Part 3 – Starting a conference from scratch
When representatives from East Central, Southeastern and Southwestern left their final meeting with the Lone Star Conference as members, there had to be one question that was somewhere in their minds:
What now?
These three schools from Oklahoma, along with the University of Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State University, were parting ways with the LSC.
ECU, SOSU and SWOSU were joining forces with six schools from Arkansas that were leaving the Gulf South Conference to form a conference from nothing.
It was a time not only of uneasiness, but also excitement, according to SOSU athletic director Keith Baxter.
“That time where the decision was made to move was two-fold: very excited about the potential of where we were going and the opportunity to be making history in a sense, not only as a conference in gaining new members, but also in the perspective of the NCAA,” Baxter said. “We were one of the only groups that had done that, that had gone out and formed a new conference.”
Jeff Williams, athletic director at ECU, said trust was the key.
“Well you know, the only thing that you can count in life is change,” Williams said. “And every time you undertake a change, especially building a conference from scratch, I’m sure there were some fears and trepidations. But we were also dealing with a group of people that were like-minded with similar characteristics.
“Being able to step out in faith and locking arms with what we perceived as really good neighbors made that move a lot easier.”
On Aug. 25, 2010, the league presidents of the Lone Star Conference schools met for that final time as 16 presidents of one organization. It was determined that there would not be a two-year exit strategy, but that 2010-2011 would be the final LSC year for the five schools that were leaving.
Although this meant there were more than 10 months to get the new conference together and open for business, there wasn’t time to waste.
The first order of business was to find a commissioner. A national search got underway and the Search Committee of two Oklahoma representatives and two Arkansas representatives eventually shifted its focus in the direction of West Virginia.
Will Prewitt had been the associate commissioner of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for 12 years. He had been working at the Division II golf championship in the spring of 2010, where he had some conversations with Ouachita Baptist University athletic director, David Sharp.
“He kept asking all these generic questions about how a conference operates or ‘If you had the ability to start a conference from scratch, what would you do?'”, Prewitt said. “I had worked with David on committees in the past and I didn’t really think much of it.”
That changed in Prewitt’s mind when the announcement was made about the decision of the nine Oklahoma and Arkansas schools to form a new conference.
“I thought, ‘Hmm, now I know why he was asking so many of those questions,'” Prewitt said. “We were really happy in West Virginia, though. I thought when my boss retires in West Virginia, I’d just move into that job.
Will Prewitt, commissioner of the Great American Conference. Photo courtesy GAC.
“But the more I thought about it, it was really intriguing – the opportunity to try to help mold a new conference.”
A field of 40 applicants was narrowed to six finalists and then to one. On Oct. 18, Prewitt became the first commissioner of a conference that still didn’t have a name.
“I got involved literally as soon as I was hired,” Prewitt said.
He had to. Prewitt’s first official day of work was to be Dec. 1. But he came on in mid-October and he flew back and forth to be in meetings to help create the by-laws and get the other essentials in order because the date to submit the application to become a conference was on that same day – Dec. 1.
The presidents, athletic directors, senior woman administrators, faculty representatives and more got to work and put together the plans to make the “new conference”, as it was still being called, a model Division II conference with the proper staff, technology, financing, and even room for controlled growth. Nine members was good, but having 12 members would be the optimal size, it was decided.
Prewitt had a lot on his plate early on, but he said there were really more opportunities than challenges. And he understood what a main focus was to be in making this endeavor work.
“The Arkansas schools felt like they were on the wrong side of the Mississippi River, and that everything in the Gulf South was Alabama- and Georgia-centric, even though the Arkansas schools made up half the league.
“And trying to keep a bunch of people from Oklahoma in the ‘Lone Star’ Conference? Come on.
“My biggest job by far, wasn’t the nuts and bolts. That had to be done, but that wasn’t the biggest job. The biggest job was trying to create a culture where people thought of themselves as a member of whatever conference this was going to become.”
On Nov. 23, the presidents selected the name “Great American Conference” for this newly formed league, just in time to submit the application to the NCAA to become a reality. Then on Mar. 9, 2011, the NCAA formally accepted that bid.
The league’s first year was 2011-2012 and for that year and the next, there were no automatic bids for conference tournament champions to go on to the regional and national postseason tournaments. At-large bids could be earned, but they were few and far between.
But the GAC continued to push through, fulfilling its NCAA requirements, and in its third year starting earning that coveted automatic bid, in essence giving legitimacy to the conference.
Not long after opening for business in 2011, the GAC extend provisional invitations to Southern Nazarene and Northwestern, as those schools were applying for Division II status and needed a conference sponsor. And in 2014, Oklahoma Baptist was welcomed in as it applied for the transition from the NAIA as well.
SNU and NWOSU have both now completed the transition to active status in the NCAA and OBU fulfilled Year One of the process this summer.
In 2015, the membership is at the ‘optimal’ number of 12, symmetrically situated with six schools in both Arkansas and Oklahoma, and four of each of those six being public schools and two of each being private schools.
Prewitt said that “it was only a matter of time before this (conference) happened.” He said he believed it should have happened before 2011.
And he spoke about what to him really makes a conference strong.
“It’s wonderful if you can win national championships in every sport,” Prewitt said. “But long term, if you’re trying to keep a conference together, it’s important to really have that somewhat equal playing field, to have that common culture and for institutions to have that common ground.
“There are so many schools in our conference that look a lot alike. They’re really on the same footing in a lot of ways and that’s really what these schools wanted.”
As three schools headed east, the other that left the LSC were headed to the northeast to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. But jumping right into another conference didn’t happen quite as quickly for UCO and NSU.
Five years ago, the athletic departments for those two schools were looking at a two-year transitional period.
[To be continued]
Part 1 – Realignment fever
Part 2 – Divisional differences
Part 4 – Two-year transition
Part 5 – The “other” Oklahoma school
Part 6 – Meanwhile, back at the ranch
Part 7 – Ripple effect
Part 8 – The perspective of time