GSC’s main constant: change
Change is coming to the Gulf South Conference – again.
The University of Montevallo announced last month it will pull out of the 15-team Division II league based in Hoover to join the Peach Belt Conference.
Montevallo’s departure, scheduled for the 2009-10 academic year, will mark the fourth shift in the league’s makeup in the past six years.
And, as UM leaves, the GSC expects to welcome yet another member in Lambuth University of Jackson, Tenn., in 2009 or 2010.
While the Falcons’ move came as a surprise, followers of the GSC shouldn’t be shocked as change is something of a tradition in the 39-year-old conference.
Since its beginning as the six-team Mid-South Conference in 1970, 25 schools have been a part of the GSC. Only three of the founding members remain – North Alabama (then known as Florence State), West Alabama (Livingston State) and Delta State of Cleveland, Miss.
Does the seemingly always shifting landscape of NCAA athletics spell trouble for the Gulf South Conference or is it just the way of the world in Division II?
“I think we’re in great shape,” said GSC Commissioner Nate Salant, who has been with the conference since 1992. “We’re disappointed in Montevallo’s decision, but the bottom line is we think the league will be fine.
“We are financially stable, unlike many Division II conferences. We have leadership at the presidential level that most other conferences do not have, either in Division II or Division I. That creates a different environment and that’s why it works so well.”
The GSC has a television contract that broadcasts a football game of the week into approximately 8.5 million homes as well as the men’s and women’s basketball championship games. The league plays all of its team sports championships at neutral sites, except for volleyball, with multi-year contracts with host cities that pay the league for the privilege.
“The bottom line is we’re more like a Division I conference than we are the typical Division II conference,” Salant said. “The only difference is we don’t have the resources. We have the numbers and should be a prime target for corporate sponsorships. Sometimes the Division II moniker gets in the way.”
–Courtesy of The Birmingham News
