With the apparent dissolution of the American Southwest Conference (ASC) coming in the next two years…….the conference will go from 9 football schools to just four.
Most of the defectors are heading to the SCAC, as that conference will revive football, thus retaining most of its former football members. Others are heading to SAA……
Only East Texas Baptsit University, Howward Payne University, Hardin Simmons University and Mary Hardin Baylor University will remain. Affectionately called the “Four Baptists”.
Obviously keeping the ASC alive is priority #1…but it seems like a long way to go.
UMHB is a heavyweight… monopolizing the ASC football title for over 20 years now with several D3 national championships and championship appearances.
HSU has cornered most of the at-large bids for the playoffs. Also with several deep playoff runs in its history.
These two, with their dominance, led to a mass evacuation. They all flee to other places in hopes of competing in the D3 football playoffs.
It is unlikely that anyone would want to join the ASC for the same reasons.
Discussions indicate that each could likely end up in D-2.
There is a chance that ETBU and HPU will end up in the SCAC with their old rivals.
But there has been widespread speculation that HPU and ETBU could either move to D-2 or join the NAIA.
The D-2 Lone Stat Conference makes the most sense for all but ETBU geographically.
The Great American Conference (primarily Arkansas schools) makes the most geographic sense for ETBU.
But debate rages over whether D-2 is in their best interests. Both HPU and ETBU have approximately 2,000 enrollments. Which makes it one of the smaller schools in the D-2…especially the Lone Star Conference…and, to some extent, the Great American as well.
NAIA seems like a good choice. Geographically….. An earlier conference makes perfect sense for ETBU. Old rival Louisiana College is already there. Texas College is just 60 miles from ETBU. Texas Weleyan and SAGU are both a short drive from the metroplex.
HPU would be near Wayland, SAGU and Wesleyan from the west.
All inscriptions are surprisingly similar compared to the large differences in D-2……
So the question is……
Have the NAIA and The Sooner Conference been doing for HPU and ETBU since then?
Have the ETBU and the HPU been doing for the SAC since then? For the NAIA? Do they even want some?
This is going to be interesting…I think as the CSA deadline gets closer…we’ll see more movement. But it seems like the NAIA and SAC could be a great fit for ETBU and HPU.
There could be some fantastic rivalries with good proximity to keep fans happy when they travel.
Thoughts?
First message by the way!!!
