History Lesson from Mr. SEC
After reading a rather informative post from Mr.SEC I wondered if this whole college realignment would unravel and refocus geographical alliance.
Any way here is the reading material for tomorrows test.
"In 1894, a chemistry professor at Vanderbilt helped found an organization called the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. That forerunner of the modern conference began with seven member institutions — Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Sewanee, and Vandy. A year later, Clemson, Cumberland, Kentucky, LSU, Mercer, Mississippi State (then known as Mississippi A&M), Ole Miss, the University of Nashville, Rhodes College (then known as Southwestern Presbyterian), Tennessee, Texas, and Tulane joined in on the fun.
By 1921, the SIAA had grown into a 30-school monstrosity. So 14 of those SIAA schools met in Atlanta on February 21st of that year to discuss setting up a new, smaller conference. Part of the reason — schools wanted to play their conference rivals more often, which was impossible in a 30-team league. Also, the SIAA’s presidents couldn’t agree on freshman eligibility or whether or not athletes should be allowed to make money playing summer baseball. (Re-read Reason #1 above.)
In the fall of ’21, the Southern Conference kicked off on the football field with 14 members (Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina, NC State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee). But once again, school leaders voted again and again to expand. By 1928, the Southern Conference was up to 23 members, including Duke, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Sewanee, South Carolina, Tulane, Vanderbilt, and the Virginia Military Institute.
Wanna guess what happened next? Yep, in 1932, at a meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee, 13 Southern Conference schools announced they would be leaving to form a smaller conference. The 13-school Southeastern Conference was born. Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Sewanee, Tennessee, Tulane, and Vanderbilt were the original members. By 1966, Georgia Tech, Sewanee, and Tulane had left, leaving a 10-team SEC in play until 1992.
As the SEC put down roots, the enormous Southern Conference continued to shed schools like a tree losing its leaves. Seven members left in 1936. Then the eight-team ACC was formed from former SoCon schools in 1953. That split was precipitated by a debate over whether Southern Conference schools should lift a ban on postseason play. (Did we mention Reason #1 above?)
You see, many of the same schools expected to end up in a super-conference by 2014 or 2015 have already experienced life in such enormous amalgamations. No one at those institutions seems to remember that because those primordial behemoths were relatively short-lived. Schools would form conferences. Those conferences would grow. Internal rifts would form. Schools would break away to form smaller leagues.
Life is easier when you’re partnered with a smaller group of like-minded people. And today’s presidents will eventually learn that lesson just as their predecessors learned it between 1894 and 1953.
So if you don’t like the idea of 16-, 18-, and 20-team conferences, just be patient. For as surely as we’re about to see a few of those super-conferences emerge, we’re just as sure to someday see them break apart again.
You’ve now seen the reasons why we believe that will happen. Here’s guessing philosopher George Santayana would ask you to pay special attention to Reason #4 on our list. After all, it was Santayana who wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
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