Author Topic: Conference Realignment Rumors (Read 37073 times)

ry1nik · « **Reply #345 on:** January 11, 2025, 12:55:38 pm »

The whole point of college sports is to foster student, alumni, and faculty enthusiasm. I’m not convinced playing Buttcrack U. in MAC football will generate any more enthusiasm among the vast majority than we have now. Use the funds for academic programs and more faculty instead of on a money losing football venture.

Accelerator · « **Reply #346 on:** January 11, 2025, 01:34:39 pm »

The MAC appeal is purely in the FBS status. If we had the same universities but the MAC was FCS and the CAA was FBS I would lean CAA. Still, that FBS status just makes all the difference in terms of credibility.

ecasadoSBU · « **Reply #347 on:** January 11, 2025, 03:25:51 pm »

Does the FBS as it currently stand make much of a difference at this point?

I think from the perspective of scheduling access to better programs (buy games) it does. but its not much more than that.

but the MAC would be a difficult fit geographically and culturally. The only programs we can some what fit with would be Buffalo/UMass.

Would've been nice if Delaware, Temple, JMU aligned with a potential MAC-East as opposed to their current southern-centric conferences. oh well.

ry1nik · « **Reply #348 on:** January 11, 2025, 04:44:28 pm »

At this point the single thing that might actually make a difference in SB’s sports footprint is fixing men’s basketball. I don’t know what restrictions (if any) NYS places on salaries of head coaches at the state universities, but rather than spending a nickel on any FBS aspirations, hiring and keeping a high-profile head coach for basketball would make a real difference.

BrookFan · « **Reply #349 on:** March 25, 2025, 02:29:24 pm »

Big news out of the NEC today as Saint Francis elects to transition to DIII after the 2025-26 academic year. They cite the reasons you might expect: transfer portal, NIL, revenue-sharing. This will hardly be the last DI>>DIII move we'll see, right? I fear for the small DI schools where the economics of modern collegiate athletics increasingly don't work.

Saint Francis, after First Four loss, moving to Division III

Citing changes in the national landscape, and a week after a First Four loss in the NCAA tournament, Saint Francis (PA) announced a move to Division III in 2026.

espn.com

ry1nik · « **Reply #350 on:** March 25, 2025, 04:37:01 pm »

The big will get bigger and the small get smaller. I see SB in the latter group.

Redwyn · « **Reply #351 on:** March 27, 2025, 08:49:55 am »

Gents, I just don't feel that level of abject pessimism.

Will we become the next Ohio State? Unlikely. However, the schools that are dropping have a lot of intrinsic problems beyond athletics. The college world has changed as pricing has soared and debt becomes more expensive. People can't go to small lib arts or parochial colleges to earn degrees that don't make money anymore.

Stony Brook, in contrast, is a large state that is VERY good at subfields that do earn a lot of money. It is an AAU school with a growing endowment and a ton going for it. While we may be disappointed at times by athletics, I would argue that the University as a whole has never been stronger.

We have an athletics image problem. That is absolutely fixable but takes time. I've learned about that a lot through my career. I work for a large health system in NY. It was largely considered a Bronx hospital that caters to inner city medicaid (which it does, and should). However, it now owns several hospitals in Westchester and Rockland counties that are in much more affluent areas. Even with this expanded offering, the admin here fully gets that it takes a good decade to overhaul an image, almost a generational commitment. It's slowly changing, but even if the care is better - perception is 9/10's of reality.

Stony Brook is the same. Pikiell worked on this place for nearly a decade and made notable progress. That shows that it is possible with real commitment. We have backslid since the 2010's, when Stanley had an athletic interest and Pikiell knew how to market it. Part of that is the quality of the product on the court, and I don't like our coaching staff. Hopefully football taught Heilbron how important the right coach is in this portal environment. However, as football taught us, 1 season can change the product pretty drastically, and multiple seasons help that image change happen.

There is NO danger of us dropping D1. Not even a mild one. We're just not going to. I even expect us to make another conference move once the dust settles from NIL and the related lawsuits. If the admin wants to really push the image, they have to start a 10 year plan to do so, and accept that dividends won't really be paid until the end of that plan.

BrookFan · « **Reply #352 on:** March 31, 2025, 03:18:32 pm »

Quote from: Redwyn on March 27, 2025, 08:49:55 am

Gents, I just don't feel that level of abject pessimism.

Will we become the next Ohio State? Unlikely. However, the schools that are dropping have a lot of intrinsic problems beyond athletics. The college world has changed as pricing has soared and debt becomes more expensive. People can't go to small lib arts or parochial colleges to earn degrees that don't make money anymore.

Stony Brook, in contrast, is a large state that is VERY good at subfields that do earn a lot of money. It is an AAU school with a growing endowment and a ton going for it. While we may be disappointed at times by athletics, I would argue that the University as a whole has never been stronger.

We have an athletics image problem. That is absolutely fixable but takes time. I've learned about that a lot through my career. I work for a large health system in NY. It was largely considered a Bronx hospital that caters to inner city medicaid (which it does, and should). However, it now owns several hospitals in Westchester and Rockland counties that are in much more affluent areas. Even with this expanded offering, the admin here fully gets that it takes a good decade to overhaul an image, almost a generational commitment. It's slowly changing, but even if the care is better - perception is 9/10's of reality.

Stony Brook is the same. Pikiell worked on this place for nearly a decade and made notable progress. That shows that it is possible with real commitment. We have backslid since the 2010's, when Stanley had an athletic interest and Pikiell knew how to market it. Part of that is the quality of the product on the court, and I don't like our coaching staff. Hopefully football taught Heilbron how important the right coach is in this portal environment. However, as football taught us, 1 season can change the product pretty drastically, and multiple seasons help that image change happen.

There is NO danger of us dropping D1. Not even a mild one. We're just not going to. I even expect us to make another conference move once the dust settles from NIL and the related lawsuits. If the admin wants to really push the image, they have to start a 10 year plan to do so, and accept that dividends won't really be paid until the end of that plan.

Really good points here. I share your optimism for SBU's potential, and I don't fear that we'll suffer the same fate as a Saint Francis. I do worry about our ability to recruit and retain talent when we are significantly behind the top NIL funds/endowments in our own conference. I'm hopeful that will change, but it will take a new level of commitment and a fresh vision from leadership.

More globally, I am very glad that college athletes are being compensated for the significant value they bring to their schools. I do lament the haphazard way NIL was implemented after the Supreme Court forced the NCAA's hand in 2020. It has completely shifted the landscape, and we still have no idea where it will settle. It did not start with any strategy, design, or structure, so I think we're all just waiting for a train with no breaks to eventually come to rest.

Will a Cinderella make a multi-round run in March Madness ever again? Will my son be able to root for his favorite Seawolf for multiple years in the future? Will the 'Bamas and Georgias and Texases break off completely from the NCAA and make an independently-governed super conference?

I've always loved college sports way more than professional. Increasingly, it's hard to tell the difference. Maybe I just need to go with the flow, but I also don't want to see things lost that make college sports special.

ecasadoSBU · « **Reply #353 on:** March 31, 2025, 07:28:56 pm »

Quote from: BrookFan on March 25, 2025, 02:29:24 pm

Big news out of the NEC today as Saint Francis elects to transition to DIII after the 2025-26 academic year. They cite the reasons you might expect: transfer portal, NIL, revenue-sharing. This will hardly be the last DI>>DIII move we'll see, right? I fear for the small DI schools where the economics of modern collegiate athletics increasingly don't work.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/44402532/saint-francis-first-four-loss-moving-division-iii

This is going to become common.

All the small private (and publics) schools will likely end up going D-III route. The economics of collegiate athletics don't make sense any more.

Money has completely hijacked the top-tier of Division I.

I genuinely want the whole system to implode and for the major football powerhouses to break away from the NCAA.

The rest of us can create a new NCAA that is fairer, balanced, and closer to the ideal of amateurism. That's all wishful thinking though as paid athletes are here to stay

ecasadoSBU · « **Reply #354 on:** March 31, 2025, 07:31:54 pm »

Quote from: ry1nik on March 25, 2025, 04:37:01 pm

The big will get bigger and the small get smaller. I see SB in the latter group.

I think Stony Brook and Buffalo as the largest public universities in the state will probably do everything possible to stay in D-1. I don't see them dropping back to DIII.

But yeah... the dreams of ever competing or at least upsetting a high-level opponent are long gone. I don't see happening it under this current model.

You will need millions of dollars to draw top recruits and execute a turnaround. It would require having Jim Simmons money to fund athletics

Chairman of the Board · « **Reply #355 on:** March 31, 2025, 10:21:10 pm »

i agree but i think it's more than that- the survivors here are not just those with $$$.

it's the established brands. those that can bring in a tv contract, sell merchandise, draw in recruits, etc. ND can stink and still be relevant because it sells.

but those brands/schools were made in the last 5-6 decades. sure, some late comers over the past 20 years- ill argue that's places like cincy, louisville, baylor, TCU (old big east and AAC schools). id even maybe throw in boise. (uconn tried and its costing them dearly)

but that window is now effectively shut. sure you can try with bball- that may work for gonzaga- but if you have a bad february, that's a lot of empty seats for the next 8-9 months. the low price tag means everyone's trying.

so not only are we in a bucket with the Coastals of the word, the CUSA/MW/Sunbelt might just be closer to the Coastal in this regard, than it is to the SEC/ACC/B1G. i believe that the big12 is in limbo just behind those three, brand-wise, and i question their long term future.

after that- i think it's all the same. sure, some of those conferences are FBS (the MAC) but really- is the football and NIL money any better at... Kent State... than a place like Richmond? Towson? Maybe. i think the question is degree.

i do believe the AAC has some branding power (USF, Army, Navy, ECU, memphis, temple). but in my eyes, well behind the big12.

Seawolves Fans

News:

Author Topic: Conference Realignment Rumors (Read 37073 times)

ry1nik

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

Accelerator

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

ecasadoSBU

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

ry1nik

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

BrookFan

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

ry1nik

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

Redwyn

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

BrookFan

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

ecasadoSBU

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

ecasadoSBU

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors

Chairman of the Board

Re: Conference Realignment Rumors