Missouri State leaving MVC for CUSA

[mvfcfan]

There was no lag. Wichita announced they were leaving on April 7, 2017 for the 2017-18 academic year.

Valpo was invited May 9, 2017 for the 2017-18 academic year and accepted on May 25th. They joined July 1, 36 days after they accepted.

The publics all wanted Murray, led by MSU, IlSU and UNI but the privates got SIU to flip and we ended up with Valpo if memory serves.

From what I have been told, that is not entirely accurate. SIU was always a hard no for Murray, as was Loyola and "one of the Iowa" schools. The assumption there was it was Drake. UE's AD was very public about our support for Murray.

It isn't a coincidence that once Loyola's vote was replaced with Belmont's that Murray got in.

I had heard the Drake President was a hard no on Murray St in 2017, so that lines up there. Fortunately, he must’ve changed his mind come 2021. Also, Bradley’s president then supposedly joined him in opposition, but fortunately BU upgraded presidents in time for the next expansion cycle.

Another factor was Deborah Curtis hadn’t assumed office at Indiana St yet. As wildly controversial as she is there, she was massively pro-Murray, to the point she traveled to Murray for their MVFC press conference. The Deborah Curtis factor wasn’t there in 2017.

I'm not a fan of Deborah Curtis, but if true I'll have to give her credit where credit is due when it comes to getting Murray State in the conference.

When it comes to replacing Missouri State, selfishly the only thing I want at this point is someone regional that's close enough for me to travel to for an away game. I suppose Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Fort Wayne would be my top 5 choices. I suppose NKU is the only realistic choice, so yeah give me them. The MVC has pretty well solidified itself as a one bid league so I'm not going to be too picky at this point. Just don't make it a one bid league that involves flying the volleyball team to Dallas or Minneapolis.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Should've stayed at 9 for a year and given it time to breathe.

Even though the outcome of missing out on Ja Morant and Murray’s 2019 and 2022 teams sucked, the month leading up to the 2017 expansion was a ton of fun. We had a thread well beyond 100+ pages.

[BCPanther]

I'm not a fan of Deborah Curtis, but if true I'll have to give her credit where credit is due when it comes to getting Murray State in the conference.

When it comes to replacing Missouri State, selfishly the only thing I want at this point is someone regional that's close enough for me to travel to for an away game. I suppose Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Fort Wayne would be my top 5 choices. I suppose NKU is the only realistic choice, so yeah give me them. The MVC has pretty well solidified itself as a one bid league so I'm not going to be too picky at this point. Just don't make it a one bid league that involves flying the volleyball team to Dallas or Minneapolis.

But no big deal if Drake and UNI have to fly their volleyball teams to Cincinnati, right....

I'm lukewarm at best on St Thomas but I'd almost prefer them or someone that everybody has to fly to. Don't love the imbalance of Drake and UNI having to spend way more on travel than the rest of the league...

[Aces44]

I'm not a fan of Deborah Curtis, but if true I'll have to give her credit where credit is due when it comes to getting Murray State in the conference.

When it comes to replacing Missouri State, selfishly the only thing I want at this point is someone regional that's close enough for me to travel to for an away game. I suppose Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Fort Wayne would be my top 5 choices. I suppose NKU is the only realistic choice, so yeah give me them. The MVC has pretty well solidified itself as a one bid league so I'm not going to be too picky at this point. Just don't make it a one bid league that involves flying the volleyball team to Dallas or Minneapolis.

But no big deal if Drake and UNI have to fly their volleyball teams to Cincinnati, right....

I'm lukewarm at best on St Thomas but I'd almost prefer them or someone that everybody has to fly to. Don't love the imbalance of Drake and UNI having to spend way more on travel than the rest of the league...

Didn’t you say the NDSU and SDSU were too far to travel to?
If there were better options to keep StL in the middle, everyone would be talking about them.

[BCPanther]

I'm not a fan of Deborah Curtis, but if true I'll have to give her credit where credit is due when it comes to getting Murray State in the conference.

When it comes to replacing Missouri State, selfishly the only thing I want at this point is someone regional that's close enough for me to travel to for an away game. I suppose Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Fort Wayne would be my top 5 choices. I suppose NKU is the only realistic choice, so yeah give me them. The MVC has pretty well solidified itself as a one bid league so I'm not going to be too picky at this point. Just don't make it a one bid league that involves flying the volleyball team to Dallas or Minneapolis.

But no big deal if Drake and UNI have to fly their volleyball teams to Cincinnati, right....

I'm lukewarm at best on St Thomas but I'd almost prefer them or someone that everybody has to fly to. Don't love the imbalance of Drake and UNI having to spend way more on travel than the rest of the league...

Didn’t you say the NDSU and SDSU were too far to travel to?
If there were better options to keep StL in the middle, everyone would be talking about them.

Hard no on the Dakotas. Agree completely.

I've been #TeamArlington for a while. Great building, big metro, easy in and out with a major airport.

It's going to be NKU and that's fine. Just pointing out the travel differences. That's life and the world will keep right on spinning.

[TylerDurden]

Coach left in 16. Join was in 17. This is common knowledge. Terms were agreed upon in early 2016. Coach left in mid 2016. I don't understand how this is so difficult to grasp. The conversation didn't go "Hey we want you. Can you start tomorrow? Like most conference announcements. There was a year after terms were agreed upon where the teams stayed in the league. MSU is still in the conference for the 24-25 season. This is how all conference realignments go. USC UCLA was announced 2 years ago. Did they play in the B10 last year? The only time that this wasn't the case was when Washington and Oregon agreed to join the B10 last year for the upcoming season, but a conference imploding due to a bad TV deal is a completely different circumstance to typical conference realignment.

Has Valpo made good on their promises, no. While the old admins are to blame for kicking the rock of athletics further down the line, once the MVC join was final, plans were put in place to amend the issue. However, a multitude of circumstances hit the University( either of their own volition or not) which prevented further athletic investments. To my knowledge, this is the only time in recent years where VU staff have openly stated( and put time and money investing) in overall athletic improvements. There are early renderings, but those were only shown to a private group of investors and wealthy alum as confirmed by staff members on the VU forum. Could the project not happen, sure like any project still in development, it could not happen. Should you immediately discount the effort as nonexistent and press fluff. No, that is called being a pessimist.

It's not at all hard to grasp, which is why I'll keep pointing out your revisionist history until you stop posting it.

Bryce Drew left Valpo following the 2015-16 season. Valpo played another full season (16-17) in the Horizon before they joined the MVC in 17-18. That's not the same year and you should know as well as everyone here that academic years aren't the same as calendar years.

If there was an agreement in 2016 as you claim (there wasn't, to be clear), Valpo had time to give appropriate notice to the Horizon League and avoid paying the league's exit fee.

That notice did not happen and the Horizon League sued them when they did not pay in the appropriate time period. A simple, one-page letter from the Valpo legal team could have avoided the entire exit fee litigation fiasco. But that letter wasn't sent because Valpo and the MVC didn't have an agreement in 2016 like you keep posting.

I respect that you will defend Valpo until the end. That sort of thing is what makes college sports fun - at least sometimes. But there are people on this board who have very real connections at the league office and at the schools who know what happened in 2017. It didn't happen how you think it happened.

[Campbellproud]

I'll believe that there is going to be a new facility at Valpo when I see it under construction. Until then, I'll believe it was one of several fabrications they presented to get them in the league.

We can play the blame game all we want and you can pretend that your coach left the same year they joined (he didn't, we've been over this), but the fact remains that Valpo hasn't made good on any promises it made when they were added.

It was a mistake and we all have to live with it now.

Coach left in 16. Join was in 17. This is common knowledge. Terms were agreed upon in early 2016. Coach left in mid 2016. I don't understand how this is so difficult to grasp. The conversation didn't go "Hey we want you. Can you start tomorrow? Like most conference announcements. There was a year after terms were agreed upon where the teams stayed in the league. MSU is still in the conference for the 24-25 season. This is how all conference realignments go. USC UCLA was announced 2 years ago. Did they play in the B10 last year? The only time that this wasn't the case was when Washington and Oregon agreed to join the B10 last year for the upcoming season, but a conference imploding due to a bad TV deal is a completely different circumstance to typical conference realignment.

Has Valpo made good on their promises, no. While the old admins are to blame for kicking the rock of athletics further down the line, once the MVC join was final, plans were put in place to amend the issue. However, a multitude of circumstances hit the University( either of their own volition or not) which prevented further athletic investments. To my knowledge, this is the only time in recent years where VU staff have openly stated( and put time and money investing) in overall athletic improvements. There are early renderings, but those were only shown to a private group of investors and wealthy alum as confirmed by staff members on the VU forum. Could the project not happen, sure like any project still in development, it could not happen. Should you immediately discount the effort as nonexistent and press fluff. No, that is called being a pessimist.

So your statement earlier in the week that a new arena was being built is based one some renderings shown to wealthy alums? Assuming that’s true, that’s what we call a pipe dream. That means they have zero dollars for it at this point. Even if they ever get the money, it will be years before they play there. A new arena was promised seven years ago! They’ve never made any of the investments they promised and are just freeloading in this league. They joined under false pretenses and it was a huge mistake for everyone, including Valpo. We need to make sure that the next is add already a peer school. We shouldn’t be adding just to add.

[E-Villan]

I had heard the Drake President was a hard no on Murray St in 2017, so that lines up there. Fortunately, he must’ve changed his mind come 2021. Also, Bradley’s president then supposedly joined him in opposition, but fortunately BU upgraded presidents in time for the next expansion cycle.

I don't think Drake flipped. When the league was at 10, it took a minimum of 8 yes votes for a school to get added. In 2017, Murray had 7 yes. In 2021, the no from Loyola was replaced with a yes from Belmont, so Murray got their 8 votes. UIC hadn't been added yet at the time of the vote.

I get the frustration from the Iowa schools to a point, but it isn't like we are looking at an east coast school. Hell, Highland Heights, KY is about 300 miles closer to Cedar Falls than Arlington. I am sure CVG can handle anything that comes from Iowa just as easily as DFW can.

[ReZyNeZy]

So your statement earlier in the week that a new arena was being built is based one some renderings shown to wealthy alums? Assuming that’s true, that’s what we call a pipe dream. That means they have zero dollars for it at this point. Even if they ever get the money, it will be years before they play there. A new arena was promised seven years ago! They’ve never made any of the investments they promised and are just freeloading in this league. They joined under false pretenses and it was a huge mistake for everyone, including Valpo. We need to make sure that the next is add already a peer school. We shouldn’t be adding just to add.

The showing to wealthy alums was a while ago. They completed the feasibility study for the arena. I am unaware if the study was apporved and drafting of a fundrasing plan was approved by the board yet. That info is still unavailable. Fundraising is set to begin either at the end fo this year, or beginning of next if the timeline provided by the school is being followed. They are alreasy partnered with a construction firm for both the CONHP project and for the arena project. (This firm assisted with the feasibility study) Really the thing that would hold the arena back is any halts on the CONHP as that is the priorty construction project as listed on the Uplift Valpo plan. According to that same timeline, they want to break ground in 3-5 years. Which is disappointing, but at least there is an arena being developed and planned. I will become doubtfully if fundraising for the arena is not on schedule. For now I am under the impression that athletics and admin plan to build

[ReZyNeZy]

Coach left in 16. Join was in 17. This is common knowledge. Terms were agreed upon in early 2016. Coach left in mid 2016. I don't understand how this is so difficult to grasp. The conversation didn't go "Hey we want you. Can you start tomorrow? Like most conference announcements. There was a year after terms were agreed upon where the teams stayed in the league. MSU is still in the conference for the 24-25 season. This is how all conference realignments go. USC UCLA was announced 2 years ago. Did they play in the B10 last year? The only time that this wasn't the case was when Washington and Oregon agreed to join the B10 last year for the upcoming season, but a conference imploding due to a bad TV deal is a completely different circumstance to typical conference realignment.

Has Valpo made good on their promises, no. While the old admins are to blame for kicking the rock of athletics further down the line, once the MVC join was final, plans were put in place to amend the issue. However, a multitude of circumstances hit the University( either of their own volition or not) which prevented further athletic investments. To my knowledge, this is the only time in recent years where VU staff have openly stated( and put time and money investing) in overall athletic improvements. There are early renderings, but those were only shown to a private group of investors and wealthy alum as confirmed by staff members on the VU forum. Could the project not happen, sure like any project still in development, it could not happen. Should you immediately discount the effort as nonexistent and press fluff. No, that is called being a pessimist.

It's not at all hard to grasp, which is why I'll keep pointing out your revisionist history until you stop posting it.

Bryce Drew left Valpo following the 2015-16 season. Valpo played another full season (16-17) in the Horizon before they joined the MVC in 17-18. That's not the same year and you should know as well as everyone here that academic years aren't the same as calendar years.

If there was an agreement in 2016 as you claim (there wasn't, to be clear), Valpo had time to give appropriate notice to the Horizon League and avoid paying the league's exit fee.

That notice did not happen and the Horizon League sued them when they did not pay in the appropriate time period. A simple, one-page letter from the Valpo legal team could have avoided the entire exit fee litigation fiasco. But that letter wasn't sent because Valpo and the MVC didn't have an agreement in 2016 like you keep posting.

I respect that you will defend Valpo until the end. That sort of thing is what makes college sports fun - at least sometimes. But there are people on this board who have very real connections at the league office and at the schools who know what happened in 2017. It didn't happen how you think it happened.

Where did I claim they didn't play a season in the horizon without Drew? I know they did. Once again I would like to iterate that my information is that terms were being agreed upon as Drew was leaving. As for why they didn't pay the exit fee, I am not aware of that. All I know is that terms were being agreed upon in early 2016, with Drew leaving in late April.

I am not claiming that Drew was the coach up until joining the MVC. That is ridiculous. My claim is only that terms were being agreed upon as Drew was exiting. Terms in early 2016 and Drew exiting in late April of the same year. Lottich took over to finish out the Horizon tenure and was coach through last year.