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Students, Norse sports fans and faculty are going to have wait a little longer for Northern Kentucky University to go Division I.
It’s going to be a long road for the Division II school to make the jump, and not all of it is under its control.
Forced to wait
“Right now we’re stuck in the moratorium,” said NKU Athletic Director Scott Eaton.
The moratorium refers to the proposal adopted under emergency authority by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors that, starting Aug. 9, 2007, puts a four-year halt on any school wishing to begin the provisional or reclassification process as a D-I institution.
“They enacted the moratorium because they had too many schools applying to be Division I,” Eaton said. “And those schools were putting all of their money into their basketball programs and treating the rest of their sports like second and third-class citizens. We have to make sure all of our programs are supported equally.”
Aside from waiting two more years before it can start the process, NKU has other issues to address before it puts all of its eggs in the D-I basket. One of them is a “feasibility study,” which looks at how good the possibility of the move is, and whether it’s one NKU can, and should, make.
Outsourcing the study is Eaton, who is now looking at bids from outside research groups to conduct the study. But this isn’t the first time a D-I study has been done.
“Four or five years ago we hired an outside consultant to research the potential for us to go D-I,” said NKU President James Votruba. “The results showed we had two sets of challenges. One was having the proper facilities. The second was our operating budget being sufficient enough.”
With the addition of the Bank of Kentucky Center, the Student Union and the ongoing construction of the soccer complex and Griffin Hall, both Votruba and Eaton expressed confidence that the facilities challenge has been — and will continue to be — met.
Dipping into the wallet
“The biggest thing now is money,” Eaton said. “Financially, we’re not ready to make that move. To do it will take more staffing and scholarship dollars. And given the state of the economy, no one has a good feel for that (the move to D-I).”
To make the financial issue more complicated, NKU will also have to pay a fee once it starts its reclassification.
“It will most likely be a six-figure payment,” Votruba said. “And we’re thinking it can be anywhere between $800,000 to $1 million.”
Votruba also mentioned that if NKU goes D-I, the move would tack an additional $4 million onto its budget every year.
“If the study shows we can’t afford it, then I’m against it,” Votruba said.
The potential move will undoubtedly be received with a wave of questions from all corners of the NKU community.
“It’s a huge investment,” said Jeff Waple, Dean of Students. “Is this the right time to do this with this economic era we’re in? Do we have the capacity to handle the jump in enrollment? Are there better uses for that money? Those are questions people will be asking.
“Right now we need more class space, more practice space and more faculty.”
While Waple labels himself a “fence rider” on the subject, he does admit that going to D-I can bring a lot of good to the university.
“It will give us a chance to compete at the highest level,” Waple said. “It would give us exposure, and student athletes an incredible experience. To play against UC, Xavier, Ohio State, the big-name schools … that’s what you dream about.”
Issues on the home front
With a move to D-I and playing big schools like Ohio State and Xavier, the university has another issue to address — getting people to actually go to the games. It’s a growing problem that has plagued Norse sports for some years now.
“I would be more inclined to attend games if we were Division I,” said Brittany Soper, a senior Marketing major at NKU. But Eaton feels as though attendance at games is already seeing a steady increase.
“We had just over 200 students attend a soccer game recently,” Eaton said.
He went on to say that the Bank of Kentucky Center is one of the top 50 facilities in the country, and thinks students will be eager to fill the seats when the Norse play some of the aforementioned big-name schools. And despite the huge financial investment Waple stressed, it and the positives that could come from the move are only one part of a larger list of matters to be addressed. The NCAA will be making known to every D-I prospect in the near future what it requires for acceptance into the division.
“They are likely to require more sports, and will definitely require a conference affiliation,” Eaton said. He said he has a short list of possible conferences NKU could join.
“The Ohio Valley Conference is a possibility, the Horizon League is a possibility and the Summit League is a possibility,” Eaton said. “It’s hard to tell right now what the best fit is for us. The study is a work in progress. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
While a move to D-I means a lot for athletics, Eaton emphasized the weight it carries on the institution as a whole.
“It’s a total institutional decision,” Eaton said. “It’s not just athletics.” Votruba further emphasized the weight a D-I move would have on the entire university.
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