The Ideal Conference Realignment for D1 College Sports Conferences
Focusing on the mid-major conferences, this is what college basketball and football conferences should look like so the shuffling around of schools can end in the near future.
The real fix to conference realignment and balancing of power, fairness, and opportunity for schools is to cap conferences at 14 teams. If that were a rule that Pac-12 would have never disbanded, the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and ACC would all have to release schools from their conferences. Since that will never happen, the least we can do is make conferences regional again. And that is what I am doing in my reimagined, yet common sense, realignment scenario. Now, to get a few things out of the way, I am not touching the SEC, Big 10 or Big 12 because, realistically, they won’t be changing at all. Almost every other conference is on the table whether that’s just adding or losing 1 school since having an even number of schools in each conference would be ideal for scheduling purposes. This is how I reimagine and logically think college conferences should be aligned.
Let’s get a few simple moves out of the way that should have happened already.
ACC
Notre Dame
They already play almost all of their sports in the ACC as it is. Just join for football and make it official.
Big East
Dayton
Not a flashy addition but it makes sense to get to an even number of schools in the conference. Dayton has a solid history as a basketball school and would fit in well. In my head, Temple screams Big East, but they also have a D1 football team and I want to keep schools together for all sports. Instead of having a school in one conference for one sport and a different conference for something else, keep them all together and make everything easier. The exception that I have is UCONN because they should always be a Big East school. Let’s just transition to that.
MAC
Miami (OH)
Akron
Kent St
Toledo
Ohio
Bowling Green
Buffalo
Ball St
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Eastern Michigan
UConn (football)
Loyola-Chicago (Basketball)
Just a simple 1 for 1 swap here. I think if UConn played in the MAC for football, it would actually be beneficial to their recruiting and program and it would be a really solid program for the MAC to add with Northern Illinois leaving. And for basketball keeping Loyola-Chicago more regional would be ideal. Instead of playing in an Atlantic conference they can fill in for every sport besides football in the MAC.
Mountain West
New Mexico
Nevada
UNLV
Wyoming
Air Force
North Texas
Tulane
Tulsa
Louisiana Tech
Hawaii
Northern Illinois
NDSU
UTEP
South Dakota St
With Northern Illinois and NDSU joining for football only in 2026, again, just join for all sports and make things less complicated. The Mountain West should rebrand as a football conference. Bring in South Dakota St with NDSU. They are both formidable football and basketball schools. North Texas, Tulane, Tulsa, and LA Tech would be unbelievable additions to make the Mountain West a formidable football conference with basketball not being far behind. After losing their top basketball schools to the new PAC-12, this would be a very smart rebrand to make.
Pac-12
Utah St
San Diego St
Boise St
Colorado St
Fresno St
Texas St
Oregon St
Washington St
Gonzaga
St Mary’s
Santa Clara
San Francisco
Grand Canyon
Stephen F Austin
The new Pac-12 needs to just go all in on becoming the premiere basketball conference on the west coast. Adding Gonzaga should have triggered that mentality. They went out and got the best MW basketball schools, now go get Gonzaga’s rivals SMC, Santa Clara, and San Francisco. Since you have Texas St, dip into another Texas school and add Stephen F Austin. Grand Canyon is also a no brainer. Get all of the best mid major west coast basketball schools that you can and try to become the Big East of the west.
Big West Coast Conference
Pacific
Seattle
Portland
Loyola Marymount
San Diego
Pepperdine
UC Irvine
Cal Northridge
UC San Diego
UCSB
UC Davis
Cal St Fullerton
Long Beach St
Cal St Bakersfield
WAC
Utah Valley
Cal Baptist
Utah Tech
UT Arlington
Southern Utah
Abilene Christian
Tarleton St
Cal Poly
UC Riverside
San Jose St
As a trickle down from the new Pac-12 and new Mountain West, the remaining WCC schools have been placed in the Big West, and the WAC has added a few schools to even out numbers too.
Sky Summit Conference
Portland St
Montana St
Eastern Washington
Northern Colorado
Montana
Weber St
Idaho
Idaho St
Northern Arizona
North Dakota
South Dakota
Omaha
Denver
Oral Roberts
UMKC
Sacramento St
There is no reason for Sacramento St to be joining the MAC. Stay west of the Mississippi and play in this new conference. With NDSU and SDSU moving on I have joined the Big Sky and the Summit. Looking at the power conferences becoming massive with 16-18 teams, why shouldn’t mid-major conferences do the same? This keeps the regional aspect together and allows them to function as a 16-team conference instead of two 8 team conferences.
Ohio Valley Conference
Tennessee St
SEMO
UT Martin
SIU Edwardsville
Lindenwood
Eastern Illinois
Tennessee Tech
Southern Indiana
Western Illinois
Northern Kentucky
Green Bay
Milwaukee
IPFW
IUI
St Thomas
The one downfall of all of this realignment, I have disbanded the Horizon League. Split them up between a few other conferences based on regional locations. With conferences continuously getting larger, it’s really only a matter of time before something like this happens anyway.
Patriot
Lehigh
Colgate
Boston U
American
Loyola Maryland
Lafayette
Bucknell
Holy Cross
Oakland
Cleveland St
Youngstown St
Detroit
Army and Navy playing in the patriot league when they play in the American for football makes no sense. Is it just because of the word ‘patriot’? Who knows. Adding a few Horizon schools to replace them could make this a fun mid-major basketball conference.
American
USF
UAB
FAU
Charlotte
Memphis
Rice
ECU
UTSA
Temple
Marshall
Army
Navy
UMass
The American has been an unstable mess ever since it was created. If they want to stabilize and be a real conference this is honestly the best way to do it. Have Army and Navy as full time members. Marshall is a great add as a basketball and football school. UMass regionally makes sense. You can finally have a consistent product and stable conference.
Coastal Athletic Association
UNC Wilmington
Charleston
Hofstra
Monmouth
Drexel
William & Mary
Towson
Stony Brook
Campbell
Hampton
Elon
NC A&T
Northeastern
Robert Morris
This will always be the Colonial conference to me no matter what they say. This is as simple as Robert Morris fits here after the Horizon eraser and they are a regional basketball school, that has a history of success and will make this conference even more competitive with UNCW and Charleston leading the way.
Missouri Valley Conference
Belmont
Bradley
Illinois St
Murray St
UIC
Northern Iowa
Valpo
Southern Illinois
Drake
Indiana St
Evansville
Wichita St
Saint Louis
Wright St
Morehead St
Arkansas-Little Rock
This is probably my favorite mid-major conference basketball tournament every year. The conference is so deep, and I would love if it became even deeper. Lean into and try to become a preemptive mid-major power in basketball and guarantee 2 or 3 bids for your conference every year. Adding Wichita St and Saint Louis should be no brainers. If you can steal other notable basketball schools, it would create an even more fun and competitive conference which could produce multiple NCAA Tournament bids every year.
Wrap Up
With conference realignment continuing to happen and conferences continuously getting larger, I think mid-major conferences should adapt as well. Some things just seem like common sense which the NCAA never has. Cap conferences at 14-16 schools. Keep conferences regional. It’s all a null and void argument though. What I am pitching is a simple solution so we can stop with all of the hoopla and get back to what has always made college athletics entertaining, regional rivalries. It’s a crazy and large realignment ask, but it’s logical and realistic. And it’s what should be done so that we can get back to enjoying it all without the worry of how long it will last.