Hillsdale to DI?

[Uindy18]

So I know the DI buzz around here is crazy, but just saw this from ESPN. It floats the idea of Hillsdale being another DI transition candidate along with Grand Valley to the OVC with USI and Lindenwood. It also mentions Lincoln Memorial out of Tennessee as another candidate. Thoughts?

link is here : https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...erence-changes

[SuperOily]

So I know the DI buzz around here is crazy, but just saw this from ESPN. It floats the idea of Hillsdale being another DI transition candidate along with Grand Valley to the OVC with USI and Lindenwood. It also mentions Lincoln Memorial out of Tennessee as another candidate. Thoughts?

link is here : https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...erence-changes

Hard to imagine that happening, primarily due to size. I can't imagine the financials would be there.

[Guest]

So I know the DI buzz around here is crazy, but just saw this from ESPN. It floats the idea of Hillsdale being another DI transition candidate along with Grand Valley to the OVC with USI and Lindenwood. It also mentions Lincoln Memorial out of Tennessee as another candidate. Thoughts?

link is here : https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...erence-changes

So I just saw your post as I was going to post this same article. It is unusual for ESPN to post an article for realignment that is for the lower level conferences, and with possible predictions of upgrading schools. Hillsdale and Lincoln Memorial had prior to that barely have been mentioned. This could hasten the timeline or the writer knows something we do not about the back work in the D1 conferences and knows more than rumors. Just my take.

[Guest]

UIndy18 I had seen posted on here previously about Indianapolis moving. Is there any chance of that?

[Tony Nicolette]

So I know the DI buzz around here is crazy, but just saw this from ESPN. It floats the idea of Hillsdale being another DI transition candidate along with Grand Valley to the OVC with USI and Lindenwood. It also mentions Lincoln Memorial out of Tennessee as another candidate. Thoughts?

link is here : https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...erence-changes

USI and Lindenwood have already announced, so there is nothing speculative (or interesting) there. Story still to be written regarding GV.

As for Hillsdale, they have the $ to live pretty much anywhere they want in terms of the current NCAA structure. With that said, I would be wildly curious to know from where the idea is even being generated. I certainly don't know much, nor do I proclaim to be super-connected. With that said, the folks I do know have dismissed this rather summarily. This is either patently false, OR it is one of the best kept secrets going...

[Uindy18]

UIndy18 I had seen posted on here previously about Indianapolis moving. Is there any chance of that?

I would put it at a 15% chance they move.They have better financials and competition history than some others that have made the jump to D1 (very much on par with USI and Lindernwood). Up until recently, the AD there was adamantly pro-DII so the chances were low then. New administration took over last year i think, and they seem to stick to the status quo by available evidence. The 2 big losses from the GLVC hurts Uindy, but I would put a move to the GMAC (I have been on this bandwagon for some time) or even to the GLIAC as more likely than a Uindy move to DI with both butler and IUPUI next door. Not impossible, but unlikely is my best guess.

[boatcapt]

USI and Lindenwood have already announced, so there is nothing speculative (or interesting) there. Story still to be written regarding GV.

As for Hillsdale, they have the $ to live pretty much anywhere they want in terms of the current NCAA structure. With that said, I would be wildly curious to know from where the idea is even being generated. I certainly don't know much, nor do I proclaim to be super-connected. With that said, the folks I do know have dismissed this rather summarily. This is either patently false, OR it is one of the best kept secrets going...

I classify the Hillsdale and UIndy parts of the story the same as I classify the thousands of Mock Drafts floating around...More exercises in someone's imagination rather than grounded in facts. Could one or even both make the jump? Sure...but there is a big difference between CAN and WILL!

[CALUPA69]

Every time I hear this discussion about the University of Wherever, I am reminded of my introduction to D2 football and the various power schools....GVSU, NWMSU, PSU and of course the University of North Alabama. The Lions, after a three year run in the '90s, was everyone's first choice of a school that was wasting their time at this level and should move up immediately. And so after several years of such talk they took the leap and generally belly flopped. At least as far as football is concerned. They might, and I'll guess will, get the ship righted, but it's certainly can be said this jump isn't a given even for the very best. I suspect some of those we believe may go this route are taking a good hard look at the UNA experience.

[EastStroud13]

Your post made me go down a rabbit hole of teams that moved up from D2. Of the teams that have moved up from D2, Jacksonville State is the most recent to make it to FBS, and they left D2 in 1994. The most successful callup still in FCS is, of course, North Dakota State, who left D2 in 2004.

Seven D2 football programs have left for FCS since 2010: Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian in 2012, North Alabama in 2017, Merrimack and LIU in 2018, and Tarleton State and Dixie State (soon to be Utah Tech) in 2019. These teams have combined for exactly 5 winning seasons as part of an FCS conference (so not counting Independent schedules): Incarnate Word in 2015, 2018, and 2021, Abilene Christian in 2018, and Tarleton State in 2021. It's been a lot of mediocrity, and while I think North Alabama can turn it around, it's probably a multi-year process. I can't see someone like Hillsdale moving up and being successful anytime soon.

That said, Grand Valley State would appear to be one of the better-suited schools to move up to FCS. The infrastructure is all there. They're a large school in a reasonably large metro area with a history of all-around success. There's minimal competition in Michigan for FCS talent, given that there are no other FCS schools in Michigan. I think they are well-primed to have some legitimate success within 5 years of moving up, if the investment is there.

I look at them the way I looked at James Madison. They're a school that, when you strip the label away, looked like a G5 school when it comes to competitiveness, infrastructure, and support. Now that they're actually G5, I'm curious to where they are in 5 years, and if they've reached the point of contention yet. If GVSU hasn't moved up by then, JMU's success could provide a measuring stick for what GVSU's move could look like, even though it's at a different level.

[Brandon]

Whenever some lower level D1 conference is in need of a school, there are always a lot of D2 schools listed that have no business being listed. The fault is believing that the person writing the story is doing anything more than looking at a map.

[Inkblot]

Matt Brown of Extra Points, who's one of the best reporters on realignment, said that Hillsdale talked with the OVC. Nothing more has been said, so it's quite possible the talks came to nothing.

[Uindy18]

Matt Brown of Extra Points, who's one of the best reporters on realignment, said that Hillsdale talked with the OVC. Nothing more has been said, so it's quite possible the talks came to nothing.

Interesting, I have to imagine that when a conference is looking for members, I have to think there are a lot they kick the tires on before they find a school that wants to move up and has the resources to do so. Seems like the OVC is contacting a lot of schools with one being Hillsdale, and Hillsdale turned them down by available evidence.

[UMary1]

So I know the DI buzz around here is crazy, but just saw this from ESPN. It floats the idea of Hillsdale being another DI transition candidate along with Grand Valley to the OVC with USI and Lindenwood. It also mentions Lincoln Memorial out of Tennessee as another candidate. Thoughts?

link is here : https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...erence-changes

Nothing against you UIndy 18 but ESPN has subjected itself to joke status as it stands. Theyve been desperate for a while and are. throwing mud on fences looking for ridiculous takes. Not saying both schools wont ever be D1 I am just saying using them as a source in today's day and age is like me saying Wayne State University is joining the Horizon because an 8th grader at Slippery Rock Elementary heard it.

[boatcapt]

Interesting, I have to imagine that when a conference is looking for members, I have to think there are a lot they kick the tires on before they find a school that wants to move up and has the resources to do so. Seems like the OVC is contacting a lot of schools with one being Hillsdale, and Hillsdale turned them down by available evidence.

I think there is a lot of informal talking that goes on. Call it tire kicking or due diligence or just curiosity...doesn't go anywhere and the public never knows about it unless someone leaks (intentionally or unintentionally) to someone who knows a reporter. That or a fat cat donor finds out that the AD at NW Delta College of Business rode in the elevator with the Comish of the SEC so they MUST have been talking about the NWDCofB "Red Crawfish" joining the SEC and HE leaks it anonimously to the local sports reporter desperate for a story.

[crixus]

Matt Brown of Extra Points, who's one of the best reporters on realignment, said that Hillsdale talked with the OVC. Nothing more has been said, so it's quite possible the talks came to nothing.

That makes sense. Thanks.