Southland exodus impact

[texas observer]

No it was not a mistake just bad timing beyond the institutions control. Who knows about 2025, who knows about next week. If Tarleton get its FBS fantasy invite then your in the WAC unless they have more suspects stashed out west in a state not called Utah.

[JakeTAMUC]

Bad timing is a mistake. You got commerce in the wac already? Also bad timing.707

[Herb Street]

[We-Are-Lions]

[We-Are-Lions]

By this logic all the current D2 teams should just drop, and stop funding anything with a scholarship. I disagree, and I think this line of thinking shortchanges how much athletics acts as a means of marketing for a given university.

But if you consider this purely from finances D1 also offers a means of qualifying for March Madness. Before ACU moved on from the LSC how many people in the greater public knew about their basketball team? After they upset Texas that alone justified their move up.

[Herb Street]

By this logic all the current D2 teams should just drop, and stop funding anything with a scholarship. I disagree, and I think this line of thinking shortchanges how much athletics acts as a means of marketing for a given university.

But if you consider this purely from finances D1 also offers a means of qualifying for March Madness. Before ACU moved on from the LSC how many people in the greater public knew about their basketball team? After they upset Texas that alone justified their move up.

[JakeTAMUC]

That win translates to about $3.2 million extra for the conference over 5 years from the ncaa tournament money pool.

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

It will not be that immediate but I can tell you from the TAMUCC point of view. They were a D1 independent until 2006 when they were admitted to the Southland Conference. Their first year they won the Southland and also beat #2 seed Wisconsin in the first round where they lead by as much as 20 points. During that whole broadcast they advertised TAMUCC as the only campus in the US on its own island and repeatedly showed the University with beaches, palm trees, etc. and advertised their degree programs. After that they started to get recruits to visit that they wouldn't normally have access to and the enrollment jumped significantly over the next couple of years. Unfortunately that coach left for the South Alabama job when that team was a mid major power and they weren't able to build on anything long term. Point is TAMUCC benefitted tremendously from the free exposure and advertising in front of a national audience. Florida-Gulf Coast did as well a few years later when they made their sweet 16 run. Now that New Mexico State is leaving ACU will have a free path to the WAC championship to continue their success. There is no way in hades you get the same national exposure and free advertising in D2. In fact and I could be wrong I dont recall 1 or 2 ads even at that about WT when the WT/NWMSU national championship game happened earlier this year and if they were it would have only been limited to a small audience that tuned in to the CSN network to watch that game.

[Wildcat Khan]

Would you also have said that about Gonzaga in 1999? That was their first appearance in the tournament since 1995 and only 2nd ever. After it they had their coach leave I believe for Minnesota. They easily could have fallen back down, but we all know what happened for this "low mid-major".

I won't say that ACU is going on this kind of rise, but to say their tournament win means nothing just months after it needs a counter argument with a bit of weight. If they can keep their coach and build a culture around it they can likely become a team that is battling for the 2nd weekend in a few years like the top teams in the MVC.

[JavsFan]

That win translates to about $3.2 million extra for the conference over 5 years from the ncaa tournament money pool.

For the conference. So that $$$ goes to the Southland? current members only, or do former members still share?

[JakeTAMUC]

For the conference. So that $$$ goes to the Southland? current members only, or do former members still share?

Yes, the conference gets one share per game played per team. So ACU playing in 2 games got the Conference 2 shares from the pool that year, worth right around 300K per year/per share. Those shares are paid yearly for 5 years by the NCAA to the conferences. Probably it will be whatever teams are in the conference when the check comes will get their piece of that years pie.

[nobody special]

It will take a minute to see the impact of a win like ACU had.

Here is where a big win like ACU's comes into play. (1) A rich guy who is an ACU alum works at a firm where UT alums work and run their mouths about their team's success finally gets to shut the 'Horns fans up. Then he decides to send a fat check to ACU athletics because he (they) is a winner. (2) A high school kid who is not a UT level player, but is heavily looked at by ACU and other schools at that level talks to prospective recruiters. The ACU recruiter says "come to ACU and we can compete with the big boys, who else at our level can do that?" Kid understands this logic and commits to ACU.

I have seen both of these happen in the last 9 months.

Money and talent do not show up overnight. But given time, it matters.

[texas observer]

If the P5 moves to have their own organization and championships then there will be certainly be a significant recalculation of institutional direction regarding athletic programs. March Madness is seen as a great opportunity for smaller D1 or BBall only schools to have some "brief shining moment" but the big boys and girls are seeing it as a brief pain in the....Ask Shaka Smart in Milwaukee.
I guess Herb has a different answer to the question offered by JFK many years ago "Why does Texas play Rice?"
"Why does Florida State play Jacksonville St?"
"Why does SFA play Duke"
"Why does North Carolina AT@T run track against anybody in the country?"
Because they can.

[Techster88]

I think the ship just set sail while you were down at the bus stop. You cannot transition to D1 if there isn't a Conference. Right now the conference is on borrowed time. The only positive I see right now is that the invitation came when it was a viable conference. Will there be a Southland Conference four years from now? Can you continue in transition without a sponsor Conference?

This is what's left UNO who wants to play D3 and no Football, Nicholls hanging on by a thread financially, TAMUCC no football, SE La, and NW State and Houston Baptist. I'll bet schools are chomping at the bit to join this.

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

I think the ship just set sail while you were down at the bus stop. You cannot transition to D1 if there isn't a Conference. Right now the conference is on borrowed time. The only positive I see right now is that the invitation came when it was a viable conference. Will there be a Southland Conference four years from now? Can you continue in transition without a sponsor Conference?

This is what's left UNO who wants to play D3 and no Football, Nicholls hanging on by a thread financially, TAMUCC no football, SE La, and NW State and Houston Baptist. I'll bet schools are chomping at the bit to join this.

Is this still True? TAMUCC played as a Provisional D1 from 1999-2004, Gained full D1 status as an independent in 2004, and then joined the Southland in 2006.