Reason to go DI

[FargoBison]

This is not really a reason to go DI but it is definately a perk and provides NDSU with great exposure to millions of sports fans.

[johnnyroyale]

Sorry to hear that, Dave. You must lead one miserable life.

[bincitysioux]

This is not really a reason to go DI but it is definately a perk and provides NDSU with great exposure to millions of sports fans.

Is that that same screenshot that refers to NDSU as "North Dakota", or is it this one?

"College Hoops 2K6 - North Dakota plays big - XBox 360"

Funny how on the same weekend that Red Baron screwed up, so did X-Box!

[SiouxMD]

This is not really a reason to go DI but it is definately a perk and provides NDSU with great exposure to millions of sports fans.

I'm not sure I see the resemblance...#33 - Phil Hahn.

[dakotadan]

Even Lake Region State College is Division I.

See...

[PCM]

This is not really a reason to go DI but it is definately a perk and provides NDSU with great exposure to millions of sports fans.

I know exactly what you mean!

[jimdahl]

"College Hoops 2K6 - North Dakota plays big - XBox 360"

Funny how on the same weekend that Red Baron screwed up, so did X-Box!

I don't think anyone thought it was a one-way street and I haven't seen a single Bison fan claim the mistake was some sort of sign of recognition or positive for NDSU. It unfortunately happens all the time in both directions. To most of the country, naming the right Dakota is a major victory. Sadly, even a 15-seed basketball tournament appearance or two wouldn't change that.

[SiouxMD]

I know exactly what you mean!

After the Sioux sweep the other team...can you do the circle thingy?

[dakotadan]

I found this info on the SDSU site. I guess I knew about all of these schools having made or making the move to DI. But when you look at all of them together, it is a big list. I wonder how long it will be before some of the larger conferences begin to get upset about having to share more and more money with all of these small schools moving up. Is it really that unrealistic to think a moratorium could be coming soon.

Current Full D-I Independents

IPFW

Savannah State

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (accepted to Southland-all sports)

Texas-Pan American

Class of '07

UC Davis (GWFC/Big West)

Longwood (Independents)

Northern Colorado (Big Sky-all sports)

Class of '08

North Dakota State (GWFC/Independent)

South Dakota State (GWFC/Independent)

Class of '09

New Jersey Institute of Technology (Independent)

Kennesaw State (Atlantic Sun)

North Florida (Atlantic Sun)

Utah Valley State (Independent)

Class of '10

Central Arkansas (Southland-all sports)

Cal State Bakersfield (Independent)

Winston-Salem State (Independent)

Announced move

Florida Gulf Coast

North Carolina Central

Presbyterian

South Carolina-Upstate

Announced studies of D-I (Possible Class of '11)

Francis Marion

North Dakota

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville

Rumored to be looking at D-I

St. Cloud State

Northern Kentucky

[star2city]

Current Full D-I Independents

IPFW

Savannah State

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (accepted to Southland-all sports)

Texas-Pan American

Class of '07

UC Davis (GWFC/Big West)

Longwood (Independents)

Northern Colorado (Big Sky-all sports)

Class of '08

North Dakota State (GWFC/Independent)

South Dakota State (GWFC/Independent)

Class of '09

New Jersey Institute of Technology (Independent)

Kennesaw State (Atlantic Sun)

North Florida (Atlantic Sun)

Utah Valley State (Independent)

Class of '10

Central Arkansas (Southland-all sports)

Cal State Bakersfield (Independent) - Big West bid likely

Winston-Salem State (Independent) - MEAC likely

Announced move

Florida Gulf Coast - Atlantic Sun

North Carolina Central - MEAC likely

Presbyterian - Big South

South Carolina-Upstate - Atlantic Sun

Announced studies of D-I (Possible Class of '11)

Francis Marion - only moving two sports up

North Dakota

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville

Indiana U - Pennsylvania

Oklahoma City U

West Georgia

Rumored to be looking at D-I

St. Cloud State

Northern Kentucky - building $100 Mill athletic complex

Valdosta State -

Wayne St (Mich) - building new arena

A few additions:

[The Sicatoka]

I wonder how long it will be before some of the larger conferences begin to get upset about having to share more and more money with all of these small schools moving up. Is it really that unrealistic to think a moratorium could be coming soon.

Moratorium is one option.

The superconferences doing their own thing is something that's been overheard out there too.

The Pac-10 and SEC are fine, but do you think the Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, or ACC are really happy about "Cinderella" George Mason getting to the Final Four (and getting an ever increasing cut of the money, or should I say what they believe to be "their money")?

[Bison Dan]

Moratorium is one option.

The superconferences doing their own thing is something that's been overheard out there too.

The Pac-10 and SEC are fine, but do you think the Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, or ACC are really happy about "Cinderella" George Mason getting to the Final Four (and getting an ever increasing cut of the money, or should I say what they believe to be "their money")?

Isn't the money always cut 64 ways. George Mason it as much DI as any of the larger schools. If they (larger schools) can't get their teams in the final 64 they better look at upgrading their bb program, not trying to create road blocks for smaller DI schools.

[The Sicatoka]

Isn't the money always cut 64 ways. George Mason it as much DI as any of the larger schools. If they (larger schools) can't get their teams in the final 64 they better look at upgrading their bb program, not trying to create road blocks for smaller DI schools.

Uh, no.

The formula almost requires a CPA to figure out.

It's based on how many wins you and teams from your conference have compiled over the past six tournaments, yes, six tournaments. No, I'm not kidding. (I'm looking for where I read it.)

[The Sicatoka]

Found it:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/men...big-bucks_x.htm

Only about 40% is based on games played and won in the tournament over a rolling six-year period, and schools earn those shares for their respective conferences rather than collecting directly.

Another 40%

[bincitysioux]

South Dakota St. will be playing the Gophers in football in 2009.

SDSU to play Minnesota in football

Big 10 Minnesota is going to be playing former NCC schools in 2006, 2007, and 2009. To me, this is one of the many reasons UND should go DI. We could send our football team on a 3 hour bus ride and get a quarter of a million dollars to play a football game on TV.

To me, this sounds like a better scenario than taking an airplane to Ellensburg, WA to play in front of 2,000 people and pray to God that KFGO/Fightingsioux.com doesn't f*#% up the audio feed.

[dakotadan]

I'll take the University of Minnesota-Crookston any day. It's turning out to be a great rivalry in all of our sports.

[iramurphy]

I had the opportunity to listen to Tom Bunning explain what needs to happen to make the D1 move. Not counting the REA numbers, our annual athletic budget is around $10,000,000. The Ralph numbers put that up to about $16,000,000 but for planning purposes he left that out. That places UND at about the median budget for NCAA D1AA schools. We need about $2-3 million more per year, or a gift of about $8,000,000 to make this go.

Funding sources could include an increase in student fees. He thought about $100 per year. (the AC student fees will go up this year to help pay for the D1AA move).

Funding sources would include a 10% increase in Fighting Sioux club memberships. Certainly feasible. Also creation of a national Fighting Sioux club for non-ticket holders.

Tuition waivers for in-state athletes. Would be a good PR move and would help with funding.

There would be a transition year, then the four year waiting period. The transition year would still be D2 and then the same crap shoot our pals from the AC and SDSU are experiencing.

Lastly, the Alumni. There are those out there who are capable of funding UND's endowment to pay for athletic scholarships.

Additional funding can be obtained once we are throught he transition period and have at least 57 FB scholarships by playing the real D1 schools. The revenues similar to the $300,000 the AC and SDSU are guaranteed from the Gophers. Two games a year could bring in $500,000. Add the missed hockey revenue sharing UND, CC, UMD etc. miss out on (about $325,000) this year and the money part of all of this is not a reach. The games against the AC also bring in additional $$. (assuming they will play us again).

Someone mentioned why would we want to get kicked by the Gophers? We played them when I played. In 1973 they kicked us pretty good, but they had to play hard to do it. In 1974, UND was ahead well into the 4th quarter and the Gophers scored with 2 or 3 minutes left to win by less than a TD. (If you are a HS FB player wanting to play FB and UND offers you a half scholarship so you can play Winona, UMD, Makato, UNO and St. Cloud that is a good deal. The next weekend, the AC offers you a full ride and you play Montana, Montana State, Cal Davis and the Gophers guess where you are going? One of the reasons I and some of my teamates came to UND, was because we had the Gophers and UNLV on the schedule.

Don't sell our minor sports short. We can be decent if we believe we can and we work at it. I am not kidding myself and frankly until recently I thought we should stay D2 because it would hurt VB, BB Swimming, etc. Just look at the AC's non FB sports.

The trend that I am seeing and what worries me is the number of our HS grads no longer going to UND and the increase in kids going to the AC. About 10 years ago, 25 kids from our HS went to UND, 6 years ago 22 kids and four years ago 26 kids (>10%) of our graduating seniors went to UND. Last year there were 9 and this year there will be 6. We are only 40 miles from the AC. (you can smell it from here).

The AC is marketing themselves as a better school and are doing a better job of marketing. We have kids who are going to go there for business of all things. Our business school is bigger and better. Our Engineering is as good. (read the other threads and see how many UND people are under the mistaken impression our Engineering isn't as good as theirs). We have Aviation, Education, Medicine Law, Nursing and Liberal Arts. When I was recruitied to UND, someone said go to a school where you will be with other professionals because you make some of your greatest friends and businesss contacts while going to college. That has turned out to be true. I went to the Frozen Four with my daughter and a UND alumnus who offered her the opportunity to take a 2 month credit class his banks offer similar to a paid internship. He offered to have her come to his business and go through their marketing Dept. These offers are due to the UND connection. The UND grads I drank beer with at Frenchie's and Judie's are MD's teachers, lawyers, CEO's, bankers, judges and business owners. The quality of graduates are much better than the average D1 school. And yes, alot of that has to do with the famous midwest work ethic.

So why the heck would we want to take a step back with our athletics and entertainment?? We need people to convince the student body and especially Kupchella to get on board. We can raise the money. The survey Kepchella sent out wasn't sent to letterwinners and questions seemed to be a bit skewed to favor remaining D2. Therefore, if we are to get back to the level of our peers, (Montana, Montana State, Norhern Iowa, Northern Colorado etc. we need to convince Kupchella to make the move. It certainly won't hurt hockey and if anything can bolster the prestige of our athletic teams overall.

[Sioux-per Fan]

We can not even balance our budget now, with the GREAT REA? I was just told the football budget for the 4th year in a row needs to be slashed again? Even if the Alumni, Students , Fans, Fightin Sioux Club foot the bill, which I highly doubt, Athletes are not going to pick NDSU, UND, SDSU, ect..over Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma ect.. UND would be a Mid Major at best and take the "Beating of a Red Headed Step Child" in all other sports besides Mens Hockey...

But Keep drinking the Koolaid, Murph , It's good to have Dreams!

[star2city]

I had the opportunity to listen to Tom Bunning explain what needs to happen to make the D1 move. Not counting the REA numbers, our annual athletic budget is around $10,000,000. The Ralph numbers put that up to about $16,000,000 but for planning purposes he left that out.

UND Athletic + REA budget = 2 x NDSU's budget, 3 x SDSU's budget

I post that just for awareness that UND athletics already receives from twice the revenue from its fans, relative to NDSU and SDSU.

Funding sources could include an increase in student fees. He thought about $100 per year. (the AC student fees will go up this year to help pay for the D1AA move).

Would students vote for an increase?

Also creation of a national Fighting Sioux club for non-ticket holders.

A good idea and one that would have much more interest if UND teams are traveling more outside the Upper Midwest.

Tuition waivers for in-state athletes. Would be a good PR move and would help with funding.

Agreed. Better publicity to give tuition waivers to in-state athletes than to women's hockey players, all from out of state.

There would be a transition year, then the four year waiting period. The transition year would still be D2 and then the same crap shoot our pals from the AC and SDSU are experiencing.

Not if we get in a conference immediately.

[The Sicatoka]

And all this comes back to what I've said for quite a while now:

Answer "cost" or "conference" and you have the answer.

[Redneksioux]

I know exactly what you mean!

Do you actually have a game programmed where you can play as the Sioux at the Ralph? If so, how can one go about getting one?

[PCM]

Do you actually have a game programmed where you can play as the Sioux at the Ralph? If so, how can one go about getting one?

There was an independently developed mod for NHL 2004 that allowed you to play with many college teams, including all those in the WCHA, CCHA and Hockey East. However, the NCAA shut down distribution of the mod, so it's no longer available.

[jimdahl]

Someone mentioned why would we want to get kicked by the Gophers? We played them when I played. In 1973 they kicked us pretty good, but they had to play hard to do it. In 1974, UND was ahead well into the 4th quarter and the Gophers scored with 2 or 3 minutes left to win by less than a TD. (If you are a HS FB player wanting to play FB and UND offers you a half scholarship so you can play Winona, UMD, Makato, UNO and St. Cloud that is a good deal. The next weekend, the AC offers you a full ride and you play Montana, Montana State, Cal Davis and the Gophers guess where you are going? One of the reasons I and some of my teamates came to UND, was because we had the Gophers and UNLV on the schedule.

This is why we simply have to move eventually. NDSU fans are somewhat right when they say UND is considering it because NDSU moved, but it's also because SDSU moved, and UC Davis, and Montana, and Montana State, and Northern Colorado, etc...

Quite simply, UND is no longer in the same athletic division as its peers. Our peers are not the new schools entering D-II, but the schools that have left D-II for I-AA. Either we follow, and resume playing those schools and the Minnesotas and UNLVs, or we gain a new set of peers.

Yes, we have to work out a conference and funding, but I'm baffled that anyone still thinks "big fish in a small pond" and Crookston as the new rival is good for UND athletics in the long run.

[iramurphy]

Star2city has a good point. Increased fees need a vote by the students. Not a given in these days of tuition hikes, but certainly can get done.

Sicatoka points out the keys once the decision is made. Certainly cost is formost. I think the group I listened to last night convinced me there are a combo of things that can take care of the extra cost. $2-3 million per year. Remeber the shared hockey revenue and 2 D1 fb games are worth $600,000 to 800,000 if we schedule a couple of money FB games like the D1AA teams do. That doesn't take into consideration money games in WBB or MBB. Regardless, this group of supporters is willing to do their share which is substantial.

Rob Bollinger who has been such an asset to UND athletics for years and the key person in starting and driving the Fighting Sioux club has had discussions with key people at USD and St. Cloud State and he believes it would be their intent to move up to D1AA if UND does. UNO likely to follow and that would create conference opportunites. That obviously is not a given but it should be clear that the other NCC schools that want to play at a high level of competion are concerned about the D2 future. Whether or not that happens, UND, SDSU and NDSU are pretty attractive additions to any D1AA FB or D1A midlevel conferences looking to expand. During expansion time, the powers that be are not going to poll those who are hurt because NDSU moved without us or those mad because UND didn't make the move at the same time. They will make decisions based on which shools will improve their conferences.

This group has had informal meetings for many years and in fact long before our neighbors to the south made the move. The group has been very deliberate and patient but it is time to make the move (maybe past time) in order to maintain the quality of athletics UND students and fans deserve. There has also been talk of making the move to D1A for FB but I think it will need to go D1AA first.

Tom Bunning won't make this move without the finanacial commitment in place and I think that will happen. We need to convince Kupchella that this is the move UND needs to make as part of his plan to improve the programs and facilites at UND. Chapman always thought it would improve their opportunities for grant dollars and I don't know if we could determine how that has affected them for awhile yet, but it certainly is not going to hurt.

[star2city]

Minot Daily News: Minot State Task Force Reviewing DII

The Minot State University Division II task force was formed by the school to look into the possibility of moving from the NAIA to the NCAA. The task force's unenviable job of coming up with a position probably didn't get any easier Tuesday as representatives of the NAIA met with the group at the Christensen Room at the MSU Dome.

....

But regardless of glamour or prestige, the issue is critical to the DAC as it can't afford to lose another member.

"This is a huge issue," Jessen said to the task force. "There isn't a week that goes by that a coach or athletic director doesn't ask about Minot. It is a huge issue."

Jessen thinks that MSU's departure from the league would be "devastating." But, Beaver Booster Executive Director Chad McNally pointed out that, "it wasn't MSU who got the ball rolling."

"We need to put ourselves in a position where we can do what is best for MSU," he said.