NCC upheaval

[89rabbit]

Yet another story from the Sunday Argus.  Here are some except:

http://www.argusleader.com/sports/Sundayarticle6.shtml

NCC dealing with some upheaval
Mick Garry
Argus Leader

published: 7/25/2004

The North Central Conference, often billed as the best league in NCAA Division II, has gone through several alterations in recent years after 20 years of absolute stability.

The first move came when Morningside, the smallest of the 10 schools, left in 2001. Next came Northern Colorado at the end of the 2003 school year, followed by North Dakota State and South Dakota State this past year.

Morningside, with its small enrollment and tight athletic budget, seemed out of place in the NCC for some time. Northern Colorado, while adding immeasurably to the league's luster with its national championship-caliber football program, was a consistent traveling pain for other NCC schools, as well as a lackluster draw at other conference locales.

In NDSU and SDSU, however, the league said good bye to a pair of well-funded, ideally-located charter members.  

"We have a great thing going in this league and we have for a long time, so it's not like the wheels are completely off," USD athletic director Joel Nielsen said. "But, when you take relationships out of play like USD-SDSU and UND-NDSU, the wheels are going to get a little wobbly for a while. We're going to be in a wait-and-see mode for the short term, but the league is going to stay as strong as it has during its history."

Minnesota-Duluth joins the NCC this fall to make a seven-team league, but that addition won't offset the two high-profile losses.

Last season, the NCC was at the top of Division II basketball attendance and second in football. Not coincidentally, SDSU led the nation in basketball attendance and NDSU led in football. The averages in both sports are bound to fall next season without those heavyweight numbers.

Nevertheless, NCC commissioner Mike Marcil says he's not worried about the conference's stature within the region or nationally.  .  .  .

The other big hurdle for the remaining NCC schools is scheduling.

When it was a 10-team conference, football programs had to find two non-conference opponents and basketball had to find about 10. Now, with just six conference games in football and 12 in basketball, digging out non-conference foes has become far more challenging.

Basketball programs have to schedule at least 10 of their 15 non-conference dates against NCAA Division II teams, with the rest usually being NAIA or NCAA Division III.  .  .  .

The potential non-conference deficit has been felt throughout the region. The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, from which the NCC picked up Minnesota-Duluth, had extreme difficulty getting NCC teams to their home court years ago. Not anymore.

"At NDSU, we never would have thought of playing a game in Crookston or Bemidji," Billeter said. "I'd offer them guaranteed money and just bring them in. Now they know you need games so you have to go home-and-home with them. This Thanksgiving, I'll be in Crookston and Bemidji."  .  .  .

NCC changes

Recent changes involving the North Central Conference

2001 - Morningside leaves conference.

2003 - Northern Colorado leaves league to pursue Division I.

2004 - At the completion of the 2003-04 season, NDSU and SDSU leave the league for Division I.

2004 - The NCC adds Minnesota-Duluth to bring the conference membership to seven for the 2004-05 season.

[Rabbit74]

Re: NCC upheaval

Mike Marcil, the NCC Commissioner has resigned to take a similar job with the Sunshine State Conference in Florida. It won't help the NCC to be without a commissioner at this point. He was interviewed on the Mike and Craig show today.

[jackmd]

Re: NCC upheaval

Mike Marcil, the NCC Commissioner has resigned to take a similar job with the Sunshine State Conference in Florida.  It won't help the NCC to be without a commissioner at this point.  He was interviewed on the Mike and Craig show today.

If this is true it sure is an interesting twist. I hope things are okay in the NCC. Its an important part of DII and important to S.D. Its also a significant part of our history. I would hate to see the NCC dissolve but I would hate it even more if it was to compromise.

[bisonguy]

Re: NCC upheaval

It's true-

Mike Marcil leaves the NCC

Looks like the NCC is looking for a new commish on Aug. 20th.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: NCC upheaval

Mike Marcil was interviewed on the KWSN sports talk show today. He said that a commissioner of the Sunshine Conference had retired and he had his eye on this job and applied. Thats the story basically. He kept repeating how good the NCC was despite losing NDSU and SDSU.

[bisonguy]

Re: NCC upheaval

Yeah, the NCC is great.  :

The "old" NCC (with SDSU, NDSU, and UNC) has a total of 41 DII national championships in all sports. The "new" NCC has 14. When 3 schools hold 2/3rds of the national championships in a conference, it's going to weaken the conference if they leave. The Sunshine State Conference (Marcil's new job) has a total of 52 DII championships in all sports. The NCC ain't what she used to be.  :-/

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: NCC upheaval

I knew that meeting was at a bad time today, I missed the show. With Marcil gone, and the conference definitely in a down-slide, it is going to be harder to get a lot of top-notch candidates. This is the mark of a conference in serious trouble. If U of Mary decides on the NSIC or any other NCC school leaves (UNO), the conference may survive but it will NEVER have the same stature or quality of the past. While this may be unfortunate, the fact that many of the schools have grown apart cannot be denied.

[JackJD]

Re: NCC upheaval

If this is true it sure is an interesting twist.  I hope things are okay in the NCC.  Its an important part of DII and important to S.D.  Its also a significant part of our history.  I would hate to see the NCC dissolve but I would hate it even more if it was to compromise.

I have the same feeling as jackmd: sad to see the NCC suddenly looking like it's going to unravel. The walls outside Frost Arena have a lot of NCC Champ pictures...teams and individuals...and they're very important to our history. Might be better if it went away altogether rather than melt down to nothing.

My wish is for the NCC to figure out a way to remain a power in DII.

On a better note: I stopped by the golf outing with SDSU alums, coaches & friends in Watertown this afternoon and evening. Nice crowd. I enjoyed seeing a few USD guys in the group giving a little and getting it back. Everyone was having a great time.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: NCC upheaval

The NCC operated with seven schools  somewhere between 1949 up to maybe 1980. Its not ideal, but it can work.  Times have changed much since that time, and budgets are going to have to be big item of considerations for future new NCC members.  Most of the current members are  spending 3 to 4.5 million dollar for all sports.  I venture most of the NSIC members are still spending about 2 million and maybe growing.  The NCC will find it hard to find schools with a 3 to 4 million dollar budget.  So Mary, Northern and Southwest are not likely to become members of the NCC until they can demonstate a competitive budget.

How much you spend tells the story as far as being competitive and being a National Champions. Finding this kind of fit will be hard for the NCC, but I think those remaining members will still be able to compete at the national level.

[CatchEmAll_Guy]

Re: NCC upheaval

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Marcil married to Augies VB coach Kim Sudbeck. It doesn't say anything in her bio on their website, but I'm pretty sure that is (or was) the case. If they are still married this could be a big blow for Augie volleyball. I would assume she would stay for this season at this point, then move on with Mike at the end of the season.

Beyond that, I think this is a good thing for the NCC. I was never impressed with Marcil and his running of the conference. The best thing though, for NDSU, SDSU, and UNC this doesn't matter. We are outta there.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: NCC upheaval

If I were president of any NCC school other than Augustana, I would be complaining about indepence of the Commissioner, since after getting the job, he meets the Augustana Volleyball coach and marries.  You would think Marcil would have thought about that, but did not.

How can he be impartial in the sport of volleyball when he is married to a coach of one of the conference members?

I had seen the name Marcil as a coach at Augustana and if you try to find that name on the augie website, its not to be found. The Argus has referred to Kim Sudbeck as Kim Marcil though, although I cant quote verse and chapter.

I agree with Catchem, Marcil was never impressive.  What we dont know is how all presidents and AD's feel about his decisions that have affected their programs. There could be some unhappy people. :

[jackmd]

Re: NCC upheaval

From the Omaha Herald. Just scroll down a little to the article about the MIAA.

UNO has MIAA interest

Here is a little excerpt:

Many predict it's only a matter of time before North Dakota follows NDSU to I-AA and the NCC will begin to unravel. That means the talk of joining the MIAAwill probably continue following UNO until the NCC stabilizes.

"A couple of years ago we discussed what would happen if the NCC disbands," Danenhauer said. "The MIAA is the obvious choice, but the university hasn't discussed it seriously. The travel would be about the same. Instead of taking Interstate 29 North, we'd take Interstate 29 South."

[SDSUFAN]

Re: NCC upheaval

If I were president of any NCC school other  than Augustana, I would be complaining about indepence of the Commissioner, since after getting the job, he meets the Augustana Volleyball coach and marries.  You would think Marcil would have thought about that, but did not.

How can he be impartial in the sport of volleyball when he is married to a coach of one of the conference members?

I had seen the name Marcil as a coach at Augustana and if you try to find that name on the augie website, its not to be found.  The Argus has referred to Kim Sudbeck as Kim Marcil though, although I cant quote verse and chapter.

I agree with Catchem, Marcil was never impressive.  What we dont know is how all presidents and AD's feel about his decisions that have affected their programs. There could be some unhappy people. :

Over on D2Football, a SCSU follower posted an article that appeared in the St Cloud paper interviewing Marcil. One point that appeared in that article that for some reason escaped all the Argus articles and on the air interviews, is that the NCC is down to 3 and 4 teams for some sports such as Swiming, Wrestling and tennis. To offset that reduction mainly because of SDSU and NDSU leaving, they have had to add NSIC members to complete league and tournament play. So the biggest impact point due to losing members was totally ignored by the Argus and the Sioux Falls media for that matter.

Also another poster at D2football pointed out that Kim Sudbeck and Marcil are no longer married. So Augie's volleyball team will be okay if Marcil leaves. This would explain why the Volleyball coach is now using her maiden name.