JOHNSTOWN — Much like a college recruit, Steve Murray visited both the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and Seton Hill University last week.

The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference commissioner checked out the campuses in Richland Township and Greensburg less than a month after the announcement that nine football-playing schools will depart the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, leading UPJ to explore other conference options.

Almost immediately, speculation arose that the PSAC might be a possible fit for the Mountain Cats program.

A decade ago, such a scenario wouldn’t have been seriously considered because UPJ doesn’t have a football program. All but one of the 16 full-time PSAC members play football.

Philosophies have changed since longtime PSAC member Mansfield dropped its football program in 2006.

“We do have already a school in our conference that doesn’t have football. Geographically, there would be a non-playing football school in both divisions, Mansfield and Pitt-Johnstown,” Murray said, speaking hypothetically, on Friday. “Now that we’ve seen a school without football and lived to tell about it, it makes sense for other issues.”

Of course, Murray was cautious.

The commissioner repeatedly stressed that any decisions about adding members to the PSAC – or where UPJ and Seton Hill might end up – would be made by the presidents at the respective universities involved.

“The process for expansion happens at the presidential level,” he said.

Pitt-Johnstown Athletic Director Pat Pecora couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday, but he previously said UPJ must “look at all options.”

UPJ Vice President for Finance and Administration Amy Buxbaum is a former assistant athletic director of the Mountain Cats program. On Friday, Buxbaum said, “At this time, we’re very excited about our athletic program and looking at a lot of options. But I don’t know if we’re at a place today for me to comment on the Pennsylvania conference.”

Buxbaum said UPJ should learn more details next week.

“We have our annual meeting for the West Virginia conference in Charleston,” Buxbaum said of the dates set for Thursday and Friday. “Pitt-Johnstown is a proud member of the WVIAC, and it is premature to speculate on the future. We are actively engaged in the process of reviewing options and the best interests of our university.”

Six years after joining the WVIAC, the Mountain Cats learned last month that nine football-playing members of the NCAA Division II league are leaving to form their own conference. Seton Hill is among that group.

UPJ had faced the challenges of competing as an independent program for nearly two decades. The Cats welcomed the move into the WVIAC, which alleviated scheduling challenges and provided opportunities to earn automatic NCAA tournament berths in various sports.

So, where does UPJ fit in from the PSAC’s perspective?

Historically conferences expand in even numbers. UPJ probably would need a partner if the program is to apply to join a conference such as the PSAC.

That probably is why Murray visited both UPJ and Seton Hill during his fact-finding tour.

While at UPJ and Seton Hill, Murray noted the layout of the academic buildings, the athletic facilities and the geographic footprint of the two universities.

“I had never been on either campus,” Murray said. “We were down to get a feel of the campus and talk to the athletic directors. This is a presidential thing but I’ve got to understand the setting and where everything fits in.

“The UPJ campus is gorgeous. I love the layout,” he added. “The school is up on top of the hill. The basketball facility certainly fits in with our league nicely. Our baseball teams already play Johnstown at the Point. This is something even the West Virginia conference reiterated when we spoke to them: UPJ is good citizens, they’re good people, they do the right thing.”

The PSAC has 16 full-time schools, including nearby Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Long Island University-Post is a part-time member in football and lacrosse.

For many years, the conference consisted only of universities that were members of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. In 2007, Gannon and Mercyhurst, two Erie-based private schools, joined the PSAC on a full-time basis. The move opened the door for future expansion, though Murray said bumping up to 18 schools from 16 might be the ceiling for expansion.

“We’re already a pretty big conference,” he said.

Murray said if the pieces fall into place and the presidents at all of the universities agree, he envisions a bigger and better PSAC with 18 programs and 16 football-playing schools.

He said possibilities of having three six-team divisions in basketball or four four-team divisions in baseball and softball are appealing.

Geographic rivalries could pique interest in the schools, and a program such as Lock Haven potentially could move to the East Division from the West, he said.

Murray will meet with an executive committee comprised of a small group of PSAC school presidents next week.

“It was very positive. There is a desire from the administrators to continue the conversations,” Murray said of his discussions at UPJ and Seton Hill. “We have an executive meeting with five of our presidents on Tuesday and we’ll address this with what I see as options. We’ll see if they want to proceed and what the framework of the conversation would be.”

Any expansion in the PSAC would hinge on a vote by the 16 presidents. Murray said it’s unlikely that all the presidents would agree on adding new members, but he said only 11 of 16 schools need to vote yes for an expansion motion to pass.

On a related note, the PSAC and WVIAC previously had signed contracts with the City of Johnstown to rotate using the Point Stadium each spring for their conference baseball championship tournaments.

If the WVIAC and UPJ part ways, that would open the possibility of the PSAC holding its conference championship here annually.

“I would think that if Johnstown is not in the WVIAC, the West Virginia league probably would not be in there (for its baseball tournament),” Murray said.

“We’d look at that as a long-term site and not necessarily rotate. The people down there have treated us nice. I love the artificial turf. The City of Johnstown has worked with us. I could see us being down there.”

For all of the speculation to evolve into reality, a lot of discussion and planning must take place in a relatively short period of time.

“For next year (2013-14), to be able to handle scheduling, we’d need to have an idea pretty close to Labor Day or the middle of September at worst,” Murray said. “In my mind, if we want to do it next fall (2013) it’s got to be done by then. We can’t get into the winter at all. Schedules have to be completed. Once you get that far, it’s hard to adjust.

“Coming out of Tuesday’s meeting, the executive committee could say, ‘No, we’re not doing that,’ and that would be the end of it. From this point on it’s a presidential decision. They’re going to be the engines and the drivers. I can only help steer it a little bit. It’s completely up to them.”