Butler gone from Horizon League effective July 1, 2012

[ysuindy]

Various Twitter reports from Indy and elsewhere indicating Butler will be in the Atlantic 10 next season and out of the Horizon League.  Will link an article when I find it.

At a minimum this would seem to mean two more open dates on the basketball schedules and starts the three year clock ticking on baseball.

[ysuindy]

Official Butler statement

http://www.butlersports.com/releases/052912aaa

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Butler University will begin competition in the Atlantic 10 Conference in the fall of 2012, a year ahead of schedule, Athletic Director Barry Collier announced today.  Earlier this month, Butler announced that it would leave the Horizon League after 2012-13 to join the A-10, but an accelerated timetable was made possible by both leagues.

“We are grateful to the Atlantic 10 for welcoming us into the fold a year ahead of schedule,” Collier said.  “Since announcing our intention to depart after 2012-13, Butler and the Horizon League have discussed the terms for next season.  Ultimately, it was in our best interest to reach an agreement with the Horizon League for immediate departure.”

Butler will begin Atlantic 10 competition in men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball and men’s and women’s cross country this fall.  The Bulldogs will compete in men’s and women’s basketball, women’s swimming, and men’s and women’s indoor track and field during the 2012-13 A-10 winter season, before concluding their inaugural year in the spring with league play in baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s golf, and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field.

The Atlantic 10 will compete as a 16-team league in 2012-13.  In addition to Butler, the league includes first-year member VCU, Charlotte, Dayton, Duquesne, Fordham, George Washington, La Salle, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Saint Joseph’s, Saint Louis, Temple and Xavier.

[IAA Fan]

I think the loss of UMass and Temple in-play here.

[ysuindy]

Today's Indy Star implyiing Butler was forced out by the Horizon League presidents pushing to make schools that have withdrawn from a league ineligible for league tournaments (and the automatic bids).  This is siimlar to the CAA and others.   A very Butler slanted story (note the dig about HL schools will be spending money Butler earned).


http://www.indystar.com/article/20120530/SPORTS0605/205300338/Butler-sports-will-play-Atlantic-10-starting-year?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports

Butler is leaving the Horizon League for the Atlantic 10 a year earlier than planned. The question is: Did the Bulldogs go willingly, or were they pushed out?

Either way, Butler and Atlantic 10 schedule-makers will be scrambling to adjust the calendar for the 2012-13 school year.

"This is something we felt was in our best interests to do immediately," men's basketball coach Brad Stevens said.

Butler had announced May 2 that it was joining the A-10 in 2013-14. It would not have been in Butler's best interest to be ineligible for all Horizon tournaments in 2012-13 -- something that league presidents sought, according to CBSsports.com.

Lending credence to the report was a statement by Horizon Commissioner Jon LeCrone that Butler and the league formally agreed not to discuss details. Horizon schools will be spending money for several years based on shares earned by Butler in NCAA basketball tournaments.

"I can't talk about any of the particulars," said LeCrone, usually one of the most forthcoming commissioners in college sports.

Butler athletic director Barry Collier declined to answer a question about league presidents, saying only that there was "discussion about many things."

Butler teams facing the biggest scheduling deadlines are in soccer and volleyball, whose seasons start in less than three months.

The Atlantic 10 is preserving a 16-game basketball schedule, and Collier said the conference intends to play a round robin. That would mean playing 14 opponents once and one twice.

Butler was scheduled against an A-10 foe, at Xavier, in a November nonconference game. That game's status is unclear.

Butler has at least four opponents to schedule -- one probably not in Division I, two to compensate for loss of two league games (Horizon played 18) and a substitute for the BracketBuster. Butler aims to play three of those games at home.

"Our schedule is already loaded," Stevens said.

Butler is at Vanderbilt and the Maui Invitational, plays Indiana at the Crossroads Classic and hosts Gonzaga.

[ysuindy]

A really good summation over at Pantheru

http://www.pantheru.com/


Horizon attempts to block Butler from tourney; Butler splits
by Jimmy Lemke
Published on 05-29-2012 03:02 PM 0 Comments 
In a response to the Horizon League blocking Butler from the conference postseason in 2012-13, those same Butler Bulldogs have decided to pack up and leave early for the Atlantic 10, making that block worthless.

It's a situation that, unfortunately, makes no one look good. Butler looks like they're slinking out the back door, ignoring the conference that made them what they are today. They're dropping another year of all the shares that they gained through two Final Fours, but the Bulldogs are willing to sacrifice that and aren't worried about saving face because, let's face it, they had no choice.

The Horizon League and its decision-makers, on the other hand, look like jilted lovers. The move they pulled was extremely petty, and it ultimately hurt its conference members. Instead of the luxury of time, now the Horizon League needs to find a sixth baseball member by the 2014 season - just two years from now. Most teams would not leave their conference immediately this late in the game, so you're really looking at 11 months the conference has to replace Butler or lose their automatic bid. Continuing on, Butler was the largest gate for every Horizon League team. They had the best traveling fan base, and their existence led to a better (albeit still awful) television deal with ESPN. Now that they're leaving early, schools are going to lose tens of thousands of dollars in money at the gate - whether or not you like Butler, you can't deny that the Bulldogs filled arenas across the conference better than any in the Horizon.

So what are we left with? Scrambled eggs. The Horizon League has two major problems - a quick deadline to replenish the baseball conference and a need to replace the best men's basketball program in conference history - and it needs to solve them fast.

By May 2013, if the Horizon League doesn't have an immediate replacement for Butler, the conference will lose its automatic bid in baseball.

Jon LeCrone has said multiple times that this is going to be about the student-athletes. That we're not going to listen to the bloggers. Well, cheap shot at me aside, aggressive expansion and the benefit of our student-athletes are not mutually exclusive.

Let's hope they've got a party coming to save the day.

[IAA Fan]

I will start by saying that the move, by Butler, was not a smart one. Simply talking about the A-10 as a superior conference, does not make it so. However, it seems as though the "darlings" of the mid-majors, has the media on their side ...highly unusual for a Midwest school. Must be the fact that they are moving into a more east-coast market ...with a couple of NY schools. So as long as the media is going to talk, people are going to believe. Pretty soon, the selection committee will do the same. So now it becomes a smart move.

I also feel the the move to block was not made for no reason. I question where the monies would end up, should Butler make the post-season next year? Would we still receive all three years worth? If not, then blocking them is very smart, as it looks like we will have to work very hard to see two bids from now on. Why waste it on the Bulldogs? I also suspect.

I still say Oral Roberts is in this mix. I think they could move into the Horizon with no penalty from the SoCon. Not after next year though. You asked for a baseball program ...there is the HL champs for some time to come, until we can recruit at their level. How many super-regionals have they been to in the last 10-years? Their basketball is first-rate, they dominated the Mid-Con for years ...even over Valpo. The move makes sense. The SoCon is a football conference ...not a basketball conference.