Post by vufan75 on May 28, 2006 13:38:40 GMT -5
Interesting article from Sunday May 28th Times
The anatomy of the deal
Plenty went into Valpo's move into the Horizon League
VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY
On July 1, Mark LaBarbera will celebrate his two-year anniversary as director of athletics at Valparaiso University.
LaBarbera has already helped the school change its conference affiliation, which will no doubt go down among the biggest moves of his career at VU.
"When I was hired, I was told by the university that they really wanted to take the athletic department to the next level," LaBarbera said. "They said they were going to let the next athletic director help define what the next level is. I wanted to move forward, and that's what we've been endeavoring to do."
VU's high profile in academics and athletics made the school attractive to the Midwest-based Horizon League, and LaBarbera, along with VU president Alan Harre and countless behind-the-scenes number crunchers, simply provided the extra push.
That apparently happened about seven weeks ago when Horizon League Commissioner Jon LeCrone phoned LaBarbera to gauge his interest in joining the Horizon League.
LeCrone and LaBarbera had known each other since the early '90s, when LeCrone was an assistant commissioner for the Atlantic Coast Conference, and LaBarbera was an assistant director of athletics and later an associate director of athletics at ACC school North Carolina State.
But LaBarbera deflects credit for any brokerage of the deal.
"It just maybe made it easier because we knew each other," LaBarbera said. "They were not inviting (me) to become part of the Horizon League. They wanted Valparaiso University. I don't think that me being the athletic director had that much to do with Valparaiso University joining the conference."
LeCrone said the league always had a list of potential teams for expansion and Valpo was always near the top.
But LaBarbera said no one during his time at VU had ever previously approached him directly about joining a different conference.
"Not even verbally," he said. "That's an important thing to remember. People wonder why it took so long, but you can't go to the dance unless somebody asks you."
As the university finance department researched the specifics and found an estimated savings of at least $100,000 annually in travel, the student recruiters realized that 71 percent of current students hail from the five states that contain Horizon League schools, with 61 percent of living alumni resided in the area as well. Plus, the coaches and athletic officials deduced that the VU programs could compete in the Horizon League in every sport.
The written invitation finally came from Carlos Santiago, the chancellor at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the chairman of the board of directors of the Horizon League. Harre received the letter and in the day or two following, the university announced its decision.
Harre said the toughest part was leaving the Mid-Continent Conference. Valpo had been a founding member of the Mid-Con in 1982.
The Mid-Con had provided steady competition and opportunities to earn worthwhile NCAA bids. Valpo teams have developed Mid-Con rivalries, and the Crusaders have been to the NCAA tournament in five different sports since 2000.
"At the end of the day, the benefit to our students and the benefit to our alumni outweighed being in the league for 24 years," LaBarbera said. "As we looked at whether we wanted to do this is, we realized that the Mid-Con has some very viable options that it can choose to exorcise.
"I don't believe the Mid-Con's in trouble."
Valpo's move to the Horizon League has been heralded, LaBarbera said. An alumnus in Ohio called to say he can finally see VU games again. A member of the football team, even though his sport isn't affected by the conference move, said he liked it because it will strengthen the rivalry in the VU-Butler game now that the Crusaders and Bulldogs play each other in every sport.
"Every response that I've gotten from alumni and supporters has been positive," LaBarbera said. "We're not trying to build teams, we're trying to build programs.
"We want to put together programs that can be consistent with time. That's another step in the right direction."
The anatomy of the deal
Plenty went into Valpo's move into the Horizon League
VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY
On July 1, Mark LaBarbera will celebrate his two-year anniversary as director of athletics at Valparaiso University.
LaBarbera has already helped the school change its conference affiliation, which will no doubt go down among the biggest moves of his career at VU.
"When I was hired, I was told by the university that they really wanted to take the athletic department to the next level," LaBarbera said. "They said they were going to let the next athletic director help define what the next level is. I wanted to move forward, and that's what we've been endeavoring to do."
VU's high profile in academics and athletics made the school attractive to the Midwest-based Horizon League, and LaBarbera, along with VU president Alan Harre and countless behind-the-scenes number crunchers, simply provided the extra push.
That apparently happened about seven weeks ago when Horizon League Commissioner Jon LeCrone phoned LaBarbera to gauge his interest in joining the Horizon League.
LeCrone and LaBarbera had known each other since the early '90s, when LeCrone was an assistant commissioner for the Atlantic Coast Conference, and LaBarbera was an assistant director of athletics and later an associate director of athletics at ACC school North Carolina State.
But LaBarbera deflects credit for any brokerage of the deal.
"It just maybe made it easier because we knew each other," LaBarbera said. "They were not inviting (me) to become part of the Horizon League. They wanted Valparaiso University. I don't think that me being the athletic director had that much to do with Valparaiso University joining the conference."
LeCrone said the league always had a list of potential teams for expansion and Valpo was always near the top.
But LaBarbera said no one during his time at VU had ever previously approached him directly about joining a different conference.
"Not even verbally," he said. "That's an important thing to remember. People wonder why it took so long, but you can't go to the dance unless somebody asks you."
As the university finance department researched the specifics and found an estimated savings of at least $100,000 annually in travel, the student recruiters realized that 71 percent of current students hail from the five states that contain Horizon League schools, with 61 percent of living alumni resided in the area as well. Plus, the coaches and athletic officials deduced that the VU programs could compete in the Horizon League in every sport.
The written invitation finally came from Carlos Santiago, the chancellor at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the chairman of the board of directors of the Horizon League. Harre received the letter and in the day or two following, the university announced its decision.
Harre said the toughest part was leaving the Mid-Continent Conference. Valpo had been a founding member of the Mid-Con in 1982.
The Mid-Con had provided steady competition and opportunities to earn worthwhile NCAA bids. Valpo teams have developed Mid-Con rivalries, and the Crusaders have been to the NCAA tournament in five different sports since 2000.
"At the end of the day, the benefit to our students and the benefit to our alumni outweighed being in the league for 24 years," LaBarbera said. "As we looked at whether we wanted to do this is, we realized that the Mid-Con has some very viable options that it can choose to exorcise.
"I don't believe the Mid-Con's in trouble."
Valpo's move to the Horizon League has been heralded, LaBarbera said. An alumnus in Ohio called to say he can finally see VU games again. A member of the football team, even though his sport isn't affected by the conference move, said he liked it because it will strengthen the rivalry in the VU-Butler game now that the Crusaders and Bulldogs play each other in every sport.
"Every response that I've gotten from alumni and supporters has been positive," LaBarbera said. "We're not trying to build teams, we're trying to build programs.
"We want to put together programs that can be consistent with time. That's another step in the right direction."