Butler expressing interest in Atlantic 10 per ESPN's Andy Katz

[ysuindy]

Andy Katz reporting the move will be announced Wednesday, effective 2013-14

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7879598/butler-bulldogs-join-atlantic-10-conference-all-sports-source-says

Butler will officially join the Atlantic 10 for the 2013-14 season on Wednesday, a source with direct knowledge of the negotiation process told ESPN.com on Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs will leave the Horizon League in all sports and join the A-10 after it formally seeks admission to the league. The A-10 will then accept the Bulldogs' application to make it official.

Butler will replace Temple and become the A-10's 14th member for the 2013-14 season. Temple is leaving the A-10 in 2013-14 for the Big East in all sports. Temple's football program is joining the Big East in fall 2012.

The move ends months of speculation that the Bulldogs would join the league, a coup for A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade in her first major decision since becoming head of the conference.

Butler is a two-time national runner-up under coach Brad Stevens in 2010 and '11. The Bulldogs, who missed the NCAA tournament this past season, have been the most dominant program in the Horizon League recently.

Butler's Indianapolis home helps the A-10 continue its migration to the Midwest, linking the Bulldogs with league members Xavier, Dayton, Duquesne and Saint Louis.

The rest of the league includes strong members UMass, Richmond, Saint Joseph's and Saint Bonaventure as well as Rhode Island, George Washington, La Salle and Fordham.

The one question mark is Charlotte. The 49ers were offered a spot in the Sun Belt, but rejected it, according to a source. The same source said Charlotte is expected to join Conference USA for all sports since it started a football program. A source with knowledge of the A-10's plans said the league expects Charlotte to leave, possibly as early as 2013 but it could be 2014.

The source said the A-10 has had talks with Colonial Athletic Association members George Mason and VCU, but the latter is on hold with the departure of athletic director Norwood Teague to the same position to Minnesota.

The A-10 isn't opposed to going to 16 teams, but then would have to have a third member, possibly out of the CAA, to get to that number if Charlotte were to leave. The A-10 could simply pluck one of the two CAA Virginia schools to replace the 49ers but it's hard to say if they would be split apart.

Regardless, the A-10 pulled off a coup in basketball realignment that is akin at its level to the ACC getting Syracuse and Pitt from the Big East in the power six. The A-10 had to replace a legitimate tradition-rich basketball school in Temple with a comparable school and did so with Butler.

The A-10 is expected to stay at 14 teams in one division. But if the A-10 were to go to 16 teams then it would explore a two-divisional format. But the source said there hasn't been any discussion of moving to divisions.

Butler's departure will crush the Horizon League. The Horizon League is left with lower-profile Midwestern schools in Cleveland State, Loyola (Ill.), Detroit, Illinois-Chicago, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Valparaiso, Wright State and Youngstown State.

[ysuindy]

Butler press conference at Noon, Horizon League commissioner LeCrone has a 2 p.m. conference call.

As discussion on a replacement begin, remember all of our earlier discussions that the Horizon League will need to add at least one team that plays baseball to be able to keep the automatic bid to the baseball tournament.

[Wick250]

Since this certainly looks official, it is terrible news for the Horizon League.  But it is very good news for YSU.  Look at the basketball budgets that Indy posted earlier in this thread.  We go from being 2.5 million behind the league leader to 1.3 million, just like that.  And Butler can and does get prime talent; Milwaukee and Cleveland State can not recruit at that level (unless they embrace thugs that big-time powers don't want.)

You can say that the Horizon League lost much prestige and now has little chance of attaining multiple tournament bids.  True, but what has that got to do with us?  Again, if other schools in the league start to lose high caliber recruits because of the defection of Butler, that just further helps us close the talent gap.

Some have proposed leaving the Horizon League for a conference that plays at the level of the NEC.  OK, but what if the entire league now drops in quality and starts to resemble the NEC.  Again, that is very good for us.

[ysuindy]

I see good and bad for YSU in Butler's move.

The obvious good - as Wick notes the big spending team in the league has left - kind of like the Yankees and Red Sox leaving the American League.  It also removes one roadblock from the dream of winning the Horizon League tournament (I know an immaterial change in an immaterial percentage).

The bad - potential impact on recruiting.  I have to assume Butler was a selling point for the coaches - hey we play with them and we beat them.  I loved the Weber signing and am hoping it helps YSU establish a toehold in the fertile Indy area basketball scene.  Does the Weber signing happen if Butler isn't in the Horizon League - does the lack of a YSU game in Indy each year hurt recruiting?  clearly YSU can schedule IUPUI or nearby Ball State to keep a game in this area (note this is as much a request for me to be able to go to a game).

The real bad for YSU - the potential that this leads to further splintering in the Horizon League.  You may well see an each man for himself mentality.  I really don't know who else in the League is attractive to other conferences - Milwaukee fans think really highly of their program, but I can't see anyone beating down the door to take any of the HL teams.  If Cleveland State can find a way to draw crowds, they have the best chance.  But any further departures could push YSU somewhere we don't want to be.

I spent a few minutes amusing myself scanning through the boards of the other Horizon League teams for reaction, replacements, etc.  You can easily tell which of the schools have baseball teams - they are the ones mentioning the new school needs a baseball team.  Of course, virtually every one of them wants to boot YSU as well (I especially enjoyed the reply on the UIC to the board to the poster who called YSU the "anchor" of the league - YSU won more league games last season that UIC has in the last 3 combined).

Oakland is probably the most frequently mentioned team and one that would make some sense.  As always, you have the question of whether Detroit would try to block that move.

I laugh at those who suggest Murray State - unless the Racers want to join YSU in the MVFC, that isn't happening.

I am not sure how many of the other mentioned have baseball:

Robert Morris
Drexel (can't see why they would want to leave the CAA and have a YSU road trip as their closest)
Morehead State
Bellmont (moving to OVC)
Northern Kentucky (just moving up fro DII)
Duquesne (can't see them leaving the A10 particularly after the coaching change)
IUPUI
IPFW
Evansville (would they want to leave the Valley)

There really isn't a good answer that I see.  Will be interesting to see if LeCrone has anyone ready to go.

Those local in Youngstown, keep us posted if there are any YSU comments later today after LeCrone has his call.

[IAA Fan]

no one has really been able to convince me this is smart move for butler

[ysuindy]

In terms of bad things that can happen to a program - saw a note that indicated after this last round of FBS football realignments, it appears Idaho is going to be left without a home in a FBS conference.  It was suggested they need to drop down to FCS (and presumably the Big Sky).

Given YSU's geographical isolation in the FCS full scholarship world, its always going to be a concern of mine.

[ysuindy]

http://www.horizonleague.org/live/6312

Link to LeCrone's call

[ysuindy]

Listened to the call.  No Mahoning Valley media asked questions.  Green Bay, Valpo, Wright State and Indy guys seemed to ask almost all of them. 

Highlights:

Leagues have a two year window to reach the minimum of six teams to keep the baseball automatic bid.  The Horizon League therefore has a two year "waiver" for the 2014 and 2015 tournaments wherein they could play with five teams.  They must have a sixth baseball team for the 2015-16 school year (2016 tournament).

Prospective members must be approved by a 2/3rd majority vote.  This would be 6 of the 9 schools.  A school has veto power for any school located within 25 miles, however this veto can be overrode by unanimous vote of the other schools.  The practical application here would be whether Detroit could veto Oakland as a member. 

LeCrone would not disclose the exit fee for Butler - I guess it will slip out somehow.

League headquarters to remain in Indy. 

Confirmed all the men's basketball units earned by Butler stay with the league per NCAA rules. 

Mentioned that the league does have a 5,000 seat arena rule - but it can be waived - although the example he gave was playing a random game at a smaller arena.

LeCrone continually mentioned that the expansion process would be "thoughtful" and "collaborative."

Some thoughts on the comments made:

Good to know that baseball has a window to get to six teams.  At times I think the baseball program at YSU might be the one that keeps it in the League. 

The HLHoops blogger tweeted that mapquest shows Oakland being 26.2 miles from Detroit.  Given this is road distance, he speculates the actual straight line distance is probably within the 25 mile radius.  My opinion is that with all the statements made about "collaborative" processes, there is no way that Oakland's admission will come down to the other 8 teams overriding a Detroit veto.  I suspect any announcement that is made will be of a unanimous approval for any team that joins.  Whether back-channel discussions leak out remains to be seen.

The 5,000 seat arena application would appear to apply to Robert Morris.  I think LeCrone was intentionally vague about the application of the rule.  That being said, I can't see the Horizon League wanting to play long term in a 3,000 seat arena.

It was interesting reading some of the other boards about how the league office "has" to move if Butler isn't in the league because there would be no team in Indy.  I can't see the schools wanting to incur the expenses to move the office (everything is more expensive in Chicago) as well as risk losing some key people who would not be willing to relocate.  The Missouri Valley Conference offices are in St. Louis (no MVC team), the MAC offices are in Cleveland. 

It will be interesting to see how things play out.

[Wick250]

Indy, just a few more thoughts.

The "waiver" period is indeed wonderful.  There is no need for the conference to make a rash decision.

Didn't Oakland build a new, but small, gym while we were still in the Mid-Con?  Didn't think it was 5,000.  Might be wrong.

I have zero fear that the Horizon League will splinter.  Despite the delusions of fans at several schools, these institutions have nowhere to go.  Obviously, Butler is the first basketball-driven movement in the past decade.  That opportunity came only with their amazing run and their location in talent paradise.  Delusional fans can't seem to grasp that college athletics is football-driven and that their school ain't got the goods.

If the Horizon League really wants to save baseball, it could adopt this draconian measure.  Make it a mandatory sport.  The new rules would look something like this, with a large participation team sport offered during each season of the academic year:

For the men, offer soccer or non-league football in the fall, offer basketball in the winter, offer baseball in the spring.

For the women, offer soccer (or volleyball) in the fall, offer basketball in the winter, offer softball in the spring.

Detroit, Cleveland State, Loyola, and Green Bay would be livid about the baseball requirement.  But where would they go?  To the Summit League?

[ysuindy]

Wick - looks like a little over 4,000 for Oakland.

Northern Kentucky's new arena holds more than 9,000.