What happend to the MVC in the 70s?

[ABC]

Can someone remind me why St. Louis, Cincy, Louisville and Memphis left the MVC in the 1970s? (Actually Cincy left in 1969) Memphis left in 73, St Louis and Louisville left in 1974.

They all were charter members of the Metro Conference along with Georgia Tech and Tulane.

Wonder why they just didn't try to get Georgia Tech and Tulane to join the MVC?

[Ta Town Shocker]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19750609&id=FmIgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0mUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3808,2003860

It appears they didn't like to travel to West Texas State and NMSU.

[shocker3]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=3808,2003860

It appears they didn't like to travel to West Texas State and NMSU.

I also recall a big fight in the 70s over the way the Valley distributed the football TV money. It may seem strange now, but the big revenue source in the 70s was from the ncaa tv contract for football. The Valley was getting something like a million dollars a year from the contract (which was a lot of money back then in college sports). Some of the schools like Memphis and Louisville wanted to get a bigger share of the proceeds.

The Valley was also one of just 7 conferences to have a TV contract for basketball but I don't think it brought in as much money as the football contract. I certainly don't remember any fights over the basketball contract.

This was all in the day before cable and espn. There were only a few football and basketball games on TV in those days and the Valley was part of those broadcasts.

[shocker3]

It sounds like Louisville coach Denny Crum may have been opposed to Louisville leaving the Valley.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jwQuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OjMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5368,3279393&hl=en

[Kung Wu]

Can someone remind me why St. Louis, Cincy, Louisville and Memphis left the MVC in the 1970s? (Actually Cincy left in 1969) Memphis left in 73, St Louis and Louisville left in 1974.

They all were charter members of the Metro Conference along with Georgia Tech and Tulane.

Wonder why they just didn't try to get Georgia Tech and Tulane to join the MVC?

Awesome question! I am learning a ton.

[ripemupshocks]

https://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/newsrecord/1969/1969_05_09.pdf

[shox1989]

digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/newsrecord/1969/1969_05_09.pdf

It is interesting that that article said that WSU was thinking about moving to a conference out west in 1969. I wonder if they were talking about the WAC, it was fairly new then?

Thanks for the link there were several articles on the move to the Valley in that newspaper.

[ABC]

The WAC was formed in 1962, so it would have been kind of new.

The articles are quite interesting and thanks for posting the links. It sounds like they were dealing with some of the same issues that exist today, though noticeably absent was anything about splitting up money. However, travel costs were a part of the decision, it appears.

With Louisville going to the ACC it looks like they finally have a more permanent conference home. They have been quite the nomads.

[SubGod22]

Just think how different things might have been had we moved to the WAC back then. We could be looking at being in the MWC or who knows depending on what we were able to do with a decent conference and football. I don't think we'd have dropped football had we been in a conference that supported it.

[shox1989]

The WAC was formed in 1962, so it would have been kind of new.

The articles are quite interesting and thanks for posting the links. It sounds like they were dealing with some of the same issues that exist today, though noticeably absent was anything about splitting up money. However, travel costs were a part of the decision, it appears.

With Louisville going to the ACC it looks like they finally have a more permanent conference home. They have been quite the nomads.

One thing that the articles don't mention, but was probably a factor in 1969, was that it was actually advantegous for a basketball team to be an independent in terms of getting a bid to the ncaa tournament or the NIT.

In those days conferences were limited to one bid to the ncaa tourney and one bid to the NIT. Playing in the toughest league was a disadvantage from that standpoint. You could have a great season but finish second in the Valley and not go to the ncaa. Whereas if you were an independent, you could still get a bid. That is one of the reasons there were so many independents in 1969.

[ABC]

Actually the link to the Cincinatti student newspaper did mention that it was sometimes easier to get to the NCAA as an independent. If the NCAA had been with the modern times and allowed multiple bids, maybe the MVC of the 1960s sticks around.

I also think that had WSU not dropped football in 1986, WSU could have been invited to the new expanded WAC along with Tulsa. However, that mega conference blew apart after only a few years and Tulsa was left out in the cold and now they are in not such a great conference.

[shox1989]

I have this book sitting on a shelf in my house "Missouri Valley Conference A Century of Sports" that my wife gave to me as a gift several years ago. I probably hadn't looked at it since maybe the first day or two after I got it.

After reading this thread, I decided to open up the book to see if it shed any light on this subject. Right away on page 37, I see this statement from Mickey Holmes the Commissioner of the Valley in 1972:

"The thing that was the bone of contention was the football championship. There was an extreme desire on the part of the majority to establish round-robin play in football and therefore have a true champion. And there was an interest on the part of a minority to have extreme flexibility in football scheduling."

"Memphis State didn't want to be bound playing seven or eight conference football games, rather than being able to schedule games with Ole Miss, So. Miss, Florida St, South Carolina, and Tennessee. So Memphis State left to become a football independent following the 72 football season."

In a period of four years, from 1973 to 1976, there was a flurry of activity with MVC membership, mostly caused by this football scheduling controversy. After the 1974 season, North Texas St left and became an independent under Coach Hayden Fry. The Mean Green and aspirations of eventually joining the Southwest Conference....


I will comb through the book some more to see if I can find some more discussion on why these teams left a conference that at time was one of the best, if not THE best college basketball conference in the country. One other thing that I hadn't realized until I read it in the book today, is that both Memphis St and Louisville went to the Final 4 during their last season in the Valley.

[ABC]

Sub and 1989, that is very interesting stuff. Thank you.

[shox1989]

Former Valley member Louisville is beating up Florida in the Sugar Bowl right now. I do remember some of those Louisville-WSU football games in my youth.