The SWAC is going big in celebrating its 100-year anniversary in 2020.
The league added another new member on Friday in Bethune-Cookman. Its admission to the SWAC as full member, effective for the 2021-22 academic year, adds a strong brand name, healthy athletic program, and rich history to the expanding conference, which will encompass 12 members.
For Daytona Beach-located Bethune-Cookman, it gets a travel partner with Florida A&M, a rival who joined the league earlier this month. In addition, Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern — the two farthest west schools in the conference — won’t have to travel to Florida in football except for once every four years.
Bringing in the Wildcats will still preserve natural rivalries in the SWAC, which doesn’t have any other immediate expansion plans. League commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland said the addition of BCU completes the conference’s strategic plan.
“We never say never,” McClelland said. “But when you look at what we were looking for within member institutions joining the Southwestern Athletic Conference, you had to check off all of the boxes. Now, from Texas to Florida we have all of the major Division I black college institutions in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and that was a key component.
“Being able to come in and compete, having the budget to compete, and having the athletic history to compete. But also align with our institutions from an academic standpoint. And within our geographical footprint, Bethune-Cookman was the only school that fit that bill. I’ll never say never, but as of now, Bethune-Cookman has completed the circle.”
The decision to add BCU, which officially becomes a SWAC member on July 1, 2021, was reached late Thursday during an executive meeting of the SWAC council of presidents and chancellors, hours after BCU’s university board of trustees voted to leave the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
A private university, Bethune-Cookman has been in the MEAC since 1979. The MEAC will be losing its fifth school in the past two years. The SWAC and MEAC are the two NCAA Division I conferences of historically black colleges and universities.
With a reported athletic budget of $15.1 million, Bethune-Cookman comes in with a top-three budget within the SWAC.
The Wildcats have won four black college football national championships, the last in 2013, and have won 80 football games over the past 10 years, including two road wins over FBS teams. The 2017 BCU baseball team reached a regional final and the 2005 BCU softball team reached a super regional.
“We continue to grow, it’s a good thing,” Texas Southern athletic director Kevin Granger said. “They’ve always had strong athletic programs, they have tradition. Everything the SWAC is looking for when you are talking about adding to your membership.
“We’re excited about the two additions. Both of those schools are going to enhance our brand and it will make the SWAC even stronger. More marketable and more enticing to our fan base.”
With 12 teams in the fold, it allows the SWAC to remain two equally-numbered divisions — Western and Eastern — even though one Eastern Division school will have to switch to the Western.
“In football with the current eight-game conference schedule, it will allow Texas Southern and Prairie View to play five games in the West, and three games in the East, and then there’s three teams they don’t have to play,” McClelland said. “So with the proper scheduling we can ensure that Texas Southern and Prairie View won’t have to go to Florida. And some of our models suggest they would only have to go once every four years.
“All in all it’s going to be a travel cost savings for Prairie View and Texas Southern because it’s going to eliminate trips to Alabama for many sports and it’s going to minimize Texas Southern and Prairie View having to go to Alabama and Florida in football and basketball.”
McClellan said distance will be a factor as well as preserving rivalries in determining which current Eastern Division team among Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State, Jackson State, Alabama A&M and Alabama State will change divisions.
“Maintaining rivalries and travel is going to be the key factor,” McClellan said. “We said competitive balance, but adding Bethune and how strong they are, adding Florida A&M, how strong they are, I don’t know if there’s such a thing as competitive balance any more. It’s going to be tough regardless of what division you’re in.”
Bethune-Cookman has relationships with several SWAC schools, having played Alabama A&M and Alabama State from its NCAA Division II days in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and longtime matchups with Grambling State, Jackson State, Southern and Mississippi Valley State.
By bringing in Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M, the SWAC adds to its stronghold on football games that are billed as classic games. The Florida Classic between BCU and Florida A&M joins the Bayou Classic (Grambling State-Southern), the Labor Day Classic (Texas Southern-Prairie View A&M) and Magic City Classic (Alabama A&M-Alabama State) as annual marquee matchups.
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