UNCP Joins Conference Carolina's for all sports except Football.

[Eagle74]

UNCP Joins Conference Carolina's for all sports except Football.

A lot of changes going on.

https://www.fayobserver.com/sports/2...ence-carolinas

On a side note, there's a growing number of Conference Carolinas schools now with football programs.

[ctrabs74]

UNCP Joins Conference Carolina's for all sports except Football.

A lot of changes going on.

https://www.fayobserver.com/sports/2...ence-carolinas

On a side note, there's a growing number of Conference Carolinas schools now with football programs.

UNCP is slated to start their first season in the MEC this season. I wonder how long that's going to last if/when ConCar has enough members to launch their own football conference and I wonder what the impact would be on the SAC (Limestone) - and to a lesser extent, the GSC (North Greenville).

[Tech Boys]

UNCP is slated to start their first season in the MEC this season. I wonder how long that's going to last if/when ConCar has enough members to launch their own football conference and I wonder what the impact would be on the SAC (Limestone) - and to a lesser extent, the GSC (North Greenville).

Probably no impact on the SAC since Limestone will become a full SAC member this summer. Barton College does have a scheduling agreement with the SAC for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

[ctrabs74]

Probably no impact on the SAC since Limestone will become a full SAC member this summer. Barton College does have a scheduling agreement with the SAC for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

I guess this shows how much I've been paying attention because I didn't realize Limestone was about to become a full SAC member this summer.

[Eagle74]

I guess this shows how much I've been paying attention because I didn't realize Limestone was about to become a full SAC member this summer.

That could easily change.

It also wouldn't be a total shock to see Newberry also jumping on board to be with it's neighboring South Carolina schools, Wingate making a move also wouldn't come as a big surprise.

[LegalRam]

Makes sense for UNCP, a lot more than their Peach Belt membership and this hybrid MEC affiliation. So I guess this means that UNCP is dropping the other associate memberships that they have with MEC?

Very smart move for the Conference Carolinas as well. Adding two public schools was a wise decision as you would think they should be fairly stable.

Personally I don't think any SAC school would leave for the CC, so I'm not sure if the conference will be sponsoring football anytime soon. However, Frances Marion and Mount Olive are two schools that I think could sponsor football if they made the decision.

[Tech Boys]

UNCP swim & dive, indoor track & field, and wrestling will move from MEC to CC with football staying in MEC. In the Southeast Region, CC grows to 13 members, SAC will have 13 members when Limestone joins, and PBC drops to 10 members. Yes, it may still be some time before CC adds football but they will need only 1 more team after UNCP joins.

I don't see schools leaving SAC due to travel concerns, It is also currently the only one of the three conferences in the Southeast Region to sponsor football. In the Limestone press conference announcing their conference change, it was said that missed class time would be much less as compared to what it is in CC. The Limestone addition gives SAC 4 SC schools, 5 NC schools, and 4 TN/VA schools. Also during the press conference from April 2019, it was said that the goal was to have 14 SAC members in 2 or 3 years and eventually have 16 SAC members in 4 or 6 years.

Limestone-SAC press conference:

[ctrabs74]

Makes sense for UNCP, a lot more than their Peach Belt membership and this hybrid MEC affiliation. So I guess this means that UNCP is dropping the other associate memberships that they have with MEC?

From UNCP's press release:

Fifteen of UNCP's 16 varsity sports will compete in Conference Carolinas, while the football team will retain its status as an associate member of the Mountain East Conference.

That leads me to believe that, other than football, UNCP's affiliate membership with the MEC will end once they join ConfCar, since the four other sports in which UNCP had MEC affiliation besides football - men's indoor track, women's indoor track, swimming and wrestling - are CC sponsored sports.

Very smart move for the Conference Carolinas as well. Adding two public schools was a wise decision as you would think they should be fairly stable.

I didn't realize that Francis Marion was a state-school in South Carolina until I googled it. Learn something new every day. That said, I don't think too many of us ever thought we'd see either ConfCar or the SAC (with the addition of Virginia-Wise) accept public schools.

Personally I don't think any SAC school would leave for the CC, so I'm not sure if the conference will be sponsoring football anytime soon. However, Frances Marion and Mount Olive are two schools that I think could sponsor football if they made the decision.

Two things to watch: (1) The upcoming additions of football at Barton and Erskine brings to five current or future ConfCar members - Barton (SAC schedule alliance), Chowan (CIAA), Erskine (Independent), UNC Pembroke (MEC) and North Greenville (GSC); this does not factor in Limestone, a current CC member who joins the SAC on July 1 - and (2) if, as you suggest, Francis Marion and/or Mount Olive start football, then you could see ConfCar look into sponsoring football. With five sponsoring schools, the league just needs one more member to launch a football league of their own, though ideally, eight schools would be an ideal number for a proposed ConfCar football league.

The relevant items from the D2 Manual:

***
3.4.3.3.3 Sports Sponsorship Requirement. A voting member conference shall conduct conference competition in at least five sports for men and five sports for women, or four sports for men and six sports for women. For a sport to count toward the minimum sports sponsorship requirement, the following criteria must be satisfied: (Adopted: 7/23/13)
(a) The conference must conduct a conference championship (e.g., round robin or tournament play) and name a conference champion in the sport;
(b) In team sports only, the conference must conduct regular-season competition among the conference members sponsoring the sport; and
(c) At least six active conference member institutions must sponsor and compete in the sport.

3.4.3.3.3.1 Three-Season Requirement. A voting member conference shall conduct competition in at least one sport for men in each season and at least one sport for women in each season. (Adopted: 7/23/13)
3.4.3.3.3.2 Minimum Contests/Minimum Participant Requirements. An institution must satisfy the minimum contest and minimum participant requirements set forth in Bylaw 20.10.3.3 in a given sport in order for that sport to be considered when determining whether the conference has six member institutions that sponsor and compete in that sport. (Adopted: 7/23/13)
3.4.3.3.3.3 Conference Member in Selected Sports. An active member institution that is a member of a voting conference in only selected sports (e.g., an affiliated conference member only in football) may not be considered when determining whether the conference has six member institutions that sponsor and compete in the sport. (Adopted: 7/23/13)3.4.3.3.4 Football Issues.
3.4.3.3.5 Grace Period.
***

I think you're going to see a lot more movement within D2 conferences in the Southeast Region and SR 2 in the near future.