(06-09-2021 12:15 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(06-09-2021 11:23 AM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(06-09-2021 08:02 AM)OscarWildeCat Wrote:  

(06-08-2021 05:44 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(06-08-2021 05:40 PM)OscarWildeCat Wrote:  There is more to It than simply adding a men’s sport. In addition to however many scholarships are needed for the new sport, an additional three dozen scholarships are required to jump up to FBS. Adding 50 or so new men’s scholarships creates a gender imbalance and Title IX problems that would likely require new women’s sports opportunities to remain in compliance.

Who says anything about jumping to FBS?

Yes, more scholarships would be needed to compete at FCS (same as any other D2 move up). And the admission fee, etc.

But solely adding a men's sport (like Cross-Country) isn't a big expense compared to all of the other costs to move up a level.

Insert FCS in my previous comment and remove FBS. The jump to FCS from D2 requires upping scholarships from 36 to 62. Add a new men’s sport into the mix such as cross country (another 12.5 scholarships) and the imbalance grows.

You are missing the point. The StuRay's original claim was that MSU couldn't upgrade (vs any other DII) because they lacked 6 men's sports.

My reply was that really isn't a big deal, since you could add a cheap men's sports.

The other costs that you mention would apply to ANY DII move-up, not just MSU.

But the argument did kick over a rock that some of us haven't thought of--we're (ahem, I'm) pulling up Lone Star Conference maps on wikipedia, maybe taking a quick look at enrollment numbers, and saying "I guess the Southland takes A&M Kingsville and A&M Commerce to shore up football." EDIT: And, furthermore, that 3 openings in the WAC and Southland make the Lone Star (football) Conference unstable, which means West Texas A&M pretty much has to make a move. (And WTA&M would pick the WAC)

But what Stugray (I think) is saying, maybe too concisely, is that most Division II schools aren't in the position that West Texas A&M is or (I assume) Tarleton State and Dixie State were a couple of years ago, where they wer 80 or 90% prepared for Division I, mostly just lacking an invite.

Is that about right? When Dixie State and Tarleton State were invited, did they have to add a couple of sports, in addition to adding scholarships and everything else?

I'll try to explain better. When I am looking for schools to potentially move to D2 the first thing I examine is how many and what sports they sponsor. If they don't meet NCAA and D2 requirements I remove them from the list. Then I look at enrollment and location to help determine the best conference fit.

D1 requires more sports sponsored by a school than D2. As of now, only in terms of the breakdown of number of sports sponsored, Midwestern State is one of about 100 D2 schools who are not eligible for D1. Sure, MSU can easily add a sport but that is just step one; step two would be all that needs to be done for a potential D1 move.

When Dixie State and Tarleton State received their WAC invitations, DSU already had 6m/9w sports and TSU already had 6m/8w sports. So both schools met the D1 requirement of sponsoring at least 7/7 or 6m/8w sports. TSU has since added women's soccer.

Of course there is a lot more involved in moving to a different division, most relating to finances, but in my view the sports sponsored is a basic requirement that needs to be met first. This is the reason I was stunned by the D2 Peach Belt Conference inviting South Carolina-Beaufort to join from the NAIA. USCB sponsors the right number of sports and they participate in all three seasons for both genders but they have only 1 men's team sport. They will need to add a men's team sport (basketball) before they can join the NCAA.