Northern Iowa's Division I status threatened

[Da Coach]

I just came across this ESPN article from 9/14/10-


Northern Iowa's Division I status threatened-

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/15285/northern-iowas-division-i-status-threatened

Budget cuts threaten to cause UNI to drop sports and maybe not be able to sustain D1 status, according to school president Ben Allen.
I think this is the pres just blowing smoke to try to scare people into supporting better funding for UNI sports.
But it does raise the question again- there have been posters who have tried to claim that athletic programs at state schools like this are self-funded.
Clearly they are not, and rely heavily on taxpayer funding to keep their sports afloat, which the private schools do not have the luxury of doing.

[Da Coach]

It looks like the UNI president's scare tacitcs might have worked. The Iowa state Board of Regents yesterday approved a modest cut to University of Northern Iowa??™s athletic programs, preserving the university??™s Division I status.
UNI??™s athletic department receives $4.45 million from the university??™s general fund.
The athletic department??™s budget is $11.6 million this year.

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/09/16/regents-approves-modest-funding-cut-to-uni-athletics/

[Fetz86]

Easy solution, drop football, and then they can drop a couple women's sports and focus on basketball.

[squirrelgotdead]

Easy solution, drop football, and then they can drop a couple women's sports and focus on basketball.

Not quite that easy. . .

UNI already offers only 6 men's sports and 9 women's.

To remain DI, you must offer 7 men's and 7 women's (or 6 men's and 8 women's) sports, and 2 must be team sports.

So if they drop football, they would need to add another such as soccer or re-instate recently dropped baseball.

I think UNI must consider making the jump to FBS in order to maximize the profitability of their football program.

Football ruins everything.

[TheAsianSensation]

Do they even have enough money to make the jump to FBS in the first place? It requires a rather large investment of time and money, and they don't look like they can afford either.

[squirrelgotdead]

That's really the one area where they could potentially start making money though. If you're not in football to make money at this point, why are you continuing to throw it away? It's the biggest drain on a budget.

[BostonBird]

da coach - funding for state school athletic programs depends on the state (and sometimes the school).

[TheAsianSensation]

That's really the one area where they could potentially start making money though. If you're not in football to make money at this point, why are you continuing to throw it away? It's the biggest drain on a budget.

It's basically a kamakaze mission, isn't it? I think they can float where they're at right now for awhile.

I guess if the D-1 split ends up happening, they won't have a choice, will they?

[squirrelgotdead]

Well I think UNI football is a quality product and could easily make the move. In fact, I think they could do it better than most.

But I'm not the one making the decisions here either. If I were, I'd go big or go home.

They would quickly be better than ISU and be 2nd in the state only behind the Hawkeyes.

[Da Coach]

da coach - funding for state school athletic programs depends on the state (and sometimes the school).

BB- unless you are taling about University of Illinois, then all the other state schools in Illinois funnel large amounts ($ Millions per year) of money from the general funds (taxpayer's money) into the athletic department.

Plus, with every scholarship given away, they are using thousands of dollars of taxpayer money, since each scholarship to a state school only covers less than a quarter of the actual costs. Even the use of "student fees" is augmented enormously by the fact that state schools have tens of thousands of more students to collect those fees from, courtesy of the fact that they are all there because of the taxpayer's subsidizing their tuition.

And in a private school, maybe 1 revenue-generating sport has to pay for all the other sports and the entire athletic department. But with a state school, maybe the one revenue generating sport (like ISU basketball) can claim it is self-sufficient, when in fact it is just a paper-shuffle because the taxpayers support all the other money-losing sports that enable basketball to keep the revenues they generate (instead of share them like every private school has to do) to make that claim.

[TheAsianSensation]

They would quickly be better than ISU and be 2nd in the state only behind the Hawkeyes.

Really? Really really?

[lake Camelot]

Well I think UNI football is a quality product and could easily make the move. In fact, I think they could do it better than most.

But I'm not the one making the decisions here either. If I were, I'd go big or go home.

They would quickly be better than ISU and be 2nd in the state only behind the Hawkeyes.

I see what you are saying about going big. UNI has a good football program. Iowa State is better even though they are not great.

[squirrelgotdead]

Iowa State is better even though they are not great.

Agreed. I realize they are better than many realize and have had probably one of their best decades in history. However, that has a lot to do with them being in BXII North, too. That will soon be going away.

[tornado]

da coach - funding for state school athletic programs depends on the state (and sometimes the school).

it does vary from state to state but there's evidence that all state and public schools get revenue from the taxpayers for sports...all of them even if they say they don't and it's been shown previously...

[BuBraves55]

Not quite that easy. . .

UNI already offers only 6 men's sports and 9 women's.

To remain DI, you must offer 7 men's and 7 women's (or 6 men's and 8 women's) sports, and 2 must be team sports.

So if they drop football, they would need to add another such as soccer or re-instate recently dropped baseball.

I think UNI must consider making the jump to FBS in order to maximize the profitability of their football program.

Football ruins everything.

So you can have more women's but not mens. Right ok. Doesn't that sound a little....sexist?