I wanted to wait a few days to avoid any knee-jerk response when I saw the news early in the week that UW-Superior had made its intentions clear to leave the WIAC and had filed an application to join the UMAC. I suppose, like many, I was caught off-guard when I saw the news and was genuinely surprised that the UW-Superior Athletic Department had made the move at this time. Keep in mind, once I get beyond the reaches of the MIAC things get a little hazy for me and my knowledge of the WIAC; much less UW-Superior is not that great although I am proud to call UW-Superior Womens Basketball Head Coach Don Mulhern a very good friend; someone I really enjoy talking to and learning from. Still, I have some misgivings about this whole thing and there's a few points I'd like to touch on.
First, what's in it for UW-Superior to make the move to the UMAC when they've been a part of the WIAC since the Woodrow Wilson administration (1913)? Per the UW-Superior website, a host of reasons were given that included "competitive balance, a decrease in travel and missed class time for student-athletes, as well as financial considerations." Now, I'm going to be thinking strictly in terms of women's basketball here with my thoughts on the issue of "competitive balance". Let's remember here that Mulhern took the helm of a UW-Superior that was at rock bottom a few years ago and has slowly but steadily improved the program to a point now where it is very competitive in the WIAC. Just this last season alone, the Yellowjackets knocked off eventual Final Four participant UW-Whitewater in one of the WIAC semifinal playoff games; thumping the Warhawks 84-63 right there in Whitewater before losing in the WIAC Championship in a tough one to UW-Oshkosh. So just where the womens hoops program has been and where it is now under Mulhern's tutelage, the "competitive balance" thing for me is a tough sell. The travel time/missed class time issue I don't have as much a problem here because, let's face it: Those 7-8 hour trips (or longer) down to Whitewater, Platteville and La Crosse take their toll on all the student-athletes that have to make that jaunt during the season. You can't "move" the school to a different location to somehow alleviate the travel considerations and I'm in no way implying that the UW-Superior Athletic Department is trying to pull a Georgia Frontiere/John Shaw here either by the proposed move to the UMAC. At the same time, just how much will those travel considerations/missed class time issues be lessened if the jump to the UMAC is approved? Yes, you do indeed have something of a new crosstown rival with St. Scholastica which is a positive but, at the same time, you're still going to have long hauls down to not only the Twin Cities with Northwestern and North Central but also out to Bethany Lutheran in Mankato, Martin Luther out in New Ulm and UM-Morris in Morris. So I'm guessing here that, while travel time considerations are improved somewhat, the "improvement" is only marginal at best. I can't really say too much either way on the financial "considerations" but I'd ideally like to have some more specifics on what those "considerations" are.
Second, let's suppose that the UMAC governing board approves UW-Superior's application to join the conference. What reactionary moves might occur because of this move? Now, bear in mind, Division III is a totally different world as opposed to Division I where money and TV contracts rule. I'm not even remotely suggesting that there's going to be a wholesale shuffling and realignment in the WIAC, UMAC or any other conference. Still, I think it is fair to say at the very least that, this proposed move by UW-Superior is the key that opened the door should other moves occur in the coming years. Now, I have been an advocate of having the MIAC expand by getting both Northwestern and St. Scholastica into the conference and then going into North/South divisions. Needless to say, UW-Superior's move, if approved, pretty much makes that a moot point. But, just for the sake of argument here, what's to stop a Macalester or a Carleton from exploring their options if they suddenly found greener pastures somewhere else? Again, I'm not even remotely suggesting that they will or have plans to but, what if? Certainly, the WIAC cannot be doing any backflips about losing a long-time member such as UW-Superior; onerous travel times or not. The void left by UW-Superior would reduce membership to eight schools which, in the short view, may actually help with scheduling and the like but I would have to think that, somewhere down the road anyway, there will be a desire for the conference to expand to ten schools. And, if there is, who do they go after? Edgewood? Carthage? St. Norbert? There are options out there for them certainly should they decide to exercise them at some point. And, if they do, how would this affect the MIAC or the IIAC? Or even the Midwest Conference? Only time will tell.
I just think there's some things to watch here and I also think that there's a need for caution before someone else starts thinking "what if?". The UMAC will definitely be getting a new look with the addition of UW-Superior should this come to pass and it will be interesting to see what results it brings and if other dominoes start to fall as a result.
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