Much ado about SIU (Edwardsville)

Last week's news conference in Edwardsville marked the first time I had witnessed an announcement where so many people were so happy about something that was going to result in a lot of mediocrity for a lengthy period of time.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift acknowledged that his university would take its lumps as it transitioned to full-fledged status in NCAA Division I and the Ohio Valley Conference.

Not until 2012-13 will a Cougars athletic team — other than softball, which will gain status two years earlier — have a chance to grab an Ohio Valley Conference championship that carries the NCAA tournament berth. Even then, it's an uphill battle.

Since the Ohio Valley Conference came into existence in 1948, the only Division I national championships have come in riflery, with three titles won by Murray State.

SIUE has won 16 Division II national titles in the last 26 years, and it even has a Division I crown in men's soccer from 1979.

I suspect SIUE could become a player in the OVC in several sports in a short time. It has a good recruiting base in the St. Louis region, and its athletic budget seemingly won't be hampered by trying to keep up with the Division I-AA Joneses in football.

I won't be surprised if SIUE someday is in position to maneuver into whatever league may take shape if St. Louis University leaves the Atlantic 10.

But here's the question: If you had a university that had some success in Division II athletics, including national championships, would you trade that in just to call yourself a Division I university?

Vandegrift called SIUE a Division I school in every other way, which is good because academic success usually is ahead of athletics in the priority chart. But just being able to call yourself a Division I school to be able to compete against Tennessee-Martin or Murray State doesn't mean you're really in the same division with North Carolina or Michigan.

 

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Reportedly, SIUE's other main possibility for conference affiliation was The Summit League, which is a far-flung affiliation of schools. 

Sure, Missouri-Kansas City and Western Illinois are in the region, along with Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne and IUPUI (Indiana-Purdue's Indianapolis campus) but the league also stretches to Centenary (Louisiana), North Dakota State, South Dakota State and the road trip of all road trips — Southern Utah.

(Eastern Illinois and Southwest Missouri State in 1982 were original members of the Summit predecessor, the Association of Mid-Continent Universities. Jon Steinbrecher, now commissioner of the OVC, had the same position for nine years beginning in 1994 for the Mid-Continent, which that year added six schools to replace six departures.)

 

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Interesting factoids while researching the success of Murray State's rifle program: 

— Murray State is building a locker room at the softball and tennis complex.

— Southeast could us another sport or two. How about rifle? Three members of Murray State's team for 2005-06 were from Missouri, which was the most from any state. All were freshmen: Mike Horvath of Poplar Bluff, Joe Shane of Poplar Bluff and Kevin Witbrodt of Sunset Hills (and St. Louis University High). Shane and Witbrodt still were members of the program this year, though the overall numbers had dropped from nine men and two women to six men and one woman.