PonyFanBCLA wrote:Lamar is the other school. UTA was an original SLC member, UTSA joined before the football suggestion and A&M CC was admitted instead of Centenary in 2006.
Centenary was jobbed for 1. having a very good basketball record against the SLC teams in the years leading up to their admission courtship with the conference and 2. the Centenary AD at the time was not willing to lobby the other presidents and ADs to get into the conference. So the SLC took A&MCC and Central Arkansas. The official SLC line was Centenary didnt offer football and 13 teams would make the conference too big.
A&MCC also was willing to conduct a "football feasibility study" to study the possibilities of adding football within the next 5-10 years. This, coupled with their strong basketball programs, which the Southland saw could bring good press to the conference, led them to be chosen for membership.
I do not believe Centenary will ever add football. Do they even have 1,000 students? The lack of a football program was almost a deal-breaker for A&MCC.