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Divisional talk continues in the SLC. The divisions would be:

Division I: SHSU, UTSA, UTA, A&M-CC, SFA and TxSt
Division II: NW State, SELA, Nicholls, UCA, Lamar, McNeese

Biggest point of debate is Lamar/SFA with a possible flip every two years between divisions, but that's not too favorable it seems...

Courtesy of CC Caller-Times
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Southland ADs place potential divisions

Islanders' divisional foes could be approved in January

By Lee Goddard Caller-Times
October 14, 2005


The list of rivals for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi might grow significantly beyond just Texas-Pan American.

How about Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Texas-Arlington, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin? If a plan that has been getting attention from Southland Conference athletic directors is approved, those could be teams lumped in the conference's west division with the Islanders.


A&M-Corpus Christi athletic director Dan Viola said a proposal to use divisions for men's and women's basketball was floated at the conference's athletic directors' meeting earlier this week. Also under consideration are divisions for baseball, volleyball and women's tennis that would go into effect with basketball for the 2006-2007 seasons, the Islanders' first in the Southland.

Viola said more details should come from a conference call on Oct. 24. After the athletic directors make their recommendations, an advisory council meeting is scheduled for Dec. 5 and 6 in Houston. Advisory council members include athletic directors, faculty reps and senior women's administrators.

If plans meet with advisory council approval, the final stage is sanctioning from the school presidents. Southland commissioner Tom Burnett said the presidents likely would meet early in January.

Burnett said the application of the division format in baseball could mean a team from one division would play five teams from the other division, but miss out on playing one opponent.

Right now, though, Viola said the favored idea looks like an east-west division alignment, with Lamar, McNeese State, Northwestern (La.) State, Nicholls State, Southeastern Louisiana and newcomer Central Arkansas making up the east.

A&M-Corpus Christi would be more than happy with the plan, Viola said, citing reduced travel costs as a possible advantage.

Viola said if the division plan was enacted, the Islanders probably would host three teams from the East Division for games, and be on the road for the other three. The hosting duties would flip-flop the next season. It would give A&M-Corpus Christi 16 conference games in basketball. Along with the six games against the East Division, there would be home-and-home series with all members of the West Division.

But there is a point of contention for Stephen F. Austin. Viola said the current idea is that Lamar would be in the east for two years and then go west. Stephen F. Austin would then go to the east. That's not making everybody happy.

"That's the popular proposal," Viola said. "Theoretically, Lamar will alternate with Stephen F. Austin, but Stephen F. Austin's not happy about that."

But the emphasis on this proposal is that it is potentially the new setup for the Southland. It's not set in stone.

"It could be a drawn-out process," Viola said.

http://www.caller.com/ccct/islanders/article/0,1641,CCCT_820_4157779,00.html

I did this breakdown back in June. Here's the mileage for the schools. The schools in our potential division are at the first list.

[table]
[row color=cccccc]School[col]Location[col]Miles
[row color=cccccc]Northwestern State[col]Natchitoches, LA[col]310
[row color=cccccc]Southeastern Louisiana[col]Hammond, LA[col]419
[row color=cccccc]Lamar[col]Beaumont, TX[col]429
[row color=cccccc]McNeese State[col]Lake Charles, LA[col]459
[row color=cccccc]Nicholls State[col]Thibodaux, LA[col]509
[row color=cccccc][col][col]
[row color=cccccc]Stephen F. Austin[col]Nacogdoches, TX[col]322
[row color=cccccc]Texas-Arlington[col]Arlington, TX[col]361
[row color=cccccc]Sam Houston State[col]Huntsville, TX[col]507
[row color=cccccc]Texas State[col]San Marcos, TX[col]567
[row color=cccccc]Texas-San Antonio [col]San Antonio, TX[col]615
[row color=cccccc]Texas-Corpus Christi [col]Corpus Christi, TX[col]753
[/table]

Average travel to all Southland games: 477 miles
Average travel to potential division games: 425 miles

Kinda sucks that SFA and UTA are so close but in the "west." But the good news would be the three longest trips to TxState, UTSA, and UT-CC would be fewer.

The thing from a SHSU standpoint is that SFA and Lamar are our two closest foes. Would wish they'd both stay in our division...

No matter what happens, I do not think anyone wins in a divisional format in terms of all having long distances to some foes and shorter distances to others who may not be in our division. I didn't realize it's such a long drive to UCA from SHSU...

The closest game is going to be a six hour car ride for UCA when they make the move. That is really going to hurt attendance not only for the Bears but also for the other SLC schools when they play in conway.

Travel will definitely be a new thing for Bear fans. But just like most other schools in other D1 conferences we should expect great student and community support and not rely greatly on other schools to fill our stadiums. I know the SLC is not the SEC or Big 12 but none of these schools rely on other schools fans to travel great distances to fill their stadiums.

UCA and Conway have to step it up a notch to make this move a success!
We will be playing for March Madness, College World Series, etc....., and I would hope that the move up will reflect that in a positive bump in attendence for all of our sports.

I know this will not be a factor, but I hope they do not do divisional play.

During our years in the Gulf South, we rarely see any of the teams from the eastern division unless it is during the regular season. Most of the teams in the GSC cited travel as the reason they do not schedule the Arkansas teams during the regular season.

Burly Bear