G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

[UFSwimDad]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

My periodic, only swim parents care, thought for the board.

It appears that any movement right now is leaning toward associate member status which is great. With WJ coming aboard for lacrosse, AB prob going to another conference for women's field hockey, and the lack of men's swimming teams currently in the GMAC, it got me digging for regional teams that could help out.

Currently, the GMAC has four men's and six women's swim teams. Four is way to small for a championship. Six is doable but not preferred. WJ, Urbana, NDC and WVW currently compete in a swimming championship called the Appalachian Swiming Conference, or something like that. If memory serves me correctly, it's a mix of D2 and NAIA schools. All four schools mentioned are MEC schools that currently sponsor both men's and women's teams. Still not clear on WJ status as it was reported at the time of the creation of a football team that swimming was a goner. Have not found anything about that happening as of yet.

It's plausible that all four schools could become associate members in swimming. The inaugural GMAC swimming championship is set for Feb. in Canton, Ohio. It would be a very manageable drive for WJ and WVW and a super short jaunt for NDC and Urbana. I would assume that future championships will most likely be held either in Canton or perhaps Geneva, Ohio, who has a great facility. Any meets further west would require being able to get pool time at either OSU, Toledo, or maybe Miami of Ohio, and they already host a lot of meets so that may be a long shot.

[Tech Boys]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

My periodic, only swim parents care, thought for the board.

It appears that any movement right now is leaning toward associate member status which is great. With WJ coming aboard for lacrosse, AB prob going to another conference for women's field hockey, and the lack of men's swimming teams currently in the GMAC, it got me digging for regional teams that could help out.

Currently, the GMAC has four men's and six women's swim teams. Four is way to small for a championship. Six is doable but not preferred. WJ, Urbana, NDC and WVW currently compete in a swimming championship called the Appalachian Swiming Conference, or something like that. If memory serves me correctly, it's a mix of D2 and NAIA schools. All four schools mentioned are MEC schools that currently sponsor both men's and women's teams. Still not clear on WJ status as it was reported at the time of the creation of a football team that swimming was a goner. Have not found anything about that happening as of yet.

It's plausible that all four schools could become associate members in swimming. The inaugural GMAC swimming championship is set for Feb. in Canton, Ohio. It would be a very manageable drive for WJ and WVW and a super short jaunt for NDC and Urbana. I would assume that future championships will most likely be held either in Canton or perhaps Geneva, Ohio, who has a great facility. Any meets further west would require being able to get pool time at either OSU, Toledo, or maybe Miami of Ohio, and they already host a lot of meets so that may be a long shot.

The MEC has a fifth swim school, Fairmont State is in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference. In the announcement by WVWC last year about their move from the BMC to the ASC, it said the MEC was working to have swimming as a sponsored sport and that was part of the reason for the swim conference switch. http://www.wesleyanbobcats.com/sport...20160426kohr88

Of course Tiffin will add to the number of swim teams next year and I still believe there are other options for affiliates. Roberts Wesleyan is a new team this year and travel should not be too bad. Salem International is also in the BMC but beware of them. They have sports that haven't competed in 2 years including a sport that joined a conference for this past school year. I have a feeling both swim conferences will dissolve soon because the primary conferences will start sponsorship. Conference Carolinas schools (like the G-MAC schools) are already in the process of moving out. What are the chances of any other G-MAC school adding swimming?

[UFSwimDad]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

The MEC has a fifth swim school, Fairmont State is in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference. In the announcement by WVWC last year about their move from the BMC to the ASC, it said the MEC was working to have swimming as a sponsored sport and that was part of the reason for the swim conference switch. http://www.wesleyanbobcats.com/sport...20160426kohr88

Of course Tiffin will add to the number of swim teams next year and I still believe there are other options for affiliates. Roberts Wesleyan is a new team this year and travel should not be too bad. Salem International is also in the BMC but beware of them. They have sports that haven't competed in 2 years including a sport that joined a conference for this past school year. I have a feeling both swim conferences will dissolve soon because the primary conferences will start sponsorship. Conference Carolinas schools (like the G-MAC schools) are already in the process of moving out. What are the chances of any other G-MAC school adding swimming?

Would that be five schools for both the men's and women's programs? I wouldn't think you could actually run a conference meet with five. Most schools have six lane pools, the lucky have eight. Championship meets go top 16 or top 24 with top 8 championship finals. I am guessing that with only five the rules will need to be altered. Prob with six also.

Tiffin in 18-19 helps out a lot but we still would need more to have a better conference meet. As for schools adding the sport, I would say it would be a long shot as the trend appears to be cutting swim programs not adding.

[Tech Boys]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Would that be five schools for both the men's and women's programs? I wouldn't think you could actually run a conference meet with five. Most schools have six lane pools, the lucky have eight. Championship meets go top 16 or top 24 with top 8 championship finals. I am guessing that with only five the rules will need to be altered. Prob with six also.

Tiffin in 18-19 helps out a lot but we still would need more to have a better conference meet. As for schools adding the sport, I would say it would be a long shot as the trend appears to be cutting swim programs not adding.

Yes, all five MEC swim schools have men's and women's. The MEC might be working with someone for affiliate status or with at least one current member to add teams. A couple years ago the Northern Sun announced their desire to bring back women's swim as a conference sport and began a coordinated effort with its members to add a team. Three schools added teams to join the four with teams and 2016-17 was the return for NSIC women's swim championship. St. Cloud State is the only NSIC school with a men's team and is a New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference member. If you're not familiar with the NSISC:

Delta State	M	W
Henderson State	M	W
Lindenwood	M	W
Ouachita Baptist	M	W
St. Cloud State	M
Texas-Permian Basin	M	W
West Florida		W

[UFSwimDad]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Yes, all five MEC swim schools have men's and women's. The MEC might be working with someone for affiliate status or with at least one current member to add teams. A couple years ago the Northern Sun announced their desire to bring back women's swim as a conference sport and began a coordinated effort with its members to add a team. Three schools added teams to join the four with teams and 2016-17 was the return for NSIC women's swim championship. St. Cloud State is the only NSIC school with a men's team and is a New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference member. If you're not familiar with the NSISC:

Delta State	M	W
Henderson State	M	W
Lindenwood	M	W
Ouachita Baptist	M	W
St. Cloud State	M
Texas-Permian Basin	M	W
West Florida		W

Very fimilar with the conference and specifically St Cloud as they recruited my daughter. Perhaps this may be the case with the GMAC and I would assume that since it is already sponsored, the call was prob made to all of the other non swimming schools to gauge interest in adding the sport. Have not heard of any schools already in the conference that are actively pursuing adding swimming. Doesn't mean it will not happen. In any case that wouldn't help for this year and prob next season anyway so we circle back to affiliate members or two big guns joining up as full time members

[alumnifan]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

The MEC has a fifth swim school, Fairmont State is in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference. In the announcement by WVWC last year about their move from the BMC to the ASC, it said the MEC was working to have swimming as a sponsored sport and that was part of the reason for the swim conference switch. http://www.wesleyanbobcats.com/sport...20160426kohr88

Conference Carolinas schools (like the G-MAC schools) are already in the process of moving out. What are the chances of any other G-MAC school adding swimming?

Which G-MAC schools are leaving? BTW, AB and KWC started the Football Conference with just those two programs.

[UFSwimDad]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Which G-MAC schools are leaving? BTW, AB and KWC started the Football Conference with just those two programs.

I do not believe he thinks any GMAC schools are leaving. He was stating that some current schools in the Blue Mountaikn swim conference have already left

[alumnifan]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Point being: Conferences form, develop and excell over time. The G-MAC is still a young conference. This upcoming season the conference will mature and some schools may leave, and other schools will join in the future.

[UFSwimDad]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Ok, thanks for that.

[Tech Boys]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Sorry. I was referring to the swim teams leaving their respective swimming-only conferences to compete in their primary conferences.

[alumnifan]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

The Conference officials are on it. This is going to be a great season. Everyone will be upping their game. Cedarville has already produced individual national championships. There are some distinguishing statistics.

KWC has actually added to their athletic department. Wesleyan's full year tuition is around $25,000 a year. Bellarmine charges over $40,000 per year. That is one of the reasons KWC has a budget of over four million and not $14,000,000. That and Wesleyan uses a lot of walk on players in most sports.

A lot of new things will be happening, and just by what I see in how programs as a whole are being branded. Wesleyan has been rebranding. They are getting to work on the minor sports this year.

The entire Conference is branding and the goal is to produce the most scholar athletes that is possible. That is a high priority and hard to achieve.

[UFSwimDad]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

I am sure that is the case but again, it will have zero impact for this season and most likely next. That is why I was speculating.

[UFSwimDad]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

The Conference officials are on it. This is going to be a great season. Everyone will be upping their game. Cedarville has already produced individual national championships. There are some distinguishing statistics.

KWC has actually added to their athletic department. Wesleyan's full year tuition is around $25,000 a year. Bellarmine charges over $40,000 per year. That is one of the reasons KWC has a budget of over four million and not $14,000,000. That and Wesleyan uses a lot of walk on players in most sports.

A lot of new things will be happening, and just by what I see in how programs as a whole are being branded. Wesleyan has been rebranding. They are getting to work on the minor sports this year.

The entire Conference is branding and the goal is to produce the most scholar athletes that is possible. That is a high priority and hard to achieve.

If I were to make a guess on what current GMAC schools would start up swimming, I would think that KWC,perhaps Hillsdale on the men's side as the schools. Perhaps Walsh, ODU and maybe Cedarville but that is all pure speculation.

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

If I were to make a guess on what current GMAC schools would start up swimming, I would think that KWC,perhaps Hillsdale on the men's side as the schools. Perhaps Walsh, ODU and maybe Cedarville but that is all pure speculation.

If I had to guess CU's next sport, I would guess M/W Lax. Its a growing sport and CU has a decent amount of students from NY/NJ/PA/MD (the majority of the CU student population is out-of-state). Also, there is plenty of room for another athletic field and a turf field could be used by the soccer teams when their fields are too wet (such games have been moved to Wright State's turf field on occasion in the past).

Also, CU has no women's golf team. The men's team counterbalances volleyball. I think they add a women's team at some point.

I'd be surprised to see swimming in the near future. There is currently no pool on campus (or really even close to campus).

[UFSwimDad]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

I'd be surprised to see swimming in the near future. There is currently no pool on campus (or really even close to campus).

That is what makes me think few will jump into the sport. That's a lot of money. Unless you have a local pool close by or have the funds and or alumni resources to help off set costs, I wouldn't think many will jump on board he swimming train. Swimming is a sport that gets cut more often than added lately.