(December 4, 2009) - Things are heating up with NCAA Division 2 and the number of schools who are looking to apply in 2010. The numbers of schools as of this writing range between 15 and 20. This is a bit of surprise considering several events that have taken place. There is also speculation that more will be making it known of their intentions to enter the “lottery” as well.

This past summer several quality NAIA members and others were turned down for D2 membership-

This was a pr/marketing nightmare and embarrassing time for all of them. The time, money and effort put forward placed a lot of stress on everyone in these athletic departments to make the cut. Some coaches at these schools were telling recruits they would be playing at a NCAA D2 school in the future. The Ohio schools had planned to form a new D2 conference, that was sidelined when four of them were not accepted. The other bad part was the affect it had on their NAIA conference when three members who were not looking at D2 left to join other conferences. That is why it is important for any school that looks to move forward in D2 to know what can happen - good and bad.

Now both the NAIA and conferences are looking to take away post-season opportunities for any school who applies to join another national association. One NAIA conference has just passed a bylaw that would have a member school forfeit it’s conference membership once they file that application. This is an effort to discourage these members from leaving the NAIA to join the NCAA. They may need to add some exact wording in future bylaws for both the NAIA and conferences as some members presently hold dual memberships with the National Christian College Athletic Association and some with the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. This process has the potential for schools to have bad feelings toward other members and break up past athletic relationships. Should a member school not be accepted into the NCAA how will this be handled if the former member wants back in. It would be a hard situation for both sides.

The membership process to enter D2 is being updated to a point that some schools might never be able to meet them. Looking back on the D2 membership process over the past few years, schools that applied during that time might actually have a hard time now being accepted when the new membership standards are set in place. The application process to join D2 will also be very time consuming and will demand a lot of extra work for everyone in your athletic department. The NCAA also recently agreed to accepting a maximum of ten schools for D2 membership. This means that if the possible twenty or more schools who are looking at D2 do apply, at least 10 will be disappointed.

The NCAA also is looking at requiring schools who want to become D1 to spend five or more years as a D2 member. This process is to deny any possibility of an NAIA school or NJCAA school from making the move directly to D1. D2 is also making it very easy for a D1 school to move down to D2. Should D1 schools make the move down, it will not count against the ten members looking to join NCAA D2. Some NAIA schools are also considering a move to NCAA D3 as an option in the future, D3 has not set any standards at this time to discourage to applications. That could take place if a large number of schools apply in the future.

The cost to operate a D2 program is much higher than an NAIA program and it looks like NCAA fees will go up as well. This is an issue that schools must look at before making the leap into the process.

The NCAA had an opportunity to basically put the NAIA out of business, especially with the number of quality schools looking to move to D2. They did not take that opportunity and instead put in a plan in place to only allow a small number of schools to join D2. The time is now for the NAIA to solidify their future by putting in place a solution to make the NAIA work for member schools. The NAIA is in basically the same position D2 was several years ago, the new and improved D2 has worked thanks to some major overhauls from the ground up. The same process could work for the NAIA. It will take a committed effort from both the NAIA staff and member schools to make this work.

When the talks stopped between the 2 groups the gloves came off and some issues appeared between the two groups. Both sides are to blame for some of the issues that have taken place, lets hope that changes and that everyone can move forward in a positive way.