https://victorysportsnetwork.com/2024/03...ly-1-2024/

Member Institutions (through 2023-2024)
Dillard University..................................................................New Orleans, LA
Fisk University........................................................................Nashville, TN
Oakwood University..........................................................Huntsville, AL
Philander Smith University..........................................Little Rock, AR
Rust College.............................................................................Holly Springs, MS
Southern University at New Orleans....................New Orleans, LA
Talladega College.................................................................Talladega, AL
Tougaloo College..................................................................Tougaloo, MS
University of the Virgin Islands.................................St. Thomas, VI
Wiley College...........................................................................Marshall, TX
Member Additions Beginning July 1, 2024
Stillman College.....................................................................Tuscaloosa, AL
Voorhees University...........................................................Denmark, SC
Wilberforce University.....................................................Wilberforce, OH

My first thought is that this conference will automatically, without optimization, appear at the top of search results for "HBCU conference". It's almost cheating LOL

Ironically, former member Spring Hill College (Mobile, AL) competes in the SIAC in NCAA Division II despite not being a HBCU.

Decades back, Philander Smith and Wilberforce were in the same conference as some of D-I’s biggest HBCU names today.

Wilberforce was once an HBCU football power.

Well, I guess there is no more guessing as to which of those little NAIA conferences is the HBCU league anymore. They kindly decided to just put it in the name.

I'm just wondering if this move could trigger a lawsuit by other HBCU institutions not part of this league.

(03-11-2024 09:27 AM)rtist Wrote:  I'm just wondering if this move could trigger a lawsuit by other HBCU institutions not part of this league.

Well, SUNO is part of the SUS system, the flagship of which is Southern University - Baton Rouge, a member of the SWAC conference so that would be interesting.

IMO it is unlikely that the SWAC or MEAC schools are going to care. They represent all of the top brands in the HBCU universe and everyone who cares about it knows that, I think.

But we'll see.

These are some very small schools here:

SUNO: 2,200
Oakwood: 1,200
Dillard: 1,100
Talladega: 1,000
Fisk: 875
Virgin Islands: 875
Stillman: 636
Philander Smith: 600
Wiley: 584
Tougaloo: 527
Rust: 460
Voorhees: 350
Wilberforce: 381

Didn’t know Wiley was in this league. 2-3 generations ago, Wiley was in the SWAC and would play one game at the Cotton Bowl each year. Wiley and Bishop were SWAC crosstown rivals in Marshall, TX — right by the Louisiana border. Bishop went defunct.

(03-11-2024 09:37 AM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  These are some very small schools here:

SUNO: 2,200
Oakwood: 1,200
Dillard: 1,100
Talladega: 1,000
Fisk: 875
Virgin Islands: 875
Stillman: 636
Philander Smith: 600
Wiley: 584
Tougaloo: 527
Rust: 460
Voorhees: 350
Wilberforce: 381

How do schools this tiny stay in operation?

(03-11-2024 10:55 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(03-11-2024 09:37 AM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  These are some very small schools here:

SUNO: 2,200
Oakwood: 1,200
Dillard: 1,100
Talladega: 1,000
Fisk: 875
Virgin Islands: 875
Stillman: 636
Philander Smith: 600
Wiley: 584
Tougaloo: 527
Rust: 460
Voorhees: 350
Wilberforce: 381

How do schools this tiny stay in operation?

I went to a well run school of about 1,000 and it was solid. But many small private schools today can only stay in operation by underpaying and overworking adjuncts who would otherwise be full time professors.

University of Virgin Islands would be a fun conference trip. Even in January it's usually in the 70s/80s

(03-11-2024 12:21 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  University of Virgin Islands would be a fun conference trip. Even in January it's usually in the 70s/80s

I wonder if the flat-earther from Texas Tech would get super excited to go to the "Virgin Islands"? I bet he would.

The Fisk enrollment is now about 1,000 students, with the university on very solid financial ground and a strong new president.

There goes a good name for my SWAC-MEAC merger Super Conference idea.

The GCAC wasn't actually an HBCU conference until 2010.

Small schools stay in business the same way small businesses do. It’s really not a complicated thing.

(03-11-2024 12:16 PM)Soobahk40050 Wrote:  

(03-11-2024 10:55 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(03-11-2024 09:37 AM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  These are some very small schools here:

SUNO: 2,200
Oakwood: 1,200
Dillard: 1,100
Talladega: 1,000
Fisk: 875
Virgin Islands: 875
Stillman: 636
Philander Smith: 600
Wiley: 584
Tougaloo: 527
Rust: 460
Voorhees: 350
Wilberforce: 381

How do schools this tiny stay in operation?

I went to a well run school of about 1,000 and it was solid. But many small private schools today can only stay in operation by underpaying and overworking adjuncts who would otherwise be full time professors.

Same with many big schools though. Small schools don’t have lecture halls for hundreds of people or grad students teaching a lot of the freshman/sophomore level classes.

A small school might be broke or incredibly wealthy. It just depends.