If they end up getting a waiver to go straight to D1, it definitely would present a new challenge for Augie. Part of the appeal of joining the Summit as an Augie fan is knowing we would be a private school in a great community, which not every Summit school can offer. But knowing we would have a competing private school with a massive budget in a significantly larger community with a direct connection to a key recruiting pool would definitely make it more challenging.
I'm not pumped about adding UMKC but on the positive side, our conference is now stable and it's great for travel partners which will make for a better home schedule. A few years ago it was a major worry that we could lose our auto bid. Softball needed this but baseball is still only at 6 teams and 5 if and when IPFW leaves. As far as recruiting goes, seems like Kansas City is an area we target for all sports so it can't hurt to be in the market more.
.
17X National Champions: 65, 68, 69, 83, 85, 86, 88, 90, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21
Join the Green and the Gold Collective to take Bison football to the next level. Starts at $10 a month
The Green and The Gold Collective is excited to announce our #DriveToFive membership campaign. The goal of this campaign is to get to 500 monthly members. Reaching this goal will help us provide financial support to NDSU student athletes, including every returning member of the football team that saw action on the field last year!
https://thegreenandthegold.com
From everything I've read and heard in radio interviews, at least one of SDSU/USD's larger corporate sponsors, if not their largest, appears to have a strong interest in bringing Augie to Division I and wouldn't be thrilled with those administrations if they blocked Augie. But I could be mistaken. I don't have the insider info/connections at Augie like some of you guys on here have with your athletic department. Maybe it's as simple as them voting no and Augie staying D2 and everybody moves on.
I just think NMSU would be a hard sell for schools with lesser resources. Despite it being an excellent school, it's nowhere near the geographic footprint of the conference.
Here are distances from some of the other Summit schools:
PFW: 1544 miles
WIU: 1213 miles
UND: 1449 miles
NDSU: 1371 miles
SDSU: 1184 miles
Wouldn't be that big a deal if travel was for basketball only, but add in all the other non-revenue sports, and the number of extra long trips adds up.
.
17X National Champions: 65, 68, 69, 83, 85, 86, 88, 90, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21
Join the Green and the Gold Collective to take Bison football to the next level. Starts at $10 a month
The Green and The Gold Collective is excited to announce our #DriveToFive membership campaign. The goal of this campaign is to get to 500 monthly members. Reaching this goal will help us provide financial support to NDSU student athletes, including every returning member of the football team that saw action on the field last year!
https://thegreenandthegold.com
.
17X National Champions: 65, 68, 69, 83, 85, 86, 88, 90, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21
Join the Green and the Gold Collective to take Bison football to the next level. Starts at $10 a month
The Green and The Gold Collective is excited to announce our #DriveToFive membership campaign. The goal of this campaign is to get to 500 monthly members. Reaching this goal will help us provide financial support to NDSU student athletes, including every returning member of the football team that saw action on the field last year!
https://thegreenandthegold.com
So the Summit league brings back a former member, solidifying the conference, making it a 10 team team league with balanced schedules and travel partners...and its a sad day? Wow, you could not be more wrong. What is your suggestion then? For NDSU to join the Big 10? Big 12? Having a conference that has members close is a good thing. Ask und when they logged in millions of frequent flyer miles in the big sky. I guess we should just be an independent since we cant belittle ourselves with being in the lowly summit. Bison fans are great fans, and I’m sure you are too. But your mindset on this is what makes Bison fans look bad.
"North Dakota State is a big part of the fabric of college football right now."
"North Dakota State is alive on the college football map."
-Lee Fitting ESPN