re-published from my article in the Alestle, writing the SIUE reaction as well as my reaction for next week.
Friday, Belmont University President Bob Fisher announced the school in Nashville would become the 12th member of the OVC in 2012. The announcement was made by Fisher, alongside OVC commissioner Beth DeBauche during a press conference in Nashville.
Fisher said the OVC has had flirtations with Belmont in the past.
"It's kind of like how in sixth grade someone's friend came to me and asked if she liked me and I said 'I don't know, does she like me?'" Fisher said. "From the very beginning the OVC was a place we thought was a great place but we ended up somewhere else."
Turns out, the 63-year old OVC had some interest after all.
"The OVC Board of Presidents has spent some time looking at the future of the conference and what we wanted the OVC to look like years from now," DeBauche said. "We are a really good, stable league, but with that in mind, if there is an opportunity for value membership expansion it would be considered."
Adding an additional team to the league was not a priority for the OVC, but DeBauche said Belmont was a fitting exception.
"The OVC wasn't actively looking to add members, but we would discuss it if there was a make-sense good fit relationship for us to move forward with. It's a variety of different factors that came into play and the OVC Board of Presidents saw value in adding to the league."
Belmont was attractive to the OVC for a variety of reasons, including its location, academic reputation and athletic success. In men's basketball, Belmont, which spent the past 10 seasons in the Atlantic Sun Conference, advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2006, 2007, 2008 and this past March as a No. 13 seed, losing to No. 4 Wisconsin 72-58 in the second round.
Tennessee Tech President Bob Bell, a member of the OVC Board of Presidents said the conference, also headquartered in Nashville, seems like an obvious fit for Belmont from a geographical standpoint.
"This is a great day for Belmont, a great day for Nashville and a great day for our region," Bell said. "Nashville is our corporate headquarters. We host our landmark basketball tournament here in Nashville. Many of our schools have significant alumni bases here in Nashville and Belmont is going to bring an exciting level of competition to the conference."
Belmont has won the Atlantic Sun's academic award seven of the past eight seasons.
The transition to the OVC works differently for Belmont, an already certified team, than SIUE, which joined straight out of NCAA Division II.
Belmont will play out its final season in the Atlantic Sun this upcoming year, and will take on a $200,000 penalty for leaving the league early in what is typically a two-year process to switch.
"We are saving twice that much in travel, and those numbers really matter to all of us," Fisher said referencing the university's Board of Trustee members on hand for the announcement. "A two year cycle is just way too long for us to be a lame duck in the league. A year from now we will be full members of the OVC."
Aside from Belmont's traditional rival Lispomb, also located in Nashville, the Atlantic Sun spans Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The OVC also features a Nashville school in Tennessee State.
"Our longest trip [Southeast Missouri State] is the same as our shortest out of Nashville trip in the Atlantic Sun [East Tennessee State]," Fisher said.
Fisher hopes Belmont can continue its "Battle of the Boulevard" rivalry with Lispomb despite the switch. To avoid Friday's announcement being a surprise, Fisher said he called Lipscomb's President Randolph Lowry Thursday to break the news.
"We have a long storied rivalry with Lipscomb, and I spoke with Dr. Lowry making sure it didn't catch him by surprise," Fisher said. "We are excited at the prospect of continuing to play Lispcomb (Is this the right spelling or the one before?) and we know this is a good decision for Belmont, Lipscomb and Nashville."
While Belmont is different than SIUE, being a private school with just under 6,000 students, it is similar, because it does not play football and instead plays men's soccer, a sport the OVC does not sponsor.
Like SIUE, football is not happening at Belmont. (I assume Belmont doesn't count club sports either? Haha)
"Football is not on any burner, there was a burner but something vaporized it and it is not there," Fisher said. "The OVC doesn't need us to play football."
Belmont's men's soccer program competes in the Atlantic Sun, but the broken relationship with Belmont and the conference may have the team looking for a new home as well. SIUE's soccer program, which was fast-tracked and without a conference upon joining NCAA Division I joined the Missouri Valley Conference in December 2008.
"Our men's soccer program is our only program that will not find a home in the OVC," Fisher said. "The OVC houses football, not European football. We have not solidified that yet, but we will play men's soccer and find a home for men's soccer."
SIUE has split the two games it has played against Belmont since making its own transition in men's soccer, winning a 2-1 game at Korte Stadium in September and losing on the road in 2008.
The addition of Belmont in men's basketball is intriguing to those who follow the OVC.
The conference has won an NCAA tournament game each of the past three seasons. Morehead State won an opening round game in 2009, Murray State defeated Vanderbilt in 2010 and this past March Morehead State defeated Louisville to advance to the third round.
"The health of our basketball programs are in better position than ever," DeBauche said. "Our goal in the future is to get the best seeds possible and at-large bids [into the NCAA tournament]. We want to take advantage of the success we have had in the postseason and the admission of Belmont adds to the fabric of that."
The OVC is comprised of SIUE, Morehead State, Murray State, Southeast Missouri State, Eastern Illinois, Jacksonville State, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State, Austin Peay, UT Martin and Eastern Kentucky.
Calls to SIUE men's basketball head coach Lennox Forrester, women's basketball head coach Amanda Levens and Director of Athletics Brad Hewitt were not returned as of 3:30 p.m. Friday.
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