Article: A10 should look at adding Wichita St

[PantherSigEp]

I still don't know where people are getting that MSU, UNI and ISU are bailing. There is almost no substantial evidence behind the Bears making a move other than that clusterf*** started by CaseyGarrison4Prez awhile back. I'm pretty sure that's one of the only times I've heard someone mention that MSU was "wanted" elsewhere and it turned into a poorly thought out hoax. ISU has a couple things going for it but they are hardly the most attractive MVC school. UNI has a ways to go until they have the financial stability to make a move possible. The argument about Northern Illinois not wanting the latter 2 in the MAC is pretty compelling and I have no idea who else would want them at the FBS level. The B1G/XII aren't going to come calling anytime soon.

[rlh04d]

I still don't know where people are getting that MSU, UNI and ISU are bailing.

I don't think UNI or ISU will be leaving the MVC. I do think MSU will in the next ten years.

The problem is that all of those teams want to leave. And, as far as I can tell, will do everything they can to put themselves into a position for football to get them out. I don't know if it'll be successful, but if our choice is between bettering our situation or simply hoping you guys fail in your attempt to better yours ... could anyone blame us if we left?

Honest question for MVC fans: Is there any real reason to believe this conference as a whole will be better in the future? Not better than this year, because I definitely think this year has been an anomaly, but better long term? That this decade will be better as a whole than the last decade was? Or the next decade will be better than this decade was?

The problem won't be that WSU wants to leave. The problem is that just about everyone wants to leave, because we're moving further and further down the pecking order, and what the Valley replaces teams with will always be less than what was there before. Valley programs are trying to improve their football programs to give themselves more options to leave for an FBS conference.

The way I see it, we have two choices: We can leave at the first opportunity and further encourage this long term decline of the MVC, hurting every other program here. Or we can stay, watch the next program leave, watch them be replaced with another 250+ RPI team, and be stuck in a continually declining conference, as we have been for the last several decades, since we watched so many other programs we were originally paired with go on to greater and greater success. And if we can't keep winning the worsening MVC, we will become a cute trivia question ten years later and a "remember them?" You can be a terrible team in the AAC and still be visible. We wouldn't be visible in the MVC if we were even above average.

[wsushox1]

For those saying VCU would be a good fit for the AAC....I don't disagree.

But WSU has a lot more reasons why it would be a better fit for the AAC. About 1.4 million of them. (Shaka's base of 450k to marshalls of 1.8 mill).

[rlh04d]

For those saying VCU would be a good fit for the AAC....I don't disagree.

But WSU has a lot more reasons why it would be a better fit for the AAC. About 1.4 million of them. (Shaka's base of 450k to marshalls of 1.8 mill).

Well that's dishonest. Smart's guaranteed annual salary is $1.45 million this year, $1.5 million next year.

Marshall's is higher, but Shaka Smart is absolutely not making salary comparable to other Valley teams. He would have been long gone by now.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports. ... monwealth/
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6290035

[wsushox1]

For those saying VCU would be a good fit for the AAC....I don't disagree.

But WSU has a lot more reasons why it would be a better fit for the AAC. About 1.4 million of them. (Shaka's base of 450k to marshalls of 1.8 mill).

Well that's dishonest. Smart's guaranteed annual salary is $1.45 million this year, $1.5 million next year.

Marshall's is higher, but Shaka Smart is absolutely not making salary comparable to other Valley teams. He would have been long gone by now.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports. ... monwealth/
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6290035

Whoops..................... Somehow missed the 1.

[mvcfan]

But I hear MSU, ISUR, ISUB, etc. fans say consistently, that you don't need to pay 800K + for a coach. Why pay that much? You can hire and pay coaches 200-400K and get second, third, or fourth in the MVC,then you are truly getting more for your money. Getting 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place and only paying 200-400K is the true measure of cost efficiency. To me, this wreaks of mediocrity.

[acepurple84]

"The Grass is always greener" or so the story goes. Look at Butler this year. In the past they were kings of hte Horizon. Now they are the bottom of the Big East and do not look to improve much. Creigton this year is the King there. Next year after McDermott leaves we will see. WSU leaving may look good right now, they have hade sucess the past few years. before that they were ok. The MVC is a good conference and personnally glad to be in it even though we have sucked much of the last decade.

[BCPanther]

I still don't know where people are getting that MSU, UNI and ISU are bailing. There is almost no substantial evidence behind the Bears making a move other than that clusterf*** started by CaseyGarrison4Prez awhile back. I'm pretty sure that's one of the only times I've heard someone mention that MSU was "wanted" elsewhere and it turned into a poorly thought out hoax. ISU has a couple things going for it but they are hardly the most attractive MVC school. UNI has a ways to go until they have the financial stability to make a move possible. The argument about Northern Illinois not wanting the latter 2 in the MAC is pretty compelling and I have no idea who else would want them at the FBS level. The B1G/XII aren't going to come calling anytime soon.

Believe me, UNI wants out. If President Allen wouldn't have retired, we'd have already announced plans to start the football transition. We just have to wait a year or so until the President Ruud is settled in and can make a 'controversial' decision like this. We moved wrestling to the MAC so that they could come and kick the tires and check out facilities and such.

I'm not going to go all Casey and talk about sealed envelopes, but the two parties fully know the intentions of the other. If I had to guess, UNI will be in the MAC within a decade...

[uniftw]

I still don't know where people are getting that MSU, UNI and ISU are bailing. There is almost no substantial evidence behind the Bears making a move other than that clusterf*** started by CaseyGarrison4Prez awhile back. I'm pretty sure that's one of the only times I've heard someone mention that MSU was "wanted" elsewhere and it turned into a poorly thought out hoax. ISU has a couple things going for it but they are hardly the most attractive MVC school. UNI has a ways to go until they have the financial stability to make a move possible. The argument about Northern Illinois not wanting the latter 2 in the MAC is pretty compelling and I have no idea who else would want them at the FBS level. The B1G/XII aren't going to come calling anytime soon.

Believe me, UNI wants out. If President Allen wouldn't have retired, we'd have already announced plans to start the football transition. We just have to wait a year or so until the President Ruud is settled in and can make a 'controversial' decision like this. We moved wrestling to the MAC so that they could come and kick the tires and check out facilities and such.

I'm not going to go all Casey and talk about sealed envelopes, but the two parties fully know the intentions of the other. If I had to guess, UNI will be in the MAC within a decade...

There was A LOT of steam just before Allen retired...but the shutting down of Malcom Price Lab Schools kind of killed any chance Allen had of making any more "controversial" decisions. Ruud during his previous tenures has been a HUGE advocate of advancing athletic programs. However, once he was given the job both he and Dannen changed their tune on the football thing. I don't know if it's a sign of things or a "We are going to keep quite and play things real low key for a couple years before we do/say anything" type silence.

UNI fans don't *want* out of the MVC. AD Dannen has said on multiple occasions UNI will do nothing with football that jeopardizes UNI's standing in the MVC as things stand, but added that if things in the MVC change that position may be reevaluated. Now, what kind of changes it would take I don't know. I'm sure Creighton leaving (comments before Creighton left) was part of it. I'm sure WSU and some combination of MSU, SIU, ISUr and maybe Drake are the other pieces. If things with a couple schools get shaky I can promise UNI rumors will be quite strong.

I don't want to leave the MVC. I love the MVC, it's been GREAT for UNI. The rivalries we have with Drake, Creighton (in the past), Southern Illinois, and to a slightly lesser extent ISUr, MSU, and WSU are what keeps fans around during disappointing years like this year. We know our opponents, we've traveled there, we know fans of those schools, etc... We wouldn't have that in the MAC with anyone other than maybe NIU (which could be on the AAC radar? To be seen what life after Lynch is like). I don't ever see Central Michigan, Toledo, etc.. being considered rivals by either fan base.


I'm a huge football guy...if BC has figured out who I am yet he can attest to that, if he hasn't he will after this....I want UNI football to always be at the *second* level of football. Yes, I get that you could call the Big 5 level 1, the rest of the FBS level 2, and D1 FCS level 3....whatever. If there is a larger split coming with football I don't want UNI left behind with a moratorium in place from moving. Had UNI not jumped when we did in the 80s we would be no different than the Dakota schools right now.

If the MVC stays as it - maybe adds a quality school or two to the mix as well - and the football split "goes away" there is no reason for UNI to leave.

[PantherSigEp]

For anyone else who was confused, if you type "NIU" on this board it auto-corrects to UNI.