Argus Story DI year 2

[Rabbit74]

The Argus has some very nice articles on year 2 of the Division one transition today.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50818001/1002

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50818002/1002

[JBNJBQ]

Re: Argus Story  DI year 2

The Argus has some very nice articles on year 2 of the  Division one transition today.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50818001/1002

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50818002/1002

Division I, Year II
SDSU’s transition

CHRIS SOLARI
csolari@argusleader.com

Published: 08/18/05


(1st half of story)


BROOKINGS – With members of his staff and the state press surrounding him, Athletic Director Fred Oien began South Dakota State’s media day last week by rattling off an alphabetical list of major colleges.

Alabama. Boston College. Kentucky. Missouri. Nebraska. Notre Dame. Princeton.

Oien paused briefly, then gushed like a father giving a toast at his daughter’s wedding: “Those are all universities in Division I that South Dakota State beat last season in one or more of our sports.”

Now comes the hard part – making wins over those kinds of big-named schools a regular occurrence rather than a novelty.

The NCAA requires a five-year transition period for colleges moving to Division I. As the Jackrabbits enter their second year of Division I competition, plenty of changes await them between Year One and Year Two:

New rules that require fewer games against the likes of Upper Iowa and Dordt and more against heavy hitters such as Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

The first D-I home events in many sports and an increased emphasis on holding events in Sioux Falls.

A new sport – equestrian.

New scoreboards that are part of a larger plan to increase SDSU’s athletic revenues and improve game atmosphere.

“One of the issues of transition that we faced was whether or not a school in South Dakota can compete on the national level,” Oien said. “I think that perception is changing based upon what our student-athletes have done, and certainly what our coaches have done and our administrative staff.”

Schedule shift

SDSU teams will not be eligible for NCAA postseason championships until 2008-09 in most sports.

However, this year is the first that the Jackrabbits are required to comply with NCAA rules regarding how many games they must play against other D-I schools.

Kent Barrett, associate director of public and media relations for the NCAA, said that the football team must have more than 50 percent of its games against Division I-AA opponents. The men’s and women’s basketball teams, the other two key revenue-generating sports, must have all but two games against fellow D-I schools.

“All other sports, to be in Division I, have to meet a minimum number of contests in each sport,” Barrett said. “It’s that way for every sport.”

SDSU will play nine of its 11 football games this season against I-AA foes. The women’s basketball team’s schedule was released last week, and only two non-D-I teams (Southwest Minnesota State and Central State from Ohio) are on it. The men’s basketball schedule should be released by the end of the month.

Though Barrett said the rules in the minor sports often get a little confusing, a prime example is that golf teams in the transition are required to play in at least eight Division I tournaments. Golf coach Jared Baszler said SDSU’s men and women teams will each participate in nine D-I events between the fall and spring seasons.

Eyeing postseason

With 19 Division I games in 2004, Andrew Palileo’s volleyball team went 13-6 and ended up 22-12 overall. SDSU finished 84th nationally in the Rich Kern Percentage Index, which is D-I college volleyball’s equivalent to the RPI rankings that basketball uses to help determine postseason-worthy teams who do not earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Palileo crafted the 2005 schedule – which does not include any games against D-II or lesser opponents – with hopes of moving into the Kern rankings’ top 70. That kind of a boost is meant to dovetail into the 2006 season, when the volleyball team will be eligible for postseason play thanks to an NCAA-issued waiver for the school in its transition.

“Everything right now is geared to our 2006 season,” Palileo said.

Early on this fall, Palileo’s club takes on the likes of Oregon, Iowa State, Wake Forest and Kansas State. The Jackrabbits will close the year at the Long Beach State Thanksgiving Tournament. There, SDSU will face the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s preseason No. 15 team UC-Santa Barbara as well as No. 23 Long Beach State.

“Part of that scheduling was just trying to maintain the momentum that we established last year, being ranked in the top 90,” Palileo said. “What we were trying to do this year was schedule a little bit more top 20, top 30 teams to get our RPI rankings even farther up.”

Wrestling also will be eligible for postseason competition in 2006-07. Jason Liles’s squad also should have a new wrestling-only conference, probably for the 2005-06 season. Details are expected to be finalized in the next two months.

[JBNJBQ]

Re: Argus Story  DI year 2

The Argus has some very nice articles on year 2 of the  Division one transition today.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50818001/1002

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50818002/1002

Division I, Year II
SDSU’s transition

CHRIS SOLARI
csolari@argusleader.com

Published: 08/18/05


(2nd half of story)


Hardwood hoopla

And with the success of SDSU’s women’s basketball team over the last decade, all eyes will be on them again in late February as they stare down a possible postseason berth, albeit not in the NCAA tourney.

The Jackrabbits are eligible this winter for the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, which takes Division I schools that do not receive berths to the 64-team NCAA championship event. With the surging popularity of women’s basketball in recent years, the WNIT has grown from eight teams to 32.

“That will be our goal – to make it into that tournament for the postseason,” senior Heather Sieler said.

Last year, fellow D-I independent Texas A&M-Corpus Christi earned a spot in the WNIT. It hosted and won a first-round game against Fresno State.

“There is some validity to think that an independent women’s basketball team can be in the WNIT and obviously can win and do the things to be there,” women’s coach Aaron Johnston said.

Johnston thinks the opportunity for postseason play, as well as a home schedule that includes Alabama and NCAA Tourney qualifier Middle Tennessee State should help boost attendance after last year’s drop.

SDSU’s women were second in Division II nationally with an average of 2,484 fans for 14 home games in 2003-04, but the Jacks only averaged 1,473 fans show up at Frost Arena for 11 home games last season. Some of that drop came from playing lesser competition. But it also had to do with not playing doubleheaders with the men’s team.

On the men’s side, knowing that the potential for postseason play is still years away, Scott Nagy loaded up his first full-fledged D-I slate with a bona fide list of star schools. When finished, it will include Kentucky, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska. A game against Manhattan will be played at Sioux Falls Arena in December.

That’s a far cry from last season, when the Jacks would play a Big 12 team like Colorado one night and follow it with a D-II unknown like Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras.

“Hopefully it will be a little easier to motivate the team because every night they know we’re playing a good opponent,” men’s assistant coach Troy Larson said. “I think from a fan’s perspective, the quality of opponents coming into Frost Arena – the Division I home games – is very exciting.”

Football experiment

Perhaps the biggest change for the Jackrabbit football players is getting to stay in their own beds.

SDSU played seven games on the road last year, finishing 6-5 overall, but will have seven in Brookings this season. An eighth, on Oct. 8 against Cal-Davis, will be played at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls.

The Jackrabbits set the school’s single-season attendance record last year by averaging 9,846 fans in their four home games.

This season also marks the second year of the Great West Football Conference, which will endure changes of its own next year when Northern Colorado leaves for the Big Sky Conference.

“Regardless of whether we were 2-9 or 9-2 last year,” junior running back Anthony Watson said, “our goal would be to win a (conference) championship. That’s what you strive for each year.”

A new tailgating policy will go into effect this year, where donors will receive first dibs on spots in the “Backyard” at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium for a fee. And of course, there will be the new, multimillion dollar scoreboards by the season-opening kickoff on Sept. 3 against Wisconsin-La Crosse.

A similar project will follow at Frost with plans to finish there for the basketball openers in November. The total price tag for both projects is nearly $3 million, and athletic department officials hope the new systems will increase corporate sponsorships and advertising revenue during games. Coaches hope it will entice better recruits to come to Brookings.

Coach John Stiegelmeier worries about the distraction factor for his football players but feels that the video screen and other accessories will enhance his program.

“As you make this march through reclassification and creating a Division I mentality around here, that is going to make a huge statement,” he said. “That we’re thinking bigger, that we are bigger, that we are playing at a higher level.”

Reach Chris Solari at 977-3923.

[JBNJBQ]

Re: Argus Story  DI year 2

The Argus has some very nice articles on year 2 of the  Division one transition today.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50818001/1002

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50818002/1002

Equestrian team preparing for October start
CHRIS SOLARI
csolari@argusleader.com

Published: 08/18/05


It’s less than a month before the school year, and coach Megan McGee is still scrambling to complete the South Dakota State equestrian schedule.

The first-year team’s season doesn’t begin until October, but McGee has already had a good response.

“Things are working at a pretty quick pace right now, trying to get horses ready and everybody in place for our season,” she said last week. “The exciting thing for me was the number of schools that asked to come here and play us, to participate against us.”

Some of those schools who told McGee they want to visit South Dakota this season include defending national champion South Carolina and two-time national title winner Georgia.

McGee has about 30 riders listed on the roster heading into the start of the sport’s first season. She said two-thirds of the women will be freshman.

Equestrian is viewed as an emerging sport by the NCAA, so the organization doesn’t sponsor a national championship. There is a national championship, called the varsity equestrian championship, but it’s sponsored by American Quarter Horse Association.

“I kind of looked at Gustavus Adolphus (in Minnesota) because they have a club sport, and Iowa State has it as a club sport,” said Molly Seidel, an incoming freshman from Lincoln High who was among McGee’s first recruits. “To go to Division I, they’re mostly on the East and West coasts, and I didn’t want to go that far away. Going to Division I wasn’t quite in the plans, but it’s awesome that it worked out.”

One of the non-freshmen on the team will be Tara Trask, a three-time South Dakota Rodeo Queen. The Wall native competed with the SDSU rodeo team last year and will try to blend her horsemanship skills into the equestrian format.

“When I first talked to the coach, it sounded like ‘Oh, my goodness, I’d love to do this,’” Trask said. “I didn’t know if it was in reach, but I guess it is.”

The team will have a split season, with a portion of its events in the fall and a portion in the spring leading up to the nationals. McGee said the NCAA allows 15 competitions over the season, and that at least a half-dozen will be held in Brookings at the Swiftel Center as well as one in Sioux Falls.

“I’m just really excited to meet my teammates and form a bond with other girls who have the same interest,” Seidel said.

Reach Chris Solari at 977-3923.