Missouri State to CUSA

[BCPanther]

Official.

Effective 7/1/25.

Jeff Jackson is great at his job, we'll get a good replacement.

[06panther10]

*giant fart noise*

[ofpantherandman]

Is it weird that I love realignment and can't read enough about what school the Valley should get? Probably.

[MVCBeat]

I wonder if we are considering staying at 11 and doing the full double round robin again. Would mean a very funky schedule, no doubt, but it has been done before and is currently being done in the BE.

No one out there seems like an obvious get right now. Would almost rather wait and see if someone emerges as an obvious choice.

If we had to add, I like St. Thomas for the league although it would be bad for UNI. St. Thomas is probably a better fit in the A-10 than MVC though, and may not be interested. If we did take them, we might just have them for their growing period and once they became competitive they would probably leave anyway. So I am talking myself out of it as I type.

Northern Kentucky seems like the next obvious choice. I know the Valley flirted with Omaha, UTA and UMKC last time. And I know the Presidents want to expand the Valley's footprint to places where it could help enrollment. But I still struggle to see the actual connection. Decent in theory, but in order for the MVC's presence in (for example) Kansas City to raise enrollment at other Valley schools people in KC have to be aware that UMKC exists. If you think UIC has rough crowds, just wait until you see Kansas City.

I think the MVFC is probably solid as is. With the losses of WIU and Mo State we'd be at ten members.

[clenz]

UNK, UMKC, UTA, UCA, and UALR are all the early front runners according to those that know. The Valley has not given up on the "southern" footprint. It may be a school within our current footprint but expanding the footprint will be a higher priority.

As far as the MVFC, we will be back at 11 sooner than later. The Summit is likely adding UNC very soon, which means their football program isn't far behind.

[BCPanther]

The issue with 11 is that you have to have two extra dates to get the league schedule in due to having to have 1 team sit out every 'round' of league games and when we already have to shorten the calendar to accommodate CBS (and it's an absolute non-starter to move away from that CBS slot), it makes it really tough to see staying at 11, even though that's the best move.

You'd have to have two weeks of Saturday-Monday-Thursday-Sunday during the league year and I can near guarantee the coaches don't want anything to do with that.

We're going to take the best option which is either NKU or Arlington. I don't think growing south and west makes any sense with Missouri State gone. If we were going to add one of the Arkansas schools, last time was the time to do it.