Should Jamestown be accepted into the NSIC?

[SW_Mustang]

All good and I appreciate it. I've been reading up through this topic for some time, and will occasionally use google for updates, but that is the 1 school I haven't seen anything recently.

I do have an article about it from February - if I get a chance this afternoon I'll share it.

They are making a massive push on the facilities end of things and if they see it through all stages, it will be very impressive. Though I think they started that process long before conference movement talk began.

On the higher ed side, they are pushing to get into Sioux Falls too which I think is of note - though I haven't heard any updates on that in some time.

EDIT: (Welcome to page 99, we got fun and games)

[SW_Mustang]

Here's that article - it might be behind a paywall.

Dakota State University weighing NAIA, NCAA D-II options with current league set to fold - Mitchell Republic | News, weather, sports from Mitchell South Dakota

[MrMustang]

I think the general consensus is they're getting ready to court the NSIC. Longtime AD just retired as well.

Nothing official though as far as I'm aware. Several (dozen?) pages back, I put together a post about what each NSAA school was looking into and included them, though I don't remember what info I had.

They are in, just when

[SW_Mustang]

They are in, just when

Well, yeah. There's just no hard news about it.

Not a huge fan of adding in a town like Madison to the fold, but I guess we've been okay with it as a conference for a long time given the other places we have.

[Stanger86]

Well, yeah. There's just no hard news about it.

Not a huge fan of adding in a town like Madison to the fold, but I guess we've been okay with it as a conference for a long time given the other places we have.

Now that you say it, the Big Ten should welcome adding the Mankato market (45,000) because they're okay with it as a conference with towns like State College (40,000) and West Lafayette (45,000)!

[oldyellaHer69]

Trojans and Jimmies will have better facilities than half of the NSIC

[SW_Mustang]

Now that you say it, the Big Ten should welcome adding the Mankato market (45,000) because they're okay with it as a conference with towns like State College (40,000) and West Lafayette (45,000)!

That would be sweet! I would gladly support a D1 move if that were on the table (I say that like I actually have a say or some sway). The idea of MSU having something that even remotely resembles the bare minimum qualifications for entry warms my cold old heart. But alas - being under the thumb of the U for 150 years ensured MSU would never be an R1 AAU (or even an R2 for that matter).

The older I get, the less desire I have to make the trek to these little outposts. Game that starts at 7:00 gets done at 9:30, and if one isn't local to the area - it's a hike back to the nearest city for accommodations much of the time. It's not my thing - but I recognize I'm in the minority around here.

[Brandon]

Not a huge fan of adding in a town like Madison to the fold,

Why?

[SW_Mustang]

Why?

I mean - it all boils down to personal preference obviously.

The older I get, the less interested I become in these little outposts that don't have much to offer and are more than slightly inconvenient to get too. I'm sure they have a hotel there but I don't recall ever seeing one. I mean - we're talking less than a third of the size of Marshall here.

They also don't have a great reputation locally - but I haven't exactly figured out why. I haven't done any further inquiring.

The college itself is a decent school and it has a nice little campus.

[zimmy21]

Now that you say it, the Big Ten should welcome adding the Mankato market (45,000) because they're okay with it as a conference with towns like State College (40,000) and West Lafayette (45,000)!

I'll accept the offer in a heartbeat and take the pounding every year. The school will boom and the TV money will be an amazing benefit to the school and community frankly

[Tundra_Man]

I mean - it all boils down to personal preference obviously.

The older I get, the less interested I become in these little outposts that don't have much to offer and are more than slightly inconvenient to get too. I'm sure they have a hotel there but I don't recall ever seeing one. I mean - we're talking less than a third of the size of Marshall here.

They also don't have a great reputation locally - but I haven't exactly figured out why. I haven't done any further inquiring.

The college itself is a decent school and it has a nice little campus.

Just for clarification, Marshall is just a hair over twice the size of Madison, not three times. Also, Madison has three hotels within the city limits: Best Western, AmericInn and Super 8.

[SW_Mustang]

Just for clarification, Marshall is just a hair over twice the size of Madison, not three times. Also, Madison has three hotels within the city limits: Best Western, AmericInn and Super 8.

I thought it was 4,000 people. Apparently it's 6,000. Marshall is 14,000 which is more than just a hair, but I digress. That's my mistake.

I went down there a few times after moving to the area but haven't needed to go back for anything. Just as easy to continue on to Sioux Falls.

[Brandon]

I mean - it all boils down to personal preference obviously.

The older I get, the less interested I become in these little outposts that don't have much to offer and are more than slightly inconvenient to get too. I'm sure they have a hotel there but I don't recall ever seeing one. I mean - we're talking less than a third of the size of Marshall here.

They also don't have a great reputation locally - but I haven't exactly figured out why. I haven't done any further inquiring.

The college itself is a decent school and it has a nice little campus.

Right. It's mostly preference. I was just curious.

I was also curious how football playing schools in Division II compared to Marshall. By the way, wiki has Marshall at 13,628 and Madison at 6191 (about 45% the size of Marshall).

This is a list of schools in towns with a smaller population than Marshall. I didn't include any schools in a suburb of a large metro population, such as New Haven or Bentley. I'm sure I made an error or two.

Adams State
Arkansas-Monticello
Black Hills
California
Carson-Newman
Central State
Chadron State
Chowan
Clarion
Concord
Delta State
East Stroudsburg
Eastern New Mexico
Edinboro
Erskine
Ferris State
Fort Valley
Franklin Pierce
Frostburg State
Glenville State
Henderson State
Hillsdale
Kutztown
Limestone
Lincoln (Pa)
Lock Haven
Mars Hill
McKendree
Michigan Tech
Miles
Millersville
New Mexico Highlands
Newberry
North Greenville
Northwest Missouri
Northwestern Oklahoma
Ouachita Baptist
Pace
Shepherd
Shippensburg
Slippery Rock
Southern Arkansas
Southwest Baptist
Southwestern Oklahoma
Tuskegee
UNC-Pembroke
Upper Iowa
Virginia State
UVA-Wise
Wayne State
West Alabama
West Liberty
West Virginia State
West Virginia Wesleyan
Western Colorado
Western New Mexico
Western Oregon
Wingate

So there are 58ish schools in populations smaller than Marshall. That puts Marshall at around the 33% mark. No intent in any of this other than curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge and perspective.

[SW_Mustang]

Right. It's mostly preference. I was just curious.

I was also curious how football playing schools in Division II compared to Marshall. By the way, wiki has Marshall at 13,628 and Madison at 6191 (about 45% the size of Marshall).

This is a list of schools in towns with a smaller population than Marshall. I didn't include any schools in a suburb of a large metro population, such as New Haven or Bentley. I'm sure I made an error or two.

*snip*

So there are 58ish schools in populations smaller than Marshall. That puts Marshall at around the 33% mark. No intent in any of this other than curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge and perspective.

My perspective comes as a combination of being quasi-local to Madison as well as being a hypothetical opposing fan, which is obviously not under consideration when picking conference opponents and I get that. There's a pocket of DSU alumni that relocates up here for work, and the ones I've been around have been lukewarm at best about their experience there, negative at worst.

Anyway - that's interesting info, thanks for sharing. I was wrong about Madison's population, I thought they were around 4,000 but you are right. Proximity to Sioux Falls seems to be a huge determining factor in eastern SD as to who gets amenities and who doesn't, which is not the fault of the town itself. That is also another piece to it.

I use Marshall because that 13,000-15,000 population number seems to be the sweet spot to where they can attract more things than the average small town, though Marshall is also a regional hub for the state and has the benefit of many supporting communities within 30-ish miles or so, so they may have more than most towns that size.

[CollegeFBGuy]

Just for clarification, Marshall is just a hair over twice the size of Madison, not three times. Also, Madison has three hotels within the city limits: Best Western, AmericInn and Super 8.

I wonder if this would be similar to Wayne, where teams stay an hour away? Brookings is 45 minutes.

I did see a DQ and a Pizza Ranch listed, so that's a plus :)