Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 8, 1994 TAG: 9404080032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Schultz, however, said all-sports expansion won't come in the form of a discussed merger of the seven-school Metro and seven-member Great Midwest Conference, because the Great Midwest doesn't want it.
The Metro, home to Virginia Tech's basketball programs and non-revenue sports, has yearned to bring back Cincinnati and Memphis, Division I-A football independents who left for the Great Midwest in 1991. The Metro has three Division I-A football independents of its own in Louisville, Tulane and Southern Mississippi. Schultz noted that both leagues are trying to do the same thing: find enough football schools to create a league or risk losing prominent members.
"There's going to have to be some very compelling reasons for Memphis State and Cincinnati to leave the Great Midwest," Schultz said. "There're probably going to be the same schools in the mix for both [leagues]. It appears that a merger of the two leagues is not possible at the present time."
Schultz, the NCAA's executive director from 1987-93 and now head of a sports consulting firm, said he was hired by the presidents of the Metro schools to "help them solve their football problem." He'll talk to prospective members, work on TV packages relating to various Metro configurations, recommend a course of action to Metro presidents and "[work] actively with them to make the recommendations a reality."
Schultz said he thinks the latest wave of conference expansion and realignment will be settled within two months.
If the Metro can't pull off an all-sports expansion, "a freestanding football league might be a second option," Schultz said. He would not name the schools he'll study, but available football independents left without TV options by the demise of the College Football Association include Cincinnati, Memphis, Houston, Southern Methodist, Texas Christian, Rice, Tulsa and East Carolina, as well as the three Metro football schools.
Schultz resigned his NCAA post in 1993 in the fallout of a loan scandal at Virginia during his tenure as athletic director (1981-87), although he denied involvement in any wrongdoing. He began his Metro work at the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C., by talking to representatives of television networks and syndicators to gauge the market value of an expanded Metro.
Dave Braine, Tech's athletic director, said he thinks a football-only league is more likely than an expanded all-sports Metro. The Hokies joined the Big East Football Conference in 1991.
"It doesn't really affect us. To me, it's helping keep the Metro Conference together," Braine said.
Reminded that Schultz said he would focus first on all-sports expansion, Braine said, "I know that. But I'm being realistic, too. I don't think Cincinnati and Memphis are going to go. They're going to end up with a football conference."
Schultz said his Metro duties will include working on a basketball television contract. The Metro's four-year, $700,000 deal with Raycom ends after next season.
Schultz said he'll probably work on football first.
The Southwest Conference schools left out when Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor agreed to join the Big Eight Conference - Houston, SMU, TCU and Rice - appear to be available. Schultz said SWC commissioner Steve Hatchell is "trying to get [them] placed" in a league. The Western Athletic Conference, Schultz said, may expand but probably won't target many of the same schools the Metro is after.
The NCAA minimum for a league is six schools. Schultz said the Metro probably would seek a seven-team football league with eight the maximum number.
by CNB