  Methodist is 359 miles away.

CNU is 129 miles from NCWC; 234 to Methodist; 218 to Averett; 268 to G'boro and 294 to Ferrum.

If CNU looks up the peninsula, Salisbury is 151; St Mary's MD is 179; Wesley is 212; York PA in 270.  Mary Washington is 121. Gallaudet is 175. Stevenson is 227.  Hood is 213.  Marymount is 176. Hood is 213 miles.

Shenandoah is 118 miles from York PA and 204 to Wesley. Hood is 52.  St Mary's Md is 150. Salisbury is 198.  Almost every school in the Capital is closer than CNU!

The Capital AC could add Shenandoah and CNU.  Football schools already in the CAC include Salisbury, Wesley and Gallaudet.  Stevenson is rumored to be adding football in the near future.  That makes six. You are one shy of the AQ in football.  Frostburg State as an affiliate?  Seven!

I think that we can make the case for the GSAC Men and the USA South to merge  and form divisions, and let the GSAC continue its women's AQ status.

The USA South has Peace, Meredith and Mary Baldwin.

The GSAC has Agnes Scott, Spelman and Wesleyan.  There is some symmetry there.

It makes for interesting conjecture. 

[scottiedoug]

Ralph are you thinking the coed GSAC schools and the women's GSAC schools would/might stay together for women's sports and add the three USA South women's schools, for a ten school women's conference?

I agree that there is too much class/Phi Beta Kappa pride at stake for the SCAC schools voluntarily to split and get involved with, as you might put it, "lower profile" schools.  That is less an issue for the USA South, I'd say. 

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph are you thinking the coed GSAC schools and the women's GSAC schools would/might stay together for women's sports and add the three USA South women's schools, for a ten school women's conference?

I agree that there is too much class/Phi Beta Kappa pride at stake for the SCAC schools voluntarily to split and get involved with, as you might put it, "lower profile" schools.  That is less an issue for the USA South, I'd say. 

Good evening, Doug!

I think that the two conferences can work together on these issues.

It is the men's programs that are "sweating" the limits.

I don't want the GSAC women to lose their bids.

Let's play "what if".

What if Shenandoah and CNU left the USA South?

If Shenandoah and CNU left the USA South, the USA South would still have these women's AQ bids:  Basketball, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball!  Every USA South AQ bid would be intact with 8 members.  (Only 5 USA South teams, including Shenandoah and CNU, play Lacrosse.  That is not enough to get a Pool A bid.  The Capital AC already has the AQ in women's lacrosse.  LaGrange and Agnes Scott also play women's lacrosse, so they could affiliate.  That is a wash.)

There would be no change in GSAC women's teams.  If Berry and Covenant women joined the GSAC, there would be the addition of a Pool A bid in women's volleyball when at least one of those two teams became a full member.  That is a plus!  (Summary -- GSAC women would keep all current AQ bids!)


Let's look at what would happen if the USA South took the GSAC men's teams as affiliates (after Shenandoah and CNU left).

The core five USA South teams would keep all AQ's by taking the "GSAC-4" as affiliates in the men's sports:  Soccer, Football, Basketball, Tennis, Baseball and Golf. The four GSAC men's schools sponsor the same sports as the USA South teams except "Piedmont" football.  CNU and Shenandoah football out; Huntingdon and LaGrange football in.

If we end up with Covenant and/or Berry plus the GSAC-4 in the "South", and the USA South teams in the "North", you have a solid conference. Remember, the USA South had two "recruit" Maryville and "add" NCWC football to solidify itself in the AQ, when Chowan was kicked out!  I realize that LaGrange and Huntingdon are far from NCWC and Ferrum (those are ASC distances), but it does solidify the USA South (Men's) Athletic Conference.  (Shenandoah is the one who is on record of trying to find another home!  Shenandoah and CNU are already closer to Capital AC schools than their own USA South schools.)

In summary, we have the Great South (Women's only) Athletic Conference, and the (co-ed) USA South Athletic Conference.

We can watch it.   

For what it's worth, the new USA South could call its men's divisions "east" and "west".

[wilburt]

Ralph:

There's been talk/speculation of merger for years.  Nothing seems to get done...

[wilburt]

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i21/21a01301.htm
From the issue dated January 30, 2009

Athletics Programs Scramble to Streamline Budgets in Difficult Times
By LIBBY SANDER

Don't let the glitz of this year's bowl games fool you. It's a frugal new world for many college athletics departments, where everything from bottled water to major capital projects is on the chopping block.

The potential savings come in myriad forms, athletics officials say: Traveling in vans instead of buses, or buses instead of airplanes. Staying in hotels that offer free breakfast. Scheduling games strategically to cut back on lengthy trips. Purchasing new uniforms every four years instead of every three. And so on.

"There's a real opportunity now to get refocused and streamline some of the craziness we've gotten ourselves into," Tim Curley, athletic director at Pennsylvania State University, said during a standing-room-only session on the economy at the National Collegiate Athletic Association's recent annual meeting in National Harbor, Md.

His hope, he said, was that "we can put our competitive hats aside and look at the fiscal realities all of us are faced with."

As 3,000-plus athletics officials roamed the halls of the convention, they were not just looking at the fiscal realities — they were practically consumed by them.

Athletic directors and other officials at public institutions said they were nervously awaiting state budgets in the coming months to see just how deeply they will have to cut expenses in the next fiscal year.

Officials at tuition-driven private institutions, where athletics plays a key role in overall student recruitment, said they were anxious about the financial impact of luring just five or 10 fewer athletes next year.

And even athletic directors at some wealthier private colleges said their endowments took such a hit in recent months that they felt they were worse off than officials at institutions that have smaller long-term savings.

Pragmatic Responses

The consensus among administrators, regardless of their situation, was clear: We've had a good run. Now let's tighten our belts.

"We've already been told, 'Expect to have less next year,'" said Gregory A. Christopher, athletic director at Bowling Green State University, in Ohio. The warning prompted Mr. Christopher and his staff to take a hard look at their top priorities. The winners? "Scholarships and operating dollars," he said. "Those are the two things that affect your competitiveness the most."

Team travel costs are one of the biggest drains on athletics departments' budgets. At Grand Valley State University, in Michigan, a 20-percent to 25-percent increase in travel expenses — and jumps for some trips as high as 50 percent — forced officials "to get even more creative to cut costs in other ways," said Lisa Sweany, Grand Valley's senior associate athletic director.

Recruiting expenses are also in the cross hairs at Division III institutions, which do not offer athletics scholarships. This is happening, officials say, even as it becomes more difficult for coaches at those institutions to lure cost-conscious students.

"Recruiting's been a little bit tougher," said Christine Worsley, associate director for athletics at the Rochester Institute of Technology. "Parents — yes, they're looking for the best school. But a lot of their decision is based on economics."

Ms. Worsley recently received a memorandum from her athletic director instructing her to visit a representative of an online recruiting service — another way to recruit athletes, minus the expensive travel — at the NCAA convention.

But even large, high-profile programs like the one at Penn State are not immune from economic pressures, Mr. Curley said. Utility costs in Pennsylvania have increased between 40 percent and 100 percent, he said. And travel expenses continue to rise, a particular liability for an institution like Penn State, which is situated at the far eastern edge of the Big Ten, a Midwestern conference.

New Revenue Streams

As many athletics officials seek ways to cut back on their expenses, a top NCAA official said that they should also look for ways to increase their revenue.

With fund raising and allocations from state governments slackening, Division I athletic directors should consider increased commercial activity as a way to boost income, Wallace I. Renfro, an NCAA vice president, said in the "state of the association" speech. (Mr. Renfro is a top adviser to the association's president, Myles Brand, who did not give the speech this year because he is undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer.)

Selling the rights to present and distribute sporting events is one way to boost revenue in difficult economic times, Mr. Renfro said, mentioning a "limitless" array of new-media outlets as potential customers. Other ways include marketing merchandise with team logos, having a coach endorse a commercial product, and selling signage in an arena or stadium. And all of those could be done without exploiting individual athletes, he said.

But Mr. Curley said he felt that the current fiscal climate provided a chance to promote some long-overdue changes in college athletics — possibly at the conference or national level — that could save money and benefit athletes.

The "nontraditional" season for teams that compete during the fall finds many teams traveling to distant locations like Arizona or Florida to practice in warmer weather. That can be a great expense for athletics departments, Mr. Curley said.

"Do we really need to have a nontraditional season?" Mr. Curley said in an interview. "We've got kids going 365 days a year. Maybe this is an opportunity to give them a little downtime."

For John Harper, athletic director at Bridgewater State College, in Massachusetts, just traveling to the NCAA's annual meeting required effort. "I had to beg to come here," said Mr. Harper. For budgetary reasons, his college all but banned out-of-state travel.

"I haven't had a salary increase in three years," he said. "But you know what? That's OK. I have a job."

Even the smallest steps can save a few thousand dollars, some officials said. For Bridget Belgiovine, athletic director at Wellesley College, simply eliminating the athletics department's delivery of bottled water made a difference. Though it certainly isn't the only cost-cutting measure she will have to take in coming months, it's a start.

"Do we need the Poland Spring water? No," she said. "We can get a Brita."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2009 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

[old_lion]

I thought I'd share a little red state/blue state humor that showed up in my in box recently.  Some may even say it contains a little truth told in jest.  Enjoy.

For those that don't know about history ... here is a condensed version:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals, and
2. Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America ... They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.
Here ends today's lesson in world history:

It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it.

A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.

And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your true self.

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph:

There's been talk/speculation of merger for years.  Nothing seems to get done...

Yes, just showing the practical results of such an effort.   

I thought that Coach Lambert's comments were interesting.  Having seen how Trinity, Southwestern and Austin College have migrated "away" from the core institutions that comprise the ASC, it seemed improbable that Rhodes, Sewanee and Centre were of a different mindset.

Therefore, I thought, what if this is a diversion.  After all, Rommel thought Patton would lead D-Day.

I talked with a key individual at Stevenson (former Villa Julie College) which is considering football.  I looked at what it would take for the Capital AC (Salisbury, Wesley, Gallaudet and Stevenson) to earn a Pool A in football, and took the discussion from there.

Have a good day!   

[scottiedoug]

Old_Lion:  The only really cheap shot is the bit about the designated hitter, which is far too awful an idea to have come from liberals.

Ralph:  Your scenario seems too sensible actually to happen, but something needs to and probably will happen.  Not much good can come from the economic mess but accidents do happen.

[old_lion]

Old_Lion:  The only really cheap shot is the bit about the designated hitter, which is far too awful an idea to have come from liberals.

Good point!   

[old_lion]

that ticket comes with a tailgate party that includes the mc cheerleaders and dance team
You are the man Old Lion

OK Grubby One ... Young Lion and I are making the trip ... where should I meet you to get my ticket ... or better yet, what time does the tailgate party start?   

[mattgrubb]

whenever the old lion gets here, there is no party without the old lion

Lets try and get the killer, the grubby one, and the old lion to watch the game together

[mattgrubb]

Old Lion,
the grubby one has tickets for you for tomorrow's game
they are under my name at the ticket gate
give me a shout tomorrow
8657551926

[old_lion]

Old Lion,
the grubby one has tickets for you for tomorrow's game
they are under my name at the ticket gate
give me a shout tomorrow
8657551926

That's great.  Between you and KC22 (he has us UT/UF tickets) you guys are really taking care of us.   I'll give you a call when we get in the area.

Young Lion and I will be practicing the "Is that not the winning team?" cheer on the way up ... just in case.  Hey, who knows?  It has to happen sooner or later ...

[scottiedoug]

Interesting angle on the Hernandez-Herebia matchup in the post today:

http://thedailytimes.com/article/20090131/SPORTS/301319978

[mattgrubb]

greg will do well and he would do better if the killer was there to support him but the killer has moved on to following JP Prince of the vols, who is not good