Augie to the Summit?

[Rabbit74]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

I'm not pro or anti Augie moving up. But to add some perspective, South Dakota would be the smallest state by population (BY FAR), to have 3 division 1 schools. The next smallest would be Idaho, with 1.6 million people. The location of those institutions in that state makes it a little more feasible to have three, just simply based on the relative isolation of each. So the next smallest state in population to support 3 DI teams is roughly twice the population of South Dakota. Becaise of that, I think Augie moving up would be a very odd move.

The counterpoint to that is that support based on average basketball attendence is not way different SDSU, USD, and Augie as is currently, so I'm not sure how much that would change for any school if they were to become D1. My best guess is that Augie might see an increase in fans, but I doubt that would come at the expense of either USD or SDSU.

Personally, this whole thing seems fabricated by the Sioux Falls media who are desperate to have a hometown D1 college. I just don't see how this fits given the profile of Augie, their endowment, and the population of the state. Again, this would be a very odd move, in my opinion.

*Edit: Rhode Island with, Brown, Providence, and URI would be the smallest state with 3 DI universities at just over 1 million people. However, those schools are part of a huge metropolitan region stretching from New York to Boston, so I don't think the comparison is fair. For our purposes, Idaho would be the next closest comparison.

Rhode Island has 4 D1 teams. Bryant located in RI is also D1. They play in the Northeastern Conference.

[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

Rhode Island has 4 D1 teams. Bryant located in RI is also D1. They play in the Northeastern Conference.

Edited and corrected. Thanks for the catch.

[Nidaros]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

With athletic activities slowing, the discussion about Augie move makes for more traffic on this board. A major gift to a private institution is a big deal. What affect on the following of SDSU remains to be seen. I felt AD Bill Gross seemed to copycat everything SDSU did including adding ice cream to their concession menu. So imitation is flattery.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

Long term, there's not nearly enough corporate support for three D-1 schools in South Dakota. Without Denny Sanford, there wouldn't be enough support to keep two of them going.

[Nidaros]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

Long term, there's not nearly enough corporate support for three D-1 schools in South Dakota. Without Denny Sanford, there wouldn't be enough support to keep two of them going.

I am hardly a Augie spokes person, but there just might be more support out there. Often we are surprised. As long as we keep our focus on Agriculture fund raising, I think we can out run both Augie and USD, plus labor base in Brookings continues to grow. So Dennis throw your big bucks at Augie and good luck filling a rabbit hole. A pun intended.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

No you are not missing anything, but in my humble opinion, the support in SF for Augie and USF is not is great as that for SDSU or USD. Not everyone is Norwegian and often not Lutheran or Baptist, so they often come up half empty. KWSN for some reason seems to be tooting their horn about Augie to the Summit, but yet the Summit Commish has not talked to the admin at Augie, at least this was his comment in an interview just before the tourney. Things could be happening behind the scenes and Denny just might hand over a half of billion dollars to start the Augie move rolling. Am I as a Jack Fan worried? Not really.

What does being Norwegian, Lutheran, or Baptist have to do with anything?

[Nidaros]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

What does being Norwegian, Lutheran, or Baptist have to do with anything?

Well if you aren’t Dutch you are not much Seriously being Lutheran or Norwegian once was a reason for supporting Augie, but now it is just an overpriced private school. These colleges were started by immigrants to preserve their culture and language, a purpose that is in the past. The total support that Augustana receives from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America amounts to 35,000 dollars. All ELCA schools receive about this small amount and they will state they are affiliated with ELCA. So all the Lutheran schools are tuition driven as far as I know. Midland in Fremont Nebraska gets about this same amount. I found that out at a Synod Assembly when I was a delegate from my church in Nebraska. I suspect you would find most denominations support their colleges in this fashion. This is why the move to D1 is a steep hill to climb. Hope this answers your question.

[jacksfan29]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

I'm not pro or anti Augie moving up. But to add some perspective, South Dakota would be the smallest state by population (BY FAR), to have 3 division 1 schools. The next smallest would be Idaho, with 1.6 million people. The location of those institutions in that state makes it a little more feasible to have three, just simply based on the relative isolation of each. So the next smallest state in population to support 3 DI teams is roughly twice the population of South Dakota. Because of that, I think Augie moving up would be a very odd move.

The counterpoint to that is that support based on average basketball attendence is not way different between SDSU, USD, and Augie currently, so I'm not sure how much that would change for any school if they were to become D1. My best guess is that Augie might see an increase in fans, but I doubt that would come at the expense of either USD or SDSU.

Personally, this whole thing seems fabricated by the Sioux Falls media who are desperate to have a hometown D1 college. I just don't see how this fits given the profile of Augie, their endowment, and the population of the state. Again, this would be a very odd move, in my opinion.

*Edit: Rhode Island with Bryant, Brown, Providence, and URI would be the smallest state with 4 DI universities at just over 1 million people. Idaho is the smallest with 3. However, those RI schools are part of a huge metropolitan region stretching from New York to Boston, so I don't think the comparison is fair for this discussion.

In addition to South Dakota being the smallest state with 3 D1 schools, Augustana would be one of the smallest schools playing D1 in the country. I believe, right around bottom 10, possibly 20? The rumor about Stanford giving Augustana 100 million came from a USD poster who is wrong on almost everything posted. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Plus, as others have stated, 100 million to an endowment is not going to get Augustana where they need to be in regards to a D1 budget. This entire Augie to D1 scenario seems to be driven by the Sioux Falls media who want a local Sioux Falls D1 school and because they think it would guarantee the SLT stays in Sioux Falls. The SLT is not moving from Sioux Falls based on attendance and money. We don't need Augustana to keep it where it is at.

[JackJD]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

[QUOTE=jacksfan29;330446...The rumor about Stanford giving Augustana 100 million came from a USD poster who is wrong on almost everything posted. I wouldn't worry too much about it.....[/QUOTE]

Dragging a rumor from another message board only seems to amplify what may be nothing more that someone's conjecture that morphed into something sounding like it has a factual basis. Now it's being discussed on more than one message board. That doesn't make it true.

Now, if one wanted to speculate about the cost to Augie. Put a pencil to paper and multiply the number of football scholarships currently awareded in the NSIC (I don't know what that number is,...guessing in the range of 30 to 35) by the cost of one-year's education at Augie. Now, take that result and spread it out among all Augie sports EXCEPT football because the D1, no-scholarship Pioneer League seems like a logical home for Augie football. Looks to me like the savings from taking football down to no-scholarship gives a big budget boost to the other Augie sports. Drake, Valpo, Butler and the other Pioneer schools (USD included -- the San Diego one) are some recognizable names. If there is anything behind the rumor, I would guess there's no need to drop football.

Ah, it's all just crazy speculation. The sooner threads like this one fade away, the sooner the rumor will fade away.

Added: Here are the Pioneer League schools listed in order of conference finish in the 2017 football season (note several schools with some good basketball tradition along with one cowboy-hat manufacturer and a school confused with one in Minnesota):
USD
Drake
Campbell
Jacksonville
Valparaiso
Butler
Dayton
Marist
Morehead State
Stetson
Davidson

[UWMandSDSU]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

NSIC last summer raised the football scholarship limit from 28 to 36.
https://www.argusleader.com/story/sp...ips/456040001/

[jackdaniel]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

Dragging a rumor from another message board only seems to amplify what may be nothing more that someone's conjecture that morphed into something sounding like it has a factual basis. Now it's being discussed on more than one message board. That doesn't make it true.

Now, if one wanted to speculate about the cost to Augie. Put a pencil to paper and multiply the number of football scholarships currently awareded in the NSIC (I don't know what that number is,...guessing in the range of 30 to 35) by the cost of one-year's education at Augie. Now, take that result and spread it out among all Augie sports EXCEPT football because the D1, no-scholarship Pioneer League seems like a logical home for Augie football. Looks to me like the savings from taking football down to no-scholarship gives a big budget boost to the other Augie sports. Drake, Valpo, Butler and the other Pioneer schools (USD included -- the San Diego one) are some recognizable names. If there is anything behind the rumor, I would guess there's no need to drop football.

Ah, it's all just crazy speculation. The sooner threads like this one fade away, the sooner the rumor will fade away.

Added: Here are the Pioneer League schools listed in order of conference finish in the 2017 football season (note several schools with some good basketball tradition along with one cowboy-hat manufacturer and a school confused with one in Minnesota):
USD
Drake
Campbell
Jacksonville
Valparaiso
Butler
Dayton
Marist
Morehead State
Stetson
Davidson

Lots of travel expense?That cuts into scholarship savings number.

[Nidaros]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

NSIC last summer raised the football scholarship limit from 28 to 36.
https://www.argusleader.com/story/sp...ips/456040001/

To go from 36 to 63 is a big expensive jump and Pioneer League here we come, so the Augie D1 dreamers are possibly thinking. For any private school to make this move requires financial resources which these schools often do not have. They do a very good job of educating bright students, but to have an expensive athletic budget is often out of the question. The former AD Bill Gross found this out when he did an indept study in making the move for Augie and this goes back a few years. Unless they got a huge fan base that wants to help out financially, it will not happen.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

To go from 36 to 63 is a big expensive jump and Pioneer League here we come, so the Augie D1 dreamers are possibly thinking. For any private school to make this move requires financial resources which these schools often do not have. They do a very good job of educating bright students, but to have an expensive athletic budget is often out of the question. The former AD Bill Gross found this out when he did an indept study in making the move for Augie and this goes back a few years. Unless they got a huge fan base that wants to help out financially, it will not happen.

Yep,even though no scholarships,going d1 is more expensive in team expenditures.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

There have been some weird things happening at Augie. After Herseth Sandlin became president, the AD was squeezed out and a new one is being hired. One could speculate that there was a disagreement over the direction of the athletic program. Zimmer is among the Sioux Falls media members who think Augie will go D-1. I don't know if he has inside information or is just expressing his personal hope. He's kind of a cheerleader for Augie and USF.

[Nidaros]

Re: Augie to the Summit?

There have been some weird things happening at Augie. After Herseth Sandlin became president, the AD was squeezed out and a new one is being hired. One could speculate that there was a disagreement over the direction of the athletic program. Zimmer is among the Sioux Falls media members who think Augie will go D-1. I don't know if he has inside information or is just expressing his personal hope. He's kind of a cheerleader for Augie and USF.

Definitely a clue or maybe not. Hard to say! What is unusual is that Larschied left.