Central Washington moving to DI?

[Shockerman]

Now that Western Washington has dropped Football that leaves all of four colleges playing DII Football west of Colorado. If they were ever going to make the move now would be the time as the Great West would take them for all sports in heartbeat. With some success one would think they would stand a chance at getting into the Big Sky with Eastern. Any thoughts on this?

[UNHWildCats]

it would make sense for all four schools to look at moving up and it certainly would be a good thing for FCS to have more schools out west.

What are the other three schools?

[RationalGriz]

Humboldt St, Western Oregon, and Dixie St.

[I Bleed Purple]

Dixie State and Southern Utah both as DI? I don't see it.

[Cleets]

Dixie...
Dixie Normous

xwhistlex

[grizband]

Dixie...
Dixie Normous

xwhistlex
Dixie Wrecked...?xeyebrowx

[GOKATS]

I don't know if Central Washington is ready to move up, but they are at the top of DII FB and gave the griz a helluva a game at wa/griz last fall.

[BearsCountry]

Grand Canyon State starts in 2010 or 11, so D2 in the west can get a little more stable.

[grizband]

I don't know if Central Washington is ready to move up, but they are at the top of DII FB and gave the griz a helluva a game at wa/griz last fall.
And they beat MSU in their last game:

10/05/02 CWU 31 MSU 16

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Anybody know why Western is dropping football? This is news to me. They gave Eastern a hell of a game this season.

[Keeper]

Bellingham is 30 min from the Canadian border, and any road football game is an expensive undertaking. Univ president cited lack of comparable opponents in this region and overall costs of program, lots of red ink.

There aren't that many football playing colleges out here
and even going to NAIA is not an option. They've tried a Battle in Seattle with Central Wash for a few years now but the revenue/interest is just not there.

Central is probably better situated to go D3 Northwest Conference, but those are all private schools and broke away years ago. Central would probably prefer to remain D2 independent but may be more likely to suffer the same fate as Western football wise. IMO they are
too remote and undersized to eventually compete in the Big Sky or D1 program. NAIA or D3 is their best chance.

[89Hen]

Moving to DI is a big commitment and entails a lot more than football. On the "only four DII's west of CO"... is that four playing football, or four total?

[chrisattsu]

Moving to DI is a big commitment and entails a lot more than football. On the "only four DII's west of CO"... is that four playing football, or four total?

Football. Just like FCS, there is a small number of D2 schools out west.

Alaska- 2 schools (no football)
Arizona - 1 school (no football)
California- 12 schools (1 football)
Montana- 1 school (no football)
Oregon- 1 university (1 football)
Utah- 1 university (1 football)
Washington- 4 schools (2.. now 1 with football)

http://www.siue.edu/ATHLETIC/d2/state.html All D2 programs by State

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Cfdii.PNG D2 football Map

[chrisattsu]

They have been discussing this option for a week over on D2 board. The general consensus is that they cannot afford a move to D1 at this point.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

There is no way these schools will "double down" and try to go D-I since all of them have problems financially.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2008607128_kelley09.html


As costs escalate and revenue drops, other schools are making similar difficult decisions. In Western's Great Northwest Athletic Conference, Humboldt State and Western Oregon are facing financial problems. There only are four football-playing schools left in the league.

"I'm concerned about the trickle-down effect this is going to have for the rest of the conference," Stiles said. "And I hate the fact that they made a permanent decision based on temporary economic conditions that ultimately are going to get better.

"And I don't like the fact that we weren't notified. Nobody reached out to us to let us respond. To not give the alumni and family a chance to respond is beyond me."

However, you can't discount the possibility that the school is simply grandstanding and never liked football. This also should sound familiar to fans of FCS schools that recently dropped football...

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/601/story/752313.html


BELLINGHAM - While substantial effort is under way by fans and alumni to save the Western Washington University football program, it's unlikely to reach the level of funding needed to keep the team, administrators have said.

More than $250,000 in pledge money has already been raised by an alumni group hoping to save the team since the school made the announcement on Thursday, Jan. 8. That figure, however, is far from the $10 to $12 million WWU president Bruce Shepard has said it will need to save the program.

$10 to $12 million sounds like a number plucked out of the air - designed to be impossible to meet - by the dopey president. xmadx Sounds like this guy has Silber-itis.

[Ronbo]

Football. Just like FCS, there is a small number of D2 schools out west.

Alaska- 2 schools (no football)
Arizona - 1 school (no football)
California- 12 schools (1 football)
Montana- 1 school (no football)
Oregon- 1 university (1 football)
Utah- 1 university (1 football)
Washington- 4 schools (2.. now 1 with football)

http://www.siue.edu/ATHLETIC/d2/state.html

I believe all of our sub DI schools are NAIA. I think 4 play football and average about 25 schollies. That 100 schollies to predominately Montana boys.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Having said all I did two posts ago, Central Washington and Eastern Washington seems like a rivalry that is made-to-order if they want to go to the GWFC. But the question then becomes: how healthy are EWU's finances?

What's interesting is the fact that FCS has the "money game" options where the teams can go play Washington, Washington State or Texas Tech and get more money for their FB programs. They help a lot of FCS teams balance the books. D-II schools don't have that option. However, is it enough of a reason to move up?

[Ronbo]

Want to know how healthy a schools finances are? Look at their schedule. If they schedule 2 body bag games they are in trouble.

[MplsBison]

Central is an identical school to Eastern.

If Central could get a guaranteed membership to the Big Sky, then they should move up.

[putter]

I believe all of our sub DI schools are NAIA. I think 4 play football and average about 25 schollies. That 100 schollies to predominately Montana boys.

MSU Billings (Eastern Montana) plays Division 2 in their sports.

[Ronbo]

There is one major difference between EWU and CWU. Facilities. Eastern is one of the worst Stadiums in the Big Sky, seating only 8000-8500. Central Washington has a capacity of 4000. It's basically a HS stadium or small JC stadium.

[chrisattsu]

I believe all of our sub DI schools are NAIA. I think 4 play football and average about 25 schollies. That 100 schollies to predominately Montana boys.

The Montata school is MSU-Billings. They were part of the D2 Heartland conference which stretched from Billings to San Antonio. I was happy to see them find a home in the Great Northwest (GNAC)

[bandl]

Does this mean Montana will stop scheduling them?

[Ronbo]

Does this mean Montana will stop scheduling them?

We've played Billings in Basketball.

[griz8791]

I believe all of our sub DI schools are NAIA. I think 4 play football and average about 25 schollies. That 100 schollies to predominately Montana boys.

MSU-Billings is DII. They have soccer and (I think) baseball, but not football.

[bandl]

We've played Billings in Basketball.

Neat. Not sure what that has to do with Montana playing CW in football though. xpeacex

[poly51]

There is no way these schools will "double down" and try to go D-I since all of them have problems financially.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2008607128_kelley09.html



However, you can't discount the possibility that the school is simply grandstanding and never liked football. This also should sound familiar to fans of FCS schools that recently dropped football...

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/601/story/752313.html



$10 to $12 million sounds like a number plucked out of the air - designed to be impossible to meet - by the dopey president. xmadx Sounds like this guy has Silber-itis.

$10-12 million for a D-II program? Cal Poly football budget is about $2.5 million a year. Fresno State is about $6 million a year.

[Ronbo]

I don't know who wrote that?

I read that WWU will save $450,000 by cutting football not 10 million.

[mlbowl]

Does this mean Montana will stop scheduling them?

I hear ya...I know they're not quite the powerhouse N.C. Central is...xrolleyesx