For a brief period around January 18, 2025, Collegiate Consulting posted on its website that the consulting firm had completed a feasibility study for Shawnee State University. Shawnee State is located in Portsmouth, Ohio, and is currently a member of the River States Conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). In the now-broken link, Collegiate Consulting reviewed two potential NCAA Division 2 conferences for SSU: the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) and the Mountain East Conference (MEC). Collegiate Consulting also ran projections through the 2029 fiscal year that would see the athletic expenses increase from the current level of $3.18 million to $4.4 million.
While the current link to the Collegiate Consulting website no longer works, the Internet Archive has a working link (for now). A screenshot of the article has also been provided below in case the Internet Archive link no longer works in the future. Furthermore, a public records request to obtain a copy of the feasibility study was made in January. While the existence of the study was confirmed, the university did not provide a copy of the study, citing “Ohio trade secrets law.” Shawnee State provided the following explanation via email:
“The Ohio Public Records Act makes an exception to disclosure for “records the release of which is prohibited by state or federal law.” R.C. 149.43(A)(1)(v). With regard to your request, state law – specifically the Ohio trade secrets law – exempts the requested feasibility study from disclosure. Trade secrets are not public records under R.C. 149.43. State ex rel. Besser v. Ohio State Univ., 89 Ohio St.3d 396 (2000). Accordingly, Shawnee State University does not have any non-exempt records that are subject to disclosure.”
Shawnee State Sports and Proximity to Potential New Members
As mentioned above, Shawnee State is a member of the NAIA’s River States Conference, which has full members located in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. A move to the Great Lakes Valley Conference in NCAA D2 would see the Bears traveling to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri amongst the full members and to Kansas and Oklahoma when considering the affiliate members. Shawnee State would become the 16th full member if they were invited and joined. The Mountain East would place Shawnee State as the westernmost team in a possible 12-team conference with its current full members located in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Below is a map showing Shawnee State’s location in red relative to its fellow River States teams in blue, the location of possible future members of the Great Lakes in orange, and Mountain East in green.
One consideration when evaluating a possible move to a new conference is the sports sponsored by the conference. Shawnee State sponsors 21 varsity teams along with coed esports and cheerleading teams and the Bears have competitive dance and men’s volleyball at the club level. For Shawnee State, the number of teams that would potentially need to find an affiliate conference is low. The vast majority of sports would compete in the same conference Shawnee State joins at the D2 level except for men’s bowling in the GLVC or both bowling programs in the Mountain East. The table below shows all 19 sports with the indoor and outdoor track & field teams condensed into track & field for men and women.
Summary
Will Shawnee State move from the NAIA into the NCAA Division 2 ranks? We don’t know for certain but the existence of the feasibility study – even if we cannot obtain a copy – means at least some serious consideration is being given to the idea by the school’s administration. After all, universities that have limited resources aren’t commissioning feasibility studies for fun. In due time we’ll see if Shawnee State is moving up to D2, whether that means joining the GLVC, MEC, or a different conference altogether, or if the school will remain in the NAIA.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
