There are the thousands of miles a school year that teams travel.
The major differential in graduation rates. These are just some of the reasons that DU has one step out of the door of the Sun Belt Conference.
The conference is currently is home to 10 of the 17 varsity Division I sports at Denver. You may ask why is it not home to all 17 sports? This is because DU has quite a diverse range of sports that no one conference would be able to accommodate.
Denver is not only a member of the SBC but also the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (women’s lacrosse and men’s soccer), Great Western Lacrosse League (men’s lacrosse), Western Collegiate Hockey Association and Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association.
The Pioneers will never have a perfect fit conference wise, but in terms of the conference that most of the teams play in DU is currently looking for a new home.
“First and foremost we should be thankful for the Sunbelt that they have provided us a home and a place to grow as we develop to be in my opinion one day a Division I powerhouse,” said athletic director Peg Bradley-Doppes.
When Denver became a Division I school in 1999, it decided that the best option was to join the Sun Belt.
Now that DU has not only become comfortable at the Division I level, but also very successful Bradley-Doppes and the Board of Trustees are actively looking for a better fitting conference.
“Our conference affiliation not to over simplify anything but can really be boiled down to a few basic pieces… When you talk about conference affiliation they want to see RPI and attendance,” said Bradley-Doppes.
RPI equals Ratings Percentage Index which is a formula that includes 1/4(winning percentage), 1/2 (average opponents’ winning percentage) and 1/4 (opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage). The RPI is mostly associated with basketball, where Denver men’s basketball team finished last season with a RPI of 272.
The talk of changing conferences has been going on now for a few seasons but finally became a true reality when the SBC came out with a Wyatt Committee report.
The first point of the membership standards where that all member institutions had to sponsor a minimum of 15 sports that the conference offers a championship and that Denver and New Orleans were given a five-year grace period to reach the standard. Thus meaning that DU has until 2012-13 to find itself a new conference to join.
“What would make us attractive to other conferences? Certainly I would love to be in a conference that has like minded institutions that include our academic profile and geographic profile,” said Bradley-Doppes.
Conferences that Bradley-Doppes mentioned that are currently on Denver’s radar are the West Coast Conference, Mountain West Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Missouri Valley Conference and Big Sky Conference.
The best fit and most talked about and the lone conference without football is the WCC.
The WCC is home to schools with similar size, all private schools, similar graduation rates and same competiveness.
Bradley-Doppes mentioned that for a long time the WCC was not looking to add any member schools but now with the new world of ever changing conferences, this could change.
“I understand the attraction of the WCC and I do think it is a tremendous conference and my job is to provide options, certainly the decision will be made by the board of trustees and not by athletics.”
Bradley-Doppes has much experience on conference movement having been on the expansion committee for both the Big Ten and Colonial Athletic Conferences.
This will not be an overnight process, yet a process of finding the conference that will provide the perfect fit for DU for many years to come, a process that will most likely not be completed for three to four years.
