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Rice Football: Owls cautious with return to campus plans

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Rice football decision-makers are currently evaluating a plan to return to campus. When that will be and what it will look like remain to be seen.

The future of college football is as uncertain now as its ever been, but a light has seemingly appeared on the horizon. The NCAA opened the door for college athletes to return to campus in June. That decision came after nearly a 3-month hiatus from all university athletic facilities. What that looks like, and when it will occur, vary from conference to conference and school to school.

The SEC opted for a uniform decision. League presidents voted to allow athletes to return to campus starting June 8 for voluntary workouts. Conference USA has left it up to each member institution. The Houston Cougars open their facilities across town for their student-athletes on June 1.

The ramifications of decisions of this kind rose to the forefront quickly. Three Marshall players tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return to campus. Outside of Conference USA, five Alabama players tested positive for the virus after interacting with roughly 50 players who had also returned to campus.

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On May 29, Rice Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard issued an update on the Owls’ decision-making process in that area:

Speaking of return to campus, the NCAA has approved student-athletes to return to their respective campuses on a voluntary basis beginning June 1. We have not yet set a date for our own return to campus and will work with Rice leadership to ensure we can bring back our staff and student-athletes as safely as possible. We remain on track to begin our fall sports seasons on time, but with a rapidly changing and fluid situation, we are also prepared to make calendar adjustments as necessary.

The Owls are going to be cautious about this. The positive test results from other schools add to the reason for concern.

“We have to make the best decisions that we can when we’re required to make them with the information we have on hand knowing that information could change tomorrow,” Karlgaard said following the release. He added that he feels “really good about where we are and our approach.”

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Conference USA to trim schedules for basketball and Olympic sports

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Conference USA will shorten regular season play and alter the postseason structure for several sports, beginning this fall.

The financial ramifications of the COVID-19 shutdown made it clear changes were coming to Conference USA schedules and those modifications are beginning to take shape. This week Stadium’s Brett McMurphy reported the men’s and women’s basketball tournament would be reduced from 12 teams to 8 along with other reductions.

The Denton Record-Chronicle’s Brett Vito has provided further details:

The league made several other changes, including:

  • The tournament field in volleyball will be cut from eight to four with the top-seeded team hosting the event. The regular season will be reduced from 14 to 13 games.
  • The number of regular season games in women’s soccer will be cut from 10 to six, a move that will allow programs to schedule more regional nonconference games and reduce travel costs.
  • The number of conference games in softball will be trimmed from 24 to 15, a move that will also allow for more regional nonconference scheduling.
  • The travel squads in track and field, cross country and swimming will also be reduced.

In addition to those changes, the baseball tournament will move from a neutral site to team venues. Rice will host at Reckling Park in 2023.

The reported changes align with expectations. Travel budgets are going to be tight in 2020 and into the next several seasons, at least. Seeing the total number of conference games decrease makes sense.

Adopting a model akin to the Ivy League where regular-season conference champions received any postseason bids in lieu of playing a conference tournament was on the table. The conference stopped short of changes that drastic, but the cutbacks detailed above are still sizable.

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How this plays out remains to be seen and could hinge on which games replace former league games. The more teams able to swap games against distance conference foes with in-state rivalries, the better. For Rice, this likely means adding more competitions against teams like Houston, Texas State and SMU. That, of course, will be contingent to some extent on changes to other conferences’ schedules. Getting dates with Texas and Texas A&M should be on the radar as well.

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Conference USA: Scheduling changes coming soon

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Conference USA athletics scheduling changes are on their way with modifications to the upcoming fall sports calendar expected soon.

The extended offseason has been a busy one for Conference USA and its member institutions and conversations among league officials and athletic directors about the structure of future schedules have been at the forefront.

“I don’t think there’s any question that our geographic stretch is a challenge for us,” Rice Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard said. “Pre-pandemic it was something that we made work. I think post-pandemic it’s something that we are really looking closely at.”

Ideas have been tossed around from sources inside and outside of Conference USA. Basketball is expected to end bonus play and could consider moving to a divisional structure to reduce travel. Olympics sports, in particular, are taking a hard look at more regionalized scheduling.

Administrators are also keeping an eye on what’s happening across the nation. The MAC cut postseason tournaments in several sports. Those changes reflect the historical Ivy League model, which traditionally awarded regular-season champions with any relevant postseason bids.

What will those changes look like? Karlgaard said the scope was far-reaching. “All of that is on the table for us to evaluate going forward.”

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This is not smoke and mirrors. Karlgaard has already been in discussion with Athletic Directors at schools in close geographic proximity. “They’re all interested [in regionalized scheduling],” he said. “What form and shape that takes, I think, is going to take longer for us to hash out.”

Long term scheduling adjustments will take time to play out, but changes to the upcoming seasons are imminent. Karlgaard indicated that he expects Conference USA to address fall scheduling as soon as this week, particularly with athletes now allowed to return to campus at several member schools. Rice had not yet set a timetable for the return of their own student-athletes.

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Rice Football: Making the case for AAC Membership

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When AAC football lost UConn to the Big East a potential opening appeared in the conference. What stands in the way of Rice football making the move?

The college sports world seems like it’s careening toward chaos. Programs have been cut. Football season is in doubt. No one is in charge and no one has definite answers regarding what the future will hold. That lack of clarity is time to ask questions. Among them, where does Rice football fit in the college football landscape?

Will Conference USA be the Owls’ forever home or could there be an opportunity to make the move to the ACC in the future?

What stands in the way?

Let’s start a rung higher with the Big 12. Money has been the reason the Big 12 hasn’t expanded since it’s stopgap measure to add TCU and West Virginia. Adding another team would mean splitting the pie in yet another slice. The same rationale is true for the AAC and other conferences as well.

Unless the new member is going to bring enough revenue to make each current member’s slice bigger, the new addition would “cost” the current members money. That’s especially concerning in the current economic climate.

But that’s assuming stability. If the makeup of the membership of the AAC changes further, there could be opportunities to lay claim to a spot. And if for any reason the Big 12 went through a change in its membership and began looking toward the AAC, the ensuing musical chairs that followed might benefit Rice.

What if, for instance, Houston finally got the call? Wouldn’t the AAC consider replenishing its ties to the Houston market by adding Rice?

Why it makes sense

When UConn left the AAC was left with 11 football members. The conference had an easy opportunity to pursue expansion at that time, but chose not to do so. The 11-member schedule scraps divisions, creating a modified round-robin style of scheduling, or at least that’s the purported plan.

Rice will surely tout its academic prestige as a reason for admission. The Owls would easily sit atop the conference in that regard. Adding that widely accepted asset with a strong narrative on the field could get the Owls a seat at the table when the madness starts.

What does Rice need to do now?

If Mike Bloomgren can take Rice football to a few consecutive bowl games and push for a C-USA title over the next couple of seasons, selling the story of an up-and-coming program in a top national market becomes a little easier. For Rice, winning will be the prerequisite for any vertical ascent.

Stability is no longer the norm, especially not for college sports. Changes to the conference landscapes are coming. Rice could do a lot to bolster their attractiveness by winning, and winning now. Strong academic and strong athletics sell. Rice has half of that covered and has done extremely well in other sports like volleyball and women’s basketball.

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If football joins the ascent, Rice could have a chance. At this point, it would still be a sizable jump, but what seams feasible in today’s climate could change drastically from what made sense yesterday. For the time being, win.

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College Sports Realignment: What’s next for Olympic sports?

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COVID-19 has already begun to change the college sports landscape as we know it and more adjustments could be on the way soon.

Change is coming for college sports and several programs have already reached the “worst-case scenario”. Old Dominion wrestling, FIU men’s track and field, Cincinnati men’s soccer and Bowling Green baseball have all been eliminated. More cuts are likely in the coming weeks as the financial ramifications of the shutdown persist. If football seasons are impacted, things could get much worse.

With that bleak backdrop, cost savings have become increasingly important. Could schools consider splitting their sports across multiple conferences in an effort to save costs? It’s plausible.

Why it makes sense

Football is the engine that makes college athletics go. Without the revenue from the gridiron, and in some cases men’s basketball, athletic programs operate in the red. Olympic sports are a prime example of athletic competitions that don’t make money. An alternative to slashing programs from the start could be a bifurcation of conference play by sport.

College football could continue to operate in much the same way. The revenue it derives from television contracts can support a few cross country flights and the various costs associated with fielding a team. But why does Rice volleyball need to fly to Charlotte or FAU? The Owls might be better suited taking a bus to play Texas State, Sam Houston or Lamar.

More regionalized scheduling in non-football sports would cut costs and provide matchups with more appeal to local fans.

What stands in the way?

Having one school span multiple conferences wouldn’t be a first, but it would be a departure from the norm. Schools like Wichita State, a basketball member of the American Conference, don’t participate in football with the AAC schools. Notre Dame is a pseudo-football member with ACC but has retained its independent status.

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Playing football with one group of teams and other sports might seem unusual, but its far from unprecedented. Budget crunch or not, this is a solution that seems plausible and palatable for the future.

And the people say…

When the idea of regionalized scheduling started to be discussed, Rice football fans said it would change their attendance patterns. 58 percent of fans said a more regionalized schedule would cause them to attend more games, with 47 percent saying they would attend more away games if more Texas teams were added to the schedule.

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