Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

[ABjo]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

If ANY football playing school was turned down by the MEC, it was a foolish decision.

Unless they are Alderson Broaddus, correct?

[cneagle99]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

If ANY football playing school was turned down by the MEC, it was a foolish decision.

+1

[BlueBlood]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

If they're were going to switch conferences, I think the OH GLIAC schools were G-MAC all the way. Any MEC inquiries they made were likely only for due diligence purposes.

Don't stress Stealth, pretty sure this works out nicely for you guys in the end.

[Ram Tough]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

Unless they are Alderson Broaddus, correct?

In hindsight, that was foolish as well.

[Ram Tough]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

Really, the most foolish thing was being okay with 12 schools and 4 of them way out on the fringe with no movement a few years ago when the GMAC wasn't rolling yet. It's clear that the leadership in that conference is better than the MEC.

Now, two of those schools are bolting, two more would probably leave in a heartbeat, and the MEC looks very shaky.

One of the worst things you can do as a conference is to stop moving forward, because there's always someone who is hungry to pass you.

[boatcapt]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

In hindsight, that was foolish as well.

Yes hindsight being 20/20 the MEC should have focused on growing as big as they possibly could instead of focusing on quality. Any team with a pulse...take them. See a school in another conference you want...go after them. If you have a weak/failed school and there is a better team...go after them and jettison your own dead wood.

[boatcapt]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

Really, the most foolish thing was being okay with 12 schools and 4 of them way out on the fringe with no movement a few years ago when the GMAC wasn't rolling yet. It's clear that the leadership in that conference is better than the MEC.

Now, two of those schools are bolting, two more would probably leave in a heartbeat, and the MEC looks very shaky.

One of the worst things you can do as a conference is to stop moving forward, because there's always someone who is hungry to pass you.

You make it sound like it's 400 miles to their closest conference mate. It's not, the average distance for these four "fringe" schools to their closest MEC partner was 148 miles. The longest drive is 170 miles between Urbana and Wheeling. I drove almost that distance every day commuting to and from work!!

[Sportsnut]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

Really, the most foolish thing was being okay with 12 schools and 4 of them way out on the fringe with no movement a few years ago when the GMAC wasn't rolling yet. It's clear that the leadership in that conference is better than the MEC.

Now, two of those schools are bolting, two more would probably leave in a heartbeat, and the MEC looks very shaky.

One of the worst things you can do as a conference is to stop moving forward, because there's always someone who is hungry to pass you.

Agree Ram, While our conference guro's sat on their hands and waited for Wheeling Jesuit to start football and not go after any of the Ohio schools we are now in this shape. If we got up to 16 schools we could have started a north and south division. If we had picked up several more Ohio Schools ND and Urbana would not be talking exit too.

[Ram Tough]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

Agree Ram, While our conference guro's sat on their hands and waited for Wheeling Jesuit to start football and not go after any of the Ohio schools we are now in this shape. If we got up to 16 schools we could have started a north and south division. If we had picked up several more Ohio Schools ND and Urbana would not be talking exit too.

North/South or East/West ... And that would also effectively cut down on travel costs as well.

[Ram Tough]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

You make it sound like it's 400 miles to their closest conference mate. It's not, the average distance for these four "fringe" schools to their closest MEC partner was 148 miles. The longest drive is 170 miles between Urbana and Wheeling. I drove almost that distance every day commuting to and from work!!

Get back to me in a few years when West Liberty is trying not to drown after the MEC hits an iceberg.

What happens when the two Ohio schools bail? Try to find two D3 or NAIA schools? Also, when are you going to learn that it is about quantity? Quantity adds stability, which leads to quality. I bet the MEC would take on all comers now.

[boatcapt]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

Get back to me in a few years when West Liberty is trying not to drown after the MEC hits an iceberg.

What happens when the two Ohio schools bail? Try to find two D3 or NAIA schools? Also, when are you going to learn that it is about quantity? Quantity adds stability, which leads to quality. I bet the MEC would take on all comers now.

WLU is not going to drown no matter how much you wish it to be so. After a brief period of decline, WLU's enrolment was back on the rise last year and appears to be headed for similar increases this coming year. Seems to be the popular opinion among SR1 "experts," many of whom are fans of other SR1 conferences, that the MEC is going away. I have a different opinion.

[Ram Tough]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

WLU is not going to drown no matter how much you wish it to be so. After a brief period of decline, WLU's enrolment was back on the rise last year and appears to be headed for similar increases this coming year. Seems to be the popular opinion among SR1 "experts," many of whom are fans of other SR1 conferences, that the MEC is going away. I have a different opinion.

I didn't wish anything bad on WLU. But I do think you've drank a bit too much of Reid's Kool-Aid.

But again, what happens when the two Ohio schools leave? Because we know that they will eventually. It may take a few years, but it will happen. Hell, Urbana may pull a Cheyney.

[boatcapt]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

I didn't wish anything bad on WLU. But I do think you've drank a bit too much of Reid's Kool-Aid.

But again, what happens when the two Ohio schools leave? Because we know that they will eventually. It may take a few years, but it will happen. Hell, Urbana may pull a Cheyney.

The G-MAC has made overtures to NDC and Urbana in the not too distant past and they haven't bitten just as they have made overtures to Ashland and they haven't bitten. Will they in the future? Don't know but if the offer was that enticing, they would have taken it already.

As for Urbana pulling a Cheyney or even a Mansfield, I think you are relying on some outdated information. Urbana was on really shaky financial grounds but seems much more stable since their 2017 inclusion as campus of Franklin University. In fact, I believe they are actually adding athletic programs.

[BlueBlood]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

The G-MAC has made overtures to NDC and Urbana in the not too distant past and they haven't bitten just as they have made overtures to Ashland and they haven't bitten. Will they in the future? Don't know but if the offer was that enticing, they would have taken it already.

As for Urbana pulling a Cheyney or even a Mansfield, I think you are relying on some outdated information. Urbana was on really shaky financial grounds but seems much more stable since their 2017 inclusion as campus of Franklin University. In fact, I believe they are actually adding athletic programs.

As for NDC/Urbana and the G-MAC - I'm not sure you have your order of who is overturing who right. It is well documented that Ashland has a saved/held position in the G-MAC. It is believed that UIndy may have one as well. I've heard no such thing about NDC and Urbana. I have no doubt that the dialogue is open though, as both schools came from the G-MAC and have many ties to the G-MAC schools.

As for Urbana - I agree. You can look at them as either the smallest and most fragile MEC school, or as the largest intuition, one that offers doctorate degrees. Here are my thoughts from a month ago:

Urbana - A lot of people are writing them off as dead. I'm not sure. Maybe they are. Their numbers look horrible. According to the Dept of Education, they have 417 full time students. 258 of those are athletes.

However, Urbana is in the process of adding 3 more sports (wrestling, men's volleyball and acro-tumbling). That is probably another 50 students there. I don't know that adding 50 to 417 really makes a school that much more viable, but it does show that they haven't given up and are trying to make a go of it. Also, although they only have 417 students, they share accreditation with Franklin. Franklin has something like 8000 students. I'm not sure that we should be focusing on Urbana as Urbana. Its possible that Franklin is keeping the sports not for Urbana's sake, but for their own. Despite the size of the university, Franklin doesn't have athletics. It will not surprise me if the Urbana Blue Knights at some point become the Franklin Blue Knights. With the Franklin takeover, Urbana ridded itself of accreditation issues. And, Franklin may have found a way to add a fully functional NCAA D2 athletics department without having to go through the tedious, costly and lengthy NAIA/NCAA application process. It would probably take a decade to go from nothing to a fully functioning D2 program. In PA, UPhilly and Jefferson University just did something similar. The UPhilly Rams are now the Jefferson University Rams. So all that to say - the reports of the Blue Knights sure death may be accurate - or maybe they aren't at all. Maybe they are just waitin' on a sunny day.

[BlueBlood]

Re: Derek Redd reports Shepherd is leaving the MEC after next year

Following up on my NDC / Urbana thoughts. I do truly think they will both be G-MAC someday. That being said, it might not be now. Both NDC / Urbana and the G-MAC are fine right now. The G-MAC has enough schools (and enough football schools), NDC and Urbana are members of a functioning and not-too-distant conference. As long as status quo remains, I don't know that either feels rushed to make a move. Status quo may last a few years, or a week.....I have no idea.