(05-07-2017 05:51 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(05-06-2017 10:14 PM)AZcats Wrote:  

(05-01-2017 07:56 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  Schools come and gone. I like to see Langston back into the SWAC again which they were the co-founders of. The founders of SWAC are all in the NAIA right now. None of the schools there now are not.

I do see some potentials for Oklahoma City U. rejoin the D1 ranks. They did not do bad at D1. The payouts for men's basketball in the tournaments are much more now than it was back in the 1970s and 80s when OKCU were D1. They might have been a potential MVC target today if they have stayed. I do see them as a better GAC member than Southern Nazarene or a NW Oklahoma State.

But with the NW Oklahoma State, Central Oklahoma and others to form an all Oklahoma conference in the future? Great American Conference is the goal for those schools? It would put them over 14 if you include Rogers State and Cameron without football and UAFS without football. It seems there is a hint that some of the Lonestar and GAC schools might be moving to D1. The likely targets could be Central Oklahoma, Arkansas Tech, Harding, Henderson State, Commerce, Kingsville, West Texas A&M, Tarleton State and maybe for a non-football schools like Rogers State (Tulsa area), Cameron (Lawton) and UAFS (Fort Smith) could be logical Summit League members. In the future, I think Oklahoma Baptist could be a target for a D1 conference invite.

Langston was not a SWAC co-founder, they joined 11 years later in 1931. Prairie View is a founder and still in the conference so not all founders are now NAIA.

Oklahoma City U will not be invited to the GAC since they are very noticeably missing one of the 7 required sports (football); although it would be nice to see them in the Heartland. A new OIC is not going to happen for many reasons. Southern Nazarene and Northwestern Oklahoma State have been good adds to the GAC in their now 3 and 2 years as full members. SNU already has multiple NCAA postseason appearances.

No Arkansas or Oklahoma D2 school is going D1. The Oklahoma schools are having to make cuts and obviously do not have the necessary funding to make a move that would result in no real financial benefit. Arkansas schools don't really have the funding either and there is also no real financial benefit to go along with a major lack of support since the state is already over-saturated with D1 schools.

(05-01-2017 08:59 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  If the GNAC wants football or members? I think the public schools in the Cascade Conference might be able to make a move. I read an news article that Southern Oregon made a new record for enrollment of over 8000 students enrolled at the same time for last fall. Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon, Oregon Tech and Evergreen State College might be able to join the GNAC. GNAC is mainly made up of Oregon, Washington, one Canada and one Idaho school. Playing football at Western Oregon, Central Washington, and Vancouver could be cheaper. College of Idaho could step up there as well for a travel partner for Northwest Nazarene.

Oregon:
Eastern Oregon
Southern Oregon
Western Oregon
Oregon Tech - X
Concordia-Portland

Idaho:
College of Idaho
NW Nazarene
Lewis And Clark State - X

Alaska:
Alaska
Alaska-Anchorage

Washington:
Central Washington
Saint Martin's
Seattle Pacific
Western Washington
Evergreen State - X

Simon Fraser

Montana:
Montana State-Billings
Carroll College

Football affiliates:
Azusa Pacific
Humboldt State

Soccer:
Mary (North Dakota)


I could see the California public schools moving with the public schools in D2.

Cal.-Merced D2 over 7000 students in the fall of 2016. They are around the size of North Alabama that is moving to D1. - Not eligible: not enough sports
California Maritime D3 - Not eligible: not enough sports
Johnson and Wales-North Miami shows over 16,000 students, but that is all campuses combined. - With soon-to-be 2 JWU campuses in D3, likely no desire for D2
St. Thomas in Florida over 4000 might find a place in D2. They would be bigger than some D1 schools right now.
Southeastern might find a spot in D2.
College of Coastal Georgia, Georgia Gwinnett (close to 12,000 students in 2016) - Not eligible: not enough sports
Dalton State - Not eligible: no women's winter sport; also dropping 4 sports
Middle Georgia State
Roosevelt - non-football
Indiana Tech 9652 - non-football
Indiana U. East - non-football
Indiana U. Kokomo - non-football
Indiana U. Northwest - non-football
Indiana U. South Bend 8000 + - non-football
Indiana U. Southeast - non-football
LSU-Shreveport - Not eligible: not enough sports
Loyola-New Orleans
Lawrence Tech
Michigan-Dearborn over 9000 students. - non-football
Missouri Baptist
Bellevue - Not eligible: not enough sports
Northwestern Ohio - non-football
Shawnee State - non-football
Bethel, Tenn.
Houston-Victoria - Not eligible: not enough sports


Those are large enrollment that is actually more than severa; D2 and several D1 schools.

The GNAC does not need members, they need football members so scratch the non-football schools. The footprint of the Cascade/Frontier Conferences is very comparable to the GNAC (excluding Alaska).

Trimming the list to what is realistic. The Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio non-football schools chances are extremely slim with no non-football conferences in the area (Lawrence Tech is adding football). D2 requires 10 total sports with no less than 4 sports for one gender and each gender must be represented by 1 sport in the fall, winter, and spring seasons. Many factors contribute to decide the level a school competes at but enrollment does not determine the division and town population is definitely irrelevant.

Many of these schools I listed also showed that they could be adding sports. LAX have been added by many schools lately.

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/...42554.html
UC-Merced pour more than a billion dollars into the community with their growth. They are making room for more students and staff. More sports could be added to help grow the economy more for the city. This school could be a possible D2 candidate in the future. I did not mean for the schools to be added today even though several of them could make the move.

http://www.kesq.com/sports/copper-mounta...s/87489333

Copper Mountain College propose adding athletics. Could be one of the schools that Teamvsn mentioned.

http://thegrowthblog.blogspot.com/

That website shows how many colleges and universities adding LAX.

Coastal Georgia College seems to have a future which means athletics as well.

http://www.ccga.edu/page.cfm?p=534&newsid=162

Read the last paragraph. It seems cryptic to me. Why go to the length of mentioning football as something about what the future of the school could be? It sounds like they want to be the next Kennesaw State.

http://www.ajc.com/news/local/yes-georgi...zbZjt0EVJ/

Georgia Gwinnett College could be adding more sports in the next several years. Even football have not been ruled out. Pretty good for a school that opened in 2005, and added sports in 2013-14 school year, and won 2 national titles in baseball. This is the school I could see move to D2 not too far in the future.

Central Oklahoma and Arkansas Tech are much better position to go to D1 than the other schools that they are with. I think Central Oklahoma is number 3 in the state of Oklahoma in population wise of students enrolled. They are in an area that they could schedule Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa. Might be a body bag games for a first few years, but they would get a bigger paycheck that is worth it. Plus, if you add Oral Roberts, Wichita State, Arkansas and Missouri State? They could be close competition as well. Plus the schools in the Dallas area would be okay as well.

I'm not going to take a chance on a school based on what they "MIGHT" do in the future, I'm only taking a chance on a school based on what they have today. When the school makes the additions to meet the qualifications then they can be put in place for consideration. Auburn-Montgomery was supposed to start women's volleyball in fall '16 but it did not happen. The addition of that sport is what helped them to be accepted by D2 so it's lucky that AUM had already met D2 requirements and not been accepted with only nine sports sponsored. Copper Mountain College is a 2-year school so they will not be a possibility for NCAA or NAIA since neither group accepts 2-year schools as members.

You can forget about Arkansas Tech in D1. Arkansas is to small of a state to have a 6th D1 team with 4 of them located on a short 120 mile drive. ATU gets good support; just not enough for D1. I want Tech to add sports to improve GAC competition but D1 would require up to 6 sports to be added to satisfy D1 and Title IX needs. I don't say this based on what I think, hearsay, or obscure and irrelevant articles; I can say this factually because I am a Wonder Boy and T Club member. I have also been a part of some conference membership discussions during the last 35 years. The state of Oklahoma has budget issues and there is no way Central Oklahoma could compete in D1 being completely shadowed by Oklahoma and Oklahoma State regardless of how many students UCO has.