Fred Huff on Saluki Sports: Conference expansion talk intriguing.
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ With the 2010 basketball season slowly fading into the background, one of the more intriguing topics of conversation around college sports is the possibility of a widespread expansion of conferences. Even the storied Big Ten, once known as the "Western Conference", is included in talk among many of the national leaders.
Vahe Gregorian, a sports writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and one of the finest and most knowledgeable in the profession, touched on the possibility this week. His story headline said something like, "Big Ten Expansion Inevitable".
That's strong and perhaps a little too much so although there's a lot of smoke out there and we all know about the saying involving "smoke" . . . there's fire.
Joe Paterno, Penn State's head football coach who has seen more changes than the average sports fan, was quoted as saying, "I think expansion is coming. I think the trend is going to be bigger conferences; I think there's going to be 12-14 team conferences and maybe even 16-team conferences. There are people who are going to move ahead and we better start thinking about that."
Just around the next turn in the road, Ohio State's head football coach Jim Tressel said, "I sense that in college athletics, as in most things, status quo does not last forever . . . . The minute you think everything's fine (and will be) that way forever is just when somebody passes you by."
The topic is complex. There's money involved. Big money.
Illinois' Ron Zook, in citing the Big Ten Network payout, said, "Somebody's going to have to come up with some money to buy into it" while at the same time wondering how eager conference schools would be to share their present proceeds.
We checked in with Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin this week regarding the subject.
He said:
"I've only heard about the expansion possibilities among the major conferences from media reports and have no knowledge of any talks or consideration within those circles.
"As far as expansion that might impact the MVC, we will have to wait and see if there are threats to, or opportunities for, our membership. I have previously taken a stance that the Missouri Valley would not benefit from a membership model of more than 10 schools, but that could always change. Our Presidents Council has always been proactive on such matters in the past.
"I'm not sure that a league with 12 or more members is helpful. A conference with 12 members would cause the end of double round-robin scheduling and with that, different schedule strength within the conference in men's and women's basketball.
"We haven't had any serious discussion about expansion in more than a decade but, as always we will closely monitor developments and potential conference realignment."
That's directly from the guy who has guided the Valley to incredible success since taking over as commissioner almost 22 years ago in May of 1988.
Meanwhile, on SIU's baseball front, the Salukis continue in their efforts to salvage the season after a rough 5-11 start when opponents posted double-digit run numbers in eight games.
Now just a game under .500 after losing 5-4 to Illinois this week, the Salukis are third in the MVC and were certainly competitive at Wichita State last weekend before dropping the series, 2-1.
Eight players are carrying .300-plus batting averages and veteran coach Dan Callahan has reason to believe the closing weeks of the season will place the Salukis in good position to bid for post-season conference tournament honors. Overall, SIU baseball is a class program.