Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Ron Boerger]

More conference realignment in Region X

McMurry and Schreiner expected to leave the SCAC for the ASC

Announcement is supposed to be tomorrow morning.

That means Trinity, Southwestern, McMurry, and Schreiner are leaving the SCAC, but LeTourneau and Hendrix are joining the SCAC.  So, when the dust settles, the SCAC will have 10 teams in men's soccer.

If Dwayne Hanberry doesn't pull a rabbit out of his hat and find someone else to play American football, Hendrix will head back to the SAA, and unfortunately this train of events - where a conference is actually paying schools to join them, something unheard of in Division III - could result in some of the other recent SCAC schools that left the ASC rejoining their former conference. 

I can't tell you how despicable and non-D3 I find a conference bribing schools to join them.  Because that's exactly what it is if the allegations of million dollar payments by Hogue are true, and I've heard it from multiple sources. 

[Kuiper]

More conference realignment in Region X

McMurry and Schreiner expected to leave the SCAC for the ASC

Announcement is supposed to be tomorrow morning.

That means Trinity, Southwestern, McMurry, and Schreiner are leaving the SCAC, but LeTourneau and Hendrix are joining the SCAC.  So, when the dust settles, the SCAC will have 10 teams in men's soccer.

If Dwayne Hanberry doesn't pull a rabbit out of his hat and find someone else to play American football, Hendrix will head back to the SAA, and unfortunately this train of events - where a conference is actually paying schools to join them, something unheard of in Division III - could result in some of the other recent SCAC schools that left the ASC rejoining their former conference. 

I can't tell you how despicable and non-D3 I find a conference bribing schools to join them.  Because that's exactly what it is if the allegations of million dollar payments by Hogue are true, and I've heard it from multiple sources. 

I wondered about what McMurry and Schreiner are getting.  It's crazy if the rumored numbers are true ($1 million apiece?), but maybe cheaper than Mary Hardin-Baylor and Hardin-Simmons moving up to DII.  I expect it will be donor-funded, much like the NIL collectives have been in D1.  Forget about taxing endowments.  We should deny deductions for these kinds of donations.  No reason the government should subsidize conference realignment.

As for Hendrix, if they were only coming for football, then I suppose they could return to the SAA.  Perhaps LeTourneau would return to the ASC too, but with the precedent set, they would surely demand cash payment to do so.  That would leave the SCAC with 8 schools in soccer and not much room for error.

[Ron Boerger]

I don't think HX was only coming for (American) football, but they were certainly coming to a conference where they could compete for an automatic bid in the sport.  They were willing to wait until 2026 - now that's off the table, absent a SCAC hail mary. 

[Kuiper]

I don't think HX was only coming for (American) football, but they were certainly coming to a conference where they could compete for an automatic bid in the sport.  They were willing to wait until 2026 - now that's off the table, absent a SCAC hail mary. 

If I were one of the remaining ASC schools that did not help pay the fee and saw what McMurry and Schreiner were getting, I might be willing to at least flirt with the SCAC to see what the ASC would pay me to stay.  The ASC has put itself in a position to get held up in the future (and regularly) if the rumors are true.