Wichita State to the American Athletic Conference?

[NDSUstudent]

No it isn't.

There was no way to improve DII or the NCC, and no reason to think they would get better. In fact, both were getting worse.

By contrast, there is no debating that the Summit has improved dramatically over the last 10 years.

The Summit is our safe little shell, we stayed in the NCC/D2 because it was safe.

The Summit is about as good as it is ever going to get.

[oldmantutters]

I think our current budget is close to $1.5 million, UNI is just under $3 million. Other schools like MSU and SIU are around 2.2.

MVC salaries...This is from 2015...
Greg Lansing, Indiana State
Salary: $296,000/year

Marty Simmons, Evansville
Salary: Estimated $180K/year

Barry Hinson, Southern Illinois
Salary: $300K/year

Paul Lusk, Missouri State
Salary: $396K/year

Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa (Under contract through 2025)
Salary: $900K (base)/year (average)

We really aren't too far off then. The number you came up with would be a slight increase across coaching salaries and increased travel, I'm assuming?

[NDSUstudent]

We really aren't too far off then. The number you came up with would be a slight increase across coaching salaries and increased travel, I'm assuming?

Yeah, coaching salaries are the biggest gap between us and the MVC. Travel is kind of similar, I couldn't see that increasing much.

Some MVC school like UNI do buy some more home games against other DI teams, like our football team does.

[silkamilkamonico]

No it isn't.

There was no way to improve DII or the NCC, and no reason to think they would get better. In fact, both were getting worse.

By contrast, there is no debating that the Summit has improved dramatically over the last 10 years.

It saw a minimal surge with the addition of the dakota schools and that's it.

2017 = 19th
2016 = 12th
2015 = 21st
2014 = 18th
2013 = 19th
2012 = 16th
2011 = 21st
2010 = 24th


This only strengthens the argument that it isn't really going to get much better, mainly because of the other teams who haven't shown the ability really to get stronger as a program. We have added Denver, who might even leave again for the Horizon, and doesn't really give the conference much of a bump anyways.

UND certainly isn't going to help it strength wise...

[Bison"FANatic"]

Interesting to compare some attendance figures. If you look at the conference home games of UNI and the conference home games of NDSU. UNI averaged 4696 last years, we averaged 4164.

[Bison bison]

Didn't you guys read The Great Gatsby?

This is a bad f#cking idea.

[Mr Meaty]

The MVC is not a multi-bid league without WSU.

Correct!

[Bison bison]

Dude.

Bradley won the NCAA tournament in 1856.

[wow]

It saw a minimal surge with the addition of the dakota schools and that's it.

2017 = 19th
2016 = 12th
2015 = 21st
2014 = 18th
2013 = 19th
2012 = 16th
2011 = 21st
2010 = 24th


This only strengthens the argument that it isn't really going to get much better, mainly because of the other teams who haven't shown the ability really to get stronger as a program. We have added Denver, who might even leave again for the Horizon, and doesn't really give the conference much of a bump anyways.

UND certainly isn't going to help it strength wise...

LOL, what? I'm no statistician, but my guess is the improvement has been significant.

[jacksfan29]

Just going by name recognition the MVC wins out over the Summit. On the Insiders today, they made it sound like to be competitive in the MVC NDSU would have to about quadruple their bball budget. Kind of hard to convince people to make that kind of jump with the state budget issues we are going through right now.

I don't know, could we convince the 5 MVFC teams that are in the MVC by agreeing on a rotating conference tourney? I know the answer is no but I see that as the best "solution" in my mind. That would put the Summit at 14 teams which is a lot but not unheard of.

Just put it in Des Moines and everyone would be happy. Downtown Des Moines is pretty fun.

I would absolutely love to be in an all sports conference with the MVFC schools, but it isn't going to happen, not yet. I would not be surprised at all to see the MVC add only one school to replace WSU. Valpo, UIC or UMKC. If that happens UNI and Illinois State will not be happy. You could very well see a public private split which would open the door for SDSU and NDSU to join with the five MVC State schools and bring along USD, UND for all sports, and Omaha for Olympic sports. That would be a strong, 9 team FB conference that could move up to the G5 level and a 10 team basketball conference that could easily become an annual 2 bid league.

I think everyone needs some patience. Neither XDSU have a shot at even being in the conversation this time around. There is just to much animosity from the non-MVFC schools to even consider adding two large, public FB playing schools to the current MVC.

And yes, eventually the Summit will be a dead end. There are too many schools who are not going to fund to the level necessary to become a strong mid-major league. The conference will hit a plateau and we don't want to be hanging around doing nothing when that happens. The XDSU's getting fat and happy and splitting annual trips to the NCAA tournament won't cut it after a while.