The New Era of D2

[Bisonguy]

It looks like NDSU's prediction on the watering down of D2 is coming true. I'm glad NDSU won't be playing any of the new schools entering D2. From The Forum:

Sports forum: NDSU’s prediction holding true for membership change in Division II
By Jeff Kolpack
jkolpack@forumcomm.com
The Forum - 07/30/2003

One of the major reasons given by North Dakota State athletic department for the school’s impending move to Division I in 2004-05 is the influx of smaller schools into Division II. Last week, the Division II Membership Committee granted active membership status to 10 schools.

None appear to be household names to Division II followers.

The new members include four from Puerto Rico -- University of Puerto Rico at Bayamon, Cayey, Mayaguez and Rio Piedras. The others are Goldey-Beacom College, Green Mountain College, Holy Family College, North Greenville College (N.C.), Nyack College and the University of Sciences of Philadelphia.

The Membership Committee also waived two years off of Florida Gulf Coast University’s five-year reclassification period. Don’t expect that to happen at the Division I level, however.

“Only because these are such new rules and they’re not going to give waivers on that,” said NDSU athletic director Gene Taylor.

Taylor, however, is hoping the NCAA will review membership requirements for individual sports like wrestling and track and field. The goal is to get those sports eligible for post-season competition sooner

[Texas_Jacks_Fan]

D2 is going to be a joke in a couple of years, Has anyone heard of any other schools thinking about a jump to 1AA,in the next few years? I still believe that UND &USD will go D1 after the trail has been blazed by the Bison & Jacks. I cant see their alumni setting back and watching their programs become totally insignificant. (maybe I'm wrong). I was wondering about NW MO. St. or Western Washington? Does anyone have any info. or gossip. Both of these schools have solid reputations and could go up.
Just speculating....

[89rabbit]

I live in the heart of MIAA country, at this point no one is talking about moving up to I AA. *They are mostly concerned with Missouri-Rolla moving down and out of thier conf. *The talk around here is that UNO will leave the NCC and move to the MIAA.

The two programs that would have the best chances to move up are NW MO St. and Pittsburg St. *Both have great D II football programs, but are hampered by their locations (from metro areas and to other better est. D I programs. . .KU, K-State, MU)

Last year the two schools moved their game to Arrowhead in Kansas City and got a good turn out (around 20,000 I think). *They are doing it again this year. *I think they are thrilled with the exposure they get from this and will stay D II for now.

I don't have a clue about Western Washington. *

Go Jacks!

[Bison_Kent]

Western Washington is a very good possibility to go to I-AA. Eastern Washington is in the Big Sky Conference and actually W. Washington is a larger university and in a larger city. Western Washington is in Bellingham, a city of 65,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay and many of Puget Sound's 172 San Juan Islands. The campus is 90 miles north of Seattle, 55 miles south of Vancouver, B.C., and an hour's drive from 10,778-foot Mount Baker, the highest peak of the spectacular North Cascades National Park. Where as, Eastern Washington is in the smaller city of Cheney (about 20 miles from Spokane).

Western has over a 11,000 student population and Eastern is just over 6,500.

Centeral Washington is another possibility, probably a longer shot then Western. Centeral is in Ellensburg which is only 15,400 in population and no close larger cities. But does have a student population of over 7,000 which would be close that of Eastern Washington.

[SDSUFAN]

If you ever look at the D2Football.com message board, it was started by Brandon Misener, a NWMSU grad and Jeff Whitten who lives in Florence Al and a UNA grad.
D2.Football.com has a number of NWMSU posters and a bunch from Pitt State. None of them are very open to moving up to D1AA. In fact they have really questioned SDSU move when it was first acknowledged by the press releases and the Carr Study. Lately, the Bearcat fans have been kind of quiet. I think there is kind of an envy that the NCC schools are leaving, but just won't say much. The MIAA fans have wanted to show their superiority over the NCC especially in Football.

89Rabbit is right on with observations and the NWMSU-PSU game at Arrowhead was a big sucess. This is to happen again this year with PSU being the host. Sounds like PSU would rather play NWMSU in Pittsburg as they got a nice facility, and a rowdy home crowd.

Another thing going on at NWMSU is the move to make it part of the U of Missouri system, which appears to threaten their automomy as a regional entity. I think it would be harder to justify a move to D1AA if they become part of the U O Missouri system. I sure 89rabbit is more up to date on Missouri politics.

Living here in Nebraska, the Board of Regents are elected and not appointed which is different from the Dakotas. Most have many ties to UNL and that almost kills any idea of moving up for UNO. In fact prior to the 1996 football season, the Board of Regents were proposing that UNO drop all sports. Some regents did not believe a communting school should have sports period.

If Steve Heiden, current NFL player had been able to hang on that last pass of the game against UNO, he would have scored and SDSU would have won the game, the NCC title, and a playoff berth. Instead the Jacks did not score, and did not win and did not win the NCC title game. UNO instead probably saved their programs based on that years season in football and the good crowds they drew.

As far as USD, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next five years. They are trying to upgrade the Med School and other buildings on campus. They have a much smaller athletic budget than SDSU. SDSU is currently about 4 million. USD has only 2.5 million I believe. They need to get their big pocket alums involved, like Tom Brokaw, Pat Obrien and Al Neuharth USA today founder with some major gifts. That may be happening behind the scences, I don't know. There is a committee studying the athletic programs and there is a thread relating to that on this board.

I think the problem with UND is the takeover by the late Ralph Englestad with his 100 million dollar ice arena. The plans are to use this facility for basketball and that could be a real deal for them if they can get the crowds. Their basketball crowds tend to be only about 4000 at the most when they are playing others than NDSU. SDSU lately has been a good crowd drawer in Grand Forks, but again down the road, they may lookaround and sense they dont belong in D2.

The Ice Arena is still being run by Ralph's estate and they controll all of the hockey ticket sales and concessions. Supposely some of this has been turned over to the General fund and UND Athletic Department. Since Ralph Englestad was a very wealthly man, its going to take a long time to settle his estate and that kind of controlls what UND can do. I believe this is the major reason they keep saying they are going to stay D2. Right now, they have a big enterprise that is not owned by the institution, name the REA.