Conference Officials plan to visit Belmont Denver & Oral Bob

[IllinoisState]

There's only one "major" D1 program in Tennessee, and there's not much fan interference from professional sports (certainly not as much as Denver).

Vanderbilt?

Lipscomb.

[musiccitybulldog]

There's only one "major" D1 program in Tennessee, and there's not much fan interference from professional sports (certainly not as much as Denver).

Vanderbilt?

Middle Tennessee State U, Memphis, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State, Austin Peay, East Tennessee State University, University of Tennessee Chatanooooga, Liscomb U, UT Martin. Aargggh was probably was probably referring to the team with the obnoxious uniform color.

2 pro Sports in Nashville the Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators(pro hockey eh!), plus Nashville Sounds baseball, Memphis Grizzlies.

Actually with Western Kentucky U close many people in the Nashville area attend the Hilltopper games, I know several that go to Murray Kentucky also to Murray State.

Plus Roller Girls Roller Derby....

I would love to see the Valley include Belmont.

[getreal4]

Belmont would be a very good addition. And Nashville is a great city to visit!

[m-v-c]

Denver would be a great choice. Their TV market is #18. The largest current market in the Valley is Wichita at #69. Belmont is also in a large market, Nashsville #29. Oral Roberts is also in a decent market, Tulsa #61.

The TV market they would be replacing, Omaha is #76. But none of these schools have as much support in their markets as Creighton does in the Omaha market.

From a TV market perspective only any of these 3 would help.

All we can hope is that, since we are looking at larger markets, that we can get the same number of people interested even though it will be a smaller percentage.

I don't understand why Oral Roberts is still being talked about. They are nowhere near what we are looking for in a team. The only thing that they have going for them is the Tulsa market which still isn't that big.

It's interesting how so many have different opinions of schools. Personally think ORU may be the best fit of any of these schools being discussed. Geographically, they make some sense-former MVC city, and close to WSU & MSU. They have better fan support than pretty much any of these schools, and that's been playing in conferences with few opponents their fans would even care about (Summit and now Southland). MBB they've been strong, Scott Sutton is a good coach, they've played tough non-conference schedules and they've been a thorn in the side of bigger name teams often. And the rest of their athletics have been decent too-typically were at or near the top of the Summit all-sports standings. Baseball has been good, WBB has been decent. The market isn't Chicago but Tulsa isn't bad.

Biggest question mark about ORU is the school's stability, it has had rough patches in the past, and how the MVC decision makers feel about that is not an insignificant thing, could keep them out. But competitively think they could come in the MVC now in most sports and be a solid member. None of these candidates is perfect, but personally like ORU's balance of success, support and market better than the others, which either have success & market but no support (not a good sign) or market but no success and no support (of which one can at least hope there's potential for growth).

[KC MVC FAN]

There's only one "major" D1 program in Tennessee, and there's not much fan interference from professional sports (certainly not as much as Denver).

Vanderbilt?

And a whole bunch of mid major D1 schools

[ORUTerry]

As an ORU fan, I thought I would stop in and give some information & background about the school and its athletic department. First, the school is doing fine from a financial perspective. The Green family (Hobby Lobby) became involved with ORU about five years ago and as a result, ORU is debt free and on a firm financial standing. The family has given approximately +$130 million to the university. Our current president, Mark Rutland is stepping down (retiring) in July and his replacement is Dr. Bill Wilson.

Our men's basketball coach is Scott Sutton, who has been at the school for over 14 years. His brother, Sean Sutton, is an assistant coach. Scott's predecessors were Barry Hinson and Bill Self. Scott makes over $400,000/year as head coach. We have been very competitive in conference play over the last 10 years or so - reaching the NCAA Tournament in three of those years. We have also been able to play a fair amount of games against the Power 6 conferences and rack up 10 wins during that timeframe - including a win in Lawrence against the Jayhawks. Someone on our message board (ORUSports.com) came up with a spreadsheet comparing the schools mentioned as possible MVC replacements. I think we stack up pretty well against the other schools. Here is a link to that schedule:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au3iPGfICmw0dEhfaW45SndEWldyYlBwMWtRZVBmN2c#gid=0

Our other programs are also competitive; the baseball team is a perennial (14 years straight) NCAA Tournament team and the women's basketball team is consistently strong. ORU has good facilities: the Mabee Center holds 10,500 and is a premier basketball arena. JL Johnson stadium holds 2,500 and is also a top shelf venue. We currently televise all of our home home games on Directv (channel 363) through the school's television station and have a contract with Fox Sports.

The Tulsa area is keenly aware of the MVC given Tulsa University's long history with the conference. The impact of joining the MVC would greatly enhance fan support in the area given the familarity with the conference schools. The Tulsa World has run several articles in favor of ORU possibly moving to the MVC.

[CaseyGarrisonforPrez]

Thanks for the info ORUTerry. I am a huge proponent of adding your school. Geographically it is great. I can head down to Tulsa, watch a basketball or baseball game and then get some Hideaway Pizza. What more could a fan want?

[Chuck A]

http://www.wjbc.com/common/page.php?feed=31&pt=MVC+officials+visit+possible+replacements&id=44863&is_corp=0

Kind of misleading. The interview with Elgin took place on 4/5 during the UIC, Loyola, Valparaiso period. It was already reported earlier that ORU and UMKC had overtures and deciphering from the interview with the Denver AD, it appeared they already had contact with the Valley. They are unwilling to change who they are (read, they are content with what they have and where they are). It seemed the writer of the article culled some info from different places and put them together.

The Valley reps are now in the process of processing and presenting the info for Presidential voting. Announcements/invites should be in the next week or two.

Please stop acting like you know about the process and timeline.

Anyone who's read all the articles and info concerning the process would know. It's called reading, research and remembering, much like what college students do, or is that foreign to you?

[acepurple84]

They all have good rhings going for them. Why not all 3? A lot have been in favor of a 12 team conference.

[rlh04d]

They all have good rhings going for them. Why not all 3? A lot have been in favor of a 12 team conference.

I think it'd be a great move to add all three, personally.