Samford’s switch not suprising
Samford isn’t in the NCAA Tournament.
But on the first day of the men’s basketball tournament, the 4,000-student private school from Birmingham, Ala., created its own kind of stir.
The Bulldogs, members of the Ohio Valley Conference since 2003, have decided to leave the OVC to join the Southern Conference, effective July 1, 2008.
The move will leave the OVC with 10 members, all public schools.
The move isn’t necessarily shocking, with talk about Samford joining the SoCon, which will now have 12 schools in a five-state region (North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and now Alabama), in late January and early February.
The Bulldogs go from being the only private school in the OVC to one of five private schools in the 86-year old conference.
Is it a better move for Samford, though?
The question is debatable.
The competition Samford will experience in the conference is about even with what the Bulldogs have in the OVC.
Davidson is coming off a 29-5 year in men’s basketball, that included a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Maryland, and Appalachian State has won two I-AA national football titles in a row.
The tradition of the conference is superior to that of the 59-year old OVC, with charter members including six schools that are now in the Southeastern Conference, and seven that are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Samford had success not only in the OVC, but also nationally.
In the four years it has been a member of the league, the Bulldogs have had 11 teams win conference titles, nine coaches named Coach of the Year and eight athletes earning Player of the Year or Athlete of the Year.
Not too shabby.
Samford has presented a formidable challenge for Eastern sports also.
The Bulldogs and Panthers have the best rivalry in the conference in women’s soccer, playing each other for the conference championships three of the last four years.
Eastern won the first two title games, but Samford made up for the Panthers’ 2004 tournament win on the Bulldogs own field by defeating Eastern in the 2005 OVC championship game at Lakeside Field.
The Bulldogs went on that year to also win a first-round game in the NCAA Tournament.
In men’s basketball, Samford has been near the top of the league since joining it, confusing and befuddling opponents with head coach Jimmy Tillette’s Princeton-style offense.
Last season, Samford was one half away from beating Murray State for the league title and an NCAA berth, but the Racers came back in the second half to earn the win. The Bulldogs also had an Honorable Mention All-American in J. Robert Merritt, also the 2006 OVC Player of the Year, last season.
Eastern hasn’t beaten Samford in four tries with second-year head coach Mike Miller, and his predecessor, Rick Samuels, beat the Bulldogs once in two tries.
For the Panther women’s basketball team, they haven’t encountered much success against the Bulldogs either, losing both games to them this year.
Eastern football beat the Bulldogs 24-13 this year, and has won three of its four conference games against Samford.
One benefit for Eastern in this is the cut down in travel.
No longer will the athletic department have to worry about arranging flights to Birmingham, or coaches having to be on a bus for nine hours to get there.
Yes, the OVC still has a school in Alabama (Jacksonville State), but Eastern teams will only have to make one trip to one location in Alabama.
But the conference will miss having Samford in the league. The Bulldogs provided quality competition in every single one of their 15 sports for not only Eastern, but also the rest of the conference.
To the good people at Samford and the people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, including Tillette, women’s basketball head coach Mike Morris, softball head coach Beanie Ketcham and Joey Mullins and Zach Schrieber, members of Samford’s Sports Information Department, I wish you well on this new endeavor for Samford.
And a message to the OVC if it wants to replace Samford with another school: good luck finding a school comparable to Samford.
