ORU to the Valley?

[AKBison]

Looks like WSU and its baseball coach wants ORU to move up to the Valley. Maybe this is why we have seen the early push for a USD/UND combo. Wichita State is a heavy hitter in the Valley so don't be surprised if this happens.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sports/art...2_AHgfhv494660

The Valley possibility: Wichita State baseball coach Gene Stephenson is a proponent of an Oral Roberts University switch from the Summit League to the Missouri Valley Conference.
"I've made a pitch through the (MVC) athletic directors. I think the (university) presidents make that call," Stephenson said during a Tulsa Sports Animal radio interview. "Tulsa is a great city, obviously. It would help balance out the league (geographically)." ORU has a "tremendous basketball program, tremendous baseball program (and) tremendous track program," Stephenson said. "There's no reason why they shouldn't be a part of this, especially now that (MVC member) Northern Iowa is dropping baseball. Rob (ORU baseball coach Rob Walton) and I have talked many times . about how much he would like to be in this league. " It makes no sense not to have (ORU) in, as far as I'm concerned. I've echoed that many times to (Wichita State's) athletic director and president, and they both agree as well." ORU officials will not comment on any possibility of a conference change, but it is believed that the university would jump at the chance to join the Valley. If ORU were to receive a membership invitation, it would be required to spend two more years in the Summit League before making the move.

[coldspot]

that would be a huge hit the strength of the summit and i dont know how well adding und and usd is going to off set that loss.

[AKBison]

I don't think there is anyway to offset the loss of ORU. I guess the only brightside is that it allows a program to step up and be the new face of the Summit. Most likely candidates are OU, NDSU and SDSU.

[lakesbison]

OR we move into Missouri Valley with ORU! and play basketball too!

[tjbison]

OR we move into Missouri Valley with ORU! and play basketball too!

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN ANYTIME SOON! Have you been to the BSA??

[99Bison]

Seems like they'd want to add 2 teams if any... unless whomever is added has sports in existance/not that work out miraculously.

[Hammersmith]

ORU fans basically ignoring this one on their board; they view it as one guy's opinion with little to back it up. They're so sick of the topic, they basically shut down debate as soon as it pops up. Their stance is that ORU has inquired many times about membership only to be rebuffed each time(worse than us with the Big Sky), and that they couldn't afford it even if membership were offered.

[Blue]

IMHO from talks with Patty Viverito, the football conference commish, the Valley would rather prefer squads with a good number of sports and in particular football to add to the mix. I think and I could be wrong about this, that the Valley would like to have most of the teams in the MVC to have a football program for that extra coin. If that is the case, NDSU and SDSU would have better shots than Oral Roberts. We'll see what happens as things pan out in the future.

[sambini]

IMHO from talks with Patty Viverito, the football conference commish, the Valley would rather prefer squads with a good number of sports and in particular football to add to the mix. I think and I could be wrong about this, that the Valley would like to have most of the teams in the MVC to have a football program for that extra coin. If that is the case, NDSU and SDSU would have better shots than Oral Roberts. We'll see what happens as things pan out in the future.

Thanks Blue for the insight+++

[BearsCountry]

Only way ORU gets in the MVC is if SLU finally comes on board. It will either be a keep private school balance or go for football/all sports which NDSU & SDSU make the most sense. I personally see the later as the better option and the one the MVC will make.