DI Conference Hunt

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

More on the BSC plans for the future from the Idaho State Journal.  Here is the link and a snipet.  30 televised games and he speaks of a majority in favor of expansion.  Seems they are not interested in waiting to see if Idaho falls back to IAA.

IAA Image Concerns

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It is clear after reading the article that Fullerton may not be sold on the idea yet, but a majority of the Big Sky Presidents are. If that is indeed the case then look for the Big Sky to add two new members and I wouldn't be surprised if it were us.

Go State! ;D

[sdman]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

To get into the big sky do we just have to have a majority of presidents (or is it AD's who vote) vote for us or does it have to be unanimous. I like our chances if it is just majority rule
Is it just 4 schools trying to get in - sdsu, unc, ndsu and southern utah. What about cal poly and davis? This is an interesting time to be a jack follower.

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Good story from the Fargo paper over on the Bison Board:

http://www.bisonville.com/cgi-bin/ya...num=1090563366

NDSU's odds increase for Big Sky
By Jeff Kolpack, The Forum
Published Friday, July 23, 2004

North Dakota State is on the verge of making another run at membership in the Big Sky Conference. This time, the league may take NDSU more seriously.

An Aug. 9 meeting of the Big Sky Council of Presidents in Salt Lake City will be the second time in 18 months the group will hold a special session to discuss expansion.

A 2003 meeting in Salt Lake City was assembled at the request of Montana State president Geoffrey Gamble. This summit appears to have a more widespread appeal.

"I don't think there's any one reason or one person," said Dusty Clements, Big Sky assistant commissioner. "But things have finally shaken out west. The dominos have fallen and I think we all want to get on the same page."

The University of Idaho, a former Big Sky member, announced last month that it is bolting the Division I-A Sun Belt Conference for the I-A Western Athletic Conference.

Idaho was said to be a candidate to return to the I-AA Big Sky because of new Division I-A football attendance requirements. But those standards are being re-evaluated within the NCAA and may not come to fruition.

"My feeling all along was that if Idaho got into the WAC, that would push (the Big Sky) to figure something else out," said NDSU athletic director Gene Taylor. . . .

NDSU's momentum was spurred by comments made by Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton at the league's annual meeting in Park City, Utah, earlier this week.

He said the league is conducting an internal evaluation of available schools that includes NDSU, South Dakota State, Southern Utah and Northern Colorado.

"I was literally taken aback by the strength of what he said," Taylor said.

Fullerton was on vacation Thursday and unavailable for comment.

But Clements indicated the league presidents will probably want basic institutional information like enrollment and travel distance.

NDSU spokesman Dave Wahlberg said the university would welcome the chance to make a presentation to the Big Sky. It's doubtful that would happen at the Aug. 9 meeting. . . .

Clements said a special expansion meeting is necessary because there isn't enough time to address those issues at annual meetings. . . .

At eight teams, the Big Sky is on the lower end in Division I in terms of the number of members. Division I conferences require at least seven members in order to receive NCAA dispersal money.


Good Stuff.

Go State! ;D

[SoDak]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Man, I hate to be negative, and if they offer we should jump at it, but I still can't help but think we'll be in basketball purgatory in the Big Sky. This will be wonderful for NDSU, and their fans seem to be enthralled with playing the football with the Big Sky schools, but I'd rather play against, and recruit from areas to the east, rather than west in basketball.

[Bison_Kent]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

SoDak,

I don't think the Big Sky would be horrible for basketball. Without digging up the rankings, I believe the Big Sky and Mid Con were pretty well neck and neck as far as the rankings go. Both conferences only received one NCAA invitation and I believe will most years get one team in the NIT.

There are some Big Sky schools that excel at basketball such as Weber State. WSU has made some noise in the tournament too. I believe in the late '90s the Wildcats upset North Carolina in the first round of the tournament. Valpo did the same roughly in the same era in the late '90s.

To me, the Big Sky is just as good as the Mid Con and you also get to play schools that are known in the region. Would your home schedule be better if Montana, Montana State, and Idaho State were there or would it be better with IUPUI, Cententury, and Oral Roberts? Personally, I would rather see the Big Sky schools.

The Big Sky also has the advantage of being an All-sports conference. All other options would require football and basketball to be in seperate conferences. One drawback of the Big Sky is baseball and wrestling. Those two sports would need to find seperate homes but wrestling would have to anyway. Baseball is a tough spectator sport in the early spring the northland so has to be considered a minor sport.

It will be interesting how everything shakes out. I do believe that if the Big Sky makes a move, the Mid Con will follow. If Southern Utah is one of the expansion teams, then the Mid Con will have an opening.

In any event, it looks like NDSU and SDSU will have a home in the near future for all sports.

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

To get into the big sky do we just have to have a majority of presidents (or is it AD's who vote) vote for us or does it have to be unanimous.  I like our chances if it is just majority rule
Is it just 4 schools trying to get in - sdsu, unc, ndsu and southern utah.  What about cal poly and davis?  This is an interesting time to be a jack follower.

sdman,

If I recall correctly you need 6 of 8 Big Sky Presidents to get in.  Cal-Poly and UC-Davis are in the Big West (a California bus league) so they don't want in the Sky.  The Big West is where Sac-State might be going, if rumors prove correct.

I understand your concerns about the Big Sky vs. Mid-Con (the whole East vs West thing) I share them too. Chris Solari wrote a great Story breaking down the Pros and Cons, called "Seeking a Home", on this very issue.  Filbert posted the important parts on page four of this thread it is a good read.  Also this past season, the Conferences were closely rated for Men's Basketball.  The Mid-Con finished 20th and the Big Sky was 22nd (with the Ohio Valley in between).  If we get into the Big Sky we can spend most of our OOC (out of conference) schedule back east (in the Midwest) so that we get exposure in our fertile recruiting grounds.  The good news is both Conf. have an Auto Bid to the Big Dance and getting into the Dance or the NIT would do wonders for our exposure.  I am still torn but the most important thing is for SDSU to find a home (Big Sky or Mid-Con).  We can work out the details later.

Go State!  ;D

[jackmd]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

What makes me jealous about the most recent Forum article is the presence of adds promoting NDSU athletics and the first DI football game in the states history.  I wish S.D. had a newspaper that would not only support the only DI school in the state, but promote/market it. Maybe these adds are paid for by NDSU and I am totally of the mark here. That wouldn't be unusual for me.

Fargo Forum

[bisonguy]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Forum Communications (The Forum, WDAY TV, and WDAY-AM) bids to be the official media source of NDSU(I think it's about $100,000/yr.).

I don't know if NDSU pays for the ads or not, but I have a feeling that they do.

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

More news from the Big Sky. Here are excerpts from Chris Solari's story from today's Argus:

http://www.argusleader.com/sports/Sa...article2.shtml

Door to Big Sky still open for Jacks
Chris Solari
Argus Leader

published: 7/24/2004

School presidents to discuss expansion at Aug. 9 meeting

South Dakota State is back in the sights of the Big Sky Conference.

When the league held its preseason football meeting Monday in Flagstaff, Ariz., Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton said the Aug. 9 conference presidents' meeting will focus on expansion, specifically mentioning four schools including SDSU. . . .

Those words are a distinct reverse in course from what the the Big Sky's presidents said in February 2003, the last time they met to talk about expansion. SDSU and North Dakota State jointly approached the Big Sky about membership last year, at which time Montana State President Geoffrey Gamble arranged that meeting.

Afterward, Gamble said, "The door isn't completely closed." But he also admitted that the idea of additional travel into the Dakotas made some of the league's top brass leery, and the leaders told SDSU and NDSU to look elsewhere for conference affiliation in their ascent to Division I.

"From my perspective, the Dakota schools have always been in the packages I've been interested in," Gamble said Friday.

"Part of what I hoped is that my colleagues would get to the point where they wanted to discuss expansion, and that's the point we're at now."

The Aug. 9 meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. MDT in Salt Lake City. Dusty Clements, assistant commissioner for the Big Sky, said that it should last a few hours.

"It certainly would say that we're on their radar screen," SDSU athletic director Fred Oien said.

That radar didn't pick up SDSU last year for one major reason - geography. At that time, the Big Sky presidents felt the increased travel costs involved with adding the two Dakota schools made them unlikely targets for expansion. The presidents felt then that if expansion happened, it would be to the west.

Travel distance is certainly a topic that Gamble and his comrades will again discuss heavily this time. He said that SDSU President Peggy Miller and her NDSU counterpart Joseph Chapman have been working to allay some of those concerns.

"My perception is that my colleagues are more interested in seriously looking into expansion now than they were eight or nine months ago," Gamble said. . . .

One of the many rumors surrounding the Big Sky was that the conference was targeting former member Idaho for expansion if the Vandals returned to I-AA from I-A. Idaho recently accepted membership into the Western Athletic Conference, a league which plays I-A football.

Another rumor is that the entire league could potentially leave the Division I-AA football ranks for the big-time of I-A. The Big Sky presidents will also likely touch on that in Salt Lake City, Clements said.

"I think that will be discussed because (the presidents) will all be in a room at the same time, and that doesn't happen that often," Clements said.

Gamble said he doesn't expect the Big Sky to ask any schools to join at that time, but he admits that if six of the league's eight presidents vote yes that they could extend a membership offer that day. That is the required number of votes to make such a decision. . . .

The presidents of the Mid-Continent Conference, the other league mentioned as a potential home for SDSU, met earlier this month and said they would continue to look at expansion. . . .

Go State! ;D

[SDSUFAN]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

This is an very interesting article and pretty much a re hash of what Jeff Kopeck wrote the day before.  Our Journalists seem be at the mercy of the presidents meeting on August 9 as far as what happens next.

I am very cautious about this meeting.  It could turnout to be very positive for SDSU and NDSU.

I understand besides Sac State and Portland State are on on shakky grounds with the rest of  BSC.   Portland State failed when they came into the conference with the notion that they would sell out at the Rose Garden arena where the Trailblazers play in mens basketball.  

The results were a lot of revenue bleeding and moving their home games back to campus with a small capacity.  PSU in football has sold their tickets at half price just to fill the staduim, especially when Montana came to town. So PSU is not the most competitive member of the BSC and is maybe in the same boat as Sac State.  The Big West could appeal to Portland State as well.

That said, I think the other other BSU schools look for both Sac State and Portland State as the weak members of the BSC and may be they could ask for their resignation from the BSC.   If there are six solid votes for expulision of Sac State and Portland State, that to could happen, but seems unlikely.

Such unlikely action would mean certain membership for SDSU and NDSU.

[bisonguy]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

I just posted a recap of Doug Fullerton (Big Sky commish), Jon Kasper (Griz beat writer for the Missoulian) and Gene Taylor interviewed on WDAY-AM tonight on the Bisonville board-

Here's the link-  http://www.bisonville.com/cgi-bin/ya...num=1091583132

It's obviously fairly slanted towards NDSU, but NDSU would need a travel partner ;D .

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Great stuff.

[sdman]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

If we could get into the BSC I would probably go to a dozen or so games a year instead of my usual six between fb and bb. In my heart I really hope we get in but using hard reasoning I find it hard to imagine that the BSC will take 2 provisional schools this early in their transition. If I were a college president of those schools I would probably vote no until ndsu/sdsu demonstrate that they are each going to be a "player" in d1 and d1aa. But hopefully I am wrong and they see us for all the potential we bring to the table. I would guess our chances of getting into the BSC right now at 10 percent but would put it at 50 percent in the next five years if we become a "player". Go State!!

[SDSUFAN]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

sdman:
I tend to agree. SDSU and NDSU chances do not seem to be very high on the probability scale. What we dont know is what the offices of President Miller and Chapman have been doing in terms of lobbying and if they have make good points to give us consideration and up our chances for acceptence. I dont think either president has put this issue in the drawer for a rainy day, but probably was used ever opportunity to promote themselves.

There are two existing members, Sac State and Portland State, that are not on solid footing with BSC and how they fit into the equation is another part of the riddle. August 9 is a very critical date as far as telling what the BSC members are thinking.

[jackmd]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

My feelings are also somewhere along this line. We will know a little more after August 9th. The only news I don't want to hear is that we are no longer under consideration. I suspect some campus visits will be made over the coming months and a close eye will be kept on our inagural season at DI as well as scheduling and recruiting during or sophomore year. I would put a BSC invite in the next 2-3 years at 25%, maybe close to 50/50 in 5 years. I actually think the Mid-Con may make an offer before the BSC, just a gut feeling.

Let me say again, all I am asking out of this meeting on August 9th is that we are still being considered. No news might be good news.