Originally Posted by
tony
My contention is that college sports are regional and in our region, the FCS schools are our peers (other than Augie.) What happens in California or the East Coast really doesn't affect NDSU much. Example: I freaking hated Jacksonville State when they were in D2 but I didn't really care when they went DI.
If the right FBS conference opportunity comes along, then, yeah, NDSU should jump at it, but it is going to take a mammoth effort to come up with cash for 7-figure coaching salaries and the insane increase in travel expenses (unless we go football only), but the groundwork for this move needed to be done over the last decade: Raising NDSU's academic profile, increasing enrollment to 20k, pumping money into basketball, etc. While some of the work has been done, the best time to start on the rest of it is right now. And right now, NDSU doesn't even have a President - the new hire is going to be critical because nothing will doom a move like this more quickly than having a President who is not 100% behind it.