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Forum Member
 
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http://www.thesummitleague.org/
Since I do not think that WIU is going to be able to leave the Summit what can be done to better the conference? I would like to see the conference and school improve together. We are currently 7th out of ten schools in the Commissioner Cup rankings. I feel that if WIU gets the right leader for athletics things can be turned around over time. It will take the execution of a detailed long term plan but there is no doubt in my mind the potential exists.
Centenary is leaving and Univ of South Dakota is coming in already. My numbers show this already. Rebranding the conference was a very smart move in my opinion. Also, I feel the Dakotas have brought a lot to the table. I do not like the random placement of a Utah school. I like that WIU is the only Illinois school in the conference in a strange way. A lot of people point to this as a bad thing. However, it offers the school a chance to still schedule in state schools for non conference games.
1-IL 2-IN 1-MI 1-OK 1-MO 2-SD 1-Utah 1-ND
I would like to see Southern Utah leave the Summit and be replaced by North Dakota. This makes sense for a lot of reasons to me. How would it be pulled off though? It is a long road trip to Cedar City and it makes no sense for the Summit to have the 4th best DI from Utah being in the conference rather than North Dakota representing the state and holding solid resources. I understand they are addressing their nickname issues.
You could keep Southern Utah and add Utah Valley University (not a very good athletic school) for travel partnership. That would leave an unsettled number of eleven teams though. It would make sense from there to invite Chicago State back to the Summit. I am not sure why they left in the first place. I know they had issues but the conference should have policed them and kept the Cougars in for the Chicago market. Part of the move is to get back into the Chicago market. Chicago State and Utah Valley are in the Great West Conference which is not where anyone would want to be. Eventually I think the two Texas schools will be picked up by a southern conference (Southland?) and NJIT will join a New England conference (American East Conference?). Eventually the Great West schools will end up setting up associate memberships together and find real conferences. That makes sense to me unless they add several more schools.
I think my original idea is better leaving out Utah all together. Maybe Southern Utah if told to take a hike would join up with Utah Valley and approach the Big West for membership. I know that is an awkward situation but it would be best for the conference. Can the Summit even do that? Do other WIU fans agree? What other ideas are floating around out there?
Go Leathernecks....... 
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Forum Member
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I think a conference can tell a conference member to get lost and I agree they need to get rid of Southern Utah. I don;t know why but for some reason I thought I had heard Chicago St left because they thought they could do better than the Summit League, might be wrong though because there athletic program was pretty much a joke.
Anyway I do like your plan/idea...
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Freshman
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Hail, I'm on board with you, except for the name of the conference. Since The Summit is essentially the administrator of the Great West Conference, I think some realignment could be accomplished with the cooperation of both conferences to make the The Summit a more regional & geographically sensible entity. If the conferences agreed; I would hope the following adjustments could be made. Here would be, what I think is sensible:
First, change the name back to the Mid-Continent Conference (in association with this realignment), The Summit just doesn't work for me, for some reason it lends my mind to think Mountain West light or some conference from the West. I know the name is related to the marketing approach of the conference reaching for the summit in athletics and academics, but it just sounds stupid to me.
The realignment would be based upon all sports for the conference, including FB (but this may be a hard sell and I have two scenarios) and SUU would have to asked to go to the GWC.
MCC West
1. North Dakota (They will be in the conference shorty once their name situation is resolved)
2. NDSU
3. SD
4. SDSU
5. UMKC
6. ORU
MCC East
1. UMSL (The Tritons are D2 now, but are ready to go D1 in the next year or so)
2. Western
3. Chicago St. (Not the best member to add, but fit geographically & competitively)
4. IUPUI
5. IPFW
6. Oakland
This would give us a mid-continent Mid-Continent, it would give us exposure in population bases in KC, STL, Chicago, Indy & Det. though not MVC or even Horizon League in competitiveness or funding, it would at least provide presence in these areas and may aid in raising awareness for the league.
For FB; a bigger leap would need to be made:
1. North Dakota
2. NDSU
3. SD
4. SDSU
5. Western
6. SUU (In coordination with the GWC)
7. UC-Davis (In coordination with the GWC, I know this contradicts my MCC idea geographically, but the trip to Cali once a year may not be that bad for the guys)
8. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (See #7 above)
Or ...
Since the Mid-Major D1AA Pioneer League is far-flung and may be moving towards getting an automatic playoff berth; we could align with the following:
6. Valpo
7. Butler
8. Dayton
These schools would be more regionally accessable than the GWC schools. I know it would be ideal to go to 9 teams, but there are not any others out there unless SEMO or EIU comes back into the fold. The MVC will be pissed since we would essentially blow-up their FB league so, that counts Drake out for a FB alignment.
So MVC FB would look like this:
1. UNI
2. Drake (leaving the Pioneer, even though they are non-scholly FB)
3. MSU
4. SIU
5. ISU
6. ISU
7. YSU
They can figure the rest out, who cares, since they don't want us as full members in their league anyway. We just need to make sure that if SEMO or EIU became available we get them.
Finally, (it's a slow Friday night and I'm on a high from the BB win last night), the GWC could look like this, since they would be partnering with us:
1. Seattle
2. UC-D (They would have to leave the Big West in other sports besides FB)
3. CPSO (See #2 above)
4. Cal St. - Bakersfield
5. SUU
6. Utah Valley St
7. Denver (Should they leave the Sun Belt, which is likely)
8. Houston Baptist
9. Texas PA
Just my thoughts. Everyone aligns more geographically and competitively. Each conference having exposure in some population bases, etc, etc.
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Forum Guru
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Last Login: 2 days ago @ 10:14:58 AM
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Have I entered into another dimension?
Being the only Illinois school is good?
The Summit Leauge needs to be the mid con again?
Bring back Chicago State?
THE Summit needs to be "kicking out schools"? Yeah we're one to talk. Careful for what you wish.
Seriously, are you guys huffing glue?
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Freshman
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Last Login: 1/8/2012 9:57:31 PM
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Yeah, you've entered another dimension, it's called Leatherneck Nation in the blog-a-sphere, where nothing is real and only opinions exist.
By only Illinois School, I assume you mean for FB, who else would go with us into a conference? ISU, SIU, both firmly encased in the MVC. EIU you would be the only hope, if they leave the OVC (may be we should join it). Remember my basis was for realigning based upon all of the other sports and trying to shift the locus of the Mid-Continent to a somewhat tangible Midwestern Lower End Mid-Major.
Unfortunately, yes, bring Crooked State University back in. It now is the only available (though unfortunate) Illinois School out there. I don't see any of the following leaving their conferences to join the Mid-Summit Continent:
Illinois
Northwestern
NIU
DePaul
Loyola
UIC
ISU
Bradley
SIU
EIU
or even SIUe, maybe UIS or Lewis University is available (since we schedule D2 and below)
Yes, the school from Utah could be asked to go to the GWC in my fantasyland based Leatherneck Nation. Remember I proposed that this potential realignment would be done with our crappy sister conference (admin-wise) GWC.
I'm not huffing, I'm on the Purple & Gold Kool Aid - oh yeah ....
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Forum Member
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Last Login: 1/16/2012 12:57:30 PM
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No, I am not crazy for wanting to do this. This is why message boards exist and I think these ideas would play out very well if they could be pulled off in the real world. It is a matter of market potential or common sense being factored in. Also, travel costs will become more important in the future and I think it would be smart to address conference members sooner rather than later. We aren't getting an offer to join the Big Ten  so we better get our conference together. WIU is the remaining founding school after all.
If the OVC opened up we would be a great move but WIU would need to have their house in order. Overall it is the move that I would like to see made in the future. I am not sure what it says that SIUe got in (did we attempt a move?). Maybe they are looking to add more schools (WIU and UMSL?) MVC football is great but if we can't compete with those schools for all sports than blaaaaa. We should have forced our way into the MVC a long time ago and figured out the finances later. Similar schools have been forced to step up athletics when they make the conference move and over time they become a better fit.
Obviously we want to dismiss the lone west school and add ND. That is what my original idea was for this post. If you can't get that to work and need a second team to join Utah Valley (travel partner.... $$$$) it is an easy choice to add with UMSL or Chicago State. They are on par with budget and geography. I do not like it but they would make it even.
We need to work hard on being the best team in our conference yearly. Investing $40 million into facilities over the next 15 years and starting to compete with Horizon and MVC schools in some most sports would be the goal. Maybe in the future we can make a move to the MVC if Evansville leaves for DIII but right now we are not even on their radar.
If the damn 4 lane to Peoria would come in it would help WIU and Macomb be able to add more sponsors to athletics and make it easier for alums to return and watch games (I know a few in Peoria & B?N that would if it were an easier drive). A bump in population would help as well.
Go Leathernecks.......
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Supreme Being
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I agree with returning to the "Mid-Continent Conference" name.
Perhaps a move to the Ohio Valley Conference would be in our best interest as it would cut down on a lot of travel.
If the Missouri Valley Conference wants to keep WESTERN as a football member, it had better be prepared to offer us a "full membership" in all sports.
Let's Go WESTERN!!
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Forum Guru
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Hey, HailLeathernecks, Chicago State is ranked 347 out of 347 in D-I according to Realtime RPI.
Just thought I would lend a little perspective on Chicago State.
Realtime RPI doesn't gauge corruption or unethical operations or I am sure they would find a way to rank CSU 400 or worse
By the way CSU is a commuter school maybe less than 800 live on campus. A little factoid, the rap superstar phenom, Kanye West's freshman album was entitled The College Dropout.
Anyone care to guess which prestigious University he dropped out of?
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Forum Member
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I know a lot about Chicago State. I also know about business and marketing. Nothing in your post is news to me and nothing in your post changes my opinion. Having an small in to the Chicago market would be a good thing (if ND can't be exchanged for Southern Utah). They have a very nice facility (new since leaving the Mid Con) and I believe they could actually compete in basketball if they hired the right coach with prep connections in Chi town. Their other sports are below average but the school could improve. Geography alone would be a big plus as well.
Their current condition have a lot to do with horrible travel for conference games and the black eye of corruption. If they could enter the Summit with Utah Valley State it would help the conference as whole. Many schools have delt with corruption (hmm.... Coach P press release anyone???) and with a change in leadership comes a change in practices.
The Summit name change could go one way or another in my opinion but the reputation of the Mid Con wasn't very good so rebuilding with a new name wasn't a terrible idea. Including the St. Louis or Chicago market base wouldn't be a terrible idea either.
Obviously I have stated no interest in adding any team other than North Dakota and dropping Southern Utah.... but I will address other scenarios like the addition of two schools. Hell maybe we should drop Southern Utah and add three schools (UMSL, ND, Chicago State) to bump our numbers by two while still dropping the bad travel to Utah.
Go Leathernecks.......
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