Is there any real truth to the rumor that UCO is going division 1 in football

[redhat]

I just recently moved here from mass, and i started at defensive tackle all 4 yrs for the varsity. I stopped playing ball for a yr and moved here to edmond to be at the same school with my sister. I wouldnt mind playing again, and while im not good enough to play at osu or ou, i wouldnt mind playing at uco. She has told me that rumors are that uco is trying to apply for division 1 status by 2012.

[hipsterdoofus]

I've heard the rumor but know nothing of if it is true. Seems like it would be tough for UCO to compete in this state.

[kwash]

its definitly a rumor, but id agree with the post above, its hard fo rthem to compete in this state. i dont think uco has the support to even be a sub division 1 school in athletic, there are high schools that draw more for their football games than uco.

[ddavidson8]

Yes, and they are going to play in either the Big Ten or the Big XII.

[redhat]

LOL davidson big 10 or big 12 nice joke, yes the rumor is true that uco has been actively applying to be a division 1 school in football. They are even recruiting as if this is gonna happen by 2012, but it will be sub division 1 if it happens. sub division 1 is like the old 1-AA. Last i heard is that it probably wont happen, because despite uco having the student body size to support a major d-1 team (UCO is bigger than boise st) they dont have the aumn support or student support. being division 1 has nothing to do with school size look at tulsa, tulsa is a private school with barely 4,000 students but they play major d-1 sports because of huge alumni support and they have tons of money to buy into division 1. Uco has neither the suppolrt or revenue, and the lack of attendance at major sporting events hurts badly, the srudents dont go nor does anyone in the edmond community support uco very much. Its hard when you play your games on saturday afternoon or evening and you have to compete with ou and osu games to draw any support. i think the uco students support ou or osu more than uco lol. Hopefully their application will be accepted but i doubt it, uco needs more support and that aint happening anytime soon, like an earlier post about uco, sometimes i think uco and edmond just prefer it be a "commuter school" and leave it at that

[Midtowner]

It's been on the radar for awhile. If they go D-I, it'll be FCS. Right now, they have far and away the best facilities in DII football. Most of your road games will be in Texas, some in New Mexico, and at least one good (far away) road game every 2 years. As far as getting a scholarship, you do still have to be pretty good to do that. They only have thirty some-odd scholarships and most of those go to recruited freshmen. They do take walk ons though and if you're good, you'll play.

[td25er]

It's been on the radar for awhile. If they go D-I, it'll be FCS. Right now, they have far and away the best facilities in DII football. Most of your road games will be in Texas, some in New Mexico, and at least one good (far away) road game every 2 years. As far as getting a scholarship, you do still have to be pretty good to do that. They only have thirty some-odd scholarships and most of those go to recruited freshmen. They do take walk ons though and if you're good, you'll play.

That is HIGHLY subjective. There are better ones.

[Midtowner]

That is HIGHLY subjective. There are better ones.

For the athletes? Probably not. There are definitely some bigger stadiums in DII, Pittsburgh immediately comes to mind. But UCO has newer, better equipment, a damn nice playing surface and much newer locker rooms and other facilities.

If not the best in DII, which I agree, casts a wide net, definitely the best in the LSC.

[AFCM]

For the athletes? Probably not. There are definitely some bigger stadiums in DII, Pittsburgh immediately comes to mind. But UCO has newer, better equipment, a damn nice playing surface and much newer locker rooms and other facilities.

If not the best in DII, which I agree, casts a wide net, definitely the best in the LSC.

I don’t have any experience with other D2 stadia, so I don’t know how others were back then, let alone now after the passage of 14 years. What I do know is that UCO has really improved its stadium, so I’m curious as to how it would compare to other D2 programs and FCS programs today. If other schools are engaged in a facilities arms race, then the improvements may be neutral relative to other institutions. But if UCO made significant strides relative to its peers, it may be better positioned to go FCS, although I think that the university will have to sort out its debt prior to focusing on making a jump to FCS.

That said, now that OU is in the SEC (a conference which is known for softening up its otherwise meat-grinder of a schedule with FCS opponents), how cool would it be for UCO to occasionally play OU in Norman? I recall reading something a while back which suggested that FBS schools would no longer be permitted to play FCS schools, but I wasn’t able to track down anything about it immediately prior to posting here. So if they could play each other, if UCO ever made the jump, how cool would that be? It could certainly be a nice financial payoff for the Bronchos.

For reference as to the recent upgrades, see this post: https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.p...69#post1213369

[Swake]

I don’t have any experience with other D2 stadia, so I don’t know how others were back then, let alone now after the passage of 14 years. What I do know is that UCO has really improved its stadium, so I’m curious as to how it would compare to other D2 programs and FCS programs today. If other schools are engaged in a facilities arms race, then the improvements may be neutral relative to other institutions. But if UCO made significant strides relative to its peers, it may be better positioned to go FCS, although I think that the university will have to sort out its debt prior to focusing on making a jump to FCS.

That said, now that OU is in the SEC (a conference which is known for softening up its otherwise meat-grinder of a schedule with FCS opponents), how cool would it be for UCO to occasionally play OU in Norman? I recall reading something a while back which suggested that FBS schools would no longer be permitted to play FCS schools, but I wasn’t able to track down anything about it immediately prior to posting here. So if they could play each other, if UCO ever made the jump, how cool would that be? It could certainly be a nice financial payoff for the Bronchos.

For reference as to the recent upgrades, see this post: https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.p...69#post1213369

My nephew played football a few years ago at SWOSU and my son played Lacrosse at Jenks, so in traveling around to games I’ve been to NSU, Central Oklahoma, SWOSU, SEOSU and Oklahoma Baptist in the last few years. I would rate Central Oklahoma’s stadium and facilities as better than all the other Div II schools except maybe NSU. But not as good as Jenks. That’s true of attendance as well. There are not many fans going to see Div II football games, not that I have seen.

[bluedogok]

There are going to be more teams coming into DI-A (I still have the FBS/FCS crap) in the near future that UCO would be a prime candidate in conference alignment. UCO could be one of those in the future.

Texas State (San Marcos) is already D-IAA (Southland Conference) and is planning on moving up and UT-San Antonio is starting from scratch in DI-AA with the plan to move up. Most will probably move into the Sun Belt Conference which is the North Texas is in, they have 9 teams now and with possible conference realignment who know what the landscape will be in a few years.

[CaptDave]

FCS would be awesome... maybe they could convince Appalachian State to come out here for a game.

[soonerfan_in_okc]

FCS is the only possibility as of now as you can probably tell. The stadium would need MAJOR renovations to go d-1, as well as the fieldhouse up there. I would like to see them move up though.

[MikeOKC]

You know, if they went FCS (the old Division 1-AA) I think it would be great! OU plays Weber State, App State, etc. In fact, Harvard is still FCS - I'd definitely go see a game if the Crimson came to Edmond! It would be a good move forward for a school becoming much more than just a stereotypical "commuter school," (Criminal Forensics, Academy of Music, etc.).

[maverickbroncho]

With UCO football moving in the right direction now, any chance the move to Division I could be back in fold?

[AFCM]

With UCO football moving in the right direction now, any chance the move to Division I could be back in fold?

I doubt that UCO would make a move any time soon. The Bronchos seem to be finally adjusting to play in the MIAA, which is significantly better than the LSC in terms of talent and competition. The Bronchos need to keep on winning in the MIAA before even considering stepping up to even better competition. I could see the move happening in maybe ten years, at the earliest.

I will note, however, that the school raised student fees quite a bit about two years ago, and about half of the funds raised will go to the athletic department. Other funds will go to improving the campus in general. As previously mentioned, a general lack of interest from the student body is likely a factor in UCO remaining D2 at the moment. A huge chunk of UCO students are commuters and working adults, which doesn't bode well for campus events and school spirit. UCO needs to continue to have success at the D2 level, regenerate some interest in UCO athletics, and develop more of a college lifestyle on campus. Having communicated that, UCO is definitely making an effort to better fund the sports programs and to add to the campus experience. This may indicate a desire to later move up to D1, if not to just improve its success at the D2 level.

[AFCM]

I can't believe I forgot this last night.

"All D-I schools must field teams in at least seven sports for men and seven for women or six for men and eight for women, with at least two team sports for each gender. There are several other NCAA sanctioned minimums and differences that distinguish Division I from Divisions II and III."
Division I (NCAA) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Before it can move up to D1, UCO must first add another men's sport while meeting other minimum standards. I'd imagine that some of the standards pertain to Title IX, which I believe require a 1:1 ratio of athletic scholarships for men and women. Perhaps UCO was trying to add to its female's numbers when it added women's rowing. This would free up some scholarships for a men's sport. Perhaps?

To sum it all up, UCO is probably at least a decade away from going D1.

[Snowman]

Before it can move up to D1, UCO must first add another men's sport while meeting other minimum standards. I'd imagine that some of the standards pertain to Title IX, which I believe require a 1:1 ratio of athletic scholarships for men and women. Perhaps UCO was trying to add to its female's numbers when it added women's rowing. This would free up some scholarships for a men's sport. Perhaps?

Title IX does not require any equivalence in scholarships, facilities or other funding between men's and women's teams, it is more aimed at participation. It probably means they were at risk of being being ruled non compliant (which can make them loose access to federal funds) or wanted to expand men's teams numbers.

Also the ratio is not 1:1, it is either to be near or improve toward having a ratio of men:women athletes reflecting the ratio of men:women enrolled at the university.

Rowing pretty much has been one of go to sports to help when an athletic department needs to be showing progress toward compliance, partially since there are not many other options that can on their own have a roster size easily over half to three-quarters the size of a football team worth fielding.

[citywokchinesefood]

As a Sooner Alumni I would be Down to Dunk on my UCO friends once a year when they get absolutely demolished by one of the only true Blue Blood football programs in the country by 50 points. The amount of **** talking that single game would allow me to do leaves me salivating over the prospect. Literally lets ****ing go boys material right here.

[Midtowner]

I would think that now, with Todd Lamb, who isn't going to see his star rise because of academics, athletics might be where he looks to make his mark. That said, I'm not sure he's going to be able to do that. One of his very first acts--even before he took office was to run off UCO's biggest donor, Chad Richison over political differences.

So UCO might be pushed up because of Todd Lamb's ego... or it might go nowhere, again, because of Todd Lamb's ego. Time wil tell.

The current facilities at UCO are at the absolute top of Division II. UCO is one of the larger Division 2 schools out there. Athletics would be a good path to developing its funding as the State isn't likely going to be part of the solution for improving that situation.

[Dob Hooligan]

I think that the current professionalization of college athletics is so unknown that any upward movement by a school is incredibly risky.

[Snowman]

I think that the current professionalization of college athletics is so unknown that any upward movement by a school is incredibly risky.

That probably is going to be much more a thing within the power 4 conferences, the G5 conferences probably will not be impacted as much. There might be an argument there will be more reasons for transfers, but it seems questionable how many were passing offers in the current system.

[BoulderSooner]

I think that the current professionalization of college athletics is so unknown that any upward movement by a school is incredibly risky.

it would be FCS if so .... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tball_programs

if it was true it would be huge for their basketball team ...

[Midtowner]

One of the huge barriers to going FCS would be the travel schedule though.

They'd probably be the best fit in the UAC for FCS schools. In fact, several of the former members of the Lone Star Conference, Tarleton and Abilene Christian are FCS, but there are ZERO Oklahoma FCS schools, and these would be the closest opponents.

That travel schedule would probably be the largest impediment for any kind of business case for UCO to move up.

That said, I'm not sure the travel distances in the current conference are all that much better than what they'd have in the UAC.

[BoulderSooner]

One of the huge barriers to going FCS would be the travel schedule though.

the other is how many sports you sponsor

D2 is 5 mens and 5 womens min ..

EDIT: looks like they would need to add 1 mens sports .. and have womens covered .. (to be 6 men 8 women)

also the scholarship funding issue is a big deal ..