Aberdeen American News Editorial

[g_mandakota]

Really was not sure where to put this article, but some of the posters will find it interesting on how other college communities (Aberdeen) newspapers view the transition. It kind of looks like to me this is the beginning steps the Aberdeen community will be taking to promote NSU as the premier D2 program in the state while at the same time try to downplay the successes of the programs going D1.

SDSU's move to Division I not best for students
Published on Tuesday, July 17, 2007
We hate to say we told you so.

But we did.

Back in 2003 we said we thought the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits were stumbling when they made the decision to step up to Division I in athletics.

At the time, SDSU competed - arguably - in one of the best Division II conferences in the nation, the North Central Conference. Each year, up until the time SDSU left, that conference produced teams that competed for - and won - national titles. Those successes were great for students, the university and the state. And it was all done within the boundaries of tried and proven budget and fund-raising program.

We predicted at the time that one of the problems with the decision to move up to Division I was that SDSU was going to have to focus most of the school's energy on raising money for its athletic department so it could try to consistently compete at the Division I level. We were concerned with how that would impact the more important academic side.

Our concerns, it seems, were valid.

It is true that the university has had some Division I athletic successes, like the SDSU women's basketball team. But some of its teams have struggled. And it was recently reported that SDSU's move up to Division I intercollegiate athletics is costing more than anticipated because of higher expenses for joining the Summit League, the need to hire a compliance officer and - in an athletically related issue - the fact that SDSU must also provide more scholarships in women's sports. But there isn't currently enough money to do so, according to university officials, because the university's fundraising has been focused on paying for the upgrade to Division I. The total of the extra costs is nearly $750,000 more than was planned.

more, etc.....

The entire article can be read at the following link:

http://www.aberdeennews.com/apps/pbc...ON03/707170314

[22jack]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

The person that wrote this should get their facts straight.

[89rabbit]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

Wow, I guess no one at the American News takes the Argus.   ;D


http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...NEWS/707090330

5 years after D-I decision, SDSU exceeds projections
Scholarships, budgets for athletics have doubled

By Terry Vandrovec
tvandrovec@argusleader.com
Published: July 9, 2007

BROOKINGS - In February 2002, a Florida-based consulting firm called Carr Sports Associates released a hefty report titled, "Considerations for Division I Athletics at South Dakota State University."

By the time the school competed in its first NCAA Division I contest 21/4 years later, the document was outdated.

The primary reason: When the South Dakota Board of Regents approved SDSU's departure from Division II in December 2002, it ruled that the school's athletic department would not be allowed to operate in the red, period - let alone by six figures for four consecutive years, as the Carr report suggested would be necessary.

Jackrabbits athletic director Fred Oien ran into authors Bill Carr and Gerald O'Dell recently in Orlando, Fla.

"They laughed; they giggled," Oien said. "They can't believe where we're at. They cannot imagine that we've come this far, this fast."

For the five-year life of the Carr report, the Jackrabbits lagged behind in the number of suggested scholarships, partly because of post-publishing parameters set by the state. But in the past five years, the athletic budget has more than doubled, along with the number of scholarships available. Also, more than $8 million has been applied toward constructing and upgrading facilities.

At this point, and things change quickly in major college athletics, SDSU's reality is ahead of its plan.  .  .  .  (read more)


or this story:

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...NEWS/707090331

Goals for next 5 years: Start building projects, add assistant coaches

By Terry Vandrovec
tvandrovec@argusleader.com
Published: July 9, 2007

BROOKINGS - The life span of the Carr report, South Dakota State's five-year road map for the NCAA Division I transition, has expired.

So what's the plan for the next five years in terms of scholarships, facilities and budgets?  .  .  .  


Can the Jackrabbits keep up the pace?

It helps that in 2009-10, they will begin receiving money from the NCAA's broad-based distribution program based on the number of scholarships awarded and sports sponsored - probably more than $650,000. By then, SDSU will also be collecting $300,000-plus guarantees for football games against Bowl Subdivision teams, unspecified conference distributions and revenue from new sources like Web streaming..  .  .  (read more)

The Aberdeen American News Editorial seems long on opinion and sort of facts to me.   :-/ :


Go State!  

[jackmd]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

The Watertown P.O. handled the issue similar to the Aberdeen paper.  When I was back home people were asking me about the $750,000 budget shortfall at SDSU.  These were intelligent people who after some discussion understood the issue of budget projection and actual cost and then understood the situation much better.  However, it was another case of irresponsible journalism leading to confusion.  My advice was to encourage these individuals to pursue all the facts, not just what the paper told them.

Oh, BTW, most of these people were not initially in favor of the DI move and some are still not on board.   Fact is, the costs were higher than anticipated for several reasons.  Carr warned the admin that they would be and because of restrictions from the legislature admin tried to work their way around that hurdle.  As it turned out, Carr was right we needed more money.  Thats that and thats it.



*Edited for political content

[2002jack]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

Somebody more intelligent than me should write a letter to the editor of the Aberdeen American News explaining the facts.

[el_presidente]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

This article is pathetic. This part "Taking money away from the base budget affects students. Taking money from student activity fees that support campus student groups - vital to university life and often directly supporting academic classes - affects students. The work of the campus bookstore more or less speaks for itself and it too affects students - both athletes and non-athletes."

The GAF fee funding student groups goes through the students' association. The SA controls what groups get funding and what groups do not. Also the groups directly supporting academic classes do not receive funding from student activity fees except for competition. There is a direct seperation between academic affairs and student affairs and where a student organization sits. The SA budgeting philosophy addresses this issue. The paper fails to even understand the basics of how these fees flow and are controlled at SDSU. In fact due to increasing enrollement the SA has had a budget surplus the last 4 or 5 years and has added new programs like the Safe Ride home program and added 5 or 6 organizations to the funding cycle. This increase in spending has kept the budget tight but make no mistakes there have not been cuts. Look for a letter to the editor from past and present student government officials coming soon.

[89rabbit]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

The fact of the matter is that although our expenditures are higher then were budgeted for so are our revenue streams. To ignore this fact, while writing an opinion piece seems disingenuous to me.  To try to argue that somehow SDSU is short changing students simply because their budgetary predictions, from many years ago, were off also seems ridiculous to me.  After all anytime you try and project out more then a year (heck, probably more then 6 months) you do so with the understanding that you are dealing with a “living document” one that will change and adapt as required due to changing conditions and opportunities.



As Terry said in his story "In February 2002, a Florida-based consulting firm called Carr Sports Associates released a hefty report titled, "Considerations for Division I Athletics at South Dakota State University."

By the time the school competed in its first NCAA Division I contest 21/4 years later, the document was outdated.

The primary reason: When the South Dakota Board of Regents approved SDSU's departure from Division II in December 2002, it ruled that the school's athletic department would not be allowed to operate in the red, period  .  .  .  "


Go State!  

[NightHawk78]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

I suppose the Aberdeen paper will endorse a move by Northern to the NAIA and the GPAC once St. Cloud, MSU-Mankato, and Augie begin to dominate the Northern Sun. No wonder Aberdeen has been stuck in neutral for the last half-century or so.....

[167]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

The move certainly hasn't hurt the Women's BB program, the academics sure seems to be doing fine. As reported yesterday in the Argus the girls finished on top to all divisions with the highest GPA. What does the Aberdeen American Journal have to say about that.

[JackJD]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

I recall a newspaper editor who, many years ago, handed out a business card which had the following on the reverse side: Writing editorials is a lot like wetting one's pants while wearing a dark-blue suit: it gives you a nice, warm feeling and nobody seems to notice. I rarely read editorials and when I do, I do not react to them (the editors like reaction...that's why they write them).

So, let's allow the Aberdeen editor his nice, warm feeling after just wetting his pants...and ignore him.

My undergraduate degree from SDSU? Journalism. ;D

Hey, an editorial is just one person's opinion, intended to be thought provoking. Okay, we've been provoked. Let's go back to thinking about the latest great news as was pointed out in a prior post: the Jackrabbit women's basketball team is number one in the nation, once again, for scholastic achievement. And then lets keep in mind that there'll be more good news in SDSU's future.

[22jack]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

Good points!

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

I agree that there are many facutal distinctions to be made with the editorial, but I don't recall any BoR waivers. Does anyone have more info on that part of the editorial?

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

I have heard rumblings lately of some dollars being given to SDSU from some of the other universities budgets from around the state. SDSU people have said that this money should have been going to SDSU all along but due to a discrepency in the regents funding formula it was being shuffled to meet needs at the other universities. I have also heard opinions from those at other state universities that this money was given to SDSU to cover needs in Brookings where the university could not come up with the funding. I don't really know if this is what the article is referring to, or which story above is correct. I thought I remember seeing something on this site referring to this but can't find it now. Can El Presidente or anyone else with the knowledge clarify anything here?

[Haldersham]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

Not trying to defend the editorials in either the Watertown Public Opinion, or the Aberdeen American News, but the total context of the $750,000 authorization from the BOR has not been explained in Terry"s articles nor any where else.

I don't see it as a fiscal problem as the editorials have suggested. but at the same time no one else has bothered to explain it. The authorization was no doubt required by prior BOR policy, and what it represents might likely be a timing mismatch of revenues and expenses. I looked at the SDBOR website and did not locate their minutes nor anything else that might shed some light on the problem. I guess one had to have sat through the BOR meeting to get what this is all about.

As far as the additional compliance officer needed, Kathy Heylens does as much work as a staff of four people at other institutions, so adding another person would help her out. This person would have been needed probably even if we stayed D2 and offered the same number of sports.

I recall from the cerification forum that I sat in on in April, Dr Oien mentioned that there was grant money available from the NCAA for a study table supervisor. Carr had told them that since they had all sorts of study tables and many of the coaches staff are involved in these tasks, that this person was probably not needed. Since the grant money was available, Dr Oien said they would probably apply for the grant. Now if that's the person they are referring too in the editoral, that grant money would not be available if SDSU had stayed D2.

[Haldersham]

Re: Aberdeen American News Editorial

I have heard rumblings lately of some dollars being given to SDSU from some of the other universities budgets from around the state.  SDSU people have said that this money should have been going to SDSU all along but due to a discrepency in the regents funding formula it was being shuffled to meet needs at the other universities.  I have also heard opinions from those at other state universities that this money was given to SDSU to cover needs in Brookings where the university could not come up with the funding.  I don't really know if this is what the article is referring to, or which story above is correct.  I thought I remember seeing something on this site referring to this but can't find it now.  Can El Presidente or anyone else with the knowledge clarify anything here?

This is the explanation that I have been looking for. I wish I could help you out here. Dean Krogman no doubt has a very clear understanding of what this is all about. At any rate a mountain has been made out of a mole hill. That simple.