Some long form thoughts on conference realignment
Conference Realignment The Southland Conference and SFA
Background
Founded in 1963. The result of 5 schools desire to separate themselves from largely intrastate rivalries that had grown stale or simply weren't true "rivalries" the Southland Conference has evolved from a 5-member institution to the 13-school behemoth of today. Many argue (myself included) that the conference has simply got to big and lacks unity of mission and brand names that have any national recognition. Beyond the three largest Texas schools: Sam Houston State Baseball and FCS, Stephen F. Austin Men's Basketball/Women's Basketball, Lamar Men's Basketball (80's) and a lone Louisiana school: McNeese FCS, none of the other schools have had any impact at a national level in any of the marquee sports such as FCS Football, MBB, WBB, Baseball and Softball.
This then begs the questions? Is it fair for the stronger institutions of the Southland to accept the collectively meager achievements of the group or is possible that a trimmed down or modified line-up would enhance the conference's paltry national success? What current conference would be good model? Missouri Valley? Ohio Valley? Southern? Big Sky? None of the above? Do we (SFA) have the financial capability to consider an FBS move? Would there be a conference that would embrace SFA and its remote outpost "Behind the Pine Curtain"?
Mistakes - Arkansas Oklahoma Texas Expansion
Beginning in 2006 the Southland Conference began an effort to expand its impact in mid-size and larger media markets. The effort was however of dubious value as I explain below.
The first move began with Texas A&M Corpus Christ and Central Arkansas in 2006. The two schools shared little in common. UCA was a natural fit for the SLC, aligning closely in scale and stature with stalwarts McNeese, Northwestern, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. On the flip side you had A&M Corpus Christi, a modest island school that had lived in the shadow of traditional D2 powerhouse Texas A&I (now Texas A&M Kingsville) for years. TAMU-CC wanted to step out and expand it's academic and athletic footprint beyond south Texas and the bay. The SLC seemed to be part of the solution. At the time, the invitation seemed to bolster the SLC's basketball resume. Ronnie Arrow had TAMCC on a roll. Several winning seasons and a locale perfectly set up for success in baseball. In retrospect evaluation of TAMCC as an expansion target seems underwhelming as TAMCC had little desire to add football and limited success beyond a few 20-win seasons in basketball under legendary coach Ronnie Arrow. Following the Ronnie Arrow tenure (99'-07') the Islanders have struggled to knit together more than 2 or 3 solid seasons.
While the addition of Central Arkansas was a home run and A&M Corpus Christi was a force fit the 2014 additions where well mind boggling. Of the three additions (Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word) only Abilene Christian had the pedigree that the SLC would have accepted in the mid-80's when expansion was almost a necessity with the departure of La. Tech, Louisiana Lafayette, Arkansas State and North Texas. The uneven nature of the expansion sent Oral Roberts running back to the Summit League. While the Summit was not a good geographic fit for Oral Roberts the addition of A&M CC, HBU and UIW forced ORU to measure the impact (of the new SLC) on their athletic program which in their (ORU's) estimation was no more than playing in cracker jack box gymnasiums (see HBU, UIW and NW St.) in front crowds measured in the teens not the "hundreds" or "thousands".
It was all deemed negative when the initial reason for Oral Roberts move to the SLC was primarily better geographic alignment and the possibility of developing stronger rivalries with schools like Central Arkansas, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and McNeese.
The Southland Today
The current Southland Conference is a sliver of the once proud conference that featured robust "rivalries and universities" that had both the mass and commitment to putting a nationally competitive product on the field and court. Think Louisiana Tech vs. North Texas or even Stephen F. Austin vs. McNeese in football during the 90's. Those days are long gone as SFA, Sam and McNeese make the daunting trip to McDermott Center or Husky Field. If it seems like I'm picking on HBU and UIW, I am. Purely from a facilities perspective neither university has any business being a Division 1 university. In fact, most Division 2 universities in Texas has superior facilities (in general) to both private universities I've mentioned. Also, forget about the "scholarship" inflated athletic budget numbers that are listed on USA Today and Wikipedia regarding athletic spending. Those budget figures are completely out of whack because of the additional scholarship costs that private universities incur providing athletic scholarships.
The truth is that only the old core members (Lamar, McNeese, Northwestern St, Sam Houston, SE Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin) and new member Abilene Christian have the chops to be competitive across a broad range of sports. You'll notice I left out New Orleans and Nicholls along with Texas A&M Corpus Christi. These are what I call the borderline institutions. They have some squads that are competitive and will occasionally make a wave or two, (Corpus Christi Islanders PUN intended) but don't expect long run competitiveness soon unless enrollment(s) grow and or significant investments are made in facilities. As I will explain in the next section there is room for most of the borderline schools, but I'm not convinced it is in the Southland. But again, geographic reality sometimes deals us a blow.
Potential Options
Conferences tend to look for members with similar academic breadth and athletic tradition. To explain the first piece, it is important to understand a widely accepted classification that is used to group universities by there academic breadth and depth. The Carnegie Classification has six categories (Doctoral, Masters, Baccalaureate, Associates, Special Focus and Tribal). The first two are directly relevant to this discussion as most NCAA Division 1 universities fall into the first two general classifications. Importantly there are three delineations within the doctoral and master's classifications: doctoral very high research, doctoral high research activity and doctoral moderate research activity. Most FBS universities fall into the first two categories (very high or high research activity), these universities generally award more the 30 doctoral degrees a year and conduct significant research. Stephen F. Austin falls into the third category (Doctoral universities moderate research activity). SFA awarded approximately 20 doctoral degrees yearly and conducted approximately $5 million in research in the 2017-2018 academic year.
The profile for universities in the top two classifications is extremely important as it attracts federal and private funds at a much higher rate than the lower classifications within the doctoral classification and the upper tiers of the master's classification. Below is quick eye chart that will give you a basic idea of how the Southland Conference universities stack up in this measurement.
Southland Conference University - Data Set
Institution
Enrollment
Carnegie Classification
Endowment
Abilene Christian University
5,000
Masters - Larger
$450 million
University of Central Arkansas
11,500
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$50 million
Houston Baptist University
3,200
Masters - Larger
$40 million
University of The Incarnate Word
10,900
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$140 million
Lamar University
14,500
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$120 million
McNeese State University
8,000
Masters - Larger
$80 million
University of New Orleans
8,400
Doctoral - High Research Activity
$75 million
Nicholls State University
6,400
Masters - Larger
$20 million
Northwestern State University
11,000
Masters - Larger
$32 million
Sam Houston State University
21,000
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$94 million
Southeastern Louisiana University
14,500
Masters - Larger
$34 million
Stephen F. Austin State University
13,100
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$83 million
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
12,000
Doctoral - High Research Activity
$15 million
The two geographically attractive conferences that would be appealing to SFA would be Conference USA and The Sunbelt Conference. Conference USA is composed almost entirely of Doctoral High Research Activity while the Sunbelt Conference is a mix of Moderate and High Research Activity Universities. So how does SFA fit in? I believe SFA must improve its academic and athletic profile in several ways.
1. Enrollment Growth 15,000 >
2. Increase Doctoral Programs SFA currently has 3 Forestry, Educational Leadership and Educational Psychology. I believe a Doctorate in Environmental Science and a Doctorate in Business are feasible if we get the requisite enrollment growth.
3. On campus Baseball Facility Need I say more
4. Significant updates to Homer Bryce Stadium, beginning with an expanded/updated field house.
5. Track and Field facilities. We have almost nothing.
The most likely of the two conferences is The Sunbelt. The way I see it we would be second or third on the list should the expansion bug start again. First in line would be New Mexico State followed by ourselves and or Sam Houston State. Sam has one big advantage over us that we cannot overcome, location. Sam's proximity to Houston and Houston Intercontinental make it an easier pick. Our advantages are also significant: 1) a more residential and engaged student body. 2) better attendance across the board in almost every sport. 3) despite our complaints on The Sawmill we have the strongest overall athletic department and brand in the conference.
Barring the above scenario, the only other plausible alternative is full of risks and potential downside. Let me explain. The NCAA has limited the number of Division 1 conferences to 32. This is largely because of the massive expansion of D1 in the 1990's and early 2000's. Power 5 conferences felt that they were being shorted bids into the NCAA tournament by the number of "automatic" qualifiers. The NCAA put a cap on D1 conferences to solve the issue for there most important members Plan B would involve the involve what I believe are the core members of the current Southland Conference petitioning the NCAA to form a new conference with the bulk of the existing members. In my mind it would look something like this. Let's call it The American South Conference.
The American South Conference West Division
Abilene Christian University
Lamar University
Oral Roberts (potentially)
Sam Houston State University
Stephen F. Austin State University
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
The American South Conference Eastern Division
University of Central Arkansas
McNeese State University
University of New Orleans
Nicholls State University
Northwestern State University
Southeastern Louisiana University
If it looks like I'm going "old school" it's because I am. I feel there is real value in maintaining traditional rivalries and avoiding a rotating schedule that includes athletic programs that don't deserve to be on the schedule regularly. They (UIW, HBU etc.) can be added as non-conference features at any time. So, what happens to the stray dogs? The Western Athletic Conference seems eager to add just about any school that has a tennis court and soccer field so both UIW and HBU would have an easy fit with great travel destinations like Edinburgh and Las Cruces
In Conclusion
Until we (SFA) get's above the 14k/15k mark in enrollment and update some of our facilities (outside of basketball) we have few options and less control over our destiny than we would like. The path is clear, grow, add academic programs and build better facilities and we will have more affiliation options than exist today.
Conference Realignment The Southland Conference and SFA
Background
Founded in 1963. The result of 5 schools desire to separate themselves from largely intrastate rivalries that had grown stale or simply weren't true "rivalries" the Southland Conference has evolved from a 5-member institution to the 13-school behemoth of today. Many argue (myself included) that the conference has simply got to big and lacks unity of mission and brand names that have any national recognition. Beyond the three largest Texas schools: Sam Houston State Baseball and FCS, Stephen F. Austin Men's Basketball/Women's Basketball, Lamar Men's Basketball (80's) and a lone Louisiana school: McNeese FCS, none of the other schools have had any impact at a national level in any of the marquee sports such as FCS Football, MBB, WBB, Baseball and Softball.
This then begs the questions? Is it fair for the stronger institutions of the Southland to accept the collectively meager achievements of the group or is possible that a trimmed down or modified line-up would enhance the conference's paltry national success? What current conference would be good model? Missouri Valley? Ohio Valley? Southern? Big Sky? None of the above? Do we (SFA) have the financial capability to consider an FBS move? Would there be a conference that would embrace SFA and its remote outpost "Behind the Pine Curtain"?
Mistakes - Arkansas Oklahoma Texas Expansion
Beginning in 2006 the Southland Conference began an effort to expand its impact in mid-size and larger media markets. The effort was however of dubious value as I explain below.
The first move began with Texas A&M Corpus Christ and Central Arkansas in 2006. The two schools shared little in common. UCA was a natural fit for the SLC, aligning closely in scale and stature with stalwarts McNeese, Northwestern, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. On the flip side you had A&M Corpus Christi, a modest island school that had lived in the shadow of traditional D2 powerhouse Texas A&I (now Texas A&M Kingsville) for years. TAMU-CC wanted to step out and expand it's academic and athletic footprint beyond south Texas and the bay. The SLC seemed to be part of the solution. At the time, the invitation seemed to bolster the SLC's basketball resume. Ronnie Arrow had TAMCC on a roll. Several winning seasons and a locale perfectly set up for success in baseball. In retrospect evaluation of TAMCC as an expansion target seems underwhelming as TAMCC had little desire to add football and limited success beyond a few 20-win seasons in basketball under legendary coach Ronnie Arrow. Following the Ronnie Arrow tenure (99'-07') the Islanders have struggled to knit together more than 2 or 3 solid seasons.
While the addition of Central Arkansas was a home run and A&M Corpus Christi was a force fit the 2014 additions where well mind boggling. Of the three additions (Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word) only Abilene Christian had the pedigree that the SLC would have accepted in the mid-80's when expansion was almost a necessity with the departure of La. Tech, Louisiana Lafayette, Arkansas State and North Texas. The uneven nature of the expansion sent Oral Roberts running back to the Summit League. While the Summit was not a good geographic fit for Oral Roberts the addition of A&M CC, HBU and UIW forced ORU to measure the impact (of the new SLC) on their athletic program which in their (ORU's) estimation was no more than playing in cracker jack box gymnasiums (see HBU, UIW and NW St.) in front crowds measured in the teens not the "hundreds" or "thousands".
It was all deemed negative when the initial reason for Oral Roberts move to the SLC was primarily better geographic alignment and the possibility of developing stronger rivalries with schools like Central Arkansas, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and McNeese.
The Southland Today
The current Southland Conference is a sliver of the once proud conference that featured robust "rivalries and universities" that had both the mass and commitment to putting a nationally competitive product on the field and court. Think Louisiana Tech vs. North Texas or even Stephen F. Austin vs. McNeese in football during the 90's. Those days are long gone as SFA, Sam and McNeese make the daunting trip to McDermott Center or Husky Field. If it seems like I'm picking on HBU and UIW, I am. Purely from a facilities perspective neither university has any business being a Division 1 university. In fact, most Division 2 universities in Texas has superior facilities (in general) to both private universities I've mentioned. Also, forget about the "scholarship" inflated athletic budget numbers that are listed on USA Today and Wikipedia regarding athletic spending. Those budget figures are completely out of whack because of the additional scholarship costs that private universities incur providing athletic scholarships.
The truth is that only the old core members (Lamar, McNeese, Northwestern St, Sam Houston, SE Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin) and new member Abilene Christian have the chops to be competitive across a broad range of sports. You'll notice I left out New Orleans and Nicholls along with Texas A&M Corpus Christi. These are what I call the borderline institutions. They have some squads that are competitive and will occasionally make a wave or two, (Corpus Christi Islanders PUN intended) but don't expect long run competitiveness soon unless enrollment(s) grow and or significant investments are made in facilities. As I will explain in the next section there is room for most of the borderline schools, but I'm not convinced it is in the Southland. But again, geographic reality sometimes deals us a blow.
Potential Options
Conferences tend to look for members with similar academic breadth and athletic tradition. To explain the first piece, it is important to understand a widely accepted classification that is used to group universities by there academic breadth and depth. The Carnegie Classification has six categories (Doctoral, Masters, Baccalaureate, Associates, Special Focus and Tribal). The first two are directly relevant to this discussion as most NCAA Division 1 universities fall into the first two general classifications. Importantly there are three delineations within the doctoral and master's classifications: doctoral very high research, doctoral high research activity and doctoral moderate research activity. Most FBS universities fall into the first two categories (very high or high research activity), these universities generally award more the 30 doctoral degrees a year and conduct significant research. Stephen F. Austin falls into the third category (Doctoral universities moderate research activity). SFA awarded approximately 20 doctoral degrees yearly and conducted approximately $5 million in research in the 2017-2018 academic year.
The profile for universities in the top two classifications is extremely important as it attracts federal and private funds at a much higher rate than the lower classifications within the doctoral classification and the upper tiers of the master's classification. Below is quick eye chart that will give you a basic idea of how the Southland Conference universities stack up in this measurement.
Southland Conference University - Data Set
Institution
Enrollment
Carnegie Classification
Endowment
Abilene Christian University
5,000
Masters - Larger
$450 million
University of Central Arkansas
11,500
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$50 million
Houston Baptist University
3,200
Masters - Larger
$40 million
University of The Incarnate Word
10,900
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$140 million
Lamar University
14,500
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$120 million
McNeese State University
8,000
Masters - Larger
$80 million
University of New Orleans
8,400
Doctoral - High Research Activity
$75 million
Nicholls State University
6,400
Masters - Larger
$20 million
Northwestern State University
11,000
Masters - Larger
$32 million
Sam Houston State University
21,000
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$94 million
Southeastern Louisiana University
14,500
Masters - Larger
$34 million
Stephen F. Austin State University
13,100
Doctoral - Moderate Activity
$83 million
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
12,000
Doctoral - High Research Activity
$15 million
The two geographically attractive conferences that would be appealing to SFA would be Conference USA and The Sunbelt Conference. Conference USA is composed almost entirely of Doctoral High Research Activity while the Sunbelt Conference is a mix of Moderate and High Research Activity Universities. So how does SFA fit in? I believe SFA must improve its academic and athletic profile in several ways.
1. Enrollment Growth 15,000 >
2. Increase Doctoral Programs SFA currently has 3 Forestry, Educational Leadership and Educational Psychology. I believe a Doctorate in Environmental Science and a Doctorate in Business are feasible if we get the requisite enrollment growth.
3. On campus Baseball Facility Need I say more
4. Significant updates to Homer Bryce Stadium, beginning with an expanded/updated field house.
5. Track and Field facilities. We have almost nothing.
The most likely of the two conferences is The Sunbelt. The way I see it we would be second or third on the list should the expansion bug start again. First in line would be New Mexico State followed by ourselves and or Sam Houston State. Sam has one big advantage over us that we cannot overcome, location. Sam's proximity to Houston and Houston Intercontinental make it an easier pick. Our advantages are also significant: 1) a more residential and engaged student body. 2) better attendance across the board in almost every sport. 3) despite our complaints on The Sawmill we have the strongest overall athletic department and brand in the conference.
Barring the above scenario, the only other plausible alternative is full of risks and potential downside. Let me explain. The NCAA has limited the number of Division 1 conferences to 32. This is largely because of the massive expansion of D1 in the 1990's and early 2000's. Power 5 conferences felt that they were being shorted bids into the NCAA tournament by the number of "automatic" qualifiers. The NCAA put a cap on D1 conferences to solve the issue for there most important members Plan B would involve the involve what I believe are the core members of the current Southland Conference petitioning the NCAA to form a new conference with the bulk of the existing members. In my mind it would look something like this. Let's call it The American South Conference.
The American South Conference West Division
Abilene Christian University
Lamar University
Oral Roberts (potentially)
Sam Houston State University
Stephen F. Austin State University
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
The American South Conference Eastern Division
University of Central Arkansas
McNeese State University
University of New Orleans
Nicholls State University
Northwestern State University
Southeastern Louisiana University
If it looks like I'm going "old school" it's because I am. I feel there is real value in maintaining traditional rivalries and avoiding a rotating schedule that includes athletic programs that don't deserve to be on the schedule regularly. They (UIW, HBU etc.) can be added as non-conference features at any time. So, what happens to the stray dogs? The Western Athletic Conference seems eager to add just about any school that has a tennis court and soccer field so both UIW and HBU would have an easy fit with great travel destinations like Edinburgh and Las Cruces
In Conclusion
Until we (SFA) get's above the 14k/15k mark in enrollment and update some of our facilities (outside of basketball) we have few options and less control over our destiny than we would like. The path is clear, grow, add academic programs and build better facilities and we will have more affiliation options than exist today.
Axe 'Em Jacks - Class of 85'
