The Rise & Fall of the Valley

[Shock Top]

WSU should send Valpo a buy-game offer as a welcome gift!

[Aargh]

WSU should send Valpo a buy-game offer as a welcome gift!

That's almost mean, but I like it. A lot! Post Angry!

[Shoxcity]

The Valley needs to fire their current marketing department.

[Stickboy46]

Did Valpo official accept yet

[wushock27]

No... according to their message board, the AD or President said terms were still being discussed.
From what I hear, they are a basketball only, and their football will be staying in the Pioneer (?) Conference or something like that...

[DUShock]

It is almost like Valpo is reluctant and the Valley is offering only because it has too. The lack of enthusiasm and future vision is weird.

[SHOCKvalue]

Supposedly Valpo hasn't even actually accepted yet. Would be absolutely hilarious if they were like... "on second thought... nah."

[UCONN_Husky]

Yikes...What a depressing new member announcement.

I'm really starting to understand the disdain you guys have for Elgin and leadership/direction of the conference. I'd be bald from pulling all my hair out.

#53DaysToGo

:yahoo:

[ShockerMas]

Valpo has not yet officially accepted most likely due to upcoming Horizon League tournaments for Softball and Baseball. When Butler originally announced they were leaving the HL in 2012 they planned to make the move to the A10 in July 2013, but after the HL allegedly told them that their teams would not be eligible for postseason competition in their lame duck school year of 2012-13 Butler was able to negotiate with the A10 to join in July 2012. Therefore the current rumor is that Valpo may not publicly accept the MVC invite until the HL Baseball and Softball tournaments are over in order to avoid jeopardizing the participation of those teams (Both of which have a chance of doing well with Softball as the 3 seed and Baseball tied for 4th with 3 games left to play). Right now the timeline for Valpo's acceptance of the bid seems to be a question mark, but could be anywhere from the next day or two to another 2 weeks depending on their negotiations with a variety of parties potentially including the MVC, HL, and other conferences they may have to join as affiliate members for sports like men's tennis and swimming.

[ShockerMas]

No... according to their message board, the AD or President said terms were still being discussed.
From what I hear, they are a basketball only, and their football will be staying in the Pioneer (?) Conference or something like that...

Pioneer Football League (PFL), same non-scholarship FCS conference that Drake is a member of (Evansville was also a member before they dropped football). They would make a decent basketball conference with Butler, Dayton, Valpo, and Davidson as members. Interestingly enough they have the same commissioner and offices as the MVFC in St. Louis

[DUShock]

@ShockerMas: do you believe/think Valpo turns down the invite?

[xazshox]

Valpo

An article in the Eagle today says Valpo accepted the invitation. Going in on July 1st.

[Dave Stalwart]

It is almost like Valpo is reluctant and the Valley is offering only because it has too. The lack of enthusiasm and future vision is weird.

Supposedly Valpo hasn't even actually accepted yet. Would be absolutely hilarious if they were like... "on second thought... nah."

I have this mental image of someone really struggling to choose whether they stay on their modest, content, but smaller ship or if they want to board the slightly larger ship with only slightly more to offer....... and also a hole in the bottom. :)

[calfan]

Looks like the MVC made the easy and safe choice and no expansion. A lot of schools with financial problems.
I didn't see expansion under those terms. They need to keep all the money they can get with state budget problems.

[kcshocker11]

I think Valpo can be a solid choice. The problem with the Valley is the existing teams trying to run basketball programs on the cheap. You get what you pay for. WSU made the only move that made any sense.