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Thanks to Jackguy making reference to this column I went to the Public Opinion to check out the column. Here it is, its good news and good thoughts expressed for a change.
Part 1 of 2
Thursday, February 5, 2004
Sports fan thinks SDSU made the right move
By Roger Merriam, Sports Editor
Wednesday was the national signing day for college football recruits and much of the discussion for in-state recruits has centered around the effect that South Dakota State University's planned move to Division I athletics (Division I-AA in football) had on the Jackrabbits' bid to land some of the state's best players.
There has been much criticism about SDSU's move. The Jackrabbit programs will have to undergo a probationary period - four years for most sports and currently 13 for men's and women's basketball - before SDSU will be allowed to compete for national championships in Division I athletics.
There's no doubt that the switch has caused a change in direction, for both SDSU's recruiting plans and for potential in-state recruits who chose other colleges over SDSU because they wanted their college experience to include a chance to compete for a national title.
Count me as one who is in favor of SDSU's move. I think it's great that South Dakota finally has a college that is competing at the top level of the collegiate sporting world. It would be ideal if the Jacks are able to continue to secure top in-state talent as well as out-of-state talent in an attempt to build successful Division I programs.
Sure, it's probably not a real good thing for current SDSU athletes such as Shannon Schlagel of Clark and Marty Kranz of Watertown.
Schlagel is a key member of the Jackrabbit women's basketball team that won the national NCAA Division II title last spring and could make a run at a repeat title later this year. As a senior next year, she won't get the chance to play for a national title.
Kranz, a starting linebacker as a redshirt freshman on SDSU's football team last fall, also told me recently that he's disappointed that his college career will no longer include a chance to compete for a national title.
Fellow Watertown athletes at SDSU - wrestler Nathan Althoff and track/cross country runner Scott Roby - also could miss out on national honors.
There's also the concern about whether SDSU will financially be able to afford the move and what effect that might have down the road.
My backing for the move is strictly from the perspective as a fan and former athlete. As an athlete, I preferred to follow the creed that reads "in order to be the best, you have to compete against the best."
I kind of get a kick about all this talk about national championships, since few South Dakota colleges have a wall full of national championship trophies. Let's face it, a national title comes around only so often.
What few realize is the change that I believe has diminished the lower levels of college athletics.
I spent my college years watching or competing for athletic teams at Huron University and Sioux Falls College - both NAIA schools that played in the now defunct S.D. Intercollegiate Conference.
During my time at Huron, Bruce Carrier built one of most successful NAIA men's basketball programs in the nation. One year, Huron made it to the semifinals of the NAIA tournament - something that I don't think had been done for 30 or 40 years (if ever) by a South Dakota college.
At Sioux Falls, I followed a USF football team that was trying to secure a rare berth in the NAIA playoffs.
Nowadays, making the national tournament or getting a playoff berth is an annual occurrence for many South Dakota colleges.
Sure, some of those programs have improved. Now known as the University of Sioux Falls, the Cougars' football program has become one of the strongest in the NAIA.
I can't help but think, however, that there may be other factors in that success. Many of the top NAIA schools when I was in college have since moved up to NCAA Division II. Many of the top NCAA Division II programs are now playing Division I.
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