(05-01-2017 10:34 PM)johnintx Wrote:  

(05-01-2017 07:56 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  I do see some potentials for Oklahoma City U. rejoin the D1 ranks. They did not do bad at D1. The payouts for men's basketball in the tournaments are much more now than it was back in the 1970s and 80s when OKCU were D1. They might have been a potential MVC target today if they have stayed. I do see them as a better GAC member than Southern Nazarene or a NW Oklahoma State.

I can remember when OCU was Division I. That means I'm getting old. They struggled toward the end of their run, but they have a proud history. They played in a total of 11 NCAA D-I tournaments, and were founding members of the Trans America (now Atlantic Sun) and Midwestern City (now Horizon League) conferences. They struggled in their last years in D-I, but moved to the NAIA and became a beast. They've won 6 NAIA men's national championships, but none since 2008. They've won a ton of NAIA national championships in other sports, as well.

I'm not close to the situation, so I'm not familiar with their financials, but they didn't follow their local NAIA rivals (Southern Nazarene, Oklahoma Christian, Oklahoma Baptist) to D-II. I do know there was a move in the 2000's for them to move back to D-I and play in what is now Chesapeake Energy Arena, but the NBA came to town, those ideas went by the wayside, and OCU stayed in the NAIA. Their undergraduate enrollment is under 2000, but they have well-respected graduate programs in law and business that bump their total enrollment to over 3000 students. They would fit in the D-II Heartland Conference (no football), but they appear content in the NAIA. With the Thunder, OU, and OSU, there is simply no oxygen for another D-I program in the area.

(05-01-2017 07:56 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  In the future, I think Oklahoma Baptist could be a target for a D1 conference invite.

I'm an OBU grad. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't think anyone there is pointing to Division I in the future. We're in the third year of a three-year transition from NAIA to Division II. If the transition finishes well (and it has gone well so far), we'll be approved as full members of D-II this summer. This will be our 5th season back on the football field, having played two in NAIA and two in the D-II GAC. There are plans for a 7500 seat stadium, but fundraising is not complete. Basketball has struggled in the transition, after much success in the NAIA. We went from being an NAIA basketball school to being a D-II football school. :-) The other sports will be fine in D-II. We won three consecutive Learfield Directors' Cups in NAIA before leaving it. We're sponsoring 19 NCAA men's and women's sports (GAC, with swimming and lacrosse in the RMAC) at a school with around 1800 enrollment, spending just over $7,500,000 per year. We can be a good D-II program, but D-I would be a huge stretch. And that's ok. Not every school has to be big-time.

I picked OBU because Shawnee is growing big time. Last time I went by there was in 2007, and I am amazed how it have grown. Since I am a Norman High School grad of 1987, I have a thing for states that I lived in for the small schools to reach the big time. If it is Washington, Idaho, Colorado, California, Arizona, Oklahoma and Arkansas, plus schools from states that I loved to visit like Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming, Texas, New Mexico and Missouri. That is why I like to see schools like College of Idaho and Arizona Christian to move up beCAUSE of football.