Belmont Is Moving to the Missouri Valley Conference

Realignment Realigns the Valleys

(St. Louis, MO) – Belmont is moving to the Missouri Valley Conference. For a writer that covers the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conferences, Friday was the perfect storm. I was saddened that one of the teams I cover in a league I highly value was leaving. It is the fourth team to depart the Ohio Valley Conference in just over a year’s time.

I was excited that a league I cover and greatly value is gaining a high level basketball program and solidifying its place as one of the top mid-major conferences in America.

This news broke across my twitter feed on Friday and I knew it would be a long day of working the phones and working the contacts.

After nine years in the OVC, Belmont is moving and heading to the MVC. Belmont is one of the great sports stories in sports. Bruins athletics started out as an NAIA program (1953-1996) and ‘moved up’ to become a Division I Independent. After five Independent seasons the Nashville-based school matured and made the 2001 jump to the Atlantic Sun.

There were early struggles, but under the strong but gentle leadership of Rick Byrd the Bruins navigated those transitions and became an Atlantic Sun power. Six conference championships and five NCAA Tournaments later, it was time to move up to the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Bruins didn’t miss a beat and won eight championships in nine OVC seasons and now they are on the move again. One high-ranking NCAA administrator once told me, while referring to coaches, players, or programs looking for ‘greener pastures’ that ‘you get good and you get out.’

The Bruins are really good, but why move to the Missouri Valley?

Belmont is Moving to the MISSOURI Valley

The Valley has a better television package has a stronger national brand than the OVC. According to the NET and Kenpom.com the basketball teams are better. Last season saw both conferences trend upwards. The OVC was Ken Pomeroy’s 22nd ranked league (up from 29^th the prior season) and the MVC was tenth (up from 11^th).

Six MVC schools were ranked in the NCAA’s N.E.T. top 200 and three were in the top 100. While Belmont won the regular season, it was Morehead State that won the conference tournament and the league’s automatic tournament bid.

Why was Belmont overlooked? Because just five OVC teams were ranked in the NET’s top 200 and only Belmont and Morehead were in the top 150. Belmont had done all it could truly do in the OVC.

Meanwhile, three of the OVC’s better basketball programs were leaving the league. Conference brethren Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State are now a part of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Austin Peay follows them during the next academic year.

Football Moves v. Basketball Changes

OVC administrators are working on replacements and we’ve heard some announcements could be coming soon. Obviously the Bruins began looking for a better fit and a more stable situation.

Most of these realignment stories are about football and certainly EKU, JSU and APSU are headed to the ASUN for football reasons. That is not the case for the football-less Bruin athletic department. They were looking for a ‘basketball-centric’ league. Strangely, that is what the OVC has been, but was being stripped for football reasons.

When questioned about expansion at his introductory press conference, new MVC commissioner Jeff Jackson sounded genuinely interested.

“Anytime you have an opportunity to improve what’s going on within the walls of your conference, you want to be in a position to take advantage of it,” said Jackson. “The Valley is going to be a great opportunity for some institutions that are looking to better what they can do from a perspective of their conference athletics. It’s something that is going to be on our mind.”

What about Murray State?

Within a short period of time the Murray State speculation began and then an official statement by MSU athletics turned that smoldering question into a full blown conflagration.

Rumors of a ‘handshake deal’ between Murray and Belmont had them agreeing to leave and go to the Missouri Valley together. While multiple sources have confirmed to me the Belmont changes, no one has confirmed the Murray State move to the MVC.

Racer athletics finished second to Valparaiso in joining the Valley in 2017. Sadly for the MVC, Ja Morant became a house-hold name and all that national attention went to the OVC. While I wouldn’t be surprised if Murray ended up in the MVC, that too would sadden me for the Ohio Valley Conference. The staff and its rich basketball traditions would take a serious negative hit. Murray, EKU and APSU were some of the OVC’s longest tenured schools.

The Racers are familiar with Valley programs. They routinely play two or three MVC teams in the non-conference season. Ironically they are not playing Evansville who is playing five other OVC schools this season.

Traditionally the Missouri Valley Conference has maintained a balance of private and public institutions. When Belmont joins the league there will be six private and five public schools. Murray is a public university.

The Racer’s have football and that complicates the issue in a small way. The Missouri Valley Football Conference is a part of the Missouri Valley Conference, but isn’t governed in exactly the same way and has a different roster of teams. Football Commissioner Patty Viverito and those member institutions would be involved in a process that goes beyond what the league has done with Belmont.

Belmont is moving, what’s next for the OVC

How will they grow the Ohio Valley Conference?

The OVC office has been working on a way to build or rebuild the league. Replacements probably need to have solid basketball programs and need to have football teams.

Various outlets and ‘people in the know’ have suggested Western Illinois is a front runner to join the Ohio Valley. Division II power Lincoln Memorial could be in the mix. If Western Illinois is a legitimate option, perhaps the conference looks at Northern Illinois or UIC as a ‘travel partner’ for the Leathernecks.

The question for the OVC administrators is about league identity and how important is football to that equation.

OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche’s statement after the Austin Peay announcement spoke of looking for institutions with similar goals.

“We are clearly in a time of change for intercollegiate athletics, and the Ohio Valley Conference embraces this moment, committed to the institutions and student-athletes whom we serve and confident in our future,” said DeBauche. “That future is rooted in membership growth, and  we are currently in discussions with other institutions that share our philosophy and want to prosper in today’s intercollegiate athletic environment by being part of the OVC.”

DeBauche, the OVC school Presidents and the OVC staff a daunting task before them. First, they must assure and convince the remaining schools that they are a viable home and secondly, they have to find from one to three institutions to come along in the rebuilding and re-branding of the Ohio Valley Conference.

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