Division I and Title IX

[NDSU_grad]

Does anybody think the increased scholarship numbers we will have for DI-AA football will raise a red flag with the NCAA. I did a little checking and this is the number of scholarships we will be providing for the men and women's athletic departments (assuming we sponsor the max for every sport).
Women's Men's
basketball-15 basketball-13
softball-12 baseball-11.78
cross country cross country-
indoor track & field indoor track & field
outdoor track & field-18 outdoor track & field-12.69
volleyball-12 wrestling-9.9
soccer-12 football-63
golf-6 golf-4.5
TOTAL = 75 TOTAL = 114.87

Somebody might want to check me on my math. The NCAA apparently lumps cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field into one category for scholarship number purposes. These numbers give a ratio of about 1.5:1 for men:women scholarships, but the number of sports is the same. What does everybody think.

[NDSU_grad]

Does it make me a loser that I replied to my own post? Anyway, even with the increased scholarships for football, it seems we will be fine as far as Title IX compliance. If I recall correctly, the number of scholarships offered for men's and women's has to be roughly in line with the overall enrollment ratio. NDSU's enrollment numbers are 58% men and 42% women (no wonder I could never get a date), giving a ratio of ~1.4 to 1. Our scholaship ratio (after the addition of 27 more football scholarships) will be ~1.5 to 1. I highly doubt the NCAA would get upset about this. I only bring this up because their were some people worried about the wrestling program being cut because of Title IX compliance issues.

[JBB]

I agree, but I also feel that basing it on the enrollment percentage could backfire. If we go to war and we start drafting a lot of young men its likely that the enrollment per cent ages could change dramatically. Say men's enrollment dropped to 30%, would mens scholarships have to be cut?

[NDSU_grad]

That's a good question. I wasn't basing it on enrollment percentages, but I believe that's one of the criterion the NCAA considers when they consider Title IX compliance. I think this ratio has been relatively constant across time, so I wouldn't expect any drastic changes, but who knows.

[tony]

Hey, if we have to draft a bunch of guys to go to war, football scholarships will be my last concern.

I'm probably in a minority of football fans but I think that Title IX is a good thing. NDSU's women's athletics department has gone from average to being the most successful in DII and I wouldn't like to see all the progress lost. Anyway, I think that for every scholarship we add for men's athletics, we should add one for women's athletics (at least, that should be the goal).

One misconception people have is that Team Makers is bringing in so much money that DI funding is going to be no problem. They're doing a good job but I don't think that NDSU is currently funding all the scholarships allowed in DII. Fortunately, the number of scholarships allowed doesn't increase much for men's sports other than football. The maximums increase a bit more for women's sports but the total NDSU could add by going from the DII max to the DI max is something like 22.

However, the first problem remains to find the additional funding not to find the places to add scholarships. If NDSU starts getting buried in money, they could add a women's sport like equestrian (15), gymnastics (12), or swimming (14).

[Bison_Kent]

I totally agree with you Tony. I think the women's sports at NDSU might rival any in the country as far as fan support, including current Division I schools. The women's basketball and volleyball are always ranked high in the country.

Women's sports will never replace football at NDSU as the number one sport but in a short time period they have really succeeded. A lot of credit needs to go to Amy Ruly for having all the success at NDSU.

As for the women ever reaching a 30% greater number, I don't think that will ever happen. I think the most it would ever be would be 50-50 between men and women. If you look at the majority of majors at NDSU right now, they are traditionally men's majors (not to say that women couldn't do the work). There are all the engineering and agricultural based majors which probably make up 50% of the students right now. Few women go into engineering or ag. sciences. There are some but it wouldn't more then 5-10% of the total student body. Now, there are some traditional women's majors such as nursing and interior design but these majors are few, maybe 5% of the total student body. The rest of the majors probably are a 50-50 split between men and women.

Also, I don't ever think there will be a draft in the near future. There hasn't been a draft in over 30 years. I believe there are plenty of reservists and full-time military personal that would be enough for any war that we might get into. We have gotten into some conflicts in the past 30 years and have not needed a draft so I don't think this time around will be any different.