(August 4, 2011) - Can you believe what the TranSouth Athletic Conference did this past week and did not learn one thing from the Dakota Athletic Conference. As you read this, you could stick in DAC members names and you will see the same result, disaster for the conference!

At the conference meetings on the campus of Freed-Hardeman this past week, the TranSouth athletic directors voted 8-1 — Trevecca Nazarene voted no— to exclude the Trojans from competing for regular-season and postseason conference championships. Plus, Trevecca student-athletes will not be eligible to win the TranSouth’s player of the week awards or be named to postseason all-conference teams.

The TranSouth schedule for 2011-12 still will include Trevecca (that’s nice of them) but they will be treated like a non-conference opponent, with their wins and losses not counting in the conference standings.

The TranSouth and NAIA are nice enough to let Trevecca pay full dues (with nothing in return), I guess that is why they have the “Champion of Character” awards.

I asked a TranSouth Conference official on why they did this - “The NAIA national office stated that Trevecca could not play in the conference tournament or national tournament and that their players could not receive any awards other than the scholar athlete award and champions of character award. That was not a conference decision.”

We are still waiting for a NAIA response to this issue. Our understanding is that this is a conference matter and not associated with the NAIA. If it was sent down from the national office why did the AD’s vote on the item in the first place?

The nine school presidents still have the final vote. I would hate to be an AD if the presidents over-rule this vote. But it has happened before in a NAIA conference where the presidents overturned the AD‘s vote on excluding a team. We hope the presidents decide to override the vote and allow Trevecca to compete this year, it is the right thing to do.

Here is some background on schools voting…

After all of the dust settled Freed-Hardeman, Bethel, Lyon, Martin Methodist and Blue Mountain will remain in the TranSouth. Bad news for the TranSouth, you need 6 active members in the conference to get an AQ for national championships. So by excluding Trevecca and Union next season they find themelves in “conference purgatory”.

Trevecca Nazarene has applied for membership in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and, if approved, would be eligible to compete in regional and national tournaments as soon as this season. They won’t be alone as several other NAIA schools have also applied to the NCCAA as they let the NCAA process run its course.

The reason we mention the NCCAA and even the USCAA is because any current NAIA member is allowed to be a dual member in those associations and also compete in their national championships without penalities being placed on them. But this has been a plus for the two smaller associations as schools seek membership due to the NCAA rule the NAIA has in place. Don’t be surprised if the NAIA considers some changes with these associations, especially after numerous members of the disbanded Sunrise Conference have left the NAIA for the USCAA.

Who does this hurt the most in the long run - Trevecca Nazarene or the TranSouth Conference? Ask the folks in the Dakota Athletic Conference, who excluded two members immediately instead of even waiting after the first year. Had both of these conferences worked with these members instead of “trying to teach them a lesson” both conferences would have had added time to find new members and get the conference back in a running state. The NAIA and TranSouth need to rethink this policy in the future or take a look at their own “Champion of Characters” program.