WKU's expected move to 1A

MeanGreen61 · October 12, 2006

Article posted on the Sun Belt board

Pogue: This time, MTSU should pull for WKU

By GREG POGUE

pogue@dnj.com

And all they have to do is act naturally.

The rekindling of the rivalry between MTSU and Western Kentucky appears headed to full blaze as the latter contemplates joining the former as Division I-A football member in the Sun Belt Conference.

On Nov. 2, WKU's 11-member Board of Regents is expected to cast majority opinion in favor of the Hilltoppers elevating from Division I-AA status in football and joining all of its sports — just like MTSU did in 1999 — on the Division I-A level.

For MTSU's sake, WKU's move to I-A football can't happen fast enough.

"It would be great for Middle Tennessee," MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro says of WKU joining the Sun Belt Conference in football. "It gives us a natural football rivalry and home game every other year that would be an automatic draw."

Long considered a traditional basketball school, Western Kentucky brings more sizzle in football — having won the Division I-AA national championship in 2002 — than MTSU did when it moved to Division I-A. But WKU and Villanova are the only schools in the country that are I-A football conference members but still playing at I-AA in the sport.

"... Perception and branding are important in the minds of most people with regard to how institutions are perceived," WKU president Gary Ransdell recently wrote in a memo sent to school faculty and staff. "Fair or unfair, you are often known by the company you keep.

"We cannot change our affiliation with the Sun Belt Conference right now as we are not engaged in any conversations with any other conference. We can, however, position ourselves to be included among 119 I-A institutions rather than the 123 I-AA institutions."

If the vote passes, WKU will notify its football league, the Gateway Conference, this is its last season as member. After two transition seasons where the Hilltoppers will not be eligible for conference championship and bowl game, they would start competing in the Sun Belt Conference in 2009.

"It's a natural and long overdue continual evolution of both athletic programs," says WKU athletic director Wood Selig, a longtime Massaro friend and guest at MTSU's game last Friday against Louisville in Nashville.

The football stadium seating requirement of 30,000 that MTSU faced during its move to I-A is outdated. But the mandatory home attendance average of 15,000 is not. And of the $70 million currently targeted for WKU athletic renovations, $37.5 million is headed to enhancement and expansion of L.T. Smith Stadium to seat around 24,000.

"We would sell standing-room-only tickets when MTSU visits," Selig says.

Locked arm in arm, MTSU and WKU would transcend rivalry status to become attractive partners if and when conference realignment occurs. But that's not the point now.

MTSU advocates should keep fingers crossed for a positive Nov. 2 vote. Because now more than ever, MTSU and WKU need each other as much as they would love to beat the other.

Edited October 12, 2006 by MeanGreen61