New rumor: Butler leaving NOW

wh · May 29, 2012, 03:13:43 PM

The Dayton fans message board (link below) is reporting a rumor that The HL has decided to NOT let Butler compete for any conference championships next year. Thus their planned departure will be moved up a year. The CAA did the same thing to VCU. It will be interesting to see if things play out this way.

http://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?p=269699#post269699

VULB#62 · May 29, 2012, 03:54:08 PM

Makes sense -- why underwrite a 2012-13 farewell tour. It let's everyone move on. A shame to be left without that Butler home basketball game though.

valpopal · May 29, 2012, 04:00:33 PM

It's official: http://www.butlersports.com/releases/052912aaa

valpotx · May 29, 2012, 04:03:00 PM

What does it matter to them when they leave? Just like this year, their sports teams wouldn't be winning any championships anyways

. They might as well get started getting beaten down by the A-10, instead of taking some more HL beatings from Valpo

wh · May 29, 2012, 04:12:42 PM

This suggests to me that the HL may soon be rolling out an expansion plan and needed to get rid of the butler hangover first. A good house cleaning move...

valpotx · May 29, 2012, 04:26:07 PM

That will hopefully be true wh. It does sadden me a little bit now that I do not have a rival to despise in conference since we are not affiliated with ORU or Butler anymore. Hopefully someone steps up to the plate for me to root against

.

I do see on the Butler board and some other boards that they are stating we lose our automatic bid in baseball, but I believe it was jetz who mentioned that there is a 2-3 year grace period to get back to 6. I assume that is correct?

wh · May 29, 2012, 04:48:28 PM

Quote from: valpotx on May 29, 2012, 04:26:07 PM
That will hopefully be true wh. It does sadden me a little bit now that I do not have a rival to despise in conference since we are not affiliated with ORU or Butler anymore. Hopefully someone steps up to the plate for me to root against .

I do see on the Butler board and some other boards that they are stating we lose our automatic bid in baseball, but I believe it was jetz who mentioned that there is a 2-3 year grace period to get back to 6. I assume that is correct?

Those people know less about baseball than they do basketball, if that's possible. We're not going to lose our automatic in baseball any more than we're going to lose the "millions" of dollars their basketball team WASN'T going to earn for the conference next year anyway.

bbtds · May 29, 2012, 05:12:11 PM

In reality the value of Butler was gone already. What was Butler basketball going to do for the Horizon League in 2012-2013? Their other sports weren't that awful hot either. And if Butler doesn't start to revamp and begin to edge forward in basketball their transfer to the A-10 could be the next biggest bust next to Pujols. The Horizon League may come out looking like the Cardinals with it's own Carlos Beltran, David Freeze, Lance Berkman and Kyle Lohse to power the HL to a new level.

valpopal · May 29, 2012, 05:15:39 PM

I am surprised and disappointed that there has been no press release yet from the Horizon League responding to this news with an explanation of the league's position. From a public relations perspective, it would be wise for the HL to distribute a strong and forward-looking announcement clarifying future actions as soon as possible.

bbtds · May 29, 2012, 05:33:14 PM

Quote from: valpopal on May 29, 2012, 05:15:39 PM
I am surprised and disappointed that there has been no press release yet from the Horizon League responding to this news with an explanation of the league's position. From a public relations perspective, it would be wise for the HL to distribute a strong and forward-looking announcement clarifying future actions as soon as possible.

Call them. 317-237-5622

I'm sure they are working on developing a statement for a press conference that will happen fairly soon.

78crusader · May 29, 2012, 05:38:50 PM

I would like respond to the comment that the HL might well come out looking like the St. Louis Cardinals, who so far have more than adequately replaced stars like Albert Pujols. I could not disagree more. The loss of Butler is going to hurt the HL, and hurt a lot. None of the likely replacement candidates, all of whom have been mentioned many times on this board, come even close to replacing what Butler brought to the league -- and to Valpo. Private school, great academic reputation, and a long rivalry with VU, dating back to at least the old Indiana Collegiate Conference days. Most of the replacement candidates seem to have names that consist of initials, hyphens, or some directional reference. And although Oakland's name doesn't fit in any of the categories I just listed, let's face it, most people do not know even where it is located, much less anything about the school. Call me a snob -- but these type of schools do not carry the same cachet as Butler. Simple as that.

Paul

valpotx · May 29, 2012, 05:53:00 PM

I can understand what you are saying 78, but to be honest, not many people outside of the Midwest truly know where Butler is either. Yes, they have the brand name recognition now from the back-to-back title game appearances, but many people I speak to about Butler had no clue they were in Indiana. I know your point was that they (replacement schools) don't even bring that name recognition, but 5-10 years down the line, many people outside of the Midwest will have forgotten about Butler if they haven't stayed in the public eye if they become a middle of the pack A-10 team like I predict...

VULB#62 · May 29, 2012, 06:10:45 PM

Quote from: valpopal on May 29, 2012, 04:00:33 PM
It's official: http://www.butlersports.com/releases/052912aaa

Interesting: Butler expressed thanks to the A-10 for including them a year early, but did not thank the HL for letting them off a year early. Bad blood?

TX -- living on one coast I can attest to the fact that most people outside of the midwest do not see the midwestern states clearly and accurately: most see them as OHIOMICHIGANINDIANAILLINOISIOWAWISOCSINMINNESOTA and Butler is located somewhere there. Ask many to fill in a map and they are stumped.

Nildogg · May 29, 2012, 06:15:39 PM

Quote from: valpotx on May 29, 2012, 05:53:00 PMI can understand what you are saying 78, but to be honest, not many people outside of the Midwest truly know where Butler is either. Yes, they have the brand name recognition now from the back-to-back title game appearances, but many people I speak to about Butler had no clue they were in Indiana. I know your point was that they (replacement schools) don't even bring that name recognition, but 5-10 years down the line, many people outside of the Midwest will have forgotten about Butler if they haven't stayed in the public eye if they become a middle of the pack A-10 team like I predict...

I think you are correct, although the fact that the first F4 occured in our hometown helped with that.

In the end, I'm not so sure it matters that people know where Butler is; the fact is, that everyone knows that Butler exists. And would generally correlate our name with success.

I know you are a big Baseball guy, so congrats on your tourney appearance. Personally, when we went, I enjoyed going on the road and seeing a new ball park... its too bad the team doesn't get to enjoy that experience.

The Horizon has a lot of work to do...

vuweathernerd · May 29, 2012, 06:19:49 PM

i hope the horizon league jacked their exit fee way way way up. $50k was chump change to start with, and now they're bailing early? fail.

wh · May 29, 2012, 06:49:43 PM

Quote from: vuweathernerd on May 29, 2012, 06:19:49 PM
i hope the horizon league jacked their exit fee way way way up. $50k was chump change to start with, and now they're bailing early? fail.

They didn't bail early, nerd. Take a look at the A-10 press release. It's obvious that the HL forced the issue by telling butler that they were not going to be eligible to win any championships and therefore be unable to go to NCAA in any sport. Who knows but what they were told that their athletes would not be eligible for conference awards, etc. No athletic department would be willing to accept those conditions, unless they absolutely had no other choice. The A-10 is in for one real cluster f of a season. The teams that will be leaving are still there and now so are their replacements.

http://www.atlantic10.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/052912aab.html
G

MattCarter · May 29, 2012, 07:09:02 PM

There is a pretty big part of me that right away says "Go ahead and go ya babies....hope you enjoyed those lumps on the way out"

Then another part of me says "16 seed is the most HLMBB will EVER get with this group"

I hope I am wrong, but with such a killer team set to take the floor this fall....well you get the idea.

Valpo2010 · May 29, 2012, 07:24:10 PM

I'm curious how this will affect basketball scheduling this season. LeCrone mentions in the espn.com article that the Horizon league will be just fine with a 16 game, 9 team schedule. This will really affect Valpo since it's our travel partner that's leaving...

bbtds · May 29, 2012, 07:36:56 PM

Quote from: Valpo2010 on May 29, 2012, 07:24:10 PM
I'm curious how this will affect basketball scheduling this season. LeCrone mentions in the espn.com article that the Horizon league will be just fine with a 16 game, 9 team schedule. This will really affect Valpo since it's our travel partner that's leaving...

The schedule for Mens basketball had not been completed yet. They don't necessarily have to go with travel partners and on a few trips for some schools the travel partner was not traveling near or along side them. Two more days off or two more non-conf games or 1 of each. Yes, I truly believe there was some kind of disagreement between Danko/Collier and LeCrone. There was some kind of not seeing eye to eye on this last year of membership which I'm sure had to do with Butler feeling far far far far superior over the rest of the HL schools. LeCrone is probably well aware he needs to move to Chicago also.

vuweathernerd · May 29, 2012, 07:50:30 PM

Quote from: wh on May 29, 2012, 06:49:43 PM
Quote from: vuweathernerd on May 29, 2012, 06:19:49 PM
i hope the horizon league jacked their exit fee way way way up. $50k was chump change to start with, and now they're bailing early? fail.
They didn't bail early, nerd. Take a look at the A-10 press release. It's obvious that the HL forced the issue by telling butler that they were not going to be eligible to win any championships and therefore be unable to go to NCAA in any sport. Who knows but what they were told that their athletes would not be eligible for conference awards, etc. No athletic department would be willing to accept those conditions, unless they absolutely had no other choice. The A-10 is in for one real cluster f of a season. The teams that will be leaving are still there and now so are their replacements.

http://www.atlantic10.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/052912aab.html
G

the original deal was for butler to leave NEXT year (13-14). therefore yes, they are bailing early. and if the conference said such a thing, shame on them. the bcs conferences didn't pull such petty punches like this when they were trading teams.

wh · May 29, 2012, 09:15:52 PM

HL presidents made the decision to deal Butler out:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/brett-mcmurphy/19194890

valpopal · May 29, 2012, 09:27:09 PM

Quote from: bbtds on May 29, 2012, 05:33:14 PM
Quote from: valpopal on May 29, 2012, 05:15:39 PM
I am surprised and disappointed that there has been no press release yet from the Horizon League responding to this news with an explanation of the league's position. From a public relations perspective, it would be wise for the HL to distribute a strong and forward-looking announcement clarifying future actions as soon as possible.

Call them. 317-237-5622

I'm sure they are working on developing a statement for a press conference that will happen fairly soon.

It is not my job to call the Horizon League officials, and I'm sure they would not respond to me if I did. It is their job to be prepared. By all accounts, they knew Butler would announce the change in plans, and for the purpose of public relations the HL should have had a concurrent statement ready for the press. It is disappointing that they did not.

VULB#62 · May 29, 2012, 09:30:00 PM

Hmmm. Should read the comments section on the CBS article. Interesting.

swiftmutiny · May 29, 2012, 10:00:28 PM

Quote from: VULB#62 on May 29, 2012, 09:30:00 PM
Hmmm. Should read the comments section on the CBS article. Interesting.

Well, that was your first mistake.

I tend to agree with the Horizon League's decision to ban Butler from the conference tournaments. If they are just going to pack up and leave, why should they have the chance to represent the Horizon League in the NCAAs with the league's automatic bid? You can't blame Butler for their decision, but I don't think the Horizon League is at fault here either. Best of luck to Butler, hopefully we'll be able to get a non-conference game with them every once in a while. I'll be eagerly awaiting the Horizon League's response.

FWalum · May 29, 2012, 10:08:46 PM

Quote from: wh on May 29, 2012, 09:15:52 PM
HL presidents made the decision to deal Butler out:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/brett-mcmurphy/19194890

Why would you do such a thing, let them compete but not be championship eligible? This seems just really petty to me and the HL looks like the one being the big cry baby. I agree with valpopal that it appears the HL is unprepared for the early departure and should have let well enough alone, if Butler had a championship worthy team then let them have their championship. This is suppose to be about student athletes not a bunch of baloney politics.