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By Pat Clifton
(Colorado School of the Mines is one of many DII teams moving up. Pat Clifton photo.)
Remember when the college football scene was going to explode, super conferences were going to be formed and life as we know it was going to change, and then none of the aforementioned happened? Well, it kind of did in collegiate rugby.
The collegiate DI Premier league is taking shape. Though Bowling Green declined an invitation early on, it appears the remaining 31 teams who were extended an invite are still on board.
“We expect to have the 31 teams,” said USA Rugby collegiate director Todd Bell. “We’ve got verbal sign-off from everybody, and there’s three schools that are just waiting to get paperwork signed from people who are on vacation, but I expect we’ll have all three of the teams in here before too long.”
Bell also said 31 is the number they’re looking to run with for the competition’s inaugural campaign, despite originally targeting 32.
While all seems to be good and well on the Premier front, there are still some things to be hashed out in the remaining DI. RUGBYMag.com has learned USA Rugby is looking for 16 “conferences”. Gone would be the Territorial championships, as the winner of each conference would advance to the DI Sweet 16. Sounds easy enough, but it might not be.
Bell circulated a list of 12 conferences that he’d confirmed as of July 8 - New York State, Metro NY, Northeast, Ivy, Atlantic Coast, South, Midwest-East, Midwest-West, West-Central, West-West, West-Texas and Northern California. Pacific Northwest and Southern California can now be added to that list.
By our count, that’s 14 conferences. Chair of Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union’s collegiate committee, Carl Schmitt, said MARFU will likely not form a DI league of its own for the 2010-2011 season, but rather wait until the 2011-2012 competitive cycle, as all of the TU‘s DI teams have either joined the Atlantic Coast or the Premier league. Similar scenarios have SoCal and the South feeling comfortable with just one DI conference.
It’s unclear what will happen if two more conferences cannot be created or identified, but awarding two at-large bids is a possible solution. With only two at-large bids seemingly possible, there could be 12 conferences feeling spurned come tournament time. In the past, USA Rugby has awarded multiple bids to “traditionally strong” territories, but tabbing two “traditionally strong” conferences this coming season will be no easy feat, with 32 of the nation’s best clubs out of consideration.
More details and information will unfold in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned to RUGBYMag.com
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