D-II schools mull conference futures
All-Oklahoma league for 11 NCAA sports programs would face hurdles
State House representatives Ronny Johns of Ada and Mark Vancuren of Owasso grew up in Oklahoma, were athletes on the small-college level when the Oklahoma schools were in the NAIA, and Johns and Vancuren became educators and coaches before entering politics.
Now, most of the schools that made up Oklahoma’s NAIA District 9 are in the NCAA Division II, spread across three conferences. And Johns and Vancuren are interested in exploring an all-Oklahoma Division II league.
Last Thursday at the State Capitol, Vancuren led a legislative interim feasibility on the subject. Most of the schools were represented.
But Johns said not a lot of progress was made.
Oklahoma schools Southwestern State, Southeastern State, Northwestern State, East Central, Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene are in the Great American Conference, along with six Arkansas schools.
Central Oklahoma, Rogers State and Northeastern State are in the MidAmerica Intercollegiate Athletic Association, comprised mostly by Kansas and Missouri schools.
Oklahoma Christian and Cameron are in the Lone Star Conference.
An all-Oklahoma league could consist of those 11 schools, eight of which play football. But Johns said the school representatives had a variety of concerns.
“I don’t think any headway was made,” Johns said.
Johns listed five main issues:
1. NCAA uncertainty. The NCAA constitution could be revamped. “They are really nervous about that,” Johns said.
2. A new conference must wait five years to receive an automatic berth into postseason play.
3. Football scheduling could get dicey. The Great American and MIAA schools play conference-only schedules. Finding non-conference games could be difficult for an eight-team football conference. Johns said there is some fear that the Arkansas schools in the Great American would not schedule the Oklahoma schools, should they pull out of the league.
4. The football schools believe nonfootball schools have a big budget advantage, since they can sink more money into the other sports.
5. There is a substantial financial penalty for withdrawing from existing conferences.
“I could argue with each one except for No. 1,” Johns said. “They seem to think that they will continue to get shared revenue from the NCAA basketball tournament. But there is also a fear that all of that could change.
“Anyway, it was interesting. Depending on what happens with the NCAA constitution, we could revisit it after that is drawn up.”
There was a time I supported the idea of an all-Oklahoma Division II conference.
But the football/non-football schools is a real issue. What’s more perplexing to me is the eight football-playing Oklahoma D-II schools being in separate conferences.
But that’s more of a UCO/Northeastern State issue. The other six football schools seem quite content in the Great American, even if the Arkansas schools dominate.