Gateway Announcement!

[2002jack]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

http://www.collegesportingnews.com/a...rticleid=84342


CSN. Not much new here. But, in case you're bored, go ahead and read it like I did.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

Yippee. Looking back, I'm glad the XDSUs' pitch to the Big Sky failed. The Gateway and Mid-Con is a better fit for the Jacks and Bison. Today is a well deserved reward for two schools that had the vision and courage to make an early move, by regional standards, to D-1 and lead the way for the UXDs.

[89rabbit]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...14/1002/SPORTS

A Gateway home SDSU leaving behind Great West

By Terry Vandrovec
tvandrovec@argusleader.com
Published: March 8, 2007

BROOKINGS - There was a word embroidered on the bill of the Gateway Football Conference caps handed out Wednesday in Brookings: Champions.

And South Dakota State University felt like a winner, when it was granted entry into the Gateway, an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision league successful enough to proclaim in blue cursive lettering that every program under its hat is championship caliber.

"One can justifiably argue the Gateway is the strongest, deepest and most respected FCS conference in the nation," league commissioner Patty Viverito said via conference call. "This decision to add North Dakota State and South Dakota State leaves no doubt."

The two former North Central Conference and current Great West Football Conference members were extended invitations Monday afternoon. They accepted shortly thereafter, agreeing to an eight-year contract with a $500,000 early-exit penalty and a $250,000 entry fee to join Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State beginning in the 2008 season. That is the first year the Jackrabbits will be playoff eligible.

The move has been in the works since September - Viverito said she contacted SDSU and NDSU the day after their other programs were accepted into the Mid-Continent Conference - and gained speed in February when Western Kentucky announced it was leaving the Gateway to reclassify in the Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A.  .  .  .  (read more)


Go State!  

[Jacks02]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

As disappointed as I was when Chris Solari left the Argus Leader, I am so much more thankful now to have Terry Vandrovec.

Always has very informative articles and works his tail off to get all the information, quotes, etc. for a great story.

Thanks once again Terry!

[aggie6thman]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

Wanted to drop in and wish you well in the Gateway! It is sad seeing you go, but I am happy you guys finally found a good home! We still get to play you guys one more time for some hardware!

[filbert]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

As disappointed as I was when Chris Solari left the Argus Leader, I am so much more thankful now to have Terry Vandrovec.

Always has very informative articles and works his tail off to get all the information, quotes, etc. for a great story.

Thanks once again Terry!

Chris still lurks here from time to time . . .

[Jack4Life]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

[quote author=Jacks02 link=1173237792/45#48 date=1173368858]As disappointed as I was when Chris Solari left the Argus Leader, I am so much more thankful now to have Terry Vandrovec.

Always has very informative articles and works his tail off to get all the information, quotes, etc. for a great story.

Thanks once again Terry!

Chris still lurks here from time to time . . . [/quote]

Where did Chris go?

[gojacksgo]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

I believe he is writing for the east lansing paper.

[filbert]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

Off topic replies have been moved to [link=http://www.sdsufans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1173518533]This Thread[/link]

[filbert]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

I tried to move some of the discussion regarding any future USD-SDSU games off to their own thread. If I lost your post . . . sorry! I think 89rabbit has a better handle on that sort of thing than me . . .

[89rabbit]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default...AGN4067924.htm



Extra Point - Dakotas and Gateway make perfect match
By Matt Dougherty, FCS Editor

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The Gateway Football Conference, North Dakota State and South Dakota State moved quickly and with meaning in a brief courtship that landed the Dakota state schools as members of the conference beginning in 2008.

While the wooing period was abbreviated, the marriage between the schools and the league should be long lasting and fruitful for both parties. After one more season, North Dakota State and South Dakota State leave the fledgling Great West for the long-term security and potential automatic bid that comes from an established conference. At the same time, the Gateway will increase its visibility in the Midwest and become the most balanced league in the country with Youngstown State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Western Illinois and the Dakota schools all capable of making a playoff run or more every year.  .  .  .  (read more)


Go State!  

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Gateway Announcement!  

Thanks 89rabbit for finding Dougherty's column. I loved this paragraph (in listing the losers when SDSU and NDSU joined the Gateway):

North Dakota and South Dakota - Both programs were a day late and a dollar short behind their in-state brethren already, and now they’ll sit and watch as their fellow state schools become playoff eligible in a premier conference in 2008 while they enter the first-year of their transition, which will probably come in an unstable conference. In-state rivalries can be renewed, but the Dakota state schools have all the leverage and are in a favorable position that North Dakota and South Dakota will have to wait at least a few years, and probably more, to have a chance to obtain.

LOSERS!