Today is Eastern Kentucky's Final Day in the Ohio Valley Conference
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EKU Athletics[/caption]
More than seven decades after creating the Ohio Valley Conference, Eastern Kentucky University will begin a new chapter in its athletic department by officially joining the Atlantic Sun Conference at 12:01 am July 1.
A founding member of the OVC in 1948, the Colonels' basketball program made eight NCAA Tournament appearances and won six conference tournament titles. Under Roy Kidd's guidance, EKU won FCS football National Championships in 1979 in 1982. The conference realignment will drastically change how the revenue sports operate.
The basketball program will lose annual rivalry matchups with Morehead State and Murray State, but will add another in-state foe. Bellarmine made it to the ASUN Conference Tournament Championship in its inaugural season last winter.
Things are more complicated for the football program. Previously, Kennesaw State was the only ASUN school that played football, operating out of the Big South on the gridiron. The addition of EKU, Central Arkansas and Jacksonville State gives the ASUN four teams. To provide a complete conference schedule, they have created a partnership with the WAC, who is relaunching its football league this fall with a handful of teams from Texas. The conferences are currently lobbying for the NCAA to give the champion of the ASUN-WAC Challenge an automatic bid to the FCS tournament.
What's even more complicated in this move is that EKU is going to have to pay a pretty penny to leave the OVC. By giving less than two years' notice, the Colonels' athletic department owes the Ohio Valley Conference $1 million. Athletic director Matt Roan said last week, "that is something, both internally and with the league office, we are navigating.”
Athletics in Richmond will look dramatically different starting tomorrow. Will it be for better or for worse? If the basketball program can replicate the early success made by Bellarmine and Northern Kentucky University, Colonel fans will call it a win in March.
EKU Athletics[/caption]
More than seven decades after creating the Ohio Valley Conference, Eastern Kentucky University will begin a new chapter in its athletic department by officially joining the Atlantic Sun Conference at 12:01 am July 1.
A founding member of the OVC in 1948, the Colonels' basketball program made eight NCAA Tournament appearances and won six conference tournament titles. Under Roy Kidd's guidance, EKU won FCS football National Championships in 1979 in 1982. The conference realignment will drastically change how the revenue sports operate.
The basketball program will lose annual rivalry matchups with Morehead State and Murray State, but will add another in-state foe. Bellarmine made it to the ASUN Conference Tournament Championship in its inaugural season last winter.
Things are more complicated for the football program. Previously, Kennesaw State was the only ASUN school that played football, operating out of the Big South on the gridiron. The addition of EKU, Central Arkansas and Jacksonville State gives the ASUN four teams. To provide a complete conference schedule, they have created a partnership with the WAC, who is relaunching its football league this fall with a handful of teams from Texas. The conferences are currently lobbying for the NCAA to give the champion of the ASUN-WAC Challenge an automatic bid to the FCS tournament.
What's even more complicated in this move is that EKU is going to have to pay a pretty penny to leave the OVC. By giving less than two years' notice, the Colonels' athletic department owes the Ohio Valley Conference $1 million. Athletic director Matt Roan said last week, "that is something, both internally and with the league office, we are navigating.”
Athletics in Richmond will look dramatically different starting tomorrow. Will it be for better or for worse? If the basketball program can replicate the early success made by Bellarmine and Northern Kentucky University, Colonel fans will call it a win in March.
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