OKLAHOMA CITY
The Summit League has three new members, a new name and a new logo. More importantly, commissioner Tom Douple believes the conference has a new direction.
North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne will officially join the conference on Sunday in the biggest addition to the membership since six teams joined in 1994. And while the league will say goodbye to Valparaiso, a charter member and one of its most recognizable faces, Douple sees a promising future for the former Mid-Continent Conference.
“We have a lot of schools that now want to join us to get in the league. We have a lot of people calling on us,” said Douple, who took over as commissioner in 2005. “I think the future looks very, very bright for us.”
Douple envisions the renamed conference becoming “one of the more competitive and premier mid-major conferences,” a niche role that’s been filled at the NCAA tournament the past few years by the Missouri Valley, Horizon and Colonial conferences and personified most famously by George Mason’s Final Four run last year.
But Douple understands there’s plenty of work to be done for his conference to emerge from near the bottom of the pack in RPI to earn more than its one automatic bid in postseason play each year.
That’s why teams in the league have been asked to sign on to The Summit Plan, aimed at improving graduation rates and academic success, home attendance and RPI which, in turn, means an increased commitment in athletic budgets for scholarships, recruiting and staff.
