7 SCAC teams plus Berry to form new conference

[cush]

The scac offering Centenary makes a lot of sense and should happen. I thought the new SAA might also offer them but centenary probably would prefer either over the ASC. Another school that might work that i read had interest was westminster college in salt lake, which would fit with what the scac had in mind going out of region. That would get the scac up to 7. Maybe ucsc could work to get to  8 but going with oregon/wash school's is crazy, just too far away. Ideally, the scac should try to  get some oklahoma and kansas naia school's to move to d3 before going to far west.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm not sure that there are any NAIA schools in Oklahoma or Kansas that meet the SCAC's academic model ... and those academic standards seem to be the primary concern of the remaining schools in the rump SCAC.

[Ron Boerger]

I'm not sure that there are any NAIA schools in Oklahoma or Kansas that meet the SCAC's academic model ... and those academic standards seem to be the primary concern of the remaining schools in the rump SCAC.

Well, that *is* why they joined the SCAC in the first place.   

The ironic thing is that one of the SAA presidents (Cloyd, Hendrix) went on record as saying at least one of the "rump SCAC" schools didn't meet the SAA's standards and that was a major factor in the breakup.  He later issued a statement saying 'no, really, it was all about the travel' but I've heard he wasn't the only one with that opinion. 

[cush]

Here is a couple of naia that could work, if you get one the others might be more interested:

http://www.okcu.edu/

http://www.nebrwesleyan.edu/

http://www.doane.edu/

http://www.friends.edu/

[Pat Coleman]

For what it's worth, Warren, I think Texas Lutheran was NCAA D-II right before it came to D-III. At least, that was the note I had on the old site.

[Gregory Sager]

Cush, here's some of the more relevant academic data regarding the schools you suggested, as compared to the rump SCAC members, plus some of the other schools that have been raised in this discussion (all info taken from www.petersons.com):

school	PBK chapter	% ACT 30^	% ACT 24^	% ACT 18^	% appl. acc.	hs gpa
Austin	yes	19	75	100	80	3.56
Colorado C.	yes	49	94	100	32	--
Dallas	yes	25	71	99	91	3.75
Southwestern	yes	31	83	100	63	--
Trinity TX	yes	42	94	100	63	3.52

school	PBK chapter	% ACT 30^	% ACT 24^	% ACT 18^	% appl. acc.	hs gpa
Doane	no	7	43	93	76	3.49
Friends	no	12	36	77	66	3.21
Nebraska Wesleyan	no	10	63	100	77	3.64
Oklahoma City	no	11	66	98	79	3.51

school	PBK chapter	% ACT 30^	% ACT 24^	% ACT 18^	% appl. acc.	hs gpa
Centenary	no	11	62	100	54	--
UC-Santa Cruz	yes	11	61	94	65	3.61
Macalester	yes	64	98	100	46	--
Westminster UT	no	10	59	96	78	3.50

As you can see, none of the four Plains States schools you suggested are peer institutions with the rump SCAC schools. In fact, it's questionable as to whether or not Centenary and Westminster UT, two other schools whose names have been bandied about as potential SCAC members, fit the bill, either, and even UCSC is a bit borderline but probably acceptable on academic merits. (Distance, and UCSC's public affiliation, might be more problematic in the minds of the SCAC braintrust.) Macalester is eminently qualified for SCAC membership from an academic standpoint, and it certainly has the money for a big travel budget. The problem is that Macalester seems to be happy as a MIAC member, seeing as how the other schools in that league gave Mac permission to become a football independent while keeping the rest of its sports within the MIAC. That means that the SCAC could only count upon Mac for football.

[Warren Thompson]

For what it's worth, Warren, I think Texas Lutheran was NCAA D-II right before it came to D-III. At least, that was the note I had on the old site.

You are correct. It was NCAA D2, non-football. Thanks for refreshing my failing memory. (And I should have known better than to disagree with Ralph.  )

[Ralph Turner]

For what it's worth, Warren, I think Texas Lutheran was NCAA D-II right before it came to D-III. At least, that was the note I had on the old site.

You are correct. It was NCAA D2, non-football. Thanks for refreshing my failing memory. (And I should have known better than to disagree with Ralph.  )

Thanks for the comment.  Moving the D-III and the ASC was the impetus to resurrect football at TLU.

[sunny]

FWIW, Centenary recently announced the addition of men's lacrosse as a varsity sport. The SCAC recently gained an AQ in that sport and I'm sure, in an ideal world, would like to maintain it (even if it takes a couple associates). I don't the ASC will be sponsoring it any time soon ... Take that for what you will. 

[Ron Boerger]

FWIW, Centenary recently announced the addition of men's lacrosse as a varsity sport. The SCAC recently gained an AQ in that sport and I'm sure, in an ideal world, would like to maintain it (even if it takes a couple associates). I don't the ASC will be sponsoring it any time soon ... Take that for what you will.

Interesting thought.  Of the five schools remaining in the SCAC, only Southwestern, Colorado College, and UDallas currently offer LaX.   It's a club sport at Austin and Trinity - though the latter has a beautiful (fairly) new FieldTurf field and could turn it into a varsity sport whenever they'd like. 

[cush]

Good data on those school's but the problem for the 5 remaining scac school's is the middlebury's of the world, aren't on the phone/ in the area/etc. Granted, middlebury is at a higher lever than the scac profile but the point is the scac doesn't have many options. Thus, they should be concerned with trying to form a decent athletic conference more so than turning their nose down on some school's whose profile might be somewhat lower. To have a workable athletic conference takes at least 8 school's in my book.

[Gregory Sager]

Good data on those school's but the problem for the 5 remaining scac school's is the middlebury's of the world, aren't on the phone/ in the area/etc. Granted, middlebury is at a higher lever than the scac profile but the point is the scac doesn't have many options. Thus, they should be concerned with trying to form a decent athletic conference more so than turning their nose down on some school's whose profile might be somewhat lower. To have a workable athletic conference takes at least 8 school's in my book.

It really depends upon the direction that the rump SCAC chooses to go. If the five remaining schools share the same concern with travel that the defecting schools did when they decided to break off and form the SAA, then they will likely take your advice and seek out any interested schools within a thousand-mile radius. If, however, they consider the academic standards of the SCAC to still be paramount with regard to the league's makeup, then they'll plan on having UAA-type travel budgets and academic arrangements (tutors and proctors accompanying the teams on plane trips, etc.), and they'll seek out the far-flung schools like UC-Santa Cruz that appear to be more congenial academic matches for the SCAC than those other schools you named.

[Gray Fox]

The "island" conferences like SCIAC and NWC compromised on these issues long ago.   That is what the travel issues are in these times.  The issue is how big an island do you want to live on.

[Gregory Sager]

... and whether or not you have the big coin to make it happen if you choose to make your island the size of Greenland.

[Gregory Sager]

It's official: Centenary is moving to the SCAC.