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The Fargo Forum has a article about Western Illinios and how its been in the D1AA. It talks about the importance of finances. Good information. Macomb, Ill is about the size of Brookings.
Division I decision: Western Illinois offers view into Division I world
By Jeff Kolpack
jkolpack@forumcomm.com
The Forum - 08/17/2003
MACOMB, Ill. -- As the quarterback at Fargo Shanley in the early 1970s, Mike Pendergast lived the Deacon football lore. Sid Cichy. Dynasty. A 59-game winning streak.
Losing wasn’t really a thought back then. And neither was the emphasis on new facilities, weight rooms and equipment.
Just look at his old school. The old Shanley is gone, being replaced by upscale rental units. The new Shanley in south Fargo is a modern presentation of a high school.
Pendergast, the head trainer at Western Illinois University for 22 years, is seeing the same transformation at WIU.
“A lot of things weren’t done with facilities here for many years,” he said.
Pendergast is a 1975 North Dakota State graduate. As his old college moves into the Division I ranks beginning in 2004-05, the competitive arena for the Bison will include the likes of Western Illinois.
In football, WIU is a Division I-AA benchmark. The Leathernecks are a success, going 11-2 last year, reaching the No. 2 spot in the Division I-AA national poll and reaching the quarterfinals of the I-AA playoffs. The school won the Mid-Continent Conference all-around sports trophy.
With the Mid-Con a possible affiliation for NDSU, it offers this question: How does NDSU stack up?
Facility-wise, NDSU has the edge in football stadium, baseball stadium, track and field complex and, probably to the surprise of most people, a slight edge in basketball arena.
The facility edge, however, may not last. WIU is on the move.
By the time NDSU becomes eligible for Division I postseason in 2007-08, it may lag behind if it doesn’t follow through on its own plans of upgrading the BSA and football locker rooms. Plus, WIU has something NDSU will have to earn: a Division I winning tradition.
It has won four Gateway Football Conference titles in the last six years and was given the pre-season favorite’s nod this year in a Gateway media poll.
“The best promotion is winning,” said Dwaine Roche, the school’s associate director for development and promotions.
Roche is a Macomb staple. If you’re a Macomb resident and you don’t know him, then you probably just moved there. He’s helped orchestrate a money-raising atmosphere at WIU in ways NDSU does not.
“For a lot of years, we struggled just to maintain operating (capital),” Roche said. “So several years ago, we went to our donors and said if we want to compete in Division I, we need to upgrade our facilities. It’s been ambitious.”
The school built a Hall of Fame room, where Roche routinely brings potential donors to lay out his WIU vision. NDSU’s Hall of Fame is lost in a trophy case in the upper concourse of the BSA.
Thanks to a $300,000 initial gift WIU alum and former NFL linebacker Bryan Cox, the Leathernecks have a $1.8 million state-of-the-art football locker room and weight training facilities. NDSU’s football practice locker room is still under the old Dacotah Field bleachers.
“This is a ‘wow,’” Roche said, after opening the football locker room door.
It’s situated next to a beautiful Student Recreation Center. Walk a few minutes farther north and you’re greeted by Rocky the Bulldog, a statue that, by tradition, is painted by anybody on a regular basis.
“At least a thousand coats of paint on him,” Roche said.
It is here, in the heart of campus, where the small town of Macomb, population 18,558, comes alive on Saturday afternoons.
It’s a sleepy town in the summer, surrounded by corn and soybean fields. The town’s median age is 23. When classes begin in the fall, the town gets busy.
The Leathernecks averaged 10,205 fans last season, ranking them 22nd in I-AA.
Tailgating is huge. Two parking lots are reserved for pre-game partying.
One is for the large donors, where the school sells alcohol two hours before the start of the game and closes 15 minutes before kickoff. The other, situated in a valley, is called “The Pit.”
“You better get here early,” Roche said.
Asked about crowd control, he said, “We don’t have many issues at all with alcohol. We have security that is visible. What we say with our tailgating policy is that the laws of Illinois apply. If you can drink downtown, you can drink here.”
End of Part 1
Division I decision: Western Illinois offers view into Division I world
By Jeff Kolpack
jkolpack@forumcomm.com
The Forum - 08/17/2003
MACOMB, Ill. -- As the quarterback at Fargo Shanley in the early 1970s, Mike Pendergast lived the Deacon football lore. Sid Cichy. Dynasty. A 59-game winning streak.
Losing wasn’t really a thought back then. And neither was the emphasis on new facilities, weight rooms and equipment.
Just look at his old school. The old Shanley is gone, being replaced by upscale rental units. The new Shanley in south Fargo is a modern presentation of a high school.
Pendergast, the head trainer at Western Illinois University for 22 years, is seeing the same transformation at WIU.
“A lot of things weren’t done with facilities here for many years,” he said.
Pendergast is a 1975 North Dakota State graduate. As his old college moves into the Division I ranks beginning in 2004-05, the competitive arena for the Bison will include the likes of Western Illinois.
In football, WIU is a Division I-AA benchmark. The Leathernecks are a success, going 11-2 last year, reaching the No. 2 spot in the Division I-AA national poll and reaching the quarterfinals of the I-AA playoffs. The school won the Mid-Continent Conference all-around sports trophy.
With the Mid-Con a possible affiliation for NDSU, it offers this question: How does NDSU stack up?
Facility-wise, NDSU has the edge in football stadium, baseball stadium, track and field complex and, probably to the surprise of most people, a slight edge in basketball arena.
The facility edge, however, may not last. WIU is on the move.
By the time NDSU becomes eligible for Division I postseason in 2007-08, it may lag behind if it doesn’t follow through on its own plans of upgrading the BSA and football locker rooms. Plus, WIU has something NDSU will have to earn: a Division I winning tradition.
It has won four Gateway Football Conference titles in the last six years and was given the pre-season favorite’s nod this year in a Gateway media poll.
“The best promotion is winning,” said Dwaine Roche, the school’s associate director for development and promotions.
Roche is a Macomb staple. If you’re a Macomb resident and you don’t know him, then you probably just moved there. He’s helped orchestrate a money-raising atmosphere at WIU in ways NDSU does not.
“For a lot of years, we struggled just to maintain operating (capital),” Roche said. “So several years ago, we went to our donors and said if we want to compete in Division I, we need to upgrade our facilities. It’s been ambitious.”
The school built a Hall of Fame room, where Roche routinely brings potential donors to lay out his WIU vision. NDSU’s Hall of Fame is lost in a trophy case in the upper concourse of the BSA.
Thanks to a $300,000 initial gift WIU alum and former NFL linebacker Bryan Cox, the Leathernecks have a $1.8 million state-of-the-art football locker room and weight training facilities. NDSU’s football practice locker room is still under the old Dacotah Field bleachers.
“This is a ‘wow,’” Roche said, after opening the football locker room door.
It’s situated next to a beautiful Student Recreation Center. Walk a few minutes farther north and you’re greeted by Rocky the Bulldog, a statue that, by tradition, is painted by anybody on a regular basis.
“At least a thousand coats of paint on him,” Roche said.
It is here, in the heart of campus, where the small town of Macomb, population 18,558, comes alive on Saturday afternoons.
It’s a sleepy town in the summer, surrounded by corn and soybean fields. The town’s median age is 23. When classes begin in the fall, the town gets busy.
The Leathernecks averaged 10,205 fans last season, ranking them 22nd in I-AA.
Tailgating is huge. Two parking lots are reserved for pre-game partying.
One is for the large donors, where the school sells alcohol two hours before the start of the game and closes 15 minutes before kickoff. The other, situated in a valley, is called “The Pit.”
“You better get here early,” Roche said.
Asked about crowd control, he said, “We don’t have many issues at all with alcohol. We have security that is visible. What we say with our tailgating policy is that the laws of Illinois apply. If you can drink downtown, you can drink here.”
End of Part 1
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