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With USD all but certain to announce a move to Division I next month, the fate of current and former NCC members is pretty much known.
Morningside logically dropped down to NAIA. SDSU, NDSU, UNC, UND and USD are either in or headed to their rightful place in D-I. Minn.-Duluth, Minn. St.-Mankato and St. Cloud State have reaffirmed their commitment to Division II, according to a recent St. Cloud newspaper article. UNO also is staying in D-II but has its sights set on the MIAA. UNO's interim chancellor has wasted no time and already met with MIAA officials.
That leaves Augustana. Now, I have no inside knowledge which way school officials are leaning. But I am somewhat familiar with how the school is run, and the administrators always have been very good stewards of the school's money. (I guess you have no choice at any small private school not named Carleton or Macalaster.)
As has been stated many times before on this board, the only way Augie can go D-I is without football or with a non-scholarship program. I just can't see Augie being able to boost its athletic budget all that much. The money not spent on football could be used to offset the increased expenses related to a D-I move in the other sports.
My hunch is school officials will take a long, hard look in the financial mirror, decide to remain in D-II and apply to the NSIC. That said, there has been virtually no news about Augie's deliberations, so who knows what's going on. I haven't even heard if the school has hired a consultant to rubber stamp, er, assess D-I status. It seems whenever a school announces it is studying a possible D-I move these days, more often than not it ends up going.
Either way, we'll know within a few weeks.
Morningside logically dropped down to NAIA. SDSU, NDSU, UNC, UND and USD are either in or headed to their rightful place in D-I. Minn.-Duluth, Minn. St.-Mankato and St. Cloud State have reaffirmed their commitment to Division II, according to a recent St. Cloud newspaper article. UNO also is staying in D-II but has its sights set on the MIAA. UNO's interim chancellor has wasted no time and already met with MIAA officials.
That leaves Augustana. Now, I have no inside knowledge which way school officials are leaning. But I am somewhat familiar with how the school is run, and the administrators always have been very good stewards of the school's money. (I guess you have no choice at any small private school not named Carleton or Macalaster.)
As has been stated many times before on this board, the only way Augie can go D-I is without football or with a non-scholarship program. I just can't see Augie being able to boost its athletic budget all that much. The money not spent on football could be used to offset the increased expenses related to a D-I move in the other sports.
My hunch is school officials will take a long, hard look in the financial mirror, decide to remain in D-II and apply to the NSIC. That said, there has been virtually no news about Augie's deliberations, so who knows what's going on. I haven't even heard if the school has hired a consultant to rubber stamp, er, assess D-I status. It seems whenever a school announces it is studying a possible D-I move these days, more often than not it ends up going.
Either way, we'll know within a few weeks.
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