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DI did ban move-ups from DII or DIII in sports that are offered at those division levels. That means, for example, that baseball, lacrosse, tennis, golf, soccer schools can no longer move up from DII or DIII for those sports. The teams that are already playing up can stay. (As examples New York Tech and Dallas Baptist play baseball at the DI level, Johns Hopkins and Bellarmine play DI lacrosse, while Colorado College plays women's soccer at the DI level.) It also means that DIII schools can no longer move up to DI in either women's or men's hockey, as DIII sponsors hockey championships. For example, Concordia of Moorhead or St Thomas don't have the option any longer to move up hockey alone to the DI level. However, since DII doesn't offer any type of hockey championship, those DII schools that start hockey can still compete at the DI level in that sport. (So Moorhead, Minot, Winona, or even Grand Valley St could all still be DI hockey schools.) DIII RIT wanted to move up women's hockey to the DI level, to match their men's team. They would now need some type of NCAA exemption to do that now.

Wayne St (Mich) made it to the D2 football finals. Never thought that would happen. Douple needs to work out a deal with the Northeast Conference to add Wayne St and Grand Valley St for football only, and then add those two schools to the Summit. Since the Northeast Conference limits scholarships, that type move wouldn't cost Wayne or Grand Valley much extra in football costs and the Northeast Conference could split into divisions to save travel costs.

The programming needs for the NBC, CBS, and Fox sports cable networks have a voracious appetite for college football. ESPN has many of the best conferences, and those three want to eventually step up. Their programming appetite is what is driving the CUSA/MWC merger (a merger minimizes the number of leagues available so the bidding price goes up), not the bowls or BCS system. The MWC can also get out of its current poor contract by merging.

The departure of Moody is looming larger with each passing day. When UND lost to Idaho State, the writing was on the wall as far as this team progressing. SDSU is a much better team than Idaho St. Shouldn't be a surprise.

In June, this brochure is stating they had $15 million committed. Thought a later report said their commitment was up substantially from that, but still short. http://www.msumdragons.com/documents/2011/9/28/Dragon_Hockey_4pg.pdf?id=597 Their timeline lists fall of 2011 as the timing to gain MnSt Trustees approval, so they appear to be behind. From MSU-Moorhead's consulting report, the endowment needs to fund about $1.3 annually of M/W hockey budgets. (The endowment needs to return 4% or so.) http://www.msumdragons.com/documents/2011/9/28/Hockey_Executive_Summary.pdf?id=599

To schedule like SDSU doesn't take a lot of money. SDSU doesn't pay for a single home game. All its non-conference FCS games are home-home swaps. SDSU also gets a huge pay day by scheduling Nebraskas and Illini etc. SDSU doesn't pay out anything for home games and needs the $'s from a big FBS payday to keep its budget balanced. To schedule like NDSU takes a lot of money. Two non-scholarship teams that must be flown in. That's probably $350,000 right there, which the FBS payday barely covers. NDSU also pays its coaches quite a bit, so Teammakers and ticket sales are putting much more substantial $'s into its program than the SDSU and USD obtain from their resources. UND is between those two conditions, largely because the Fighting Sioux club puts more into UND athletics than the Teammakers puts into NDSU and substantially more than SDSU's Jackrabbit Club (or whatever they call them). Football can thank hockey for that. UND also is not relying on huge FBS paydays (N Ill, Fresno St, and certainly Idaho don't pay that much in the scheme of things). UND's ticket sales obviously don't come close to NDSU's sales, but, because SDSU has very low prices, the home gate of UND may actually exceed SDSU's because of the price differential. Next year, the key issue for UND will be season ticket sales. Season ticket sales need to go way up in anticipation of the Big Sky games and a meaningful season. Without a season ticket, it may be difficult to get a ticket for the Montana game. Montana will probably brings a few thousand fans by itself for that game. If UND can get to 6000 or more season tickets, then "purchasing" FCS home games like NDSU does will be much easier.

Rumors are that CUSA and the Mountain West have entered into a full merger agreement, with the MWC's Thompson as Commissioner. This new merged league will stretch from East Carolina to Fresno St. Apparently, the Central and Mountain Time Zone schools are pleased, but the EST schools (East Carolina and Marshall), as well as the PST schools (Nevada, Fresno St, UNLV) have issues. Nevada and Fresno St both have to pay the WAC substantial penalties to leave the WAC this summer - but for what? No Boise St, no SDSU, and possibly no Air Force. Nevada is denying that it has an interest in staying in the WAC, but of course they will initially make a denial. But the exit fee from the WAC will cost Nevada dearly. Unless the CUSA-MWC merged league TV contract is substantial, going to that league may not make business sense. http://www.rgj.com/a...xt%7CSports%7Cs WAC Commissioner Benson is openly stating that he is making a play for Hawaii, Nevada, and Fresno to stay, and he's probably reaching out to UNLV to move from the MWC to the WAC. http://m.lcsun-news....ll=true#display UTSA and La Tech may be getting interest from CUSA, so those two may leave the WAC, giving the WAC a footprint mostly west of the Rockies. (WAC schools could end up being Idaho, Utah St, NMSt, UNLV, Nevada, Fresno, San Jose St, Texas St plus BB members Boise St, Seattle, Denver, and UTArlington. A league like that could actually be very appealing to Montana and Montana St.) New Mexico, Colorado St, Wyoming, could end up merged with the CUSA schools, which could include Tulsa as well Texas schools UTEP, UTSA, North Texas, and Rice in a western division.

A number of years ago, Rick Hedberg, Minot State's AD, made a comment that he would like to see DI hockey as part of Minot State's athletics. Shortly thereafter, he said it wasn't on their radar. But at the time, it couldn't be on Minot's radar, because Minot was NAIA. Soon, Minot State will be a full NCAA DII member, giving Minot State the option of starting a DI hockey program. Is it going to happen? Probably not for a while, especially with the flood recovery effort Minot will be seeing the next few years. But is it possible? If the Bakken economy continues at this rate, Minot will have 50,000 more people, a number of millionaire residents well in excess of what Bismarck/Fargo/Grand Forks will have, and a corporate client base (like Hess) that will desire it and even bankroll it. The WCHA actually needs more teams now (Minot St in the old WCHA would have been unthinkable) and Minot St is DII now. All the elements are converging for DI hockey to happen in Minot, IMHO.

Conferences and schools always sign legal agreement prior to a conference announcement, to protect all the parties. Entrance and exit fees don't apply without these contracts. Guess Kelley and the SBoHE assumed UND alumni and fans are too big of rubes to realize that. The Big Sky would have subjected itself to major financial losses if the Big Sky kicked UND for reasons not in the contract. As an example of what occurs before a school joins a conference: Tuesday's Newark Star-Ledger: Big East finalizing legal paperwork prior to admitting five schools http://www.nj.com/ru...e_of_addin.html

Will it be like a Jerry Glanville hire at Portland State?

Big East formal announcement: Adding UCF, SMU, Houston, Boise, SDSU http://www.bigeast.org/News/tabid/435/Article/229956/BIG-EAST-CONFERENCE-GOES-WEST,--ANNOUNCES-THE-ADDITION-OF-FIVE-UNIVERSITIES.aspx Boise St to join WAC for non-football, SDSU to join Big West for non-football http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/story/_/id/7326221/sources-boise-state-broncos-wac-san-diego-state-aztecs-big-west-non-football-programs The Big West will need to add one more of: San Jose St, Sac St, UC-San Diego, or, less likely, Cal St-Bakersfield Air Force and Navy may still be forthcoming as Big East football members, but with a one year delay because of existing football contracts. If AFA and Navy don't join, sounds like the Big East adds two others: possibly Temple, Memphis.

Cincinnati.com: NKU will join DI Atlantic Sun http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20111207/NEWS0103/312070129/NKU-will-join-D-Atlantic-Sun Commissioner Douple having trouble getting dates again. This move into the Ohio Valley also makes Bellarmine and Southern Indiana as viable Atlantic Sun options, possibly removing them from among the Summit's options.

When I first read the box score, could have swore it said Reed Gym, which surprised me. It doesn't say that now.

ND should bribe of the State of Minnesota with $200 mill - to go to a Vikings stadium - in order to build the diversion around Moorhead. Would save everybody nearly a $1 billion.

If not getting a fifth year full-ride scholarship, after four years of a full-ride scholarship, is a gross injustice, the world is a very good place. The non-redshirted players are contributing the most. Yet, they won't get the fifth year scholarship if they need another year to finish. How is that justice? The greatest injustice to this team is if they don't sign two or three players this spring - that simply wouldn't be fair to the players who will only get four years of scholarships.

The UND @ ISU game was played at Reed Gym (ISU's "old" venue). Does ISU play conference games in the Minidome? That would be difficult for depth perception. ISU needs facility upgrades about as bad as Idaho does. Good luck with BYU!

Some WAC posters are stating that SDSU won't be accepted into the Big West, and must join the WAC too. SDSU might actually want the WAC, as WAC basketball is quite a bit better than the Big West's. San Diego St is becoming a basketball power in its own right. SDSU is probably also demanding that the Big East schedule it in basketball a certain number of times / year. But if SDSU obtains Big West membership, the Big West would almost certainly go to 12 members. That would likely open a spot for Sacramento St, assuming that San Jose St gets in the MWC replacing SDSU. The Big Sky would likely allow Sac St to keep football in the Big Sky. If Boise St (and likely later Air Force and possibly San Diego St) all are WAC-bound, that means Idaho won't move to the Big Sky, except possibly in football. If the WAC can't survive as a football conference (its survival as a basketball conference seems more secure for the next few years), Idaho might be asking to place it's football in the Big Sky (as an FCS team, of course) but staying in the WAC otherwise.

If Montana and Montana State had announced their move to WAC/FBS before the FCS playoffs were announced, both schools would have been instantly ineligible. Not saying that either school is moving up, but that NCAA rules now prevent a FCS-to-FBS reclassifying school from qualifying for the playoffs. UMass and Texas St, although both wouldn't have been selected this year due to their records, were both ineligible. USA and UTSA aren't playoff eligible either, although both were technically FCS independents. Appalachian State has expressed an interest in FBS, but because ASU hasn't been accepted into an FBS conference, Appy St was still playoff eligible. The ideal time to announce a move to FBS is immediately after the season while recruiting is still going: that way the current team doesn't lose out on playoffs and the coaches can hit the recruiting road with additional scholarships and the "excitement" of the FBS label. The FCS to FBS transition is only two years, not like going DII to DI. FIU, when it was transitioning, made it to the FCS playoffs a number of years back and won several games. After that the other FCS schools petitioned the FCS to ban transitioning schools from the playoffs.

What do you consider the toughest Big Sky venues? Presume it would be Montana, Weber St, and lately N Colo. Seems like the schools with the least home field advantage would be Sac St., Portland St, and E Wash, although Sac and PSU play in crackerbox gyms. So is Weber St have the best basketball team in Utah this year? Utah, Utah St, and BYU are all down and Weber St seems up.

Not a college issue, but sounds like the NHL may realign into four divisions so most division foes will be in the same time zone. Detroit has been agitating to move to the east for years (as well as Columbus). New proposed divisions NE - Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Florida East - NYR, NYI, NJ, Philly, Pitt, Wash, Carolina, Det Central - Chicago, Minny, St Louis, Winnipeg, Columbus, Dallas, Nashville West - Phoenix, Anaheim, LA, SJ, Van, Calgary, Edm, Colorado http://www.usatoday....ment/51640448/1 Florida teams get lumped with eastern Canadian teams because of all the Canadians wintering in Florida. If this doesn't get approved, Detroit and Winnipeg probably just switch places.

Exactly. Moorhead's "90 day" should be up soon, although it sounded like Moorhead is 75% of the way on the fund raising. They need to announce soon if the want teams up and running by fall of 2013. Although it may never happen, with all the oil money and people pouring into Minot in spite of the flood, in a couple years if Minot St had the will, the money could be raised. As far as Notre Dame, it's interesting that Hockey East hasn't announced a 12th team. If another non-B1G Midwestern school like Marquette, DePaul, or Iowa State could be convinced to add hockey, Notre Dame could probably be convinced to move over. The Irish, if the NCHC had a Big East or Big 12 school, would be much more comfortable with the NCHC.

No way around this one: it was a bad loss. If we can't win at Idaho State, the chances at Montana, Weber St, and Portland St are not good. Pocatello, Greeley, and Flagstaff are all high elevation games (at least relative to GF). Need to be rotating 10 there to keep up with the acclimated teams. Horrible FT%. Three pt shooting % was higher than FT% or FG%. How does that happen? This was the first game that Anderson wasn't taken out of his game, but that UND still lost. The rest of this team needs to step up.

A couple of years ago I would have agreed with you. Now, I think Fargo-Moorhead would be better off having an airport in SE Clay County 20 miles or so from Moorhead off I-94, so it could help keep leakage to MSP to a minimum from Fergus Falls/ Detroit Lakes. Putting an airport in Hillsboro makes a drive to MSP a no-brainer for the Lakes area residents as well as Wahpeton and other SE ND towns. For Grand Forks, an airport north of town off I-29 closer to Drayton so to better serve TRF/Roseau/Winnipeg, is making more sense as the years go by. Allegiant now has four flights a week out of Grand Forks to Orlando, vs only two for Fargo. Where are those travelers coming from? Winnipeg. The last couple times I've flown into Grand Forks, seems like so many of the Delta passengers were either from Canada or from Thief River Falls area, flying with DigiKey. US-bound flights out of Winnipeg are much more expensive than out of GFK. The growth of DigiKey has been unbelievable (adding 500 employees or so per year), and they have offices in Japan, China, S Korea, Hong Kong, and Europe. The employment growth at DigiKey may actually be almost as significant as the Canadian trade for the recent growth of retail in Grand Forks, as most retail/restaurant chains won't even consider TRF. As an aside, a Delta manager I talked to recently said that Minot is gaining so much business fare traffic (and profitability), that further flights and probably more competition to that city were inevitable.

Thanks! That certainly could help reduce some of the scholarship costs associated with Illinois residents. Surprised that Illinois did that, because, as a state, they are notorious in not paying their bills (and basically on the brink of bankruptcy).

It may "cost" more for coaches to travel and to bring California players for campus visits, but Illinois recruits aren't eligible for tuition reciprocity, so the longer-term scholarship costs are actually greater.