FB: Southern Athletic Association

[Cowboy2]

If BSC goes down, I could see the ASC and SAA football schools coming together under one conference, even if only for football.  Other sports could stay in their current conferences.

Until it happens it remains to be seen. Still a couple of seasons out until "musical chairs" would start. However, if it did, and this happened, It would take strategic scheduling efforts for conference play if they merged.

Should there only be 4 (ETBU, HPU, HSU, UMHB) ASC teams remaining in a couple of years, and 6 (Centre, millsaps, Sewanee, Rhodes, Berry, Hendrix) SAA teams left, their travel budgets would need to expand. Of course this is to say they made one conference as "affiliates" just for football and the AQ was at 7 and not 6 for the SAA. It would be better for the SAA to try and bring on one program (southeast proximity) as opposed to make multiple trips to Texas.

Trinity is currently the furthest school other SAA teams have to travel to. Add southwestern to the mix, an hour closer from San Antonio, doesn't break the bank. However, say those two programs bolted or were asked to go to the SCAC, and an SAA team, say Berry, had to make 3-4 trips in a year to Texas (Abilene, Brownwood, Belton) that may add a lot of extra travel costs. Also, that would be a lot more traveling for the ASC teams for out of state games, which many haven't had to do as often in years past.

A lot can still happen, so who knows.

[jknezek]

Any idea what would happen to the Birmingham Southern campus if the school closed ?

I hope it doesn't come to that, but I was wondering the same thing....I wonder if a larger (state) school would purchase it for a satellite campus??

Given the proximity to UAB I suspect that's the only option. The state is not going to pay to have another state school have a satellite campus within 5 miles of UAB. I think UAB could use it as an honors college maybe. But... and I can't emphasize this enough... it's in a really crappy part of Birmingham. The campus is really nice, and it's fenced in, and you don't hear much about problems on campus, but that is not somewhere you want to be wandering around. There is no town-gown in that area. You have to drive, or maybe they run buses, to anywhere you want to be off campus.

[Ron Boerger]

If BSC goes down, I could see the ASC and SAA football schools coming together under one conference, even if only for football.  Other sports could stay in their current conferences.

Until it happens it remains to be seen. Still a couple of seasons out until "musical chairs" would start. However, if it did, and this happened, It would take strategic scheduling efforts for conference play if they merged.

Should there only be 4 (ETBU, HPU, HSU, UMHB) ASC teams remaining in a couple of years, and 6 (Centre, millsaps, Sewanee, Rhodes, Berry, Hendrix) SAA teams left, their travel budgets would need to expand. Of course this is to say they made one conference as "affiliates" just for football and the AQ was at 7 and not 6 for the SAA. It would be better for the SAA to try and bring on one program (southeast proximity) as opposed to make multiple trips to Texas.

Trinity is currently the furthest school other SAA teams have to travel to. Add southwestern to the mix, an hour closer from San Antonio, doesn't break the bank. However, say those two programs bolted or were asked to go to the SCAC, and an SAA team, say Berry, had to make 3-4 trips in a year to Texas (Abilene, Brownwood, Belton) that may add a lot of extra travel costs. Also, that would be a lot more traveling for the ASC teams for out of state games, which many haven't had to do as often in years past.

A lot can still happen, so who knows.

Trinity and Southwestern are already members of the SCAC and the conference is restarting FB in 2024.  As full conference members they will be required to play FB in the SCAC by 2026. 

[BSCpanthers]

The SAA football schools and the football playing members the Collegiate Conference of the South, that are currently playing in the USA South, could get together and shrink their travel budget. 

[cush]

I wonder if Highlands College a bible school in Birmingham run by the church of the highlands would be interested in taking over the BSC Campus. They took over the former health south headquarters and spent a lot of money to transform it into a 2 year bible college with plans to became a 4 year school. If they took over the BSC campus through a buyout or merger they could create a more traditional liberal arts campus for their followers, think mini Liberty University. Obviously, BSC is a different type of school so it really wouldn't be a merger but highlands could take BSC accreditation in a merger and have a phase out or transition period. I got to believe the State and City don't want the BSC campus to became vacant so something needs to be considered for the campus if BSC closes.

[jknezek]

I wonder if Highlands College a bible school in Birmingham run by the church of the highlands would be interested in taking over the BSC Campus. They took over the former health south headquarters and spent a lot of money to transform it into a 2 year bible college with plans to became a 4 year school. If they took over the BSC campus through a buyout or merger they could create a more traditional liberal arts campus for their followers, think mini Liberty University. Obviously, BSC is a different type of school so it really wouldn't be a merger but highlands could take BSC accreditation in a merger and have a phase out or transition period. I got to believe the State and City don't want the BSC campus to became vacant so something needs to be considered for the campus if BSC closes.

Highlands College just opened their campus. I highly doubt they are looking for more. Nor do I think they could hold on to any type of higher education accreditation with their curriculum. The place essentially exists to train workers for the Association of Related Churches, which was co-founded by the same person who runs Highlands College and the various Church of the Highlands congregations.

But who knows? Because not far from where I live, 20 miles south of Birmingham, a local Bible College campus has stood completely empty for almost a decade, and I'm pretty sure Birmingham doesn't want that.

[BSCpanthers]

I wonder if Highlands College a bible school in Birmingham run by the church of the highlands would be interested in taking over the BSC Campus. They took over the former health south headquarters and spent a lot of money to transform it into a 2 year bible college with plans to became a 4 year school. If they took over the BSC campus through a buyout or merger they could create a more traditional liberal arts campus for their followers, think mini Liberty University. Obviously, BSC is a different type of school so it really wouldn't be a merger but highlands could take BSC accreditation in a merger and have a phase out or transition period. I got to believe the State and City don't want the BSC campus to became vacant so something needs to be considered for the campus if BSC closes.

Highlands College just opened their campus. I highly doubt they are looking for more. Nor do I think they could hold on to any type of higher education accreditation with their curriculum. The place essentially exists to train workers for the Association of Related Churches, which was co-founded by the same person who runs Highlands College and the various Church of the Highlands congregations.

But who knows? Because not far from where I live, 20 miles south of Birmingham, a local Bible College campus has stood completely empty for almost a decade, and I'm pretty sure Birmingham doesn't want that.

That needs to be and should be BSC's biggest selling point to the state.  That neighborhood needs BSC to be, period.  The last thing that area needs is more empty space that really has no other purpose then being what it is. 

I agree with JK, Highlands College is a college in name only.  They don't have what would be considered traditional classes or any type of accreditation.  It exist to serve the Church of the Highlands and their franchises located throughout the area.

[cush]

I guess my point with the church of the highlands taking over BSC is they could run a bible school at the healthsouth campus and run a traditional liberal arts school that affiliates with them instead of the Methodist church at the BSC campus. They seem to have big plans and well financed. Agree, BSC best selling point for getting state money is an empty campus is a disaster for the area.

[Riley Zayas]

Just throwing this out there...can confirm he is a reputable source, and he actually heard about the SCAC restarting football from his sources a few days before I got wind of it. Has some very solid connections, especially to Southwestern, so I trust his "sources".  Not saying this will for sure happen, but definitely something to think about.

https://d3vbwest.wordpress.com/2023/02/02/trinity-southwestern-moving/

[crufootball]

Just throwing this out there...can confirm he is a reputable source, and he actually heard about the SCAC restarting football from his sources a few days before I got wind of it. Has some very solid connections, especially to Southwestern, so I trust his "sources".  Not saying this will for sure happen, but definitely something to think about.

https://d3vbwest.wordpress.com/2023/02/02/trinity-southwestern-moving/

Very interesting stuff Riley. In some ways this doesn't really have to change much because the reformed SCAC would still have 6 members but obviously they would be a lot less stable then if they had 8 members. Might provide a lifeline to the ASC members if the SCAC members are in need of even more non conference games though.

[BSCpanthers]

So the SCAC is right on the cusp of sponsoring football, just to possibly loss 2 football playing members. 

I just still need to make sure my Panthers are still in next year.   

[cush]

Trinity could afford it as a stand alone and it's easy to fly into San Antonio. I could see the benefit more for the SAA schools  since going to San Antonio could be viewed as a educational trip. Yet, I always thought the SAA should make a play for Virginia schools, the SAA could jump to 12 with 4 Virginia pick ups. If BSC doesn't make it you could add 5 to go along with Centre and create a north division of 6 schools

[Etchglow]

Honestly, I don't follow Trinity much but they've been pretty dominant in football the last few years, I could see the SCAC not really wanting them to come in with a lot of the members they have.  It could quickly end up with a very similar outcome to the ASC with football.

[Ron Boerger]

Honestly, I don't follow Trinity much but they've been pretty dominant in football the last few years, I could see the SCAC not really wanting them to come in with a lot of the members they have.  It could quickly end up with a very similar outcome to the ASC with football.

Let's step back.  Trinity won the SAA the last two seasons but needed to pull off a near-miraculous ending against BSC this year, after beating them last year when the Panthers missed a 2-point conversion, to get through conference play undefeated each season.  Prior to that their best performance in the SAA era was an 8-2 season resulting in a tie for the championship in 2019 where they lost to Berry, who went on to the NCAAs as a result.  So Trinity has been really good the last couple of years, but it's not a St. Thomas (MN) or UMHB in terms of football conference dominance.   I think they've used the extra COVID year more successfully than anyone else in the SAA which obviously can pay huge dividends.  The SCAC isn't going to kick out the one program that (if trends continue) give it an immediate presence on the national scene - and especially when it was one of the four core schools who stuck with the SCAC after the SAA bailed.  That makes it all the more ironic if Trinity does what this article talks about.

I think it's more palatable to the SAA if Southwestern is part of the picture, because otherwise you complicate travel for teams that would have to make the flight to San Antonio - similar to what SCAC teams in most other sports face on the weeks they have to make their way to Colorado College. 

[Ralph Turner]

This is the money paragraph for me in the blog.

...Speaking of SAA schools and the pandemic, there are a number of stories out on the Internet about how Birmingham-Southern (BSC) is struggling with finances. Could the SAA be making a move for Trinity/Southwestern because of the fear of losing BSC? If they are looking west then they are probably looking north, too. It just feels like the SAA is going to shake things up whether they get Trinity and/or Southwestern and maybe that's the genesis of this rumor.

As for looking north, the ODAC schools like the "ODAC-ness" of their conference. I get the impression that none of the old ODAC schools, whom the SAA would like to have, would want to leave.