RedNeck wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:59 pm
What in who's mind? did UMKC think they would achieve by latching on to a non football WAC on life support with no actual WAC members (you know what I mean by that).
I'm not trying to be a "smart alec" I just can't put together reasons in my head why a school would go from a higher rated conference to one that is about to die.
Oh wait. that would offer the perfect exit from D-I. Self Sabotage, intriguing.
Not saying they're good reasons, but just trying to see things from UMKC's perspective.
When they left (2013), the Summit had lost Southern Utah and Oral Roberts (2012) and Oakland was heading to the Horizon (2013). Centenary had dropped to DIII in 2011, so we'd be losing/lost 4 schools in those few years. Now, we had added the Dakotas a bit earlier, Omaha in 2012 and Denver in 2013, but maybe they saw things as being a bit too fluid at that point and thought the league might not survive long. Not that the WAC is really any less fluid, but they had just added Seattle, CSU-Bakersfield, Chicago State, UT-RGV, and Utah Valley in 2012 and 2013.
Also, the WAC was (and still is) an easier basketball league. If both conferences are a 1-bid league and both conferences have an auto-bid to the NCAA tournament...then it'd actually be easier to get into the tournament playing in the WAC than in the Summit.
As for the situation of the WAC now though, they have 8 teams, but CSU-Bakersfield is leaving for the Big West in 2020 and New Mexico State is still there but could be in "flux" due to their football team having to go independent. If they end up not being able to make things work as an FBS indy, then they may have to go the Idaho route and drop back to FCS, and if they join a conference that handles all sports together (Southland, Big Sky, for example), then they may have to move all their sports out of the WAC to that conference. Also, there's the financial issues with Chicago State and the worry that they may not have the finances or enrollment to be able to support a DI athletics program. Personally, I think CSU already passed that mark, but they haven't come out with any official statement saying they're making changes to their athletics classification yet. If they lose a couple of those schools...then the conference is essentially "toast".
Scott Lawson - Board Admin