(01-22-2023 02:33 PM)DavidSt Wrote: Dakota State and Jamestown Got Site Visits From D2 NSIC
Another good DavidSt find! I didn’t know Dakota State was looking at D2 also.
I wonder what the unnamed conference Bellevue applied to was. I’m sure the GPAC has always been a firm no. Would it have been another, like the HAAC?
Overall, this is really sad news for the Upper Plains. Jamestown left for the GPAC and filled the GPAC schedule up for another week, not to mention Mount Marty (I believe) adding football which will seal it up further and likely have no out of conference games, Trinity Bible shut down football, which several members used to fill their schedule, Presentation is closing, Dakota State looking at D2.
It wasn’t long ago that South Dakota and North Dakota each had an NAIA conference of mostly in state schools. Now, they are out of schools between the 2 states.
Besides what I listed above, Huron U closed, Sioux Falls, SD Mines, Black Hills, U Mary have gone D2, and of course some of the former South Dakota intercollegiate conference have gone to the GPAC.
I think the NAIA switch from Districts to Conferences for nationals bids have driven at least some of the the change that has killed off certain regions.