ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607030019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.
TYPE: ANALYSIS
SOURCE: Associated Press
DEFECTIONS OF MEMBER schools and league personnel moves have put the Big South Conference in trouble.
The Big South Conference ship appears to be sinking, and the crew is jumping overboard.
Within the past two months: Commissioner George F. ``Buddy'' Sasser announced his resignation to return as director of athletics at Coastal Carolina University, a job he held seven years ago. Associate commissioner Carl McAloose accepted the position of commissioner for the Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference. University of Maryland-Baltimore County decided to leave the Big South after the 1997-98 season for the Northeast Conference. UMBC is the fifth school to jump ship in the past four years.
The moves come at the worst possible time for the Big South, which is struggling for an identity.
The league's executive committee sent out an SOS to new commissioner Kyle Kallander last week. Kallander, the former commissioner of the defunct Southwest Conference, will face the task of preventing yet another conference from going under.
At the same time, the Big South announced it was moving its conference headquarters from Myrtle Beach to Charlotte, a more central location for its members, effective Aug.1. That theory was shot down with the desertion of its northernmost member, UMBC.
Along with UNC Greensboro, which is leaving after the 1996-97 season, UMBC becomes the second active member on its way out. Both schools stayed long enough to achieve Division I status before setting sail for safer seas.
They are the latest schools to hit the Big South drive-through window. Both joined the conference just four years ago along with Towson State, which lasted only two seasons before pulling up anchor.
To stem the tide of defections, the league imposed a stiff financial penalty on members that left without giving a two-year notice. The rule appears to have been more effective at chasing schools away rather than retaining them.
The latest defection leaves the Big South approaching a two-year horizon with just six members, the NCAA minimum to maintain conference status. One more mutiny and the ship is sunk.
Complete disaster can be avoided as long as the six current members remain intact. However, it's no secret that Radford University would run, not walk, to the Colonial Athletic Association if asked to join, and the five remaining members could be in the same boat.
If Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern, UNC Asheville, Liberty and Winthrop aren't weighing their options, they probably should be. Better to try for a lifeboat than go down with a sinking ship.
The only other option is for the Big South to begin plugging holes with new members. The Division II Fightin' Christians of Elon College are at the top of the wish list. Could Mars Hill be far behind?
While the Big South ship takes on more and more water, no one appears to be at the helm at the moment.
Sasser is attending an NCAA convention in Idaho and will assume his duties at Coastal upon his return today. Kallander is scheduled to pay a visit this week, but will not begin his duties with the league until sometime in August.
In the interim, McAloose is at the wheel while he is not packing for Indianapolis. Public relations director Angela Phelps is in control when she is not packing for Charlotte. Secretary Leslie Johnson is helping out in the office when she is not packing for her freshman year at Clemson.
With the exception of Phelps, the league office will see a complete turnover following its relocation to Charlotte. That's where the Big South hopes to be bailed out by all those rich corporate sponsors willing to throw away their money on salvaging a torpedo-torn boat.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB