NCAA talking about creating a new division

NCAA sent out feelers to D-III schools on the feasibility of creating a D-IV. D-III is expected to grow to 480 members in the next ten years.

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=190102

 

Meanwhile ,on the high end, isn't there some thought that the Subdivision Formerly Known as I-A might need to be redivided at some point between the "real" majors and the teams that shoulda stayed at I-AA?

 

No way in hell I'm changing my username, buck!!

Heijra, I've heard something along those lines several years ago when the NCAA was toying with bumping the MAC down to 1-AA football level because they don't pull in 50k+ fans to their games.

This might be a dumb question (to steal the line from Steve Czaban), but why don't the NCAA absorb NAIA and make it D-4? After all, those sweater-vest, bow-tie wearing thugs in Indy has some part in running the NIT, right?

 

I like how D-3 Fan has Drake in his avatar.

Before this season, I thought the Bulldogs had fallen to D-3.

 

ZING!!!!

 

The only place that makes any sense is for basketball, and I don't see that happening as the low majors still enjoy getting into The Big Dance, even if it means getting crushed by Kansas.

Unless the screams become deafening, I don't see D-I changing.

 

Fixed.

 

I take it by instituting D-IV, they're preparing to welcome our university football teams into the fold.

 

Fixed again ...

 

DOUBLE ZING!!!

There was talk back in the early 90's that Drake would drop to D-3 only for football. Hell, they were playing a quasi D-III back in the day after the school decided to do away with schollies in the mid-80's and instituted the 2.0 rule. The football team had to find opponents to play them.

Then the NCAA created the I-AA non-schollie division for schools like Drake, Dayton, San Diego, and Davidson. But Drake still plays Platteville, Waldorf, and the small schools to fill out the schedule. There was no way in fucking hell that the blue bloods were going to let basketball drop down from D-I. Most of long-time fans are still living through the '69 team, Kreklow, Lewis Lloyd, and Curt Smith. The Drake crowd and Des Moines focus all of their attention on how the basketball team can relive the glory days of Maury John, McCarter, Dolph, Don Draper, et al.

They don't even bother to show up to watch winning football teams for 18 years under Rob Ash. Ash is now at Montana State. Drake is identified by the basketball program and that's it.

Drake basketball from '87 through '03 were the running joke in the state. It was bad. Bad with Tom Abetemarco, bad with Rudy Washington, and bad with Kurt Kanaskie. Rudy ran the program into the ground (he was the anamoly from Tom Davis' coaching tree. He couldn't coach worth a shit). One example: Drake was playing their final game at Vets Auditorium downtown before moving into the Knapp Center on campus. Drake has a four point lead with :17 seconds left. To this day, I still don't know how in the fuck did their opponent walked out of there with a win. Drake found new ways to lose with Rudy.

Kanaskie was a really nice guy, but he couldn't recruit, the 2.0 rule handcuffed him (thanks to the Drake Group and the school), and he was way over his head IMO.

Thank god Tom Davis was golfing in 2003 when former AD Dave Blank called to ask him about who to get as a new coach. They would have dropped to NAIA and I would have been happy for them because it would have been the right decision.

 

How about a D-III Championship Subdivision and a D-III Fail Subdivision?

 

How about a professional division? D-$.