Radford on the Move?
In his last year as President of Radford University, Dr. Douglas Covington is trying to make one last big move before he leaves office. However, that one move could affect RU athletics for years to come while he’ll be long gone and the school will have to deal with the consequences.
Behind the support of Covington and a handful of Atlantic Sun advocates, Radford athletics may be making a move from the Big South Conference to the A-Sun Conference, an event that has shocked Big South officials partly due to the fact that RU has been affiliated with them for 20 years now.
Nevertheless, Radford Board of Visitors delayed any decision on a possible move until at least November, which makes a whole lot of sense. In the meantime everyone working on this case will have extra time to think about the consequences of this possible move. Now, there is no reason to blame Radford for looking around at other options and trying to improve its basketball program as a whole, because it has become clear that basketball is the athletic department’s main concern. I’m all for that – go look around and see what you can get. However, one must ask: Why the Atlantic Sun? Is the A-Sun that much better than the Big South?
Sure, the A-Sun was ranked 21st in the conference RPI last year. And well, the Big South finished 28th out of 32 conferences. Looks like a smart move right? But the Atlantic Sun Radford is thinking about joining is not the same conference that finished 21st overall last year. Radford would be joining the ‘new’ Atlantic Sun that is without former conference juggernauts Central Florida, Troy State, Georgia State and Florida Atlantic, all of whom will have fled to other conferences by 2006.
No, Radford would be joining the new Atlantic Sun that could be in jeopardy of losing their automatic bid to the NCAA tournament due to the large amount of teams departing the conference.
You can rely on conference RPIs if you want. I think they’re good for the fans, but don’t mean much. It all comes down to winning games. You win your games on the schedule and you win your conference tournament you get to dance – that’s what it’s all about. And in all honesty, Radford hasn’t done a whole lot of that. They have had good teams and favorable schedules, but haven’t won as much as they probably should have in the new millennium.
Third year head coach Byron Samuels seems to have turned the program around, though. Samuels led the Highlanders to the conference championship in his first year as head skipper and seems determined to get the Highs back into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998. Would a move to the Atlantic Sun improve Radford’s chances in getting back to the NCAA tournament? Who knows?
Another confusing twist in this story is the fact that Radford, who is already struggling with funds for athletics teams, would want to leave for another conference that would require much more spending. The geographic breakdown of Big South schools includes schools in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and one in Alabama. If moving to the A-Sun is the answer, then Radford will pack their bags and play their new opponents in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina. I’m not so great with geography, but I do think South Carolina is a little bit closer and would be a cheaper trip then going down to Florida a few times a year.
For 20 years now Radford has been a prominent figure in the Big South. Twenty years of sharing heated rivalries with such schools as Winthrop and Liberty, a luxury they would have to forfeit with a move to the A-Sun.
It really seems like the Big South and the Atlantic Sun are on the same talent level. A-Sun might get a little more press, but is it worth it to delve into your budget costs, that have already said to have been fairly low? Maybe in November everyone will know if it’s worth it to make the move, or maybe something drastic will happen in this case before then. For now though, the BOV made a smart decision in holding off on the final verdict.
A perfect example of why Radford’s conference affiliation is not a problem and they just need to win in their own league before thinking about upgrading, think back to 2001 when University of Maryland beat Indiana for the NCAA championship. In that same season Maryland lost to Duke, who lost to Florida State. FSU lost to Western Carolina, who lost to Coastal Carolina. Coastal Carolina lost to Radford three times that year. All in all, the great thing about college basketball is that on any given night anything can happen.
On a closing note – I’m not a genius or anything, nor am I suggesting what decision Radford should make. Whatever makes Radford a better program, I’m all for it. I just don’t know how much those who are supporting the move have really thought about the consequences. It doesn’t matter what league Radford will be in, in five years. All they have to do is win.
