Re: Augie to the Summit?
This thread is already longer than it deserves (at this time), but since I've been absent from the board for awhile (personal situations), I would be remiss if I didn't chime in (mostly with a collection of facts, already disbursed among the earlier posts, and all with just IMHO):
1. If Augie decides to go D-I, they WILL keep football if is is possible for them to get into the Pioneer League (which would probably happen). Welcome to a league (that now does get an autobid, since 2013) with schools in California, Iowa, North Carolina (2), Florida (2), Indiana (2), Ohio,, New York and Kentucky. San Diego has won or tied for the league championship four of the last five years (with a student body of 8,908, and a huge metro area). That will keep K-O alive.
2. They will need to get an invitation from the Summit League. Zimmer mentioned in at least one meme, that SDSU and USD fans would not like to see Augie in the Summit, over fear and jealousy. I would not be against it for any other reason than it carves the D-I corporate support up in a third way, and that is tough enough, given the split in support already without the D-I push. Obviously, a sixth I-29 member would be eyed positively in many ways. And beware of UND and NDSU participants who would love to see Augie get in the league, with 3 SD members within 50-100 miles of each other, fighting over the eligible-level athletes in SD, northern Nebraska, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa, to supplement those we each pick up in other areas further away.
3. Creighton is mentioned as a model. Creighton has 8,300 students, has been D-I for a long time, is in a metro area of 924,000 and a huge corporate base. It gained it's Omaha-leading support because UNO was never allowed by Nebraska to grow into a major power (which finally led to UNO dropping football and moving to D-I).
There is no doubt there is a burning desire among a lot of SF movers and shakers, to envision a "Creighton" in their community. It will be very interesting to see if they jump into the pool.
This thread is already longer than it deserves (at this time), but since I've been absent from the board for awhile (personal situations), I would be remiss if I didn't chime in (mostly with a collection of facts, already disbursed among the earlier posts, and all with just IMHO):
1. If Augie decides to go D-I, they WILL keep football if is is possible for them to get into the Pioneer League (which would probably happen). Welcome to a league (that now does get an autobid, since 2013) with schools in California, Iowa, North Carolina (2), Florida (2), Indiana (2), Ohio,, New York and Kentucky. San Diego has won or tied for the league championship four of the last five years (with a student body of 8,908, and a huge metro area). That will keep K-O alive.
2. They will need to get an invitation from the Summit League. Zimmer mentioned in at least one meme, that SDSU and USD fans would not like to see Augie in the Summit, over fear and jealousy. I would not be against it for any other reason than it carves the D-I corporate support up in a third way, and that is tough enough, given the split in support already without the D-I push. Obviously, a sixth I-29 member would be eyed positively in many ways. And beware of UND and NDSU participants who would love to see Augie get in the league, with 3 SD members within 50-100 miles of each other, fighting over the eligible-level athletes in SD, northern Nebraska, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa, to supplement those we each pick up in other areas further away.
3. Creighton is mentioned as a model. Creighton has 8,300 students, has been D-I for a long time, is in a metro area of 924,000 and a huge corporate base. It gained it's Omaha-leading support because UNO was never allowed by Nebraska to grow into a major power (which finally led to UNO dropping football and moving to D-I).
There is no doubt there is a burning desire among a lot of SF movers and shakers, to envision a "Creighton" in their community. It will be very interesting to see if they jump into the pool.
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