Why USD CAN go DI.

[West_River_Jack]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

Read the article from the Yankton paper (up a couple of posts) and you will see a quote from Mr. Fellingham:

'"You don't want reclassifying unless your president has a very good grip on getting into a conference," he said.'

I hope that President Abbott and his task force are taking this recommendation seriously and that they look to SDSU and NDSU's experience in scheduling frustrations and travel frustrations.  USD was itself a beneficiary of at least one women's basketball player who grew weary of the extensive travel at SDSU and transferred to play closer to home.

We will see in a few weeks how much of a grip President Abbott has on this subject.  As many have posted before, President Abbott needs to make the decision that best serves the future of USD and not worry about everybody else.

[jackmd]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

Good luck to the coyotes if this is indeed what they choose to do. Do you change the motto of South Dakota's team or just change the meaning of the motto? Interesting times for college athletics in the upper midwest.

[West_River_Jack]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

Good luck to the coyotes if this is indeed what they choose to do.  Do you change the motto of South Dakota's team or just change the meaning of the motto?  Interesting times for college athletics in the upper midwest.

This motto has always been a bit of a double entendre anyway.  We look at it on the billboard and right away think that they are claiming to be the team which is favored by the entire state of South Dakota.

In reality, the more correct interpretation is explained by the tradition of referring to the University of (insert State here) as simply (insert State here).  For example, it is traditionally correct for us to refer to the University of South Dakota as "South Dakota" just as we refer to the University of Nebraska as "Nebraska".  In this sense the University of South Dakota is probably correct in using the slogan "South Dakota's Team."

However, for people who interpret it in the way I have stated two paragraphs above it does seem rather ridiculous and arrogant.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

In the Yankton article the consultant indicated that USD would not have to add any women's sports for Title IX requirements if they increased the financial commitment to their existing sports. Does anyone know if this is correct? With limits on each sport offered by USD, and given the BOR's requirement to meet all 3 tests, I'm not sure that they can add 27 football scholies and make it work. I don't know what the limits are for track, swimming, etc. but it seems like a lot of money to add in, especially when they are recommending USD to add men's tennis also.

It is pretty clear the decision has been made, I just hope USD has addressed the findings in the reverse order they were printed in the article. If they can't do the things printed on down the list, the first one won't work. (I understand they were not printed in any specific order).

[thebluehatman]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

VERMILLION - A consulting firm hired by the University of South Dakota recommended the school reclassify its athletic programs to NCAA Division I.
. . .
(Consultant) Fellingham said USD, if it would decide to reclassify, should consider joining the Mid-Continent Conference in sports other than football. Both South Dakota State and North Dakota State will be members of that league in 2007.
. . .
Fellingham said before advising the school on ways to fund a move up, it would have to decide at what level it would compete. He was optimistic that the Mid-Continent would look at USD's and UND's potential berth in the league positively. He also said that USD should be "90 to 95" percent sure that a conference affiliation is awaiting them before making the move.

"I don't have any inside with (the Mid-Con)," he said. "But logically, the best number of schools for them is 12. Then they can go with east-west or north-south divisions. To be able to have those four schools along I-29 with traditional rivalries already - it would make perfect sense from a business standpoint."

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D LMMFAO keep dreaming "South Dakota's Team". I believe the Mid-Con isn't looking at expanding.

[NightHawk78]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

If the Mid-Con was looking at expanding further into the Dakotas, USD would likely be third on the list:

1) Augie (Sioux Falls market, private school to keep ORU and Centenary happy, haven't pissed SDSU and/or NDSU off, unlike candidates 2 and 3)
2) UND (decent market in Grand Forks and profile would help; hockey and nickname may hurt)
3) USD (crappy town, crappy facilities, no history of Title IX commitment, crappy fans, etc.....)

Perhaps the USD(d-2) consultant should have contacted SDSU and NDSU and asked if his client had any chance of getting into the Mid-Con. They could probably block ANY attempt by USD or UND to join the Mid-Con.

USD(d-2) really has no choice but to move up to D-1 because of the collapse of the NCC and the lack of any suitable D-2 alternatives in the Midwest.

I can sum up USD's D-1 future in two words: Savannah State

[Haldersham]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

The Business Law Professor who is on the committee said something to the affect that the options facing USD are like the choices of three ugly women standing on the sidelines at a dance. Now isn't that kind of cute. If you look at todays Argus you get the exact quote, but with only 70 people at the town hall meeting maybe no one cared except the Argus reporter about what was said.


Here is the link:

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...0335/1001/NEWS


As far as a comment I made in a prior post, about worrying about SDSU and not USD, I think we are not totally out of the woods financially. Five straight football wins with three good home crowds does not translate into financial slovency. Also if USD fails miserabley, SDSU would be wise to make sure all is well with the dollars.  We still have a PR job with many people out there and thats what I am finding in a very small town that I live in. I heard some surprising comments which come from older people no doubt, but they do count as they often got some assets. These people have yet to buy into the Backyard tailgating concept. Most have no concept about scholarships of D2 vs D1AA. Some cant understand why we no longer have basketball double hitters and why we no longer play Vermillion.

[GoJacks]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

I probably should post this article on usd message board, it seems more of them are on this one.  It's from Myles Brand and the NCAA.

http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/2...TS09/110310115

NCAA President Myles Brand is obviously well aware of the growing pains the University of Northern Colorado athletic department is experiencing, saying those pains are common among schools that join a higher level of competition and that such a move up to a higher division is usually "not a good idea.".....

[CatchEmAll]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

I'm going to enter my guess at rubber stamping a move to D-I.  Can't let the mothership leave them too far in the dust.  Call me crazy, but that's my guess  :-/

I just wonder how much USD paid their "consultant" to come up with this recommendation.

Either way, I'm sticking with my first inclination, the decision was made a long time ago and the hired a "consultant" just so they could tell staff, students and alums that due dilligence was done.

[jackmd]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

I probably should post this article on usd message board, it seems more of them are on this one.  It's from Myles Brand and the NCAA.

http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/2...TS09/110310115

NCAA President Myles Brand is obviously well aware of the growing pains the University of Northern Colorado athletic department is experiencing, saying those pains are common among schools that join a higher level of competition and that such a move up to a higher division is usually "not a good idea.".....

UNC can take some solace in the fact that they can schedule sure wins against USD if the yotes move up.

[NightHawk78]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

UNC can take some solace in the fact that they can schedule sure wins against USD if the yotes move up.

Not sure if UNC would be able to beat USD, but USD will likely land on the UNC schedule before SDSU or NDSU.

It's funny that the BS Conference took the Pinto of the D-1 NCC schools when they could have had the two Cadillacs. 8-) 8-) 8-) Hope they enjoy subsidizing the mess in Greeley.

[sdman]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

At one level I would love to have the 4 dakota schools all in d1 and if augie jumps to to d1 with non scholarship fb it would be like old times which I enjoyed. But I must admit that I find the proposition very gloomy that there could possibly be five d1 schools in the dakotas fighting over a very limited d1 talent base. Hopefully if that happens we can get the top players out of the dakotas but having five schools competing against each other will be very hard. That will make coach nagy's difficult job just that much harder - not to mention our other coaches.

[Ozark_Jack]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

During my group meetings with the Mid-Con officials it was clearly expressed that after this latest round of expansion (SDSU, NDSU, IPFW) the doors were going to close for quite some time for future confrence expansion. usd also has no commitment for support of this move from most campus officials and support groups. The Mid Con officials said they were going to dig deep during their campus visit to see if we were truly committed to the D1 move-WE most definetly were!!!!!!!!!!!!
usd... Move to D1 knowing a confrence is a long, long ways off.

NightHawk 78-Right on the money with the Big Sky take, Funny how things work out. We have a better conf. situation than we could have ever expected. Thanks BS for passing us over!!!!!

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

The article about UNC said they had "substantial success" in the D2 arena. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aside from an 8 year run in football, what other sport did they have substantial success in? If I'm not mistaken, their basketball teams were usually mid-NCC at best. I don't know about their track squads or volleyball, so maybe I'm wrong.

[Haldersham]

Re: Why USD CAN go DI.

During my group meetings with the Mid-Con officials it was clearly expressed that after this latest round of expansion (SDSU, NDSU, IPFW) the doors were going to close for quite some time for future confrence expansion. usd also has no commitment for support of this move from most campus officials and support groups. The Mid Con officials said they were going to dig deep during their campus visit to see if we were truly committed to the D1 move-WE most definetly were!!!!!!!!!!!!
usd... Move to D1 knowing a confrence is a long, long ways off.

NightHawk 78-Right on the money with the Big Sky take, Funny how things work out. We have a better conf. situation than we could have ever expected. Thanks BS for passing us over!!!!!

I never had the opportunity to meet with the Mid Con officals as Ozark had, but if I had, the possiblity of future expansions beyond SDSU and NDSU and IPFW, would have been one of my questions. I can't see any of the existing members of the Mid Con going anywhere. Most are only a few years ahead of us in being D1. I can't see the MVC picking up Western Illionis even though that conference has a number of Ill schools. So my take is the ease of UND and USD getting into the Mid Con as mentioned in the press is pure folly. They have not talked to anyone as it sounds in the press articles so far, but yet if you went to one of the USD informations meetings, the consultant and the Business Law Prof would lead you to believe getting into the Mid Con is as easy as falling off a log.

I like Catchem wonder how much USD paid this consultant. I was at one meeting were Carr was present and spoke. I also saw last night a short clip on KYSF of Bellingham the consultant. He did not strike me as being as knowledgeable as Carr who happens to have experience as an AD at two big D1 schools. I dont know what Bellingham's background is but it seems to be such a shallow analysis that he is presenting to USD.

If you want to check out the Carr Report, I believe a copy is still on reserve at Briggs. I spent about three hours at the copy machine to get my own copy. It fills two one inch, binders. Very detailed and every sport was analyzed for needs in facilities, salaries, personel. They even looked very close at the physical therapy or trainer program run by Dr. Booher. Carr even made recommendations on what SDSU might do in the future on building alumni support.

I believe UNC went by the seat of their pants and they seem to be in trouble already. Are the BSC presidents happy with there UNC choice?
USD needs to stop and think about this matter. Can the current consultant and hire Carr would be my advise.