http://www.whas11.com/story/sports/footb.../74010812/

They have 20 D2 sports and 1 D1 sport of Men's Lacrosse. They could be a great add for either OVC or The Big South down the road. Louisville, Kentucky would be a great tv market for either conference.

Who?

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(10-15-2015 04:48 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  http://www.whas11.com/story/sports/footb.../74010812/

They have 20 D2 sports and 1 D1 sport of Men's Lacrosse. They could be a great add for either OVC or The Big South down the road. Louisville, Kentucky would be a great tv market for either conference.

Quote:The university said a request from their conference and the possible impact on enrollment led them to start gathering information on making the addition.

Sounds like they're looking into football to make their conference happy, not to try and leave it for D1.

I don't see Bellarmine ever going D1, great school though.

(10-15-2015 04:50 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(10-15-2015 04:48 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  http://www.whas11.com/story/sports/footb.../74010812/

They have 20 D2 sports and 1 D1 sport of Men's Lacrosse. They could be a great add for either OVC or The Big South down the road. Louisville, Kentucky would be a great tv market for either conference.

Quote:The university said a request from their conference and the possible impact on enrollment led them to start gathering information on making the addition.

Sounds like they're looking into football to make their conference happy, not to try and leave it for D1.

They did mentioned in the past that they might look into D1. But, they are a big name school in D2 and in the area. Very good in Men's basketball at times.
They were coach by Bob Valvano. And in 2011, they won the NCAA D2 men's basketball tournament. They would be great for a conference, and their Men's Lacrosse is an affiliate to the Southern Conference.

Bellarmine is in the DII conference, Great Lakes Valley (GLVC), which only started football a few years ago. Missouri schools have since mover in, making football stronger. Same DII conference that N Kentucry used to be in.

Bellar mine was mentioned in print articles several years ago as a possible moveup for the ASUN.

I know 4,000 students goes farther in a private school, but they really need to get their enrollment up before considering Division I. With only 36 scholarships in Division II, this should be some nice incremental tuition revenue as well.

Full faith in the Athletic Department to do this the right way and first class. Do they plow the golf coarse to build a football stadium and practice facility?

I would suspect Frazier Stadium would be the home field for football. The practice field probably will require sacrificing the golf course unless if Bellarmine wants to acquire some of the houses surrounding campus.

(10-15-2015 05:40 PM)Dasville Wrote:  Full faith in the Athletic Department to do this the right way and first class. Do they plow the golf coarse to build a football stadium and practice facility?

If they stay D-2, they won't need a practice facility. Or a huge stadium - most D-2 schools have high-school sized fields.

(10-15-2015 05:13 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  I know 4,000 students goes farther in a private school, but they really need to get their enrollment up before considering Division I. With only 36 scholarships in Division II, this should be some nice incremental tuition revenue as well.

Either football or DI is often the alternatives, like UWF. Both are big financial steps for a small private school.

DI with non scholarship football can make sense with the ASUN and Pioneer League football. Sounds like some Pioneer League teams in the south will offer schollies.

Apparently the golf course closed in 2009 - it was just a nine-hole par 3 course, so it would be easy to re-purpose. As much use as Frazier Stadium already gets in the Fall (Field Hockey, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer), Bellarmine will at least need a practice field.

Bellarmine will have some options if they ever go Division I, but as landlocked as the campus is, it will be difficult for them to build Division I-caliber facilities without running into a very low ceiling

why hasnt any suggested they go Pioneer in FB and BE in other sports?

Big East won't take a Division II program, although I'm somewhat surprised they didn't get the lacrosse affiliation that went to Denver - and at that time it would have been the perfect time to tweak UofL for leaving.

(10-15-2015 07:33 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(10-15-2015 05:13 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  I know 4,000 students goes farther in a private school, but they really need to get their enrollment up before considering Division I. With only 36 scholarships in Division II, this should be some nice incremental tuition revenue as well.

Either football or DI is often the alternatives, like UWF. Both are big financial steps for a small private school.

DI with non scholarship football can make sense with the ASUN and Pioneer League football. Sounds like some Pioneer League teams in the south will offer schollies.

West Florida as a public school is building better facilities than some of the Sun Belt schools. Besides adding football and a 15,000 stadium, they are redoing their basketball court stadium to add more features to it.

Bellarmine seems to be aiming for the lower end of D1.

Cedarville University (Division 2 in Ohio) is looking at it as well.

Not all D2 schools play in a high school football stadium. Arkansas Tech have their own on campus stadium. Some FCS schools play at a high school stadium. That is why they are not likely targets for expansions. Schools that have their own stadium could be the likely targets for expansion candidates.

Many of the d2 and d3 Michigan schools play in decent stadiums, Wayne State, Grand Valley State just to name a couple. GVSU has an atmosphere that some FBS schools would be jealous of.

(10-16-2015 09:45 PM)DexterDevil Wrote:  Many of the d2 and d3 Michigan schools play in decent stadiums, Wayne State, Grand Valley State just to name a couple. GVSU has an atmosphere that some FBS schools would be jealous of.

Grand Valley State likely lost their only realistic shot at Division I when Oakland left the Summit League for the Horizon League. Perhaps if one of the Indiana-Purdue twins and Western Illinois both leave, then the Summit might consider going back into Michigan, but the Summit is now centered on the I-29 corridor. Football would likely be in the Big South. Of course if the Summit were adding another football-playing school, it would then have six members with the sport.

(10-16-2015 11:20 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(10-16-2015 09:45 PM)DexterDevil Wrote:  Many of the d2 and d3 Michigan schools play in decent stadiums, Wayne State, Grand Valley State just to name a couple. GVSU has an atmosphere that some FBS schools would be jealous of.

Grand Valley State likely lost their only realistic shot at Division I when Oakland left the Summit League for the Horizon League. Perhaps if one of the Indiana-Purdue twins and Western Illinois both leave, then the Summit might consider going back into Michigan, but the Summit is now centered on the I-29 corridor. Football would likely be in the Big South. Of course if the Summit were adding another football-playing school, it would then have six members with the sport.

The Summit football playing schools, NdSU, SDSU, USD, and W Ill, don't want to leave the MVFC, considering it much more prestigious, so they shoot the Summit in the leg and mortally wound it because it needs six men's soccer and six baseball teams instead. The Dakota schools have no interest in adding men's soccer.