Column: Should SEMO be the big fish or jump in a bigger pond?

It has been a banner year for Southeast Missouri State athletics.

In the face of a changing Ohio Valley Conference, the Redhawks emerged as OVC Commissioner’s Cup champions for the second time in the last three seasons.

The Redhawks totaled 102 points defeating Tennessee Tech (90.5) by a +11.5 margin to win the cup. It's an award that values all the sports' championships, even the ones that don't get mainstream attention.

"I think our philosophy and our approach is a little different," SEMO athletic director Brady Barke said. "I think we've done a pretty good job of spreading out our resources across all of those programs to give them all the chance to be able to be successful, and I think to be honest, we owe that to our student-athletes. We want every student-athlete to come knowing that they're going to be supported and have a chance to be successful."

This was a unique year in which the OVC was without longtime members Belmont, Austin Peay, and Murray State. An argument can be made that it is without those teams that made the road to the elusive basketball championship possible for the Redhawks in the first place.

"They were some of the better schools in the league," Barke said. "From just a rivalry standpoint, they were schools we've competed against for a long time, and so they're missed for a couple of different reasons. But at the time that they left is really kind of the starting of the success that we have had. Even at the time that they left over that previous couple of years, we had still won more championships than any of those programs had."

The OVC tried to make up for the loss by adding Little Rock and pulling Lindenwood and Southern Indiana from the DII ranks. Southern Indiana looked like it belonged. Lindenwood still has ways to go.

Western Illinois enters the fold next year, but this addition, along with the other three, doesn't make up for the departures on a qualitative basis. This bodes well for SEMO, who have won a conference championship in every sport since 2019.

So the question for SEMO going forward is this: Is it better for the Redhawks to rise to the status of the OVC's flagship program, or to chase success at a bigger conference?

The conventional logic is SEMO should make the jump to the Missouri Valley Conference to renew rivalries with Murray State and Belmont while establishing one with Missouri State. The Redhawks already have a longstanding rivalry with MVC member Southern Illinois.

The one thing that being a member of the MVC would offer to SEMO is seeing certain games on television, as certain games are viewed on Ballys Sports Midwest. But is it worth it when the path to the championship is longer, tougher, and much more expensive?

"I think what people sometimes don't see or understand is the footprint that we're in and geographically where this league puts us. We're a two to four-hour drive from almost everybody in our league," Barke said. If you look at our operational expenses compared to even the Missouri Valley, we're less than half of a budget compared to what a lot of schools in the Missouri Valley are."

SEMO can compete in the MVC and maybe even make a run. Winning the MVC or OVC tournament title in basketball will get the Redhawks to the same place. Maybe the MVC winners can avoid going to Dayton.

Given the glass ceiling that exists in college sports, SEMO is better off dominating the OVC and having competitive home games that bring fans to the Show Me Center and fill the hill at Capaha Field.

It's better to be the big fish in a slightly smaller pond.