OVC Expansion

Athletics Department, Facilities, etc.
leatherneckcountry
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There's also been rumor of a summit league football conference if it ever happened add the ovc schools who  have football.
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leatherneckcountry wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 1:53 pmPlus what happens if UST decides they want to move to the valley for football

 
From everything I've heard, that's unlikely to happen. They do have football, but they want the focus to be basketball and hockey with football remaining a non-scholarship Pioneer League team. They really want to be the Loyola-Chicago or Saint Louis University of the Twin Cities. Go big into basketball and eventually work their way up like Summit League -> MVC -> WCC or A10. That would give them MUCH higher visibility than just going MVFC for football would.

Summit League Football - that's unlikely to ever happen, at least with us still a part of things. Probably have the Dakotas, Northern Colorado, and a few other teams if they can get some.

I really think our best hope/situation is for Tennessee State to join the SWAC and the remaining OVC football playing teams (EIU, SEMO, TN Tech, UT-Martin) become affiliate football-only members of the Southland.
Southland football will look like this: Houston Baptist, McNeese State, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas A&M Commerce, EIU, SEMO, TN Tech, UT-Martin...for a total of 10 football playing members...a solid number for a conference.
Our own football stays in the MVFC, while the rest of our sports joins the now football-less OVC with a conference made up of: EIU, Morehead State, SEMO, SIU-E, TN Tech, UT-Martin, UA-Little Rock, maybe another team or two if we can bring them in (since 8 teams is a bit light for a non-football conference)...Southern Indiana (no football) has been mentioned as being interested in moving up to DI, maybe Lipscomb (no football, already DI ASun conference, located in Nashville). Since we're now in the OVC for everything except football, our basketball rivalry with EIU becomes a regularly-scheduled conference H&H series every year again, and we are also able to (if we want) start up a rifle team, which seems to fit with our profile as a military-friendly school and wouldn't be horribly expensive in terms of facilities or investment, I'd imagine.
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Western_101
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ST_Lawson wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 5:04 pm
leatherneckcountry wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 1:53 pmPlus what happens if UST decides they want to move to the valley for football



 
From everything I've heard, that's unlikely to happen. They do have football, but they want the focus to be basketball and hockey with football remaining a non-scholarship Pioneer League team. They really want to be the Loyola-Chicago or Saint Louis University of the Twin Cities. Go big into basketball and eventually work their way up like Summit League -> MVC -> WCC or A10. That would give them MUCH higher visibility than just going MVFC for football would.

Summit League Football - that's unlikely to ever happen, at least with us still a part of things. Probably have the Dakotas, Northern Colorado, and a few other teams if they can get some.

I really think our best hope/situation is for Tennessee State to join the SWAC and the remaining OVC football playing teams (EIU, SEMO, TN Tech, UT-Martin) become affiliate football-only members of the Southland.
Southland football will look like this: Houston Baptist, McNeese State, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas A&M Commerce, EIU, SEMO, TN Tech, UT-Martin...for a total of 10 football playing members...a solid number for a conference.
Our own football stays in the MVFC, while the rest of our sports joins the now football-less OVC with a conference made up of: EIU, Morehead State, SEMO, SIU-E, TN Tech, UT-Martin, UA-Little Rock, maybe another team or two if we can bring them in (since 8 teams is a bit light for a non-football conference)...Southern Indiana (no football) has been mentioned as being interested in moving up to DI, maybe Lipscomb (no football, already DI ASun conference, located in Nashville). Since we're now in the OVC for everything except football, our basketball rivalry with EIU becomes a regularly-scheduled conference H&H series every year again, and we are also able to (if we want) start up a rifle team, which seems to fit with our profile as a military-friendly school and wouldn't be horribly expensive in terms of facilities or investment, I'd imagine.


 
Good post.

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Western_101
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Let me first acknowledge that Western's facilities are not up to MVFC standards anymore. My understanding is one of Myers Hendrickson's most crucial points of emphasis is to address this shortcoming. 

D-bags at Redbirdnation.net super proud of their new soon to be sued "St. John's" logos for their helmets.

Also, some dissing. Yes WIU has not been up to standards of late. Was charter B1G member Northwestern out? do we now throw Illinois out of the Big Ten?

Western is a Charter member of the MVFC/Gateway back in the day included Western Kentucky and Eastern Illinois. WIU has a Historical winning record over ISU, Western also has a NCAA D-I winning record over the Redbirds. Western has more ex-players that went to NFL and CFL rosters than ISU.

Macomb was the summer home of the NFL St. Louis Rams for almost a Decade. Almost forgot, we have been invited to the post season more than ISU.  Western has played more post season games than ISU. Also knocked off more FBS programs than ISU.

I know we live in a "what have you done for me lately" society but If Western is better in all historical metrics than ISU what does that make ISU? 

I am genuinely interested to hear what Redbird fans have to say?  Side note, Murray State is not a football school, I mean yes, they play it, but, they don't invest and don't care. However they are a Mid Major Basketball heavyweight and is really a nice "get" for the MVC. Our destiny as a legends school is always MVFC. Now with regards to Olympic sports  the

following is a first draft:

WIU
EIU
SIUE
SEMO
T-Martin
Tenn Tech
USI
ARLR
Lindenwood
UMSL
Lipscomb

Who did I miss? ORU would fit in this league but they fancy themselves as Big East blood, Texas Arlington?  UCA would be a good fit, so would Grand Valley and Central Missouri....thing is we are trying to solve problems not create....those last three need football "homes". The MVFC house is running out of bedrooms.

Denver elitist can just disappear completely In my view.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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sealhall74
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Dont put me in the same conference with ANY school which values hockey.  Some people love the sport, those that do hate just about every other sport from what I tell via personal observation.  Dont believe me?  Ask yourself why a few schools like Denver and Omaha have fan message boards for sports and the hockey threads are the only ones that see any activity.  Only been to one hockey game in my life.  It was at the the old Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.  Had a seat near the top.  Could not even see the puck flying around.  Maybe a fight or two broke out.  Can't remember.  
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sealhall74
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Western_101 wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:43 am Let me first acknowledge that Western's facilities are not up to MVFC standards anymore. My understanding is one of Myers Hendrickson's most crucial points of emphasis is to address this shortcoming. 

D-bags at Redbirdnation.net super proud of their new soon to be sued "St. John's" logos for their helmets.

Also, some dissing. Yes WIU has not been up to standards of late. Was charter B1G member Northwestern out? do we now throw Illinois out of the Big Ten?

Western is a Charter member of the MVFC/Gateway back in the day included Western Kentucky and Eastern Illinois. WIU has a Historical winning record over ISU, Western also has a NCAA D-I winning record over the Redbirds. Western has more ex-players that went to NFL and CFL rosters than ISU.

Macomb was the summer home of the NFL St. Louis Rams for almost a Decade. Almost forgot, we have been invited to the post season more than ISU.  Western has played more post season games than ISU. Also knocked off more FBS programs than ISU.

I know we live in a "what have you done for me lately" society but If Western is better in all historical metrics than ISU what does that make ISU? 

I am genuinely interested to hear what Redbird fans have to say?  Side note, Murray State is not a football school, I mean yes, they play it, but, they don't invest and don't care. However they are a Mid Major Basketball heavyweight and is really a nice "get" for the MVC. Our destiny as a legends school is always MVFC. Now with regards to Olympic sports  the

following is a first draft:

WIU
EIU
SIUE
SEMO
T-Martin
Tenn Tech
USI
ARLR
Lindenwood
UMSL
Lipscomb

Who did I miss? ORU would fit in this league but they fancy themselves as Big East blood, Texas Arlington?  UCA would be a good fit, so would Grand Valley and Central Missouri....thing is we are trying to solve problems not create....those last three need football "homes". The MVFC house is running out of bedrooms.

Denver elitist can just disappear completely In my view.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 



 
This would make a a nice well balanced conference.  A good mix of directionals and private schools.  NO FLAGSHIPS to compete with.  Everyone passes the 8 hour drive litmus test too!  A couple of big cities to stage your conference tournament in.  I like it.
 
 
 
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Neckfansince71
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Me thinks as of now that this is a dead issue.  Does not mean WIU will not reconsider in the future, but as of right now we are MVFC/Summit!  OVC needs to get its house in order and that will take some time. ;) jc
 
Leatherneck177
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No reason at all to leave the MVFC. In regards to the Summit, the OVC looks VERY shaky right now. Those travel costs would have to be pretty significant AND we would need to feel confident about the sustainability of that conference. In my opinion why wouldn’t EIU look into the Summit or MVFC to give us another easy travel partner? That should be the discussion more than where WIU is going. 

Joining the OVC is like buying a house closer to work but in a neighborhood that is turning into an unstable area. Who knows what you will get in 3-5 years? Might be back at the table looking for a new home.
 
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Western_101
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Leatherneck177 wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:53 pm No reason at all to leave the MVFC. In regards to the Summit, the OVC looks VERY shaky right now. Those travel costs would have to be pretty significant AND we would need to feel confident about the sustainability of that conference. In my opinion why wouldn’t EIU look into the Summit or MVFC to give us another easy travel partner? That should be the discussion more than where WIU is going. 

Joining the OVC is like buying a house closer to work but in a neighborhood that is turning into an unstable area. Who knows what you will get in 3-5 years? Might be back at the table looking for a new home.
 

 
I'm not sure I'm getting the complete jist of your mindset.  Summit is a bad fit right now. That rundown of schools I proposed for a league are legitimate schools for a legitimate hypothetical league. 

Hypothetical. No, nobody want's to board the sinking ship that is the OVC. My contention was to Partner with former OVC's (EIU,SIUE,SEMO,T-Martin,Morehead St) and take on a few startups. Missouri St. Louis, Lindenwood University, University of Southern Indiana. Perhaps a Lipscomb or a recently transitioned Bellarmine.

Stay with the Valley Football. Get away from the the F**king Dakotas. I just want them to go away, do your own thing for Christ's sake Dakota nation thanks for stealing a conference assholes. Dakotas need to just be what they were NCC in D-I form and Western needs to be as far away from that as we can get!
 
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Leatherneck177 wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:53 pm No reason at all to leave the MVFC. In regards to the Summit, the OVC looks VERY shaky right now. Those travel costs would have to be pretty significant AND we would need to feel confident about the sustainability of that conference. In my opinion why wouldn’t EIU look into the Summit or MVFC to give us another easy travel partner? That should be the discussion more than where WIU is going. 

Joining the OVC is like buying a house closer to work but in a neighborhood that is turning into an unstable area. Who knows what you will get in 3-5 years? Might be back at the table looking for a new home.
 

 
I think the OVC for football looks shaky right now, but if they can somehow separate themselves from football, then they'll be fine. There's opportunities around for non-football schools to bring the numbers up.
I don't think EIU would be able to get back into the MVFC at this point (there's already too many members). They might be able to get into the Summit, but I think the difference in travel costs would be unsustainable. Other than WIU, they would probably have to fly everywhere, and remember, that means flying all of the various sports teams up to each of the Dakotas every year. Some of that is mitigated by the "travel partner" setup (so you play NDSU on Thursday, UND on Saturday, then fly back home) but it's still a ton of travel. At this point, EIU can bus to just about every OVC member.
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