UC Davis & Cal Poly will be leaving the Great West within the next 3 to 5 years. The new stadium in Davis (30,000 capacity) is a solid signal of their intentions. Cal Poly is situated differently, but given their druthers, they will eventually attempt to make the next jump also. Davis is gone for sure. The only division that is on the radar in California is DI because of the presence of so many DI programs.
The Great West is standing on very shaky ground because of this...and because of the departure of NDSU, SDSU, and Northern Colorado.
The Big Sky had two western members vote not to accept NDSU & SDSU. The leaders of the conference voted to require a 100 percent vote to accept any school. This...to me...was the work of Montana and Montana State. Montana, especially, has enjoyed being the kingpin of the Big Sky. They like their position very much. They won't be going anywhere unless the landscape changes dramatically. They are not positioned as well as the current WAC schools to recruit California athletes, which is where a high percentage of the major talent comes from in the WAC. Montana 'did not' want NDSU in the league...period. They used the 100 percent approval as a smoke-screen. That doesn't bode well for entrance by UND either.
I am wondering if it wouldn't be wise to begin the process of putting together a conference with UMD, St. Cloud, Bemidji, Mankato, USD, and a few other regional schools. I think that these schools, in time, will also want to move up to DI-AA in football and DI in their other sports. Most of the schools that I've listed are already playing DI hockey. They have a historical connection with UND as far as hockey is concerned and also the NCC connection in other sports. I would also think that Winona and possibly St. Thomas would be interested. This would give us our 'bus' conference and would save a lot of money in the non-revenue sports.
With a little bit of encouragement and coaxing, I think that these schools would consider moving up. Getting support from UND and USD could make a difference.
I propose that we join the Great West, participate as long as possible, and in the meantime begin organizing the above-described conference for all sports. D2 is withering on the vine. The ncaa has done a really good job of ruining this once-powerful division. Many of the schools that I've mentioned won't be satisfied with D2 for very long. The competition level will continue to drop and the caliber of play will drop to the point where regional athletes simply won't go there. They'll opt to walk on at DI-AA schools. When this becomes obvious, which will be very soon, there will be many schools that will be interested in moving up.
