by point/center » Wed May 10, 2006 5:59 pm
Kupchella has been looking for any reason NOT to go D1. This pretty much gives him all the ammunition he needs to continue as D2 in all sports but hockey...
Report: University of North Dakota stakeholders like Division II
DAVE KOLPACK
Associated Press
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - An in-house survey of University of North Dakota faculty members, employees, students and season-ticket holders shows little interest in moving up to NCAA Division I athletics at this time.
The survey, part of a UND task force report, asked the so-called "stakeholders" if the school should reclassify all of its programs from Division II to Division I as soon as possible. Only 28 percent of season-ticket holders agreed - the highest percentage of the four groups.
Robert Boyd, a UND vice president and chairman of the task force, said he believes the numbers would be different if the participants in the survey had a detailed plan for a possible move, including cost and conference affiliation.
"A vast majority of those we surveyed thought UND should have finances worked out prior to any reclassification," Boyd said Tuesday, before the 22-member task force reviewed a rough draft of its report.
The report shows that a move to Division I, excluding improvements to facilities, would require an additional $1 million a year "and perhaps much more," Boyd said. UND's athletics budget is at 84 percent of the average of Division I schools in the study, he said.
The task force compared UND's facilities and programs to several Division I and Division II schools and found that "the ones in D-I looked more like us than the ones in D-II," Boyd said.
The survey was conducted by the Social Science Research Institute at UND, among 400 season-ticket holders, 400 students, 545 employees and 336 faculty members. The study did not specifically list alumni.
"You'll find in the report that a fair number of season-ticket holders are alumni," Boyd said. "To the degree that we were successful in getting a good sample there, I think we probably got a pretty good idea how they feel about it."
The survey showed that 73 percent of the school's faculty members agree that UND should remain Division I in hockey and Division II in all other sports. That opinion is shared by 59 percent of employees, 56 percent of season-ticket holders and 46 percent of students.
The report also asked people to rate the move on a scale of zero to 10, with zero meaning the school had no business making the move, and 10 meaning UND should jump to Division I whatever it takes. The average score was 5.6 for students, 5.5 for season-ticket holders, 4.4 for employees and 3.1 for faculty.
"I think if you take that in isolation one could conclude there's not a great deal of enthusiasm to move from D-II to D-I," Boyd said. "However, as I mentioned earlier, I think it's important to note that people responded without any kind of plan in front of them.
"I think until some of those pieces are put into place, we will not be able to assess the enthusiasm as well," he said.
The task force is expected to submit its final report to school President Charles Kupchella in the next week. Kupchella did not ask the group to make any recommendations, Boyd said.
"I can only answer for myself ... but I'm not sorry we weren't asked to make a recommendation," Boyd said. "We knew that our report was not going to find all the information that's necessary. There are critical issues yet that must be addressed."
The report is part of the overall plan for the university, not because of pressure from outside sources, Boyd said. North Dakota State made the jump to Division I athletics a couple of years ago.
"The president has simply said, 'I will read it, and I will take it seriously,'" Boyd said.