Committee upholds PAC’s two-year wait

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The NCAA championships committee has affirmed that the Presidents’ Athletic Conference must wait two years for an automatic bid, just like everyone else, according to a report in the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter.

In April 2005 the league announced it was adding Thomas More as a member, effective the fall of 2005. The conference hoped that the NCAA would waive the two-year waiting period. “It seems the waiting period is designed to monitor newly formed conferences to ensure stability, which we feel is not a concern with the PAC,” said Tori Haring-Smith, president of Washington & Jefferson, at the time.

On a related note, I came across this in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference agreement last night.

Article III. MEMBERSHIP
Section C. Contracts Held By New Members
Contracts held by members at the time of joining the conference are obligations not to be abrogated.

For those of you who aren’t dictionary junkies (I did not know what this word meant either), abrogate means “to abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority.” Yet five schools willingly did away with one of their football game contracts for this season anyway.

So the PAC broke its own rules to rush Thomas More into the league, in vain hopes of receiving an automatic bid expressly contrary to Division III rules. And Huntingdon and Montclair State are still paying the price, having been unable to find replacement games.

I’m personally glad this behavior was not rewarded. Breaking 10 contracts in April is not the way to get things done, not in Division III. With St. Vincent headed for the PAC, Seton Hill sounding more likely to move to Division III and even Geneva making noise about coming over from the NAIA, coaches should be wary about scheduling PAC teams for the next few years. Your contract could be next.

5 thoughts on “Committee upholds PAC’s two-year wait”

  1. The PAC also does not get the AQ in the other sports where it has not always qualified as a Pool B, e.g., 2004 Men’s Basketball.

    (http://www.d3hoops.com/salem/04/pairings.htm)

    Ten years from now, when the Pres AC has 8 teams in PA, one in WV and one in KY, and the AQ, how enthusiastic will the conference be to make the trip to Crestview Hills?

    We ASC fans would liken that trip to the Alpine TX/Sul Ross State trip. (Alpine is 330 miles west of everyone else in the ASC.)

  2. Sorry that I did not expand that previous thought. Who in Indiana, Kentucky and/or Ohio might the Pres AC add to balance the conference geographically?

  4. D3Keith, yes in football and in varying degrees for other sports.

    The SRSU men’s hoops team has won or shared the last 3 ASC-West Division titles.

  5. It’s one of those things that has to be played out. Ten years ago, you never thought the PAC would expand in KY. So its hard to say which OH or KY would be winning to join the PAC. It could be one of those NAIA teams in either state that wants to make the move to NCAA.

    As for the schools making the trips to Crestview Hills, they only have to make one trip per school per sport. In football, they make the trip once every other year. Teams in the ASC and the SCAC make long trips all the time.

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