Summit Expansion?

[DIBISON]

At least Augie is going to have an AD who wants to grow their programs. What has ML done at NDSU?

Alot. Has kept all of our programs from the chopping block and increased funding at the same time. He was also the first one on the FCS level to implement the COA for all sports.

[Bisonator98]

Alot. Has kept all of our programs from the chopping block and increased funding at the same time. He was also the first one on the FCS level to implement the COA for all sports.

Not sure how much credit he deserves for those. Quite frankly Matt hasn't had to do a whole lot except keep the train on the tracks. He needs to start fixing some of these other programs or we need to find somebody who will.

[Professorbum]

Agree, I'm just thinking if they wanted to come back it would have happened by now. I'm just not excited about the idea Auge at all. Don't want a bus league. I think for this conference to remain interesting it needs a north/south or east/west type footprint with teams like New Mexico State, Grand Canyon, or Seattle. Having a bunch of bus trips to UND/NDSU/USD/SDSU could offset the cost of traveling

I agree with this 100%

[NDSUstudent]

I still don't get why the SD schools would vote Augie in, putting a school right in the major market that both fight over. I don't think that area can support all of those schools either.

[MrAugustana]

Agree, I'm just thinking if they wanted to come back it would have happened by now. I'm just not excited about the idea Auge at all. Don't want a bus league. I think for this conference to remain interesting it needs a north/south or east/west type footprint with teams like New Mexico State, Grand Canyon, or Seattle. Having a bunch of bus trips to UND/NDSU/USD/SDSU could offset the cost of traveling

I don't really engage on the USD and SDSU boards anymore for a handful of reasons, but you guys usually tend to be slightly more amiable, so I enjoy jumping in here.

I've seen this argument come up in all three forums, and I'm trying to make sure I understand it.

Everyone keeps saying, "I'd rather take schools like New Mexico State, GCU, Seattle, etc.," but have any of those schools actually expressed even passing interest in joining the Summit League? If they have, that's totally understandable and makes a ton of sense. I just keep seeing that argument, but nobody ever says, "Here's the NMSU Athletic Director saying they're looking into the Summit League as an option" or "The GCU beat writer tweeted that they're having closed door discussions with Summit League administration."

I have no problem with the fact that Augie isn't everyone's #1 choice. There are a ton of challenges and it presents another competitor in a fairly tight market (both for recruits and for sponsorship dollars) in this region, but regardless of whether or not they are people's #1 choice, they do seem to be the only school (maybe along with UMKC) that seems to actually be expressing legitimate interest in joining the Summit if they were to go D1, unless other people have come across news I haven't.

That being said, I have no idea if we even remotely have the ability to go D1 in the first place. I'm not a numbers guy, but short of a financial miracle like an oil reserve located under Augie's campus, I'm not sure where we'd get the funding. Plus, that wouldn't be great anyway because we'd probably have a bunch of students do the thing from that Saved By The Bell episode where the ducks get covered in oil and the kids set up the toy oil rigs on the scale model of the campus and squirt oil on the oil tycoon's shirt and everybody's happy because the oil barons leave in a huff and Bayside is saved for another episode.

Maybe this is why the USD and SDSU guys don't like me.

[TAILG8R]

I think it boils down to a couple of main points. One you pointed out, why would NDSU willingly create a competitor for resources within our footprint. Two, the idea to so many that DI is supposed to be on to bigger and better and the feeling that all of that gets watered down when smaller schools move up to match NDSU's level. Most would like to see NDSU continue to align it self with bigger, "better" university as they grow in Division I athletics, not put the band back together with a bunch of small DII schools.

[MrAugustana]

I think it boils down to a couple of main points. One you pointed out, why would NDSU willingly create a competitor for resources within our footprint. Two, the idea to so many that DI is supposed to be on to bigger and better and the feeling that all of that gets watered down when smaller schools move up to match NDSU's level. Most would like to see NDSU continue to align it self with bigger, "better" university as they grow in Division I athletics, not put the band back together with a bunch of small DII schools.

Totally understand that mindset. My question is more a matter of trying to understand what current Summit League programs and fans think is going to happen. There is a pretty constant discussion about teams leaving and the Summit losing its baseball automatic qualifier status. So going back to the situation of realistic additions, Augie still seems to be one of the most realistic options compared to some of the other options being tossed around. I totally agree with the attitude of wanting bigger and better universities, but I'm not seeing where those bigger and better universities are knocking down the doors of the Summit League offices to join the conference.

[Professorbum]

Totally understand that mindset. My question is more a matter of trying to understand what current Summit League programs and fans think is going to happen. There is a pretty constant discussion about teams leaving and the Summit losing its baseball automatic qualifier status. So going back to the situation of realistic additions, Augie still seems to be one of the most realistic options compared to some of the other options being tossed around. I totally agree with the attitude of wanting bigger and better universities, but I'm not seeing where those bigger and better universities are knocking down the doors of the Summit League offices to join the conference.

I'm trying to find out if an Augustana move is a real thing, or has it taken on a life of its own in various discussion boards. I don't if you live in SF or have any current connections to the campus, but is there much of a buzz about this? Are students clamoring for it? What's the take on this from the Augustana fan's perspective?

[MrAugustana]

I'm trying to find out if an Augustana move is a real thing, or has it taken on a life of its own in various discussion boards. I don't if you live in SF or have any current connections to the campus, but is there much of a buzz about this? Are students clamoring for it? What's the take on this from the Augustana fan's perspective?

As what I believe to be the only Augustana fan on this message board, I wish I had a better answer for you, but the truth is I really don't know a ton of behind-the-scenes stuff. I graduated several years ago now, and most of my wells of inside information have dried up over the years.

I will spare you guys the lengthy response on this issue that I posted over on the D2 message board and go with the shorter summary.

Basically, if we go D1, I'll be very excited about the opportunities to draw the type of growth and attention that some of you other local schools have drawn (after we spend a few seasons getting beat up on during the transition). If we stay D2, I'm still very excited about the Augie basketball future, particularly because we have a really strong 2018 recruiting class, including two kids who had Summit League offers. It's kind of a win-win as far as I'm concerned, as a basketball fan. Obviously the downside is if we go D1 and it fails horrendously and we suck for 20 years and have to drop back down to D2, but I'm sort of banking on that not happening.

I have absolutely no idea what students do or don't want, so I'm really no help there. Anything else I've heard has mostly come from the same forums and message boards that we've been discussing, as well as some of the local sports media people. So I'm not much help there either.

[SDbison]

Alot. Has kept all of our programs from the chopping block and increased funding at the same time. He was also the first one on the FCS level to implement the COA for all sports.

He hasn't done shit. Just rode coattails.