So I thought, "Well, at least things are relatively quiet in the WVIAC this summer."

Let's go back a few months to early March, 2012. As I perused my various Division II sources, I came upon a short story that didn't say much more than the following from Danny Sterling, the Athletic Director at Virginia-Wise:

"On March 1, the WVIAC voted to decline our membership application. UVa-Wise is still studying NCAA membership and Division II conference options."

Now mind you, this was back before UVa-Wise had even applied to NCAA Division II. The June 1 deadline was approaching, and these days, every school applying had to have a conference affiliation already lined up. Don't forget that the previous year, the WVIAC had not only extended an invitation to the Highland Cavaliers to join the conference, but the membership had done so unanimously.

At the time, I was surprised and wondered what was going on. Little did I know what this would all turn into.

So let's move ahead to June. Suddenly, a faction of the nine football-playing schools in the WVIAC made waves to talk about starting a new conference. Again, I followed the stories, but something just didn't add up. There was talk, but there weren't really plans of action. There was an initial announcement, but there was no follow-up. My sources were silent on the situation. And so, once again, I let it go and moved on, thinking that nothing more would happen, though there would certainly be some hurt feelings.

And then the hammer fell at the beginning of this week.

Everyone else out there has talked about the winners and losers in this movement and had their own opinions. I can't do quite as much of that. Of the present WVIAC schools who don't play football, I've seen the campuses of two of them: Wheeling Jesuit and Davis and Elkins (my thoughts on Salem International are best left out of public consumption, though one tweet of mine pretty well sums it up and meshes well with other things I've learned in the last couple years). It's a good thing this breakaway group picked up Wheeling Jesuit because that is clearly a school that puts effort into being competitive not just in the WVIAC but in Division II as a whole. You don't need to have football to be able to do that, though once again, the rumors are of course circulating of the Cardinals getting football started and playing at Wheeling Island stadium (which I'd say would be a very good call).

Let's be real for a minute. I've been to a few basketball games at Division II schools in the last few years, most of whom don't have football. And I'll be honest: it doesn't take much to tell those who really are trying to compete from the ones who would have no chance to meet the current admission standards that new prospective members have to. The reason you see a lot of the same names pop up over and over again in Division II championships as a whole is because there are plenty of schools who simply aren't committed. I railed on this with one particular school that was a football independent and is now in the MIAA back when I covered the indpendents (Wanna know who that is? As many math textbooks would say, we leave this as an exercise to the reader). Since then, that school has at least made progress toward being competitive as a whole, not just in one or two sports in which they dominate. Sadly, that isn't the norm.

I haven't been to Bluefield State or Ohio Valley, but I'm pretty sure I know what I'd see if I went there: a school lacking an identity and initiative when it comes to athletics. That's bad for the students these schools are trying to serve. I once, on a chance meeting, met the Ohio Valley women's soccer team. They seemed enthusiastic and hardworking. But the results show that they don't have the support needed to do better than a 3-0 loss against virtually any opponent in the entire Atlantic Region.

I do have a point in all this rambling ("Then make it!" I hear you say). Many people want to make these schools out to be the enemy for breaking up a conference with a century of tradition. They aren't. They're not the only ones. And this isn't going to be the last we'll see of this. In the end, despite Division II's naturally regional focus, there will really be two Division IIs: those who want to compete for something greater and those who don't want to put forth the effort. And just like any high schooler, every school wants to be in a clique with those that are most like it. So get ready for even more movement in the future, including (eventually) more schools dropping back to groups like the NAIA, the NCCAA, and the USCAA as they see their friends do the same. With Bluefield State being left out in the cold by all the conference shuffling as former friends Alderson-Broaddus, Davis and Elkins, and Ohio Valley move to the G-MAC (a conference that has good intentions but is doomed to the bottom of the Division II food chain), don't be surprised if the Big Blues reacquaint themselves with another struggling school they've lost touch with in recent years: WVU Tech.

If you follow Division II nationally like I do, get ready for more bombs to drop over the next couple of years, a less prominent version of the Division I conference tango we've seen as of late. We'll say goodbye to some friends we thought would always be around and welcome new ones that we'll wonder how we haven't met them before. And through it all, yes, change will be the one constant.

The wheel turns, does it not?