NAIA Conference Expansion…and the future. - PART I
THE SENIOR REPORTS asked NAIA conferences the following –
Would you be able to give us
a statement from your conference on expansion and the future?
Below are the replies to our
request –
Added
The NAIA conference
structure has been progressively gaining strength in recent years. The NAIA
conference commissioners, both through their conferences and through the
Conference Commissioners Association, now have a more important role than ever
before. While it’s up to the NAIA presidents, and more formally the Council of
Presidents, to lead the Association, the presidents realize that strong
conferences led by active commissioners are good for the NAIA as a whole.
The Sun Conference FROM: Mark A. Pope - Commissioner
The
Sun Conference includes 12 strong members: 9 in
We are currently working on Associate
Membership for Football; 2 Sun Conference members currently sponsor the sport,
one is adding it next year and others may add it later. If we can obtain
6 schools, we will include Football as an Associate Membership Sport.
The Kansas Collegiate
Athletic Conference is comprised of 10 member institutions - all in the state
of
One of the key components of any expansion is finding potential members that
meet our criteria for membership. This would include, but not limited to,
being a private not-for-profit institution and having the required conference
sports as stipulated in our constitution and bylaws. Of particular note,
having a football program is non-negotiable - any potential member must have a
football program to be considered for membership. A broad-based athletic
program with many sport offerings is necessary for conference membership as
well. Currently, we offer 18 conference championships and are looking to add
championships in Women's Golf and Competitive Dance. Every KCAC school
offers at least 14 championship sports with several member schools delivering
every championship sport recognized by the conference.
Without going into too many
other details, I would share with you that the KCAC's
focus is currently on internal sport program growth and not on new-member
expansion. Member schools are looking at Wrestling, Bowling, and other
sports to add to their institutional offerings as well as the possibility of
additional conference championships in the near future.
The Midlands
Collegiate Conference hopes to add a couple more teams in
the next couple of years so we can go to a north-south format.
WHAC FROM:
Rob Miller – Commissioner
The WHAC is 12
members and we feel strong in our membership. 12 is a good number and our
first goal would be internal growth in sports like tennis and non NAIA sports
(at present) like bowling and lacrosse. We will consider others who meet
our mission and location but we are not active in membership growth but working
with developing programs as they might make a good match in the near future.
TranSouth Athletic
Conference FROM: Charlie Smith – Commissioner
The TranSouth Athletic Conference welcomes Life University
of Marietta, Georgia as our newest member. We continue our mission to seek
other members.
The Cal Pac has added three new members in 2012 and is actively
pursuing its growth to ten members in 2013. This successful expansion has
rejuvenated our membership and enlarged our conference footprint from northern
The Kentucky Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (KIAC), is comprised of 12 member schools in parts
of six states. We are currently talking with one school which is
planning to apply for membership for the 2013-2014 year and two schools which
are considering making applications. If and when we add more members, we
will be considering the feasibility of going to divisional play. This
fall we added