Horizon League Replacement

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ST_Lawson
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As a replacement for Valpo (leaving for the MVC), the Horizon League had apparently extended an invite to a yet-unnamed school. Rumors are hinting at Fort Wayne, but there are a few other possible candidates out there.


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ST_Lawson wrote: Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:59 pm As a replacement for Valpo (leaving for the MVC), the Horizon League had apparently extended an invite to a yet-unnamed school. Rumors are hinting at Fort Wayne, but there are a few other possible candidates out there.

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Apparently Grand Canyon University is also a strong possibility (and wouldn't disrupt the current Summit League). GCU is a private for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, AZ, with ~20k on-campus students and ~60k online students. They were a DII school until 2013 when they moved up to DI and joined the Western Athletic Conference. They're quite a bit out of the footprint of the Horizon League, but they are a VERY well-funded athletics program with a ton of support from the students and the school.
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meganeck
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A report is saying IUPUI has been extended the offer
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sealhall74
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meganeck wrote: Thu Jun 22, 2017 6:53 pm A report is saying IUPUI has been extended the offer
IMHO, the only positive IUPUI brings to any conference is a very nice swimming pool.
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ST_Lawson
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Well, that plus an "in" with the Indy market. It's no Chicago, but it's decent sized.


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sealhall74
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ST_Lawson wrote: Thu Jun 22, 2017 7:58 pm Well, that plus an "in" with the Indy market. It's no Chicago, but it's decent sized.


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Maybe someday they will figure out how to tap into that market. :lol:
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leatherface
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I don't know why they would take IUPUI, and not take IPFW. Some believe Murray State now, and add the two Indiana schools in a year, but all part of the expansion. Gives the two Indiana schools time to take care of re-scheduling etc. I can't remember, what is the $ amount to leave Summit?
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With Valparaiso departing for the Missouri Valley Conference, the Horizon League was facing the threat of not having a school in Indiana, home of the league’s offices.

The Horizon League worked swiftly to keep that from happening.

In the last week, the Horizon League has offered membership to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, according to a source with direct knowledge of the league’s plans. IUPUI would come from the Summit League, the same conference Oakland came from when it joined the Horizon League in 2013.

League presidents recently held a conference call to discuss the specifics of membership, and whether IUPUI would join for the 2017-18 season or the 2018-19 season. League athletic directors soon will be presented with two schedules, one for a nine-school league and one for a 10-school league.

IUPUI hasn't yet formally accepted, as negotiations are ongoing.

Commissioner Jonathan B. LeCrone told The News on Wednesday that there's no deadline for a decision, and an entry date hasn't been determined yet. He also wouldn't publicly identify the institution, saying only a formal announcement could come in the next three weeks.

The Horizon League has been talking expansion for several years, but sped up its process when Valparaiso announced in May that it was leaving.

The league is known to have seriously vetted five institutions over the last two years, including IUPUI, Fort Wayne, Robert Morris, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Grand Canyon in Phoenix.

Basketball remains the Horizon League’s chief priority long-term, LeCrone has stated on numerous occasions. IUPUI doesn’t add a ton of cache there, having made just one NCAA Tournament, in 2003. It was 14-18 last season, with an RPI of 217, below average but still better than five Horizon League programs.

Grand Canyon would’ve been the bigger basketball addition, coming off a 22-9 season, with an avid fan base and with a recognizable coach, in former Central Michigan and NBA star Dan Majerle. It’s unclear if Grand Canyon was the second institution to make a presentation to the league’s presidents, along with IUPUI.

Grand Canyon could be a better fit down the road, when the Horizon League adds multiple schools at once. It could get to as many as 14 members, LeCrone said.
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Looks like IUPUI accepted the invite.
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Question now is, will Fort Wayne also get an invite in the next year or so and will they go if they do? They're WAY out on their own now (although we're out a ways too)...I guess we're travel partners with Fort Wayne for now.
If you look at the conference map now, minus IUPUI and with the future addition of UND, there's only us and Fort Wayne that are not only east of the Mississippi, but east of the state borders along I-29 (ND/MN, SD/MN, NE/IA, KS/MO, etc.). I've seen talk of possibly approaching UMKC for a return to the Summit League, but nothing official (and I don't know if they even want to), so I added them as a different color pin on the map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-T6yr ... sp=sharing

Question now is, where do we go from here? We're losing another bus-travel team (IUPUI is ~5 hours away) and adding a game we'll have to fly to (Grand Forks is 11+ hours away driving), so travel costs are going to go up.

Without somehow getting an invite to the Horizon League (highly unlikely) or MVC (even less likely), there's not really a great option out there for us. I'm not a huge fan of trying to join the Ohio Valley, since I really like our existing rivalries/opponents in the MVFC and the OVC would want all sports, but considering our options, it might be one of the better ones.
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