July 1 - Moving Day 2024

[Finchwidget]

North American University Stallions (NAIA Independent) have moved to the Sooner Athletic Conference and will begin play there this coming season. The school is located in Stafford, TX (near Houston).

Do you mean for football? I know they play there as a football affiliate, but I thought they were in the Red River Athletic Conference for everything else.

[laker]

Do you mean for football? I know they play there as a football affiliate, but I thought they were in the Red River Athletic Conference for everything else.

The SAC site agrees with you. Sooner Athletic Conference

[chapmaja]

DII Executive Board approves budget flexibility to expedite process for new championship opportunities

As of today, D2 has enough teams for a championship in Bowling and Men's Volleyball. Women's Wrestling needs 1 more team. We are within 10 teams to have Acrobatics & Tumbling and Beach Volleyball. I believe when D2 begins sponsoring a championship it would force every team that currently plays in a D1 conference to move to their home conference or D2 Independent. Lewis Men's Volleyball is the only team in any of those sports to have played in NCAA before the 2011 D1 play-up ruling but that was because D2 did not sponsor a championship so not the same situation as Dallas Baptist Baseball.

Dallas Baptist has been an NCAA Baseball Institution since 2004, well before the NCAA's 2011 ruling. IIRC the NCAA ruling stated that teams who were competing up could maintain that status as long as the program was continually operated at that level, which DBU has been. There are several other sports in which teams have been competing up since well before 2011 which have a championship in D2. You have multiple D2 schools with wrestling teams which compete at the D1 level.

You are correct that Lewis Men's Volleyball has been a long time member of the NCAA D1 level having had a good amount of sucess as well including 9 trips to the Final Four.

[Tech Boys]

Augusta Men's Golf and Women's Golf
Bloomsburg Men's Wrestling
Dallas Baptist Baseball
Francis Marion Men's Golf
Lock Haven Field Hockey and Men's Wrestling
Pennsylvania Western-Clarion Men's Wrestling
Pennsylvania Western-Edinboro Men's Wrestling

Those are the only teams from D2 members that play D1 and the 2011 ruling "grandfathered" them in and also allows them to bring in one women's team if they haven't done so already.

D1/D2 Men's Volleyball plays in the National Collegiate Division which is the division all NCAA members are in for sports that do not have a championship in their own division. When D3 started their Men's Volleyball Championship, every D3 team left the NC Division. This is what will happen when D2 adds a championship. The NC Division is separate from D1 and is not a part of the 2011 ruling. This is what makes the Lewis Men's Volleyball situation different than Dallas Baptist Baseball.

One thing that might slow the establishment of a D2 Men's Volleyball Championship is that there is less than 35 D1 members sponsoring the sport.

[laker]

Augusta Men's Golf and Women's Golf
Bloomsburg Men's Wrestling
Dallas Baptist Baseball
Francis Marion Men's Golf
Lock Haven Field Hockey and Men's Wrestling
Pennsylvania Western-Clarion Men's Wrestling
Pennsylvania Western-Edinboro Men's Wrestling

Those are the only teams from D2 members that play D1 and the 2011 ruling "grandfathered" them in and also allows them to bring in one women's team if they haven't done so already.

D1/D2 Men's Volleyball plays in the National Collegiate Division which is the division all NCAA members are in for sports that do not have a championship in their own division. When D3 started their Men's Volleyball Championship, every D3 team left the NC Division. This is what will happen when D2 adds a championship. The NC Division is separate from D1 and is not a part of the 2011 ruling. This is what makes the Lewis Men's Volleyball situation different than Dallas Baptist Baseball.

One thing that might slow the establishment of a D2 Men's Volleyball Championship is that there is less than 35 D1 members sponsoring the sport.

Hockey has several D2 and D3 teams playing D1 hockey. There is a D3 championship, and one actual D2 league at that level but there is no longer a sponsored D2 hockey tournament.

[crixus]

Do you mean for football? I know they play there as a football affiliate, but I thought they were in the Red River Athletic Conference for everything else.

Yes, I mean football (it's the Football Forum). And they will play in the SAC as an official football affiliate starting this coming season.

[crixus]

The SAC site agrees with you. Sooner Athletic Conference

I also mentioned the Sooner Athletic Conference in my original post about the North American University Stallions.

[crixus]

Some of these teams have been mentioned, but I don't think all of them have. Scroll down to Future College Teams near the bottom of the page on the left hand side.

http://nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/

[Tech Boys]

Hockey has several D2 and D3 teams playing D1 hockey. There is a D3 championship, and one actual D2 league at that level but there is no longer a sponsored D2 hockey tournament.

The D3 teams are grandfathered in and the D2 teams are there because of no D2 championship. D1 Men's Hockey is called that due to its historical designation but it is really National Collegiate. If you look at Women's Hockey or Men's Volleyball on ncaa.com, the division choices in the dropdown menu are NC and DIII. The NE10 Men's Hockey for some reason has chosen not to participate in the championship division although they do on the women's side in the NEWHA.

[SW_Mustang]

The D3 teams are grandfathered in and the D2 teams are there because of no D2 championship. D1 Men's Hockey is called that due to its historical designation but it is really National Collegiate. If you look at Women's Hockey or Men's Volleyball on ncaa.com, the division choices in the dropdown menu are NC and DIII. The NE10 Men's Hockey for some reason has chosen not to participate in the championship division although they do on the women's side in the NEWHA.

They probably don't see a reason too and/or can't afford it if they wanted too.

[SW_Mustang]

Cochise County Board of Supervisors Candidate Kathleen Gomez says Cochise College's Douglas campus is going to close.

Board of Supervisors candidate peddling unfounded rumors of Cochise College closing its Douglas campus | Douglas Dispatch | myheraldreview.com

Rumor appears to not be true, thankfully. The Douglas campus of Cochise participates in the NJCAA in six sports and has a number of former MLB players on their alumni list.

[crixus]

Copper Mountain College (home of the Fighting Cacti) in Joshua Tree, California will be adding Men's & Women's Cross Country and Distance Track teams for the 2025/2026 school year. They currently feature Men's & Women's Basketball and Women's Volleyball and compete in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference (JUCO) in southern California.

[laker]

This makes UTSA the third biggest research university in Texas. Is this a door to the AAU, or just a nothing burger?

UT System Board of Regents announces plans to integrate UTSA and UT Health San Antonio into a premier global university to best serve Texas and the nation | The University of Texas System

[SW_Mustang]

This makes UTSA the third biggest research university in Texas. Is this a door to the AAU, or just a nothing burger?

UT System Board of Regents announces plans to integrate UTSA and UT Health San Antonio into a premier global university to best serve Texas and the nation | The University of Texas System

Evolution of a vision: Eighmy shares updated strategic goals for UTSA | UTSA Today | UTSA | The University of Texas at San Antonio

"...UTSA is now setting its sight on membership in the nation’s most premier research university category, the Association of American Universities (AAU)."

It's well known that the AAU values colleges with their own medical school, which is the determining factor for the dismissal of Nebraska, as well as the withdrawal of Iowa State. UTSA crossed a huge hurdle on their path, but there's a lot of other things the AAU is going to look at that UTSA likely doesn't have. They also don't appear to be kind to non-flagship public schools outside of California either - but that might have more to do with non-flagships not being up to par across the board.

One thing I'm curious about though is I'm reading that the med school will continue to run pretty much autonomously as it has. I wonder if the AAU will consider that or not when it comes time to apply for membership.

That being said - I can guarantee Nebraska is watching this situation closely. They've been making their own push to get back in and I'm reading that a similar merger with the University of Nebraska medical school is potentially being considered.

[laker]

That being said - I can guarantee Nebraska is watching this situation closely. They've been making their own push to get back in and I'm reading that a similar merger with the University of Nebraska medical school is potentially being considered.

This was what I was most interested in- if they would be doing this to get back in.