OKLAHOMA CITY – Advocates of an in-state athletic conference have a piece of legislation pending in the state House of Representatives.
House Bill 1017 would create a 10-member commission to explore “the feasibility of, and make recommendations regarding,” creation of a new NCAA Division II athletic conference among member colleges and universities in Oklahoma.
The bill – known as the “Oklahoma College Athletic Conference Act” – was filed by House Speaker Pro Tempore Anthony Moore (R-Clinton) and is co-authored by Rep. Brad Boles (R-Marlow), chairman of the House’s Oversight Committee, The legislation would establish a new intercollegiate athletic conference to promote and regulate college athletics among Division II institutions in this state.
The conference would “provide enhanced athletic competition, foster community and state pride, support student athlete experience by giving more time in classroom and creating higher graduation rates, reduction of university athletic budgets due to less travel, provide better in-state rivalries to enhance student and spectator experience, and allow better in-state recruiting, thus keeping Oklahoma students in Oklahoma,” Moore contends.
During a Feb. 11 meeting of the House Committee on Postsecondary Education, Moore mentioned “the pros and cons” of his proposal and pointed to two issues in particular.
• Travel. “When you have to travel 13 hours to south Texas to play an hour-and-a-half game” and then drive back, “it affects the student experience,” said Moore, a graduate of Oklahoma Christian School in the Lone Star Conference.
Similarly in the Lone Star Conference, Western New Mexico University is an 11.5hour one-way drive from Cameron; Texas A&M International University at Laredo is a 589-mile one-way trip. Angelo State, also in that conference, is in San Antonio, a 375-mile one-way drive from Lawton.
• Recruitment of student athletes. “If we do form a new conference,” Moore said, “there’s a six-year ban on post-season play.”
That ban on post-season competition “would ruin every athletic program,” said Jerry Hrnciar, who was Cameron’s golf coach for 44 years. “And that would be every single athletic program,” including football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, track, golf, soccer, swimming, etc.
Then he ticked off the number of programs that would be affected at various schools: Cameron, 14; Northeastern, 11; Oklahoma Christian, 15; Southeastern, 14; and Southwestern, 13.
After the six-year post-season ban expired, “It would take two to four more years to build those programs back,” Hrnciar said. “If the ban lasted only a year or two, it would save a lot of money on travel and would create some in-state competition. But with a six-year ban, recruitment would be just about futile because there would be no incentive for the players.”
At least initially the 10-member commission would be comprised of the presidents of regional state institutions of higher educations: Cameron University, Northeastern State University, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, East Central University, Rogers State University, Oklahoma Christian University, Southern Nazarene University, and Oklahoma Baptist University.
Those schools are “spread between two conferences,” Moore said: the Lone Star Conference, comprised mostly of Texas colleges, and the Great American Athletic Conference, which is constituted of six Oklahoma schools and six from Arkansas.
Membership on the proposed commission could be expanded to include presidents of other colleges if the commission deemed it “appropriate,” the bill provides.
The commission would conduct “a thorough analysis of the feasibility of establishing a new NCAA Division II athletic conference in Oklahoma.”
The commission would be directed to consult with a range of stakeholders including, but not limited to NCAA Division II representatives and governing bodies; athletic directors, coaches, and administrators from NCAA Division II institutions in the region; student-athletes and athletic support staff; local government officials and business leaders; and academic and athletic organizations.
The commission would be instructed to submit a detailed feasibility report to both houses of the Legislature “within 12 months of its first meeting.”
The bill received an 8-0 “do pass” recommendation Feb. 11 from the Postsecondary Education Committee chaired by Rep. Toni Hasenbeck (R-Fletcher).