Oakland U. to join Horizon League on Tuesday

by Detroit Free Press

Tuesday, May 7, 2013 8:30 am

Oakland University’s athletic department is inviting media members to Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of the Board of Trustees, presumably to announce that the school is leaving the Summit League and joining the Horizon League.

Officials from the school and league have declined to comment on the subject of the meeting, which will be followed by a news conference.

The Green Bay Press Gazette reported last month that OU will move to the Horizon, which already is home to Detroit Mercy.

Tuesday’s board meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m.

If this is the school's acceptance to the Horizon, it's a virtual no-brainer.

OU has lobbied privately for years, hoping for to move into a more stable and geographically centralized conference. Valparaiso made the jump from the Summit to the Horizon after 2006. But Detroit Mercy provided a roadblock for a similar move by OU, not wanting the Golden Grizzlies closing in on their territory. Former UDM athletic director Brad Kinsman confirmed that issue to the Associated Press.

The nine Horizon schools are in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois footprint, making for reasonable travel. In the Summit, OU had major financial and logistical challenges with trips to Southern Utah and the Dakotas.

As a mid-major basketball conference — the driving engine for all of the Horizon’s athletic programs —the Horizon beats the Summit. Last season, the Horizon RPI ranked 12th while the Summit was 19th. This also will forcibly renew the men's basketball rivalry between OU and UDM, which played each other in the early 2000s, soon after OU moved to Division I. The series was abruptly ended when the Golden Grizzlies began having success.

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