Where Dayton stands in Conference Realignment

This story was originally created for CMM 338 at the University of Dayton on April 26, 2024

Gabriel Ward

DAYTON, Ohio - In the ever-changing world of college athletics, you never know what a program's next move will be. 

Dayton has been in the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) since 1995, but with conference realignment being more chaotic than ever and UMass leaving the A-10 to join the Mid-American Conference, it brings into question: what conference could we possibly see UD being a part of in the future? 

A discussion that has been going on for a while is that the Flyers should join the Big East. When the Big East split in 2013, with the non-football schools breaking away from the schools that were in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), there were only seven teams left in the basketball-focused conference, creating a need for expansion, targeting non-FBS schools.

That expansion did look at a private Catholic school in Ohio. Unfortunately, that school was not Dayton but was rival Xavier. However, that has not stopped Flyer fans from hoping that they would one day be added to the prestigious conference.

Looking at the Big East, it truly is a dream fit for the Flyers. Of the 11 full Big East members, nine are private Catholic schools, while Butler, which is private but not Catholic, is one of the others, and UConn is the only public school in the conference.

Getting the intra-state rivalry back with Xavier, as well as facing off against many similar-style schools week in, week out, would make the Big East the perfect conference, not to mention the fact that the Big East has won four national titles in men’s basketball since 2016.

Another conference that Dayton would be within the geographic footprint of is the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

Although the AAC has gotten weaker with most of its premier programs being poached by power conferences, it still may be a step up from the A-10. The type of schools may not be as similar to Dayton as the Big East, but some of the athletic programs are elite.

Competing with basketball programs like Memphis, Wichita State, and FAU could help strengthen the Flyers' resume come each March. 

But even though there is always talk from the fans about leaving the A-10, the conference still does seem to be a perfect fit for the Flyers in the eyes of University of Dayton Athletic Director, Neil Sullivan, who stated in an interview that, “the members of the A-10 are a basketball-centric conference; we want to be a basketball-focused league. And that aligns with what the presidents want out of the conference.”

And while most Flyer fans only think of the A-10 as their conference, the football team actually competes in the Pioneer Football League. The PFL is a football league that is in the Football Championship Subdivision of NCAA Division I, but does not offer scholarships. 

When asked about leaving the PFL, Sullivan said that “it is not really a part of our calculus” and added that “we are in a what we think is a premier spot to be in the way we are able to run our program.”

Even though fans will always want bigger and better things, and it is fun to imagine the Flyers in a bigger conference, it seems as if that is off the table, at least for now.