What’s up with the SLIAC?

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Two SLIAC teams dropped football this offseason, and now the rumblings are growing that the SLIAC and UMAC are getting back into their alliance.

The leagues split up a couple of years ago as each tried to pursue an automatic bid independently. The SLIAC got close and was on track to get a tourney bid as early as 2010 before Blackburn and Principia dropped the sport this offseason. Huntingdon and LaGrange, which joined the league as football-only affiliates, brought the SLIAC’s total to eight, but with just six playing the sport next season, the league won’t qualify.

The UMAC has just five football-playing members, and not many opportunities to add to that total unless other schools in the league add the sport. St. Scholastica brought the total to five.

A renewal of the UMAC-SLIAC alliance would bring the total to nine teams and restart the two-year waiting period clock, with, potentially, 2009 and 2010 as waiting years and 2011 as an automatic bid. Of course, that would likely leave Huntingdon and LaGrange back out in the cold, as two teams in the Southeast with nine teams scattered from St. Louis to Duluth, Minn.

One school reportedly jumped the gun and released news on its Web site, though that release has since been pulled. The SLIAC declined comment, while UMAC commissioner Corey Borchardt would not take questions but gave the following statement to D3sports.com: “We currently only have five institutions that offer football. Certainly any time that we can look to expand the number of institutions that offer football, we would want to do that. We want to see that number increase and hope to do so for the AQ and for scheduling purposes.”

Hopefully Huntingdon and LaGrange are calling all of the SCAC schools left in the lurch by Colorado College, because if they end up with eight conference games plus a Dome Day, then that’s nine games and I doubt many will choose to play a 10th game and honor their commitment to Huntingdon and LaGrange.

7 thoughts on “What’s up with the SLIAC?”

  1. And I thought Colorado College was bush league for dropping their program as late as they did … now you’re talking about a whole conference (or two), and what’s worse, they’re apparently playing it close to the vest despite it being April.

  2. Hoping that the SLIAC issue will be handled honorably, The Dome Day issue may be the way partially to fill the void of one of the open dates for the “northern” SLIAC schools.

    In 2008, there were three Dome Day games as Macalester was invited to play MN-Morris.

    If Huntingdon and LaGrange are playing each other in the 9th week, then Dome Day makes sense to provide 5 games late in the season.

    It is pretty clear that the SLIAC schools afflilating with the UMAC schools seems to be the best way to provide games for like-minded institutions in that part of the country. It is possible in a “2-division” UMAC for Principia to return to football when they can offer a competitive program.

    IMHO, Huntingdon and LaGrange should follow Maryville in affiliating with the USA South, if that can be worked out.

  5. Huntingdon announces its schedule which includes only two former SLIAC members (Greenville and Westminster). The Hawks add UW-Oshkosh, Louisiana College, Millsaps, Birmingham-Southern and Division I Newbie South Alabama. Maryville (Tenn.), LaGrange and NAIA Faulkner remain from last year. That’s a pretty good schedule given how late they had to make changes.

    http://www.d3football.com/pressreleases.php?release=2786

    LaGrange’s schedule is posted online and will remain in tact, despite the SLIAC’s dissolution. The Panthers add Wesley and D2 Lincoln (Pa) to replace now defunct Blackburn and Principia.

    http://www.lagrange.edu/athletics/football/news/2008/news_31909_schedule_released.htm

  6. I’m confused. I thought I read in one place that Blacburn and Principia dropped football. Now I’m reading Principia is moving to the UMAC. What did I miss?

    I think Huntingdon and LaGrange are too geographically distant for the USA South. Even Maryville is a stretch for some USA South teams.

  7. Principia claims it will be bringing football back, perhaps as soon as 2010. I’m going to wait until we see a schedule.

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