Great West Conference RIP

[dgtw]

The dawning of a new academic year means the end of the Great West Conference. It had been on life support the last couple years, with not enough teams to earn an autobid to any NCAA events. Everyone left for greener pastures, leaving NJIT as the sole survivor, searching for a new league home.

Also flittering in the wind are NYIT's baseballl team and three MEAC women's soccer teams. NYIT plays DII in everything else in the East coast Conference, I suppose they'll drop back down unless someone else takes them in.

The league's webite makes no mention of their demise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_West_Conference

[darell1976]

Thank you Great West it was fun 2008-2011.

[Laker]

, leaving NJIT as the sole survivor, searching for a new league home.
Also flittering in the wind are NYIT's baseballl team and three MEAC women's soccer teams. NYIT plays DII in everything else in the East coast Conference, I suppose they'll drop back down unless someone else takes them in.

I've been looking to see what happens to NJIT- it doesn't look like anyone is in a hurry to take them. There used to be four D2 teams that played D1 baseball- Dallas Baptist, Hawaii-Hilo, LeMoyne and NYIT. The middle two went back to D2. I don't know what the plans of DBU are- do they plan on going D1 in everything or just stay the way that they are? It will be tough for NYIT.

[ccd494]

Northeast baseball conferences will always be a realignment or a dropped program away from needing a member on the quick. NYIT will land on its feet.

[DFW HOYA]

What exactly is it about NJIT that makes this program toxic to nearby conferences seeking additional members?

[Laker]

What exactly is it about NJIT that makes this program toxic to nearby conferences seeking additional members?

I don't know. No football doesn't help but there are a lot of schools that don't have football that would get an invite if they needed one. Never talked to anyone who knew much about NJIT.

[MplsBison]

What exactly is it about NJIT that makes this program toxic to nearby conferences seeking additional members?

Perhaps they have a Chicago State-esque persona?

Then again, CSU is now in the WAC.

[clenz]

I've been looking to see what happens to NJIT- it doesn't look like anyone is in a hurry to take them. There used to be four D2 teams that played D1 baseball- Dallas Baptist, Hawaii-Hilo, LeMoyne and NYIT. The middle two went back to D2. I don't know what the plans of DBU are- do they plan on going D1 in everything or just stay the way that they are? It will be tough for NYIT.
DBU is joining the MVC for baseball this coming year so I doubt that have any plans to move D1.

[ccd494]

What exactly is it about NJIT that makes this program toxic to nearby conferences seeking additional members?

They have a very weird sports lineup. If they had lacrosse, softball or field hockey, they would likely be in America East by now.

But for men's sports NJIT has: hoops (great, so does everyone), baseball (useful-AEC has 6 and SBU/UA are flight risks), xc/track/swimming/tennis (numbers don't matter), soccer (have 8), volleyball (not AEC sport), fencing (not AEC sport),

Women's sports: hoops (no help), xc/track/tennis (numbers don't matter), soccer (have 9), volleyball (would give AEC 8 w/ Providence as associate), fencing (not AEC sport)

[DFW HOYA]

Women's sports: hoops (no help), xc/track/tennis (numbers don't matter), soccer (have 9), volleyball (would give AEC 8 w/ Providence as associate), fencing (not AEC sport)

Not sure how Providence continues to play the card which allows volleyball to be played outside the Big East.

[aceinthehole]

Not sure how Providence continues to play the card which allows volleyball to be played outside the Big East.

As ccd494 pointed out, NJIT enrollment is heavily male and they don't offer a broad based women's program. They just don't offer many of the sports that the AE or NEC want or need. No M/W Lax, no Softball, no Field Hockey, no M/W Golf. The only thing NJIT offers of interest is Baseball, and you can just add NYIT as an associate for that sport if needed.

I think PC volleyball is basically non-scholly. They are awful and would never compete in the BE.

[DFW HOYA]

I think PC volleyball is basically non-scholly. They are awful and would never compete in the BE.

There are plenty of examples of non-scholarship teams in the Big East, incuding more than a few at Georgetown.

As for a public school like NJIT, A-East makes sense. Of course, that 1,500 seat gym wins no favor.

[ccd494]

There are plenty of examples of non-scholarship teams in the Big East, incuding more than a few at Georgetown.

As for a public school like NJIT, A-East makes sense. Of course, that 1,500 seat gym wins no favor.

Like ace said, NJIT doesn't bring anything except a baseball team and another team to possibly take away a basketball autobid from the long term conference members.

[dgtw]

NYIT went 10-47 in baseball this year, and were 8-20 in a bad league. why are they DI to begin with?

[dgtw]

Not sure how Providence continues to play the card which allows volleyball to be played outside the Big East.

That is odd. Why would you want to play a sport outside your league if they offer it and why would the league allow it?

[DFW HOYA]

That is odd. Why would you want to play a sport outside your league if they offer it and why would the league allow it?

The Big East (at least prior to 7/1) allowed one "federated" sport (i.e., a team which plays outside the conference) per school, such as Notre Dame football or Miami baseball way back when. PC volleyball may be the only one left that I'm aware of.

(FWIW, Georgetown and Villanova football were not subject to this rule because they were in a different subdivision.)

[dgtw]

According to Wikipedia, Providence is listed as being a member of the Big East for volleyball.

[UAalum72]

According to Wikipedia, Providence is listed as being a member of the Big East for volleyball.Wiki may think so, but the America East web site says PC women's volleyball has been a member for three years, going 4-32, 19-75 overall in that time.

[WWII]

As ccd494 pointed out, NJIT enrollment is heavily male and they don't offer a broad based women's program. They just don't offer many of the sports that the AE or NEC want or need. No M/W Lax, no Softball, no Field Hockey, no M/W Golf. The only thing NJIT offers of interest is Baseball, and you can just add NYIT as an associate for that sport if needed.

I think PC volleyball is basically non-scholly. They are awful and would never compete in the BE.

They don't compete in the AEC either.

[IBleedYellow]

Some good memories occurred while we were members of that conference. I still remember the day we announced we were going DI. I also remember when we stated we were going to the Gateway conference and I was PUMPED to be playing with UNI again.

[dgtw]

The Providence website has their 2013 volleyball schedule and it lists a bunch of AEC games as conference games.

[MplsBison]

NDSU fans - what's the best Great West conference football game in the short NDSU history as a member of the GWFC?

To me, it'd be a toss up between: 2006 UC Davis game in Davis (scored winning touchdown with 4 seconds left?), 2006 Cal Poly game in Fargo (absolutely crushed them at home, payback for the 2005 game), 2006 SDSU game in Fargo (GW title, marker stays in Fargo, first championship in many years), 2007 Cal Poly game in SLO (scored winning touchdown with less than a minute? heart wrenching final drive to gut it out)


Obviously it goes without saying that the worst was the 2007 SDSU game in Brookings. Feel sorry for those seniors to go out like that. Although probably a decent runner up would be the 2005 Cal Poly game in SLO, maybe the most thorough butt wipping in Bohl's tenure at NDSU.

[darell1976]

Thank you to North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah, UC Davis and Cal Poly for starting a conference for newcomers like North Dakota and South Dakota to join and have a (temporary) home.xthumbsupx

[bisonnation]

Thank you to North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah, UC Davis and Cal Poly for starting a conference for newcomers like North Dakota and South Dakota to join and have a (temporary) home.xthumbsupx

It was a solid conference in the beginning but too many programs left. You have to wonder what would have happened had USD and UND jumped at the same time? Would Omaha had moved up instead of dropping football? It would have been ndsu, und, sdsu, usd, northern Colorado, southern utah and of course Davis & Poly. Thats the core of the ncc. Throw in a d1 omaha and thats a stable conference with a future home for Duluth

Either way all the schools are in a good fit now

[cpalum]

NDSU fans - what's the best Great West conference football game in the short NDSU history as a member of the GWFC?

To me, it'd be a toss up between: 2006 UC Davis game in Davis (scored winning touchdown with 4 seconds left?), 2006 Cal Poly game in Fargo (absolutely crushed them at home, payback for the 2005 game), 2006 SDSU game in Fargo (GW title, marker stays in Fargo, first championship in many years), 2007 Cal Poly game in SLO (scored winning touchdown with less than a minute? heart wrenching final drive to gut it out)


Obviously it goes without saying that the worst was the 2007 SDSU game in Brookings. Feel sorry for those seniors to go out like that. Although probably a decent runner up would be the 2005 Cal Poly game in SLO, maybe the most thorough butt wipping in Bohl's tenure at NDSU.

NDSU's win in SLO 2007 was epic. I didn't like it much but it was a great win and a painful loss.

For a few years Cal Poly and NDSU had a little rivalry going.

[darell1976]

It was a solid conference in the beginning but too many programs left. You have to wonder what would have happened had USD and UND jumped at the same time? Would Omaha had moved up instead of dropping football? It would have been ndsu, und, sdsu, usd, northern Colorado, southern utah and of course Davis & Poly. Thats the core of the ncc. Throw in a d1 omaha and thats a stable conference with a future home for Duluth

Either way all the schools are in a good fit now

I think it would be tough to see the SU's and USD in the MVFC and UND in the BSC. I don't know how long a conference has to be together before they get an autobid, as the SU's and the UXD would have been in the GWFC for 4 years. I don't know with UN-L that Onaha would be able to move up even back then. But it would've been an awesome conference.

[dewey]

NDSU's win in SLO 2007 was epic. I didn't like it much but it was a great win and a painful loss.

For a few years Cal Poly and NDSU had a little rivalry going.

I remember listening to the game with my father in law sitting in his car and being completely shocked that NDSU pulled out a miracle win. Like you said NDSU and Cal Poly had a good rivalry for a while.

Dewey

[MplsBison]

NDSU's win in SLO 2007 was epic. I didn't like it much but it was a great win and a painful loss.

For a few years Cal Poly and NDSU had a little rivalry going.

It was a very nice series of four games, for two teams that had previously only met in the DII playoffs (I believe...)

2004 - reasonably close game in Fargo, but as I recall never in doubt for Poly. They had the 2004 and 2005 Buchannon award winners Jordan Beck and Chris Gocong playing on that defense (2006 winner Kyle Shotwell might've been playing at that time as well?)
2005 - one of the worst losses of Bohl's career in Fargo at the time, wasn't close and Gocong terrorized us all game long
2006 - payback! Absolutely crushed Poly in the dome - didn't hear much from Shotwell this game!
2007 - one of the most amazing comeback wins I've ever listened to for NDSU. Wins the game on this 80 yard pass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3XO4QBO4iY

I recall there was a quote from Ellerson after the 2007 game saying something like he thought he deserved to be fired for not playing a prevent defense at that point in the game. Another amazing thing is, if you look closely at the offensive line during the play - Steve Walker is about a half second from being sacked when he releases the pass! What a play....


It's too bad they can't play more often, but on the other hand Poly used to play the most odd-ball schemes in FCS. You'd basically be wasting a week of your season to prepare special just for those schemes which you'd then be guaranteed never to see again.

[HandoEX]

Some solid football programs came through the Great West. Three of last year's playoff teams were former members. Lots if great memories frim the GWFC days :)

[bisonnation]

It was a very nice series of four games, for two teams that had previously only met in the DII playoffs (I believe...)

2004 - reasonably close game in Fargo, but as I recall never in doubt for Poly. They had the 2004 and 2005 Buchannon award winners Jordan Beck and Chris Gocong playing on that defense (2006 winner Kyle Shotwell might've been playing at that time as well?)
2005 - one of the worst losses of Bohl's career in Fargo at the time, wasn't close and Gocong terrorized us all game long
2006 - payback! Absolutely crushed Poly in the dome - didn't hear much from Shotwell this game!
2007 - one of the most amazing comeback wins I've ever listened to for NDSU. Wins the game on this 80 yard pass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3XO4QBO4iY

I recall there was a quote from Ellers

Son after the 2007 game saying something like he thought he deserved to be fired for not playing a prevent defense at that point in the game. Another amazing thing is, if you look closely at the offensive line during the play - Steve Walker is about a half second from being sacked when he releases the pass! What a play....
I

It's too bad they can't play more often, but on the other hand Poly used to play the most odd-ball schemes in FCS. You'd basically be wasting a week of your season to prepare special just for those schemes which you'd then be guaranteed never to see again.

Poly was a good rivalry. So was Davis. We had some great games that date back to the D2 era too. My favorite Davis game as a D1 team was jn 2006.. we trailed 24-0 at half and won

[MplsBison]

Poly was a good rivalry. So was Davis. We had some great games that date back to the D2 era too. My favorite Davis game as a D1 team was jn 2006.. we trailed 24-0 at half and won

Yep, crazy comeback that gets lost in the shuffle. I mentioned it in post #22.