FCS Conference Shuffling

[ST_Lawson]

Looks like some weird stuff is going on at Eastern Washington university. Wonder if they’re actually going to eliminate football. Can’t imagine going D2

 

Not really. They have a group of VERY vocal faculty that are all-in on dropping football to D2 (really, their ultimate goal is to drop football or maybe even athletics entirely). This issue came up last year too, EWU conducted a study looking into the feasibility of moving, and at that point they decided that it wouldn't make sense to move down. Travel would be a big issue, DII is pretty thin out in that area.

I think it's pretty unlikely that anything comes of this other than their board "looking into it" and then not doing anything.

[screamingeaglepride]

Looks like some weird stuff is going on at Eastern Washington university. Wonder if they’re actually going to eliminate football. Can’t imagine going D2


 

Not really. They have a group of VERY vocal faculty that are all-in on dropping football to D2 (really, their ultimate goal is to drop football or maybe even athletics entirely). This issue came up last year too, EWU conducted a study looking into the feasibility of moving, and at that point they decided that it wouldn't make sense to move down. Travel would be a big issue, DII is pretty thin out in that area.

I think it's pretty unlikely that anything comes of this other than their board "looking into it" and then not doing anything.

 

Interesting you talked about travel with EWU. When the Southern Indiana AD, John Mark Hall, was being interviewed by Valleyhoopsinsider John Mark stated USI would have less travel in D1 OVC than being in D2 GLVC

[ST_Lawson]

Interesting you talked about travel with EWU. When the Southern Indiana AD, John Mark Hall, was being interviewed by Valleyhoopsinsider John Mark stated USI would have less travel in D1 OVC than being in D2 GLVC

 

It's probably not a huge difference, but I could see it. USI is pretty centrally located in the OVC...nobody is all that far away. I haven't checked, but all schools may be just a bus trip away.
GLVC has a couple of schools over in the KC area, which is probably further away than any of the OVC members are.

[ST_Lawson]

UTRGV is moving from the WAC to the Southland. They have been a member of the WAC since 2013 and are in the process of starting up a FCS football team, projected to start playing in 2025.

[ST_Lawson]

DII Mercyhurst University is moving up to DI and joining the NEC.
They're a private catholic university in Erie, PA with about 2,700 students.

[screamingeaglepride]

DII Mercyhurst University is moving up to DI and joining the NEC.
They're a private catholic university in Erie, PA with about 2,700 students.

 

Wow I didn't see that coming

[ST_Lawson]

Still just rumors at this point, but it sounds like Stephen F. Austin is considering moving back to the Southland. They had been in the Southland and moved to the WAC (playing football as the UAC with the football ASUN teams) in 2022 with a handful of other teams, but it sounds like things haven't worked out the way they'd hoped, with longtime rival Sam Houston State moving up to the FBS CUSA and a number of other Texas-area teams deciding to leave the WAC for the Southland.
UTRGV, which is adding football, had originally said they'd go to the WAC, but changed their minds and are going to be joining the Southland.
Lamar University (Beaumont, TX) moved to the WAC in 2021, but reversed course and went back to the Southland in 2022.
NM State had their non-football sports in the WAC, but also got an invite to CUSA.

If SFA moves back to the Southland, this could trigger a collapse of the WAC, with Texas teams likely going to either the Southland or ASUN. The other football-playing WAC members are Southern Utah and Utah Tech, which have some possible options...

• Join the Big Sky, although then the Big Sky would be at 14 football-playing schools
• Talk to the more southern Big Sky teams about splitting into two conferences (at least for football)...with teams like Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Weber State, Sacramento State, UC Davis, and Cal Poly
• Or the collapse of the WAC triggers the Dakota schools to organize the long-discussed "Summit League Football" with the 4 Dakota schools, two Utah schools, and possibly Northern Colorado and/or St. Thomas if they want to add scholarships. This option would have the biggest ripple effect that might touch us, with the MVFC dropping down to seven teams (if they're all only playing 6 conference games, that makes scheduling teams like ISU, UNI, and SIU for OOC games much easier for us).