Conference changes

[Pat Coleman]

MacMurray definitely was on the radar for this sort of thing.

[jmcozenlaw]

With Dean's departure from the NECC, the NECC men have only 6 teams in 2020-21.

Any news of dominos shuffling around the NECC?

I have had plenty of talks with individuals trying to piece things together. I think some of this is up in the air due to the expected closings of schools - just the unknown of exactly why they will be. (There are certainly schools on everyone's radars, but as McMurray and Urbana [DII] has shown there can be some that are on no one's radar).

I could envision the NECC splitting and those schools going in different directions. The NAC, GNAC, etc. could be easy landing places - though, I would feel bad for schools like Eastern Nazarene who just settled in to the NECC.

I could also envision other conferences splitting up and the NECC being the beneficiary of those moves.

I think we need to wait and see a bit. Even ideas I am hearing now could change six ways to Sunday in the next week, month, year.

I'm kind of surprised that we haven't heard anything about a couple of other school shutting it down (i.e. Wells) now that we've flipped the calendar to June. I do wonder how things are going down in Dover with Wesley. Is the St. Leo thing a done deal and does that save them for the foreseeable future?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The deadline for many colleges was June 1 ... it still takes a bit of time to take in the info they have received, make some last minute calls to see if they can convince people to say yes, etc.

I would expect next week may be the first signs of schools making decisions - if there are any to be made.

Wells made a statement awhile back of their situation moving forward. I need to check on that. Wesley won't admit that St. Leo's is the savior, but everything I've been told it is them ... and I have heard nothing that has changed anything. Doesn't mean that is still the plan, I just haven't heard otherwise.

[Caz Bombers]

Iowa Wesleyan leaving the SLIAC next summer, planning to return to the NAIA.

https://sliac.org/general/2019-20/releases/20200604m3ykpi

[hickory_cornhusker]

If I'm counting correctly, this is going to drop the UMAC football conference down to six members.

Crown
MN-Morris
Martin Luther
Northwestern-STP
Westminster
Greenville
MacMurray closed
St. Scholastica headed to MIAC
Iowa Wesleyan headed to NAIA

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

If I'm counting correctly, this is going to drop the UMAC football conference down to six members.

Crown
MN-Morris
Martin Luther
Northwestern-STP
Westminster
Greenville
MacMurray closed
St. Scholastica headed to MIAC
Iowa Wesleyan headed to NAIA

Correct.

[RFMichigan]

If I'm counting correctly, this is going to drop the UMAC football conference down to six members.

Crown
MN-Morris
Martin Luther
Northwestern-STP
Westminster
Greenville
MacMurray closed
St. Scholastica headed to MIAC
Iowa Wesleyan headed to NAIA

I'm wondering if there is a better chance of the UMAC picking up a school to get back to seven members or the remaining schools find other conferences for football. The Minnesota schools may have better options (Midwest?) but Greenville and Westminster are really geographic outliers in this scenario. Perhaps Greenville could go the way of their SLIAC brother, Eureka, and try to get into the NACC as an associate member for football, but what will Westminster do? ARC?

[Pat Coleman]

That is more a football discussion, so you will probably find better results on the football boards for that.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The plan for UST to jump to D1 has been kind of approved ... it is now up to the entire Division I at the NCAA Convention in January.

UST could apply for a waiver to skip the exploratory year, but this puts a lot of things up in the air especially scheduling for 21-22 and beyond.

Not sure how UST feels about this as of yet: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/division-i-council-proposes-pathway-diii-schools-become-di-members

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I honestly think this can't be what UST wanted ... not only is the vote punted down the road (again), but it leaves a lengthy period of time of being in no-man's land ... hard to recruit athletes when you have no chance at postseason opportunities - even if they are remote.

That and the scheduling issue... and my thinking about the challenges the financial downturn could create ... is this even worth the effort?

[Caz Bombers]

it very much reads as though UST's waiver request will be granted, although why Division I is demanding they submit yet another request to do the exact same thing they've been asking for the last (seemingly forever) I have no idea. It's a yes or no question, gang. Sheesh.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

it very much reads as though UST's waiver request will be granted, although why Division I is demanding they submit yet another request to do the exact same thing they've been asking for the last (seemingly forever) I have no idea. It's a yes or no question, gang. Sheesh.

The last one was to request this opportunity ...

And with the recent economic downturn and now this being lengthened, I think everything is being reevaluated, so DI is going to make sure UST is serious.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Now we get to find out if Rowan has been serious about moving to D1 as well.

[Caz Bombers]

JWU-Denver closing in summer '21.

www.providencejournal.com/news/20200625/johnson--wales-to-close-campuses-in-florida-colorado

[gordonmann]

bump

Provisional Pipeline for 2020-21
First year full members: Brevard, Dean, Pfeiffer
*3rd year provisional members: SUNY Delhi, Johnson and Wales (Colo.)
2nd year provisional members: Pratt, University of St Thomas (Texas), Mississippi University for Women.
1st year provisional members: Bob Jones (confirmed), Warren Wilson (confirmed)
Exploratory: Manor College (confirmed)

*Games against Year 3 and 4 provisional members count the same as games against full-members for regional-ranking and tournament selection purposes

JWU-Denver (SCAC) will close in 2020-21, but ends athletics immediately
MacMurray (SLIAC) closes its doors.

Conference Changes Starting in 2020-2021
Arcadia shifts from the MAC Commonwealth to the MAC Freedom
Cazenovia leaves the NEAC for the NAC
Eastern shifts from the MAC Freedom to the MAC Commonwealth
Finlandia joins the CAC as part of the ACAA-CAC merger
D'Youville leaves the AMCC and Division III for Division II
Dean leaves the NECC for the GNAC
Franciscan leaves the AMCC for the Presidents' Athletic Conference
Keuka leaves the NEAC for the E8
Lycoming shifts from the MAC Commonwealth to the MAC Freedom
Pine Manor joins the CAC as part of the ACAA-CAC merger*
Pratt joins the CAC as part of the ACAA-CAC merger
Suffolk leaves the GNAC for the CCC
SUNY Cobleskill leaves the NEAC for the NAC
SUNY Delhi leaves the ACAA for the NAC
SUNY Poly leaves the NEAC for the NAC
UC Santa Cruz joins the CAC as part of the ACAA-CAC merger
Valley Forge leaves the ACAA for the CSAC
York (Pa.) leaves the CAC for the MAC Commonwealth

* Pine Manor announced that it will close its doors and be absorbed into Boston College after a two-year "teach out period." The CAC-ACAA press release indicates Pine Manor will compete in the CAC in 2020-21 and then "depart the conference," assumedly with athletics closing before 2021-22.

Conference Changes Starting in 2021-2022
Iowa Wesleyan leaves SLIAC and NCAA for NAIA
Mary Baldwin will add men's program, begin play in the USA South (tentative)
Southern Virginia leaves the CAC for the USA South
St. Mary's (Md.) leaves the CAC for the NEAC
St. Norbert leaves the MWC for the NACC
St. Thomas involuntarily removed from MIAC, will go to
St. Scholastica leaves the UMAC for the MIAC