Your point (in bold) is exactly why I said the following in my previous post:
I can't argue with the numbers you've posted. But as I've said in the past, that was in an era when Augie was putting an embarrassing (literally embarrassing) lack of emphasis on athletics. The whole point I'm making is that if they DON'T put financial support behind it like they have to, then yes, we are going to suck like we did in the 90s. Except worse, because we'll already be taking a hit by going D1 and having to transition and stuff as it is.
So when you say, "That's when all things were EQUAL and we were all D2," yes, we were all D2, but I disagree that things were "equal." And the blame for that falls on Augie. Like I said a couple of weeks ago, if Augie's administration goes into this with a failure to plan appropriately and the money isn't there like it needs to be, then everyone involved will be to blame. But if the money IS pulled together like it needs to be, we will have a much better chance to be competitive than we EVER had in the 90s and early 2000s when Augie wasn't putting money toward athletics.
Regarding the last section of your post, here are some quick thoughts:
1) Yes, they'll have to increase the coaching salaries (for all sports), and I have no idea whether or not they'll be able to match a better offer from other schools, even if it's a rival Summit League school. At the same time, as I've read on every local D1 school's message board over the past 3-4 years, "That's the life of being a mid-major" when you lose your coach to a higher paying school. I would hope we wouldn't lose good coaches to other schools, but that's part of it.
2) As far as recruiting goes, yes, FCOA is probably a big deal, but I don't believe all schools in the Summit League offer it fully for all sports, right? If they do, I'll gladly be corrected, but I don't get the impression they do. So if it just needs to be offered for the key sports like men's/women's basketball in order to remain competitive, it'll be more manageable, especially in the beginning. And I'm not sure how it would work if the football team goes non-scholarship (obviously most likely option). Do Pioneer League schools offer FCOA too? I don't know, just curious.
3) As far as facilities go, I would imagine some of the corporate sponsors rumored to be interested in supporting the D1 jump would want to move the Vikings into a better venue (possibly the Pentagon?). That being said, the Vikings have managed to make the Sioux Falls Arena a pretty solid venue for conference games (details here:
http://www.goaugie.com/facilities/?id=5), and even if that's unavailable in the future, I would imagine they'd have a plan in place for where they'd go. Again, if they don't have a plan for a potential issue like that, shame on the Augie administration for not being prepared enough. And the Vikes currently have a high-level, $1 million+ practice facility (details here:
http://goaugie.com/facilities/?id=36) that gives players 24/7 access to a private gym and allows them to schedule team practices without competing for floor space with other activities/teams on campus. I don't know anything about locker rooms and that kind of thing as I've never seen those, but I can't imagine they are a dump. Overall, I don't think the Vikings are as far behind on facilities as some might think. At least not in basketball, baseball (details here:
http://goaugie.com/facilities/?id=4), and at least a few other sports.
To be clear, I'm
not saying, "So obviously we're totally ready to go D1." I'm just trying to contribute some info/facts that I can provide as the only Augie fan/alum on here based on the questions you raised in your post.
It's possible the administration will come out tomorrow or in a week or in a month and say, "After lots of research and careful consideration, we just can't see our institution making the jump to Division I successfully" and I'd think,
Yep, that makes sense. Or they could say, "Due to the path we're envisioning and substantial commitments for sponsorship and alumni support, we feel we're prepared to succeed at the Division 1 level," and I'd think,
Sweet. Let's go annoy the Dakota 4 fans. :)