Is UNO ready for division IAA?

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eomaha
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Is UNO ready for division IAA?

Post by eomaha »

From division I hockey, to womens national championships, to football/basketball/wrestling/etc beginning to consistently sit in the national rankings... isn't it about time UNO raise the bar?
Omaha World Herald wrote: Mavs knock off No. 9 Rollins

LAS VEGAS - Junior Ryan Curtis scored a team-high 18 points Sunday, leading the University of Nebraska at Omaha to a 76-58 basketball victory over Rollins in the High Desert Classic.

The win was the seventh straight for the No. 14 Mavs and followed UNO's 73-60 over Tartleton State on Saturday in the tournament opener.

The Mavs, now 11-1 on the season, held No. 9 Rollins to 37.9 percent shooting.

"We played pretty steady the whole game," said UNO Coach Kevin McKenna. "We did a good job to hold them under 40 percent. We never really let them get on track."

The Mavs, who held a 36-27 halftime lead, shot 52 percent from the floor for the game. Curtis, a 6-foot-7, 205-pound Millard South product, made 8 of 9 from the field, while teammate Andre Tarpley contributed 15 points and three rebounds. Kevin Capels also reached double figures (10 points) and collected five rebounds.

McKenna was also pleased with his Mavs' performance in a tournament loaded with top-shelf competition.

"Of the 16 or 18 teams our here, I think six or seven are ranked in the top 20," said McKenna. "That's a big help to us heading into conference play."

ROLLINS (7-2)
FG FT RB PF A Min TP Codrey.........................1-5 0-0 2 2 1 17 2 Pardue.........................0-3 0-0 3 2 0 11 0 Muhizi.........................2-8 0-2 5 2 1 29 4 Troupe.........................6-10 7-7 2 2 0 30 21 Faber.........................5-12 2-2 3 3 2 31 15 Reibel.........................4-7 0-0 2 4 0 19 8
Rennie.........................0-1 0-0 0 2 0 7 0 Thinnes.........................1-4 0-0 0 0 0 12 2 Kolosey.........................1-1 0-2 1 3 0 10 2 Smith.........................2-4 0-0 5 2 1 17 4 Lasan.........................0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 Rusbosin.........................0-3 0-0 0 1 1 14 0 Gibbs.........................0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals.........................22-58 9-13 23 23 6 200 58 3-point shots (5-20) - Cordey 0-2, Pardue 0-1, Muhizi 2-5, Raber 3-7, Reibel 0-2, Thinnes 0-2, Rusbosin 0-1. Team rebounds - 5. Turnovers - 16. Shot percent - 37.9. UNO (11-1)
FG FT RB PF A Min TP Curtis.........................8-9 2-2 9 2 1 27 18 DeSpain.........................2-5 0-2 4 1 0 18 4 Kapels.........................4-8 2-4 5 3 1 29 10
Mills.........................1-10 3-4 4 2 3 26 6 Tarpley.........................5-8 2-2 3 1 1 34 15 Byers.........................1-2 0-0 1 0 0 10 3 Johnston.........................0-0 3-4 1 0 0 13 3 Murphy.........................2-3 4-5 3 2 0 13 8 Currie.........................0-0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0 Bland.........................1-1 1-2 1 4 1 7 4
Jones.........................2-4 1-3 4 1 1 22 5 Totals.........................26-50 18-28 35 16 9 200 76 3-point shots (6-16) - Kapels 0-2, Mills 1-7, Tarpley 3-5, Byers 1-1, Bland 1-1. Team rebounds - 4. Turnovers - 17. Shot percent - 52.0. Rollins.........................27 31-58 UNO.........................36 40-76 Technicals - Rollins, Smith; UNO, Murphy. A - N/A.
Last edited by eomaha on Mon Dec 20, 2004 2:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
DTO Luv
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Post by DTO Luv »

I can't wait for UNO to become a DI (Jeff, did you notice you put DII in the headline?) We are a growing city and we could grow even faster if UNO had the clout of a DI school.
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eomaha
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Post by eomaha »

Actually I meant to put Division IAA.
almighty_tuna
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Post by almighty_tuna »

It would be nice to have a large football stadium in the city. I wonder if we are the largest city in the country without a major football venue, college or otherwise. Moreover it would be cool to have uber-concerts in said stadium.

D1 would be great bragging rights.
StreetsOfOmaha
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Post by StreetsOfOmaha »

Yes, it would DEFINITELY be nice to end the monopoly of D1 Husker football in the state. And if UNO ever got a stadium expansion out of it, well then that would just be a nice plus.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
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OmahaDevelopmentMan
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Post by OmahaDevelopmentMan »

A stadium expansion or even renovation. I mean those steel bleachers on the opposite side of the field from the skyboxes (i can't think of the direction) would be nice. It would make the stadium look more like its a college stadium, and not a high school stadium. But I wouldnt like getting a new stadium, I really like what UNO has. But GO MAVS!
custudent
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Post by custudent »

The Gateway is a football only conference. UNO would fit in very well, but there's the problem of the other sports. Also, Caniglia Field compares _very_ well to most facilities of I-AA schools.

The Valley is not one to take in D-I provisional schools. Schools like Northern Iowa and Southwest Missouri State were D-I for around 10-15 years before they were considered for admission. Also, expansion in the Valley at all now is unlikely (Butler, Western Kentucky and St. Louis were considered at one time, but nothing came of it). In terms of full conference affiliation, the Mid Continent or Sun Belt conferences are more realistic options for D-I UNO.

Problem is, again, it'll be extremely difficult to field full competitive teams across the variety of sports. I know Coach McKenna has his team rolling right now, and it'd be a shame to go right up to D-I to get their heads kicked in.
sokkerdewd
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Post by sokkerdewd »

Division II is dying...NCC won't exist in 5 years, trust me. I mean really...compare the enrollments of the schools in it. You have the medium/big schools like UNO and MSU at/near 15k enrollment, and dinky ones like Augustana...I'm amazed they're competitive, actually. UNO should try to move up NOW.
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eomaha
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Post by eomaha »

Omaha World Herald wrote: Mavs watch NCAA vote closely

In UNO Athletic Director David Herbster's first week on the job, NCAA legislation that could shape the future of the Maverick program will come to a vote.

Should a proposal pass Monday to cut Division II football scholarship maximums from 36 to 24, the University of Nebraska at Omaha would have to assess its options even more thoroughly as it looks at its cloudy future.

"At that point, I don't want to say it would be back to the drawing board," Herbster said. "But we would need to be prepared for any possibility."

The football scholarship limit, proposed by the Rocky Mountain Athletic and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conferences, is the only controversial issue on the Division II docket.

Between 1984 and 1999, Division II membership grew by more than 100 schools, from 191 to 297, and some newcomers have less than fully funded football programs.

One recent addition to Division II is Concordia-St. Paul, where Herbster served as the athletic director before being hired last month by UNO.

Concordia-St. Paul offered 14 football scholarships. But even before moving to UNO, Herbster said he opposed reducing the maximum from 36.

"My position," Herbster said, "is that we came up to this level, and we didn't come up to bring everybody else down."

In 2000, the last year that data are available, 70 percent of Division II schools offered 27 scholarships or fewer, and 33 percent offered less than 16.

Herbster said cutting scholarship limits by one-third is too severe, and he hopes opposition from the president's council, the management council and the student-athlete advisory committee will help defeat the legislation.

But he concedes the vote will be close, and that even if it doesn't pass it's likely to come back to a vote again next year.

"Thirty is more palatable, but I still would be the one who would have to tell kids that they can't come here or take money away from those who are here," Herbster said. "I look at it as eliminating opportunities."

UNO Football Coach Pat Behrns says 36 scholarships, which are divided among players, don't go as far as they previously did.

He said the Mavericks are already offering more to top recruits to compete against full scholarships that can now be offered by South Dakota State and North Dakota State, new Division I-AA schools. Another I-AA school, Northern Iowa, has stepped up its recruiting in Nebraska.

And recruiting out-of-state players is becoming more expensive because of higher tuition rates and a decision by university regents to stop allowing out-of-state recruits to get in-state tuition after their first year.

Cutting back to 24 scholarships could dramatically change the product UNO puts on the field.

"It would be very harmful to us," Behrns said.

Proponents argue that a scholarship reduction would level the playing field and give more schools chances to compete for playoff spots.

More parity could help schools such as UNO reduce costs. Many Division II schools refuse to play teams with full scholarship allotments, so the Mavericks in the past two years have paid for long, expensive road trips and paid underfunded schools to come to Omaha for games.

. UNO has resisted the temptation to follow former North Central Conference rivals like NDSU, SDSU and Northern Colorado into Division I. California-Davis has also moved up, and North Dakota is among schools studying the possibility.

Would reduced football scholarships get UNO to think bigger?

"That would be an institutional decision," Herbster said. "We have to find out where our conference membership is at and find out if they are wavering. Is spending an extra 'x' million dollars a year to go Division I worth it, just because you're losing 12 scholarships? That's pretty drastic. But at the same time you can't close the door on it."
movedaway
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Post by movedaway »

Division I-AA is for football only.

It can be a big move, but it can pay off if you think big enough. Ten years ago, Boise State was a I-AA football team. This year, it finished the regular season undefeated and matched up in what was one of the most exciting bowl games to watch. It would be a good model for UNO.
OhioStreetKid
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Post by OhioStreetKid »

Division II proposal to cut aid voted down

BY ROB WHITE



WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

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A proposal to cut Division II football scholarships from 36 to 24 was defeated Monday at the NCAA Convention in Dallas.

UNO Athletic Director David Herbster said the vote among the football playing institutions was in the neighborhood of 65 percent opposed.

"The thing that was brought up most in discussion was that it was really eliminating opportunities, " Herbster said. "And there's no study that's been done that shows that schools that offer more scholarships win more championships.

"Sure, scholarships help, but there's more to it . . . facilities, coaches, campus, location. It's not strictly dollars and cents. Some schools in the RMAC would struggle, even if they had 36 scholarships, just because of their location."

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference co-sponsored the proposal. The RMAC has a conference limit of 28 football scholarships. UNO offers the limit of 36 scholarships.

Herbster said the proposal was discussed for 35 to 40 minutes, by far the longest among the legislation that was voted upon.

UNO Chancellor Dr. Nancy Belck, on behalf of the President's Council, spoke against the proposal. The management council and student-athlete advisory council were also opposed.

Herbster said this probably won't be the end of it.

"There are enough individuals who feel strongly that it should be reduced," he said. "But I don't know what the time frame would be. I think the way they're doing it is the problem."

The proposal, had it passed, would have been effective this fall, and many schools would have opened up themselves, their conferences and the NCAA to appeals from athletes who would have had scholarships taken away, Herbster said.

Herbster said it was possible that a study could take place to perhaps create a new football division - a place where Division II and Division I-AA schools could combine. The I-AA scholarship limit is 63, a jump of 27 from Division II.

"I think there's a lot of middle ground there," Herbster said. "I think the NCAA should look at how to handle not just Division II, but I-AA schools that are feeling the pinch."
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