[ DIVISION II SPORTS ]
Hawaii-Hilo AD has University of Hawaii President Evan S. Dobelle's big thinking has others in the community daring to dream.
visions of Division I
Administrators are looking at
what such a move would take, as
well as what the pros and cons areBy Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comKathleen McNally, athletic director for Hawaii-Hilo, has begun to study exactly what it would take to move her program up to the NCAA Division I level in all sports. She concedes that she hopes to find out that the move up is attainable, but a change is needed even if moving to Division I is not feasible.
"None of us (HPU, Chaminade, BYUH) can afford to stay status quo," McNally said. "We (Hilo) have to change by 2005, either by going up or going down. If you are going to do it, you may as well do it right."
The Vulcans already compete in Division I baseball and their golf team competes as a Division II squad with a complete Division I schedule. They compete on the Division II level in volleyball, cross country, softball, tennis and basketball, and are thinking of adding two more sports.
One reason McNally is looking into the move now is money. She says Hilo doesn't have enough to continue to compete in Division II, much less move up to Division I. But as the old business adage goes, you have to spend money to make money.
"We can't maintain the level we're at. We are always working in arrears and have to confront it," McNally said. "It's not going to change and it's a shame, because we cater to a completely different kind of student. It would be a shame to lose that, but the sad bottom line is that collegiate athletics is a business and mostly about money now."
When McNally finishes her study, she will find that her school faces five years as a probationary member when it cannot compete in NCAA championships. She also will need to find a conference willing to take Hilo and overcome the enormous cost that McNally conservatively estimates would be at least $4 million.
"There are all kinds of barriers," McNally said.
"We need conferencing, money and leadership, but President Dobelle, through his experience, he knows how to get it done."
She would also have to get all of her athletes under compliance with the rules of Division I, but McNally says that has already been done. She would also have to remain confident that her coaches and athletes could compete at the NCAA's highest level.
McNally is not alone in thinking toward the future. Hawaii Pacific has not begun to study a possible move up in the NCAA ranks, but expects to begin crunching numbers soon.
"Do we want to get there someday, is it in our plans?" HPU Vice President E. Rick Stepien asked. "Yup. It is something literally in our future and I think it is the aspiration of many D-II colleges. We have nothing in the books right now."
Brigham Young-Hawaii and Chaminade are on the other end of the spectrum, acknowledging that such a dramatic move is so far away that they are not even studying it.
"We have never looked into it," Brigham Young-Hawaii athletic director Randy Day said. "And to be honest with you, I don't see it happening for us at all. We have a comfortable fit here in Division II and I don't see that changing."
But Hilo presses on to see what can be done, saying that as large as the numbers on the price tag turn out to be, they will be irrelevant if the woman in the lawn chair at the school's softball games or the fan who never misses a basketball game does not approve.
"We have to get a lot of input, like how much it costs," Hilo Chancellor Rose S. Tseng said. "The most important thing we would have to do is talk to the community. If we don't have any community involvement, it is not going to work.
"It's not like, 'If you build it, they will come.' Athletics is not only the university, it is the community."
Although Dobelle started the discussion on moving up to Division I, the powers that be at Hilo say that they run their own ship and had been thinking of the possibilities long before Dobelle got there, just that Dobelle spurred them into action.
"President Dobelle is not telling us we have to do anything, he suggests things," Tseng said. "We've always been open-minded, but I am thankful for Evan Dobelle for waking people up and considering the possibilities. It is good thinking."
What it takes to go Division I
>> Deep Thoughts: A school considering a change in classification should be sure that it is consistent with its mission as a school.>> Patience: There was a moratorium on schools applying for Division I for the past two years, but it expires April 27. Even if a school applied immediately, it would have to wait until 2006 to be an active member of Division I and would not be able to compete in conference championships, but would be able to win unlikely at-large berths.
>> Hustle: By its second year of reclassification, a school would have to schedule 100 percent of its games in all of its sports against Division I opponents and comply with 100 percent of NCAA rules, including financial aid and Title IX. For schools under the minimum, 14 sports are required for Division I.
>> Conferencing: This is often the toughest hurdle to overcome. There are only so many conferences out there and every one of them considers itself full. Even when a school does join a conference, it has to wait five years to be eligible for championship play.
>> Support: Being a provisional member of Division I is a tax on a school's recruiting and retention efforts and often tests the academic community as well by raising tuition and charging higher fees in exchange for the promise that the institution will compete in Division I after students are gone.
>> Money: In addition to a $15,000 application fee, a school would have to increase its budget to include the new sports it is adding. A football program is not required, but is the major revenue producer at nearly every school. The problem with adding football is that each scholarship given to the football team must be matched with a scholarship to a women's team. Even if a football team is added, gifts and donations are both required and counted on.
>> Facilities: A school has to prove it has the facilities to handle each sport it takes on, and in the case of football, has to annually prove that it draws an average attendance of 15,000. No limits are placed on the attendance of other sports, but facilities are reviewed each year.
UH-Hilo Athletics