MissouriValleyUnite wrote:E-Villan wrote:BCPanther wrote:There was no lag. Wichita announced they were leaving on April 7, 2017 for the 2017-18 academic year.
Valpo was invited May 9, 2017 for the 2017-18 academic year and accepted on May 25th. They joined July 1, 36 days after they accepted.
The publics all wanted Murray, led by MSU, IlSU and UNI but the privates got SIU to flip and we ended up with Valpo if memory serves.
From what I have been told, that is not entirely accurate. SIU was always a hard no for Murray, as was Loyola and "one of the Iowa" schools. The assumption there was it was Drake. UE's AD was very public about our support for Murray.
It isn't a coincidence that once Loyola's vote was replaced with Belmont's that Murray got in.
I had heard the Drake President was a hard no on Murray St in 2017, so that lines up there. Fortunately, he must’ve changed his mind come 2021. Also, Bradley’s president then supposedly joined him in opposition, but fortunately BU upgraded presidents in time for the next expansion cycle.
Another factor was Deborah Curtis hadn’t assumed office at Indiana St yet. As wildly controversial as she is there, she was massively pro-Murray, to the point she traveled to Murray for their MVFC press conference. The Deborah Curtis factor wasn’t there in 2017.
I'm not a fan of Deborah Curtis, but if true I'll have to give her credit where credit is due when it comes to getting Murray State in the conference.
When it comes to replacing Missouri State, selfishly the only thing I want at this point is someone regional that's close enough for me to travel to for an away game. I suppose Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Fort Wayne would be my top 5 choices. I suppose NKU is the only realistic choice, so yeah give me them. The MVC has pretty well solidified itself as a one bid league so I'm not going to be too picky at this point. Just don't make it a one bid league that involves flying the volleyball team to Dallas or Minneapolis.