Purple Pride
June 9th, 2006, 08:33 AM
From the Log Cabin Democrat, Conway Arkansas:
UCA working on full D-I status a year early
There was one major bummer to University of Central Arkansas officials' first major Southland Conference meeting last week at Galveston, Texas.
":The Wednesday morning golf tournament was rained out and that was a big negative for me," said UCA President Lu Hardin with a sly smile.
Other than the fun and recreational glitch, Hardin could hardly contain his excitement after his initial dealings in the boardroom in the board room at the annual spring meeting with fellow presidents and SLC officials.
"I think conference officials really went out of my way to make me and Flavius Killebrew (president of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the other new member) feel very welcome," Hardin said.
And league officials helped give the UCA president a glimmer of hope for the future. There is an outside chance that UCA could be gain full-fledged status in NCAA I in four years instead of the five that NCAA rules specify (UCA's clock began with the 2005 athletic season). That means that UCA teams could be eligible for conference and NCAA postseason events by the 2008-2009 seasons rather than 2009-2010. That would meanĘthat athletes recruited this year could play for conference championshps and participate in NCAA tournament events by their senior years.
At this point, it's still a longshot. Hardin doesn't believe it is feasible to formally ask for an exemption to the rule.
He thinks UCA officials are going to have go through the front door, selling the NCAA on the idea that the Bears will be ready for every challenge NCAA offers by 2008 and hope the NCAA officials go ahead and offer full membership.
"We are going to have to develop a definitive plan to offer the NCAA, which must include major financial commitment, conference support and proof that we will be competitive by 2008-09," Hardin said.
SLC officials have already offered their full support for early eligibility, a major first step.
It is not an issue with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi because it was already a member of Division I. That institution just didn't have a conference affiliation until now.
UCA will have to show competitiveness by competing well and even winning some games against NCAA I teams in almost every sport in its first two years. UCA officials are also going to have to show capability of raising much more money.
"We are going to spend the summer looking at the options we have," Hardin said.
Later this month, Hardin will attend the Gulf South Conference meetings so the school can take the final steps to officially leave the Division II league by June 30.
UCA officials have been attending both SLC and GSC meetings for a year.
"I am convinced that the Gulf South is the strongest Division II conference in the country," Hardin said. "And I will sincerely miss the relationships with the presidents, particularly on the east side, who I won't see much any more. Of course, I will continue to work with many of the presidents on the western side (mostly in Arkansas) on higher education issues. But I developed exceptional, very close friendships with the Gulf South presidents.
"That said, I have been extremely impressed with how the Southland Conference does business and how gracious the officials were in both welcoming us and accommodating our scheduling. The resources the Southland has to help its schools are incredible. One thing that really impressed me is that Myles Brand (NCAA president) attended our Friday banquet and stayed over to meet with the presidents for two hours Saturday. I asked him how many conference meetings he goes to and he said only a few. That says a lot for the respect of the Southland that this was one of the meetings he attended. I was impressed with his advocacy of graduation rates and academic progress. He's serious about those issues."
And Hardin had it affirmed that UCA is very similar, in size, philosophy and academic missions with almost all of the SLC teams.
"The Southland is a perfect fit for us, except for the travel challenges," he said.
UCA working on full D-I status a year early
There was one major bummer to University of Central Arkansas officials' first major Southland Conference meeting last week at Galveston, Texas.
":The Wednesday morning golf tournament was rained out and that was a big negative for me," said UCA President Lu Hardin with a sly smile.
Other than the fun and recreational glitch, Hardin could hardly contain his excitement after his initial dealings in the boardroom in the board room at the annual spring meeting with fellow presidents and SLC officials.
"I think conference officials really went out of my way to make me and Flavius Killebrew (president of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the other new member) feel very welcome," Hardin said.
And league officials helped give the UCA president a glimmer of hope for the future. There is an outside chance that UCA could be gain full-fledged status in NCAA I in four years instead of the five that NCAA rules specify (UCA's clock began with the 2005 athletic season). That means that UCA teams could be eligible for conference and NCAA postseason events by the 2008-2009 seasons rather than 2009-2010. That would meanĘthat athletes recruited this year could play for conference championshps and participate in NCAA tournament events by their senior years.
At this point, it's still a longshot. Hardin doesn't believe it is feasible to formally ask for an exemption to the rule.
He thinks UCA officials are going to have go through the front door, selling the NCAA on the idea that the Bears will be ready for every challenge NCAA offers by 2008 and hope the NCAA officials go ahead and offer full membership.
"We are going to have to develop a definitive plan to offer the NCAA, which must include major financial commitment, conference support and proof that we will be competitive by 2008-09," Hardin said.
SLC officials have already offered their full support for early eligibility, a major first step.
It is not an issue with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi because it was already a member of Division I. That institution just didn't have a conference affiliation until now.
UCA will have to show competitiveness by competing well and even winning some games against NCAA I teams in almost every sport in its first two years. UCA officials are also going to have to show capability of raising much more money.
"We are going to spend the summer looking at the options we have," Hardin said.
Later this month, Hardin will attend the Gulf South Conference meetings so the school can take the final steps to officially leave the Division II league by June 30.
UCA officials have been attending both SLC and GSC meetings for a year.
"I am convinced that the Gulf South is the strongest Division II conference in the country," Hardin said. "And I will sincerely miss the relationships with the presidents, particularly on the east side, who I won't see much any more. Of course, I will continue to work with many of the presidents on the western side (mostly in Arkansas) on higher education issues. But I developed exceptional, very close friendships with the Gulf South presidents.
"That said, I have been extremely impressed with how the Southland Conference does business and how gracious the officials were in both welcoming us and accommodating our scheduling. The resources the Southland has to help its schools are incredible. One thing that really impressed me is that Myles Brand (NCAA president) attended our Friday banquet and stayed over to meet with the presidents for two hours Saturday. I asked him how many conference meetings he goes to and he said only a few. That says a lot for the respect of the Southland that this was one of the meetings he attended. I was impressed with his advocacy of graduation rates and academic progress. He's serious about those issues."
And Hardin had it affirmed that UCA is very similar, in size, philosophy and academic missions with almost all of the SLC teams.
"The Southland is a perfect fit for us, except for the travel challenges," he said.