SCAC Adds LeTourneau

Another shoe has dropped in the Texas DIII conference realignment and this one has a yellow jacket on it. The SCAC and LeTourneau have jointly announced that LETU will be joining the conference starting in the fall of 2025. This will coincide with the departure of Southwestern and Trinity and will bring the conference to 11 programs (in volleyball).

This move will leave the ASC with just 4 programs in 2025 as the death march continues to play for this conference. The conclusion of the 2025-26 year will also mean the loss of their automatic qualifiers for their sponsored sports. The last four programs (sometimes referred to as the Baptist Four) are Howard Payne, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin-Simmons and East Texas Baptist. There is no indication at this time that a move to the SCAC for these four programs will occur or is even being considered.

I’ve written in the past that the ASC and the C2C Conference were looking at a merger (of sorts) that would combine their members. The sticking point, from what I’ve heard, is football as the C2C does not sponsor that sport. C2C members that have football play in a different conference as associate members. I honestly thought that an announcement would have already been made but my sources have gone quiet, which may indicate that the “merger” could be in trouble. From what I heard in the past, the ASC schools want to merge the C2C schools into their conference so they can keep the football automatic qualifier. The C2C has absolutely no incentive to do this.

Let’s do some more guessing because a lot of what I’m doing here is taking a few data points and guessing where the lines are going to connect. I believe the Baptist Four want to stick together and don’t want to go where they can’t bring football. They have 2 years to figure this out before the automatic qualifiers go away. Their best hope is to entice at least two more schools to join the ASC but they need to bring football with them. I just don’t see that happening and it’s safe to say, LeTourneau didn’t see that happening, either. Another question is why did the SCAC bring in another member? Everything I had heard was that they were done but there is a question (maybe, only from me) about the future status of Austin College. Southwestern and Trinity will be moving to the SAA because of some ridiculous notion that they fit better academically with their members. Never mind that it means a ton more money for traveling, more hardship for their student-athletes and less power inside the conference. Other than that, maybe it makes perfect sense. Back to Austin College and they could be facing that same decision as the SAA lost Birmingham-Southern College as they will be closing their doors due to financial issues. That leaves an opening in the SAA and I guarantee they are trying to figure out who their 10th member will be. So, the answer to my question may be Austin College insurance.

Back to what I know. Congratulations to LeTourneau for the move. They have really dodged a bullet and are actually a nice fit for the SCAC (regardless of what Austin College does). Hopefully we’ll hear something soon on the ASC because these are good programs that deserve a nice DIII home.