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hola WSU fans, our ISU reporter Todd Golden has traded e-mails with the DBU AD today, posted on twitter
Have traded email with Dallas Baptist AD Ryan Erwin. He saw my DBU item on 6/5. (Its the 2nd part of a too-long column)
Erwin said via email that DBU and MVC, "... have talked and I can say there is mutual interest, but there has not been an offer from MVC."
Hopefully, that baseball-only offer will come. DBU was great for MVC baseball in 2012 and would strengthen the league in that sport.
here is a link and the DBU info from the article Todd wrote a week ago, as you can see Indiana State is totally in favor of adding DBU, it appears other eastern bloc schools are worried.
"• MVC should see light on DBU – In the credit where credit is due department, the MVC owes Dallas Baptist’s baseball team a big thank you.
Without DBU on the schedule, it’s unlikely the league would have been the fifth-best in the nation RPI-wise. DBU’s RPI was in the 20s and ISU benefited more than most. Winning its series against DBU in April might have been the tipping point that helped the Sycamores to be chosen for the NCAA Tournament.
DBU showed interest in joining the league in the late 2000s. The league and the Patriots agreed to a two-year probationary period where DBU was added to the MVC essentially as a shadow school.
DBU played most league opponents – Illinois State was a notable exception – home-and-home during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. DBU played some teams in a one-year agreement. ISU played in Dallas in 2011 and hosted the Patriots this season.
During the probationary period, however, the winds of college realignment pushed DBU towards membership with other Texas schools in the Western Athletic Conference. It appeared the MVC’s flirtation with DBU would amount to a short-lived affair rather than a long-term relationship.
But since then, the WAC has imploded. The Texas schools that made the WAC attractive to DBU have all gone elsewhere thanks to their established or burgeoning football programs. The football-less Patriots need a home and the MVC should make a run at them again.
Why is DBU attractive? Put simply, it’s been one of the better college baseball teams in the last five years. The Patriots played in a Super Regional in 2011 and were on the cusp again as of this writing as they were to play TCU in a regional championship game on Monday night.
To solidify the quality of baseball in the MVC, it would seem that DBU’s addition would be a no-brainer. But in the Byzantine political world of the MVC with its coaches, administrators and presidents often at cross-purposes, nothing is that simple.
Despite DBU’s track record and its benefit to the MVC in 2012, there is still resistance to their membership. I’ve talked to a lot of league sources about the topic and the amount of stories put out there as to who’s for or against what boggles the mind. It’s often portrayed as an East (against DBU) vs. West (for DBU) school divide, but it’s not that simple.
Few want to talk specifics on the record, but the reasons cited for not including DBU are many.
Some cite financial burden of travel, some have to do with competitive balance (with a few coaches allegedly concerned that the bar will be raised in the league, thus jeopardizing their jobs), some have to do with geography, some cite the short period of DBU success, some involve agendas that have nothing to do with athletics at all – such as DBU’s religious affiliation.
There are allegedly schools that have professed support of DBU membership publicly via coach and administrator, but have opposed membership at the presidential level.
It’s messy, and for the good of the league, it’s time to cut through the bull and see what’s mutually beneficial for every league member.
If DBU is still interested, the proof is in the pudding as to how it benefited the MVC in 2012. DBU’s participation in the league schedule raised everyone’s ship with its tide. At-large bids for the MVC didn’t become a possibility in 2012, they became reality.
ISU coach Rick Heller and Prettyman both saw the benefit and both told me they’re in favor of DBU’s addition. Heller has been an advocate from the beginning.
It’s time for the league’s schools to stop worrying about their own fiefdoms for a moment and realize that they and the league overall is better with DBU in it.
Go get ‘em."
Have traded email with Dallas Baptist AD Ryan Erwin. He saw my DBU item on 6/5. (Its the 2nd part of a too-long column)
Erwin said via email that DBU and MVC, "... have talked and I can say there is mutual interest, but there has not been an offer from MVC."
Hopefully, that baseball-only offer will come. DBU was great for MVC baseball in 2012 and would strengthen the league in that sport.
here is a link and the DBU info from the article Todd wrote a week ago, as you can see Indiana State is totally in favor of adding DBU, it appears other eastern bloc schools are worried.
"• MVC should see light on DBU – In the credit where credit is due department, the MVC owes Dallas Baptist’s baseball team a big thank you.
Without DBU on the schedule, it’s unlikely the league would have been the fifth-best in the nation RPI-wise. DBU’s RPI was in the 20s and ISU benefited more than most. Winning its series against DBU in April might have been the tipping point that helped the Sycamores to be chosen for the NCAA Tournament.
DBU showed interest in joining the league in the late 2000s. The league and the Patriots agreed to a two-year probationary period where DBU was added to the MVC essentially as a shadow school.
DBU played most league opponents – Illinois State was a notable exception – home-and-home during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. DBU played some teams in a one-year agreement. ISU played in Dallas in 2011 and hosted the Patriots this season.
During the probationary period, however, the winds of college realignment pushed DBU towards membership with other Texas schools in the Western Athletic Conference. It appeared the MVC’s flirtation with DBU would amount to a short-lived affair rather than a long-term relationship.
But since then, the WAC has imploded. The Texas schools that made the WAC attractive to DBU have all gone elsewhere thanks to their established or burgeoning football programs. The football-less Patriots need a home and the MVC should make a run at them again.
Why is DBU attractive? Put simply, it’s been one of the better college baseball teams in the last five years. The Patriots played in a Super Regional in 2011 and were on the cusp again as of this writing as they were to play TCU in a regional championship game on Monday night.
To solidify the quality of baseball in the MVC, it would seem that DBU’s addition would be a no-brainer. But in the Byzantine political world of the MVC with its coaches, administrators and presidents often at cross-purposes, nothing is that simple.
Despite DBU’s track record and its benefit to the MVC in 2012, there is still resistance to their membership. I’ve talked to a lot of league sources about the topic and the amount of stories put out there as to who’s for or against what boggles the mind. It’s often portrayed as an East (against DBU) vs. West (for DBU) school divide, but it’s not that simple.
Few want to talk specifics on the record, but the reasons cited for not including DBU are many.
Some cite financial burden of travel, some have to do with competitive balance (with a few coaches allegedly concerned that the bar will be raised in the league, thus jeopardizing their jobs), some have to do with geography, some cite the short period of DBU success, some involve agendas that have nothing to do with athletics at all – such as DBU’s religious affiliation.
There are allegedly schools that have professed support of DBU membership publicly via coach and administrator, but have opposed membership at the presidential level.
It’s messy, and for the good of the league, it’s time to cut through the bull and see what’s mutually beneficial for every league member.
If DBU is still interested, the proof is in the pudding as to how it benefited the MVC in 2012. DBU’s participation in the league schedule raised everyone’s ship with its tide. At-large bids for the MVC didn’t become a possibility in 2012, they became reality.
ISU coach Rick Heller and Prettyman both saw the benefit and both told me they’re in favor of DBU’s addition. Heller has been an advocate from the beginning.
It’s time for the league’s schools to stop worrying about their own fiefdoms for a moment and realize that they and the league overall is better with DBU in it.
Go get ‘em."
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