DAC 2.0 - New D2 Conference..?

[Matt Witwicki]

The Fargo INFORUM has posted a follow-up article yesterday regarding the future of North Dakota NAIA programs..seeing as they look like they don't have a conference in the immediate future. It would seem there's been some chats in ND about the idea of them heading towards D2 and reforming the Dakota Athletic Conference, to some extent. The DAC had SD Mines and Black Hills..along with Minot, Mary, Jamestown and the NAIA schools in question..Mayville State, Valley City State, and Dakota State (SD).

I've subscribed to the Fargo paper to keep up with this ongoing story..as their content is otherwise behind a paywall. While I'm not going to blanket-post the entire article, I will detail key segments here.

McFeely's Tip Sheet: There is momentum for Dakotas schools to rebuild old DAC

One source said imagine a league with Valley City State, Mayville State, Dakota State, Bellevue, Minot State, Mary, Jamestown, Dickinson State, Black Hills State, South Dakota School of Mines and perhaps Montana-Billings (a Division II school that is a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference that stretches into British Columbia and Alaska).

"Minot State, for sure, and maybe Mary wouldn't mind getting out of the NSIC because they are sick of not being competitive. And everybody is looking at finances and how to save money, so getting those old schools back together would make sense in a lot of ways. Especially travel," said one NSIC source.

There's a growing sense of haves and have-nots in Division II, just as there is in every other NCAA division. Schools in a re-formed DAC would only have to compete against similar institutions to get to the postseason, instead of Minnesota State Mankato and Colorado School of Mines, for example.

[Matt Witwicki]

I've started a new thread for this specific topic since the Jamestown topic isn't the same as this..and it's gotten to be a very exhausting thread.

There would certainly be stumbling blocks with this idea (DAC 2.0), but I'm mentioning it more from an awareness standpoint.

[laker]

I think it would be a good idea competition wise. Keep some old rivalries, start some new ones.

[Matt Witwicki]

I think it would be a good idea competition wise. Keep some old rivalries, start some new ones.

On it's face, this seems to make sense for those schools involved since expenses and travel are a real thing for the schools. Competitive level also. This feels like talk of a GLVC of the North, to some extent.

[UMary1]

The Fargo INFORUM has posted a follow-up article yesterday regarding the future of North Dakota NAIA programs..seeing as they look like they don't have a conference in the immediate future. It would seem there's been some chats in ND about the idea of them heading towards D2 and reforming the Dakota Athletic Conference, to some extent. The DAC had SD Mines and Black Hills..along with Minot, Mary, Jamestown and the NAIA schools in question..Mayville State, Valley City State, and Dakota State (SD).

I've subscribed to the Fargo paper to keep up with this ongoing story..as their content is otherwise behind a paywall. While I'm not going to blanket-post the entire article, I will detail key segments here.

McFeely's Tip Sheet: There is momentum for Dakotas schools to rebuild old DAC

One source said imagine a league with Valley City State, Mayville State, Dakota State, Bellevue, Minot State, Mary, Jamestown, Dickinson State, Black Hills State, South Dakota School of Mines and perhaps Montana-Billings (a Division II school that is a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference that stretches into British Columbia and Alaska).

"Minot State, for sure, and maybe Mary wouldn't mind getting out of the NSIC because they are sick of not being competitive. And everybody is looking at finances and how to save money, so getting those old schools back together would make sense in a lot of ways. Especially travel," said one NSIC source.

There's a growing sense of haves and have-nots in Division II, just as there is in every other NCAA division. Schools in a re-formed DAC would only have to compete against similar institutions to get to the postseason, instead of Minnesota State Mankato and Colorado School of Mines, for example.

Thanks for bringing this up Witt. A while a go a poster stated that Mary as looking to go NAIA and telling recruits of this plan. I have a feeling this is what they are referring to. I remember when Mary and the now defunct Huron used to battle it out in the DAC. I would be all for this and feel Mary would have a leg up after battling in the competitive NSIC. Looking forward to following and seeing how this unfolds.

[Matt Witwicki]

Thanks for bringing this up Witt. A while a go a poster stated that Mary as looking to go NAIA and telling recruits of this plan. I have a feeling this is what they are referring to. I remember when Mary and the now defunct Huron used to battle it out in the DAC. I would be all for this and feel Mary would have a leg up after battling in the competitive NSIC. Looking forward to following and seeing how this unfolds.

FWIW....I haven't gotten the impression this would be an NAIA thing, but more likely D2. That said, it hasn't been clearly stated. I think the overall idea is to get the old DAC back together in some form..with some slight tweaks. Gotta wonder if they'd look at Chadron State also in this situation..as they are basically Rapid City to the South..but I'd guess travel for Chadron is about the same overall (avg miles per trip) in this DAC 2.0 vs the RMAC. You could make a case that this might be more of a fit for them instead of battling with CO Mines and CSUP..but that's their call.

I think the Rapid City schools would have a lot to do with the feasibility of this idea itself.

[UMary1]

FWIW....I haven't gotten the impression this would be an NAIA thing, but more likely D2. That said, it hasn't been clearly stated. I think the overall idea is to get the old DAC back together in some form..with some slight tweaks. Gotta wonder if they'd look at Chadron State also in this situation..as they are basically Rapid City to the South..but I'd guess travel for Chadron is about the same overall (avg miles per trip) in this DAC 2.0 vs the RMAC. You could make a case that this might be more of a fit for them instead of battling with CO Mines and CSUP..but that's their call.

I think the Rapid City schools would have a lot to do with the feasibility of this idea itself.

Yes, I should have said this is for D2, I can't see Mary and admin looking to head back to the NAIA. I could see Chadron making the move, will be interesting to see how this one unfolds.

[Matt Witwicki]

Things to consider with this new conference idea are the following..

-10 D2 schools are needed to start up a new conference (this existing idea does not have that)
-for a school to enter D2 from the NAIA they need for an existing conference to sponsor them
-the NCAA D2 has 23 conferences currently (across different sports) and has a cap of 24..so that door seems open
-If something like this occurred in the near future (it would have to be years away), the NSIC would lose 2 current members..and 1 future member (UJ)..which would bring the league to 11 football members. While there is strength in numbers in our ever-changing NCAA landscape, it wouldn't seem this number of teams would be concerning or problematic..other than not being an even number.

[wscsuperfan]

Things to consider with this new conference idea are the following..

-10 D2 schools are needed to start up a new conference (this existing idea does not have that)
-for a school to enter D2 from the NAIA they need for an existing conference to sponsor them
-the NCAA D2 has 23 conferences currently (across different sports) and has a cap of 24..so that door seems open
-If something like this occurred in the near future (it would have to be years away), the NSIC would lose 2 current members..and 1 future member (UJ)..which would bring the league to 11 football members. While there is strength in numbers in our ever-changing NCAA landscape, it wouldn't seem this number of teams would be concerning or problematic..other than not being an even number.

Do you think the NCAA would grant a waiver to this provision beings that it would be an entire new conference?

[Finchwidget]

Goes without saying that this would be really great competitive wise, but from a logistical standpoint, it would be nice to get the number of D2 conferences back up to 24 so each region could have three conferences even again and fill the void the Heartland Conference left after it got picked clean. You probably wouldn't need to reorganize the regions that much either, since it's the South Central that has only two conferences, and that's not that far from the footprint a hypothetical DAC would cover.

I've already heard all the reasons that Black Hills and SD Mines would probably scoff at being asked to join anything like this, but I'm a bit skeptical Jamestown would join either. They already left the Dakota schools once when they jumped ship from the NSAA to the GPAC, and they're only back in the NSAA now mostly because of circumstance, not choice. They may have history in the DAC, but recent history has shown that that doesn't really mean that much to the Jimmies. The NSIC would definitely be the better conference competitive wise too, so if Jamestown already has one foot in the door there, I don't see any reason why they'd be eager to link up with the schools they've ditched not once but twice now.

[Finchwidget]

Things to consider with this new conference idea are the following..

-10 D2 schools are needed to start up a new conference (this existing idea does not have that)

Are you not counting the schools that wouldn't be likely to join, like Black Hills and SD Mines? Because the source in the article you quoted listed out 10 candidates, with the possibility of an 11th.

[FullThrottleSD]

Wouldn't this new league be a good fit to Minnesota Crookston Athletics aswell? They certainly would compete better with those schools than their current spot in the Northern Sun.

[Stanger86]

I think the Rapid City schools would have a lot to do with the feasibility of this idea itself.

Completely agree. My initial thinking is that they would be against the idea. However, I wonder if the idea of including Chadron could help both Chadron and the RC schools say yes to moving to this new conference.

Just one idea...

FOOTBALL (10)
Chadron, Mary, Minot, Black Hills, SD Mines, Jamestown, Dickinson, Valley City, Mayville, Dakota State
NON-FOOTBALL (2)
MSU-Billings, UM-Crookston

[Stanger86]

-If something like this occurred in the near future (it would have to be years away), the NSIC would lose 2 current members..and 1 future member (UJ)..which would bring the league to 11 football members. While there is strength in numbers in our ever-changing NCAA landscape, it wouldn't seem this number of teams would be concerning or problematic..other than not being an even number.

Any possibility that with shrinking the conference footprint, it could entice St Cloud to start up football again?

[Tundra_Man]

Any possibility that with shrinking the conference footprint, it could entice St Cloud to start up football again?

My gut says "no." I don't think the slightly shorter travel distances would reduce expenses enough to make a football program economically viable for them. Plus, St. Cloud would be on the far eastern side of this new conference, and potential trips to the Black Hills or Chadron would be just as far as their previous trips to Minot. Probably even farther (although admittedly I haven't consulted a map on this.)

Edit: Wait... are you talking about St. Cloud coming back to the NSIC? I think I had it backwards in my head that you were thinking they would join the DAC. Anyway, I still don't think they would restart football just for reduced travel.