In 2007, Graham Couch of the Kalamazoo Gazette wrote an excellent story on MAC Basketball, detailing how the conference, which was once known as a thinking man's basketball conference, had fallen behind its one time peers, such as the MVC and the Horizon. It was an excellent article and right on--the decision to emphasize football had resulted in a fall in basketball. You can click here for a blog post from Graham and a link to the original article, if you are interested.
He came back and refreshed the story recently, with interviews with the MAC's new Commissioner. Steinbrecher was brought in to fix basketball, something he theoretically knew about from his time in the OVC. He is taking this year to learn what the league's needs are...and what kind of personnel will be needed to help the conference bounce back.
Anyway, its a good read. I am a huge football fan, but schools of our size are having trouble competing on so many fronts. The MVC has no FBS football, and their money goes into basketball. It is a shame to see us not competing in men's basketball, but there are no easy or cheap decisions to be made.
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