North Dakota Preps

What will come of the Dakota Athletic Conference once Minot State makes the move to Division II? Anybody have thoughts on what route the other schools in the DAC will go?

I have just heard this through hear-say, but this is my understanding.
Jamestown is looking into, or is wanted in the GPAC? conference, which is all private schools.
Dickinson is wanted pretty bad in the conference in Montana, not sure of a name.
I think the schools in South Dakota, especially Dakota State, are looking into a conference in Nebraska, because of travel expenses.

Again, this is all just what i heard from somebody talking about it one day at the Dac Baseball Tourny.

I haven't seen any announcement about Minot going DII. It has been talked about but does anybody have a link about it being announced? Jamestown and the GPAC??

This is all I've seen on Minot St.

http://www.kmot.com/News_video.asp?news=30348

EDC wrote:I haven't seen any announcement about Minot going DII. It has been talked about but does anybody have a link about it being announced? Jamestown and the GPAC??

The paperwork is due June 1st and has been submitted. They should hear something back the middle of July. I can't see Minot St. going through all this work if they had not been given some reassurance that if approved they would get into the NSIC. USF (Sioux Falls) is going through the exact same process also. That would move the NSIC from 14 teams to 16 teams...16 would create a north and a south division.

Losing Minot St. would be a death blow to the DAC IMHO. The other schools have to be exploring their options. The Jimmies would be a logical fit in the GPAC (many private schools)...lots of travel though!

This would hurt Mayville State and Valley City State the most IMO. Jamestown is a private school that has some money so they will be fine, the Dakota schools should be able to find a conference in Nebraska but MSU and VCSU are the smallest colleges in the DAC and probably have the smallest budgets so travel expenses would be a major hurdle for conference affiliation.

Minot and USF going to division II is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. Do they really think they will be able to compete? Mary I believe finished in the bottom half of every sport in the NSIC but one, and more often then not at or very near the bottom. There are not nearly enough athletes in this region to support 5 division one schools and 12 division two schools in ND,SD, and MN. If someone feels differently please let me know. I also do not think the NSIC will accept them. Why do they need two more bottom feeders in the conference. These schools along with Mary will never be able to compete year in and year out with Wayne St, Duluth, Mankato, St. Cloud, Augustana, even Winona and Concordia St. Paul

cubsfan wrote:This would hurt Mayville State and Valley City State the most IMO. Jamestown is a private school that has some money so they will be fine, the Dakota schools should be able to find a conference in Nebraska but MSU and VCSU are the smallest colleges in the DAC and probably have the smallest budgets so travel expenses would be a major hurdle for conference affiliation.

Mayville State could cut football to save money if they did not have a conference to worry about.

Tigger wrote:Mayville State could cut football to save money if they did not have a conference to worry about.

Their new conference, assuming the DAC disbands, will want them to have football though.

What conference will even be available for VC and Mayville? Something in MN with smaller colleges?

ndlionsfan wrote:What conference will even be available for VC and Mayville? Something in MN with smaller colleges?

I'm sure there probably are some, but I don't know of any. How hard would it be to go D3? Wasn't St. Scholastica NAIA within the last 10 years? I see they're now D3. It does seem most D3 schools are private schools though.

Granted it's not a good thing to lose Minot, but how many teams must you have to stay viable? I just read Williston State is looking to add sports, possibly football. Granted Adding Bottineau and Williston wouldn't increase the quality of the DAC, but I think back in the anals of history Crookston as a 2 year was in the previous version of the DAC which was the NDCAC? Shakey historical references, but it might be premature to assume the DAC is done..just one mans opinion.

point/center wrote:Granted it's not a good thing to lose Minot, but how many teams must you have to stay viable? I just read Williston State is looking to add sports, possibly football. Granted Adding Bottineau and Williston wouldn't increase the quality of the DAC, but I think back in the anals of history Crookston as a 2 year was in the previous version of the DAC which was the NDCAC? Shakey historical references, but it might be premature to assume the DAC is done..just one mans opinion.

Actually, Crookston was in the MJCA (Minnesota Junior College Association) prior to joining the DAC. They joined the DAC as a four year school, but most of their students were no higher in grade completion than Juniors.

not doubting you...wonder if it was NDSCS? I thought at one time a 2 year school was in the NDCAC...maybe i'm off a bubble

I'm pretty sure UMC was in the NDCAC before the DAC was formed. I'm almost positive the DAC has only ever been ND and SD schools and it was formed while I was in college at Mayville.

Flip wrote:

Tigger wrote:Mayville State could cut football to save money if they did not have a conference to worry about.

Their new conference, assuming the DAC disbands, will want them to have football though.

I guess the new conference would want the automatic Ws, and it would probably offend both of MSU's football fans if they dropped it. MSU could try being an independent. UMC was in the NDCAC just after they became a 4 year school and left before the DAC. I doubt you could run a legitimate conference with a mix of four and two year school especially when their affiliations are different (NJCAA and NAIA) because of the obvious problems with the postseason, but I suppose you could have the teams play and have standings and hand out a regular season championship and then send the teams to their respective playoffs. Doesn't Minnesota have football conferences with multiple classes of teams that split up once the playoffs roll around?

Tigger wrote:Doesn't Minnesota have football conferences with multiple classes of teams that split up once the playoffs roll around?

Are you talking HS? I'm not so sure about football, but I know this is the case for a lot of basketball conferences. For example the Heart O'Lakes conference is made out of AA and A schools.

I suppose you could have the teams play and have standings and hand out a regular season championship and then send the teams to their respective playoffs.

They could do this, but there wouldn't be any automatic qualifier for winning the conference.

Flip wrote:

Tigger wrote:Doesn't Minnesota have football conferences with multiple classes of teams that split up once the playoffs roll around?

Are you talking HS? I'm not so sure about football, but I know this is the case for a lot of basketball conferences. For example the Heart O'Lakes conference is made out of AA and A schools.

I checked MSHSL website and in football there are conferences with multiple classes represented and then sections for the playoffs in each class.

Tigger wrote:

Flip wrote:

Tigger wrote:Mayville State could cut football to save money if they did not have a conference to worry about.

Their new conference, assuming the DAC disbands, will want them to have football though.

I guess the new conference would want the automatic Ws, and it would probably offend both of MSU's football fans if they dropped it. MSU could try being an independent. UMC was in the NDCAC just after they became a 4 year school and left before the DAC. I doubt you could run a legitimate conference with a mix of four and two year school especially when their affiliations are different (NJCAA and NAIA) because of the obvious problems with the postseason, but I suppose you could have the teams play and have standings and hand out a regular season championship and then send the teams to their respective playoffs. Doesn't Minnesota have football conferences with multiple classes of teams that split up once the playoffs roll around?

I was thinking more for filling out the non-conference schedule which can be difficult as well...I also wonder of Minot State really has the $$$ to make this happen. Maybe with DAC trying to block them from post season eligibility they are calling the cards on the table and pushing Minot to fully commit one way or the other

Both Bismarck St and NDSCS were in the NDCAC at one time. I don't know what would have happened for playoffs, I assume they never won enough games for that to be an issue, but they would had to go into junior college playoffs.

I don't know that the Frontier wants Dickinson State "pretty bad" like stated in a previous post. There's two major problems if a DAC school would want to join the Frontier:

1)Frontier is NAIA Division I in Basketball, DAC is division 2. The DAC school would have to move up and increase money spent on basketball.

2)Frontier does not support spring sports like Baseball/Softball/Track and Field. Those are major successes for Dickinson State right now, so they would need a way to continue those. For Track and Field you could be an independant and be OK since you are running against the NAIA qualifying times to get to the national tournament, not the other athletes. Baseball and Softball would be a lot more tricky. It would be hard to be an independant in those sports in this part of the country.

One other option for the DAC would be to try and entice Dak. Wes. into the conference - something that could be an easier sell once Sioux Falls is out of the GPAC. Mitchell, SD, would be a good fit for the DAC schools who already have to travel to BHSU and SDSMT. Once Minot leaves the conference, the DAC could still have 7 schools. Even if DiSU became a Frontier team the DAC would still be functional. JC would have to pair with DWU as a travel partner, less than ideal, but workable at least. The current Frontier and the MSFL both operate with 6 or fewer teams. Bigger problems would follow if Minot is successful enough to give JC NCAA thoughts, or if BHSU and SDSMT make good on their recent interest in moving DII also. If that happened, I could easily see DiSU moving to the Frontier leaving VCSU, MaSU, and DaSU with some thinking to do.