St. Louis Going Back to the Missouri Valley?

Give St. Louis University credit for making a late decision on firing and hiring a coach. They have seemingly captured a lot more attention than a mid-level A-10 school that has 6 NCAA Tournament appearances in its history should. Heck, the AOL NCAA Basketball Blog almost appears to be a Billiken Blog.

One of the little side stories is the persistent rumor that St. Louis may now look to bolt the A-10 after only a few years to get back into the Missouri Valley Conference. It has been reported that Rick Majerus himself, was pushing for it as a precondition to taking the job. A conference on which they bailed in 1974 after 37 years. To be fair, they were hardly the only school to jump out of the MVC at that time. Cincinnati (1969), Memphis (1973), Louisville and North Texas (1974) all skipped out on the MVC in the same period. Since then, they have been in 5 more conferences. Seemingly striving for higher profile conferences, even as their own profile remained distinctly mediocre.

Since this is the off-season, and the NBA draft is still far enough away not to be relevant, there is some debate and curiosity about this. There appears to be serious buyers remorse in St. Louis about going to the A-10.



The Billikens entered the conference when it was peaking, but has cycled down the last few years (though, personally I think it is heading for an upswing soon).

When the Billikens first moved to the A-10, I thought it would be OK. But programs like Temple and Rhode Island aren't what they once were and the conference is cluttered with poor attendance draws.

A-10 officials are terrible. Its TV package is terrible. If this conference doesn't enjoy a major renaissance during the season ahead, SLU needs to look elsewhere. Moving to a major conference isn't realistic at this point, but moving to a regional conference (Missouri Valley, Horizon) is doable.

Most think it would be a good move for St. Louis, and agree that in hindsight the A-10 just didn't work.

Geographically, it makes perfect sense. Heck, the MVC Conference Tournament is held in St. Louis. And while the MVC is not saying yes, they aren't exactly saying no to the idea.

[MVC Commissioner Doug] Elgin played down such talk and spoke of his respect for the A-10 and protocol but added, "I can't imagine there is an institution that is a more perfect fit for our schools."

For now (of course) the Billikens aren't saying anything of the sort and the A-10 says it still has assurances from St. Louis ($ subs) that they are staying. Not that the A-10 would really suffer without them. It's unlikely the conference would try to hold them (except to get a nice payout for their departure) in the conference. Odds are, many of the members wouldn't mind saving some money on travel costs if a trip that far west could be eliminated.

Still, some aren't sure that St. Louis would fit well in the MVC at this point. And this is where the conference vagabond history of the Billikens begins to catch up with them.

Bigger problem: SLU's institutional ego might surpass that of all 10 MVC members combined. That's a legit concern among league reps. Does the MVC need to hassle with an administration and alumni base that would ride in with the notion that they're saving the conference - rather than participating in a mutually beneficial co-op? Saint Louis likes being in a league with schools located in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. How long would such a relationship last with Des Moines, Omaha and Wichita?

How long, indeed? Since leaving the Valley in 1974, Saint Louis has been a member of the Metro, Midwestern Cities, Midwestern Collegiate, Horizon, Great Midwest, C-USA and Atlantic-10. Often, the university has been dragged along by schools with bigger or more powerful athletics programs for one reason: because it could deliver the St. Louis market.

News flash! The Valley already is entrenched in the St. Louis market, where the conference tournament last month sold out the semis and finals.

Bottom line, Saint Louis could be a good fit for the Valley.

But if SLU's leaders make overtures to appease and hire a basketball coach, if they're inclined to covet Valley membership simply because of what the MVC has accomplished the past couple of years, if they don't think the Valley is really the best fit for their institution and its overall mission, if they're not ready for a long-term commitment, then they should stay put. Or go somewhere else.

St. Louis would benefit, as would the MVC from joining the conference. There are old and natural rivalries with Bradley, SIU and Drake. Given the strength of the MVC, they could probably pull in Butler as well if they wanted to make it a 12 team basketball conference (or make Western Kentucky a full member).

St. Louis offers a media market in the top-25, but there is definitely arrogance in the St. Louis area towards the Missouri Valley. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch displays that attitude by always referring to Southern Illinois as Southern Illinois-Carbondale. Something they don't do with reference to Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) or Missouri (Columbia). Only SIU gets the branch campus designation. Not sure why this is, but that would make me wary of how desirable the Billikens would be in the MVC for the long-term.

UPDATE (5/7): A reader offered a very plausible explanation for the SIU-Carbondale designation. There is a satellite campus of SIU in Edwardsville that is about 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis. The SIUE Cougars play in Division II, so there could be an issue of confusion. Usually, though, it's always the main campus of a university with satellites that avoids the city designation and only the satellites that get tagged (University of Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; and University of Texas and University of Texas-El Paso are a couple examples).

Previously at Fanhouse:
Rick Majerus has a Girlfriend?
St. Louis Billikens Aim High -- For Now
Rick Majerus Could Be Next Coach at Saint Louis