Where are they going to put the students? they are almost out of room on campus now, where and with what moneys are they going to build new buildings for this enrollment increase.

 

I agree that it will more than likely increase enrollment by more than the average they have seen in recent years.

 

Not sure where they find the money. Of course raising tuition is one of the things that will be done, but that has also been done steadily over the last 10-15 years, as it has any many other public insititutions, especially in the bluegrass.

 

They just opened a brand new state-of-the-art Informatics building, which I'm sure has helped provide more space, taking many of the classes out of Founders/Landrum Hall/and a few other buildings. When I left NKU, I know that they were also in the discussion of building a new Health Professions building as well. From my understanding, they were looking at putting this between the New Science building and the New Informatics building. As for dorms and living space, I know that they were exploring options for that as well. There was always 2-3 different rumors floating around about what they were looking at doing, but none of it seemed to substantial at the time, so I won't go into all that.

How does NKU hamper that? Just wondering.

 

He didn't really specifiy but the feeling I got was that NKU is expected to struggle for a few years at the D1 level, which would hurt the league's overall RPI. He didn't say that but that is how I took it.

He didn't really specifiy but the feeling I got was that NKU is expected to struggle for a few years at the D1 level, which would hurt the league's overall RPI. He didn't say that but that is how I took it.

 

Yeah, makes sense and something I didn't think of. I don't expect the Norse to just come in and dominate the conference in basketball. Hopefully they will be competitve and begin to compete at the top. I do think they will be at the top in a few of the other sports.

 

As for the recruiting question, I think it will be very interesting to watch how that plays out. For the last 4-5 years, the majority of NKU's better/star players have been players who have transfered down from the D-1 level to play for NKU, since they didn't have to sit out. Bezold got very good at bringing these type of players in. That obviously isn't going to be an option anymore for him.

Question for everyone. Can NKU recruit nationaly? Looking at the roster, most of the team is what I would call localish in nature. Does NKU have the staff/funding to recruit at a national level as a D1 school?

 

Good question. They currently rely on solid locals and D1 transfers. They likely won't be getting those transfers since they would have to sit out a year so their whole philosophy will be altered.

^Well assuming they'll be a team that is put on some major conference teams early schedule, that's a pretty decent payday. I believe teams get $50K or something like that when they come play UK.

 

They will need to play "buy games" the entire month of December to make up for the lack of sponsorship revenue needed.

 

I think it's a bad financial decision for NKU. I think NKU is going to find it tough sledding when it comes to generating revenue from corporate sponsorship which has to be their main source of revenue since there will be no TV/radio revenue and not much of an increase in ticket revenue to offset a big jump in costs.

 

I'll ask you. Who are the corporate sponsors going to be?

Question for everyone. Can NKU recruit nationaly? Looking at the roster, most of the team is what I would call localish in nature. Does NKU have the staff/funding to recruit at a national level as a D1 school?

 

JUCO would be where I assume they start .

There scores will be on the ESPN ticker so I will know if they won their bball game haha jk. It's definitely better for the school in regards to many things other than sports.

 

plantmanky, you seem to be against it. How does their move to D-1 affect you? Just wondering.

 

No affect to me personally, just an alumni expressing his opinon.

They will need to play "buy games" the entire month of December to make up for the lack of sponsorship revenue needed.

 

I think it's a bad financial decision for NKU. I think NKU is going to find it tough sledding when it comes to generating revenue from corporate sponsorship which has to be their main source of revenue since there will be no TV/radio revenue and not much of an increase in ticket revenue to offset a big jump in costs.

 

I'll ask you. Who are the corporate sponsors going to be?

 

Totally agree and IMO that's still not enough. They will have to land several mid to upper level sponsers to make this work from a $$$ side. If Im a sponsor........Well NKU your doing things great and we would love to sponsor you but for just a little more, we can sponsor UC and/or X and be on national TV more and have a much larger audience.

In turn, wont that hurt them in recruiting if they get beat handly by those schools?

 

Good point, that West Virginia game earlies this season was really embarrasing for NKU.

I was talking to what I would consider a very reliable source last night and he said that it looks like the deal with Ohio State is all but locked up. Starting next year they will play two games in Columbus and the third year the Buckeyes will come down to NKU for a game. The deal is worth $200,000+ for the Norse.

 

They are also trying to work out something with the Hoosiers.

Ok so as everyone knows I have been against NKU going D1 for a couples years now for various reasons...I will not go into them since it is now a mute point BUT with that having been said, I thought I would give it some time before I posted on here about my thoughts now after the announcement.

 

After some time thinking about it, I am now supportive of the decision for a couple of reasons, but the biggest is that I know there are people in place within the athletic department and the rest of the university that will make this happen in a way that NKU will be successful for years to come (not only on the playing surfaces, but as a university as well). Yes Dr. Votruba is retiring but he has meant the world to NKU and without his efforts, many people still wouldn't know about NKU itself...I hope that whoever is hired to replace Dr. V will be as meaningful to the school as he was.

 

Other people there that will be instrumental in making this transition a success are Dr. Scott Eaton, Kurt Moeller, Chris Hafling, Chris Cole, Don Owen and Mike Anderson.

 

For some of those who don't know who all of those people are, I suggest you go to nkuathletics.com to find out, BUT a couple of them I will talk about.

 

Dr. Eaton is probably one of the hardest working individuals I have ever met...heck the man had an appendectomy a couple years ago and was back in the office the next day...not too many people would even fathom that. Some have questioned whether he has the experience in running a Division I program and it has been covered that he was once at Brown University, an Ivy League school. I have no doubt in my mind that Dr. Eaton will be a very successful A.D. at the D1 level as he has been in his short time at the D2 level.

 

Kurt Moeller (Senior Associate Athletic Director - External Operations) and Chris Hafling (Associate Athletic Director - Operations and Event Management) are also very hard workers. Kurt has been at NKU for a while now and Chris has D1 experience while working at Eastern Kentucky University. Both has worked tirelessly over the time that I have known them and will do a great job in this transition.

 

Chris Cole works as the Director of Marketing and Communications for the University under Dr. Votruba. Cole is also very good at what he does and is a known figure throughout campus. If I'm not mistaken, he was one of the individuals interviewed by a couple of the news stations in Cincinnati in the days leading up to the announcement. He has been instrumental in promoting the University as a whole.

 

Don Owen and Mike Anderson (my former bosses) are the Sports Information Director and Assistant Sports Information Director respectively. Don has been at NKU for nearly two decades and is one of the best SIDs in the country at the D2 level...I have no doubt in my mind that he will carry on well into NKU's D1 tenure. Mike was at Alabama-Huntsville (another D2 school but it also has a D1 hockey program) before coming to NKU around 5-6 years ago. Both men have been very instrumental in promoting the NKU student-athletes to the local and national news sources whether it be for feature stories or nominations for various awards.

 

I know I am leaving people out that have had a hand in NKU's past success and who will also help in the future successes...for this I am sorry for leaving anyone out.

 

Another reason why I like the move to the Atlantic Sun Conference is the fact that the A-Sun is allowing NKU to play a conference schedule right away...something the the Ohio Valley Conference would not for at least a year. Southern Illinois Edwardsville, who transitioned from D2 to D1 in recent years, was not allowed to play a full OVC schedule right away and had to schedule D2, D3 and some NAIA schools to fill up its schedule...that could not have been good for the Cougars in promoting a D1 program when it was still playing lower-level schools. Now I am not saying that NKU will be or won't be playing regular-season games against lower-level teams next year, but should the Norse do so, I would imagine that it would only be a couple, if that due to being able to guarantee at least 18 games for basketball and volleyball, nine games/matches for tennis and soccer, 27 games for baseball and 20 games for softball. I may be off a little on those numbers, but you get the gist of what I am getting at.

 

Yes I would have loved to have been able to see NKU against the likes of EKU, Murray State and Morehead State at least twice a year, but sometimes things don't work out. There can still be a good rivalry with those institutions...heck that is at least three other games you can schedule and have easy travel times. I would even suggest a challenge cup type of deal with at least EKU, if not all the rest. With EKU, it could be where every team sports is scheduled to play one and at the end of the school year, the cup could be awarded OR it could be something as simple as the men's and women's basketball teams doing it...just an idea on that.

 

Now that I have said all of that, I wish NKU nothing but the best now in its stay in the D2 ranks as well as when it transitions to D1. The Norse may never win another national title once they move up, but they will have people that will put them in a place to where they will compete with the best of them.

Solid post statman! I had been wondering what you thought about all this and I was glad to read your thoughts. I mentioned how hard-working Scott Eaton was previously but you are definitely correct about the other individuals that you named, I only know a few personally.

 

Not that I'm going to pretend to know all of the members on this site, but I feel like statman probably has more credibility to speak on this topic than any on BGP through his experience.

 

I love the idea of the challenge if it were to happen...Battle of the Bluegrass!

They will need to play "buy games" the entire month of December to make up for the lack of sponsorship revenue needed.

 

I think it's a bad financial decision for NKU. I think NKU is going to find it tough sledding when it comes to generating revenue from corporate sponsorship which has to be their main source of revenue since there will be no TV/radio revenue and not much of an increase in ticket revenue to offset a big jump in costs.

 

I'll ask you. Who are the corporate sponsors going to be?

 

I would assume most local corporations (Kroger, Macys, W&S, P&G, etc.) would have some interest in sponsorship. I know all those companies and more have a presence on the NKU campus as it is.

I would assume most local corporations (Kroger, Macys, W&S, P&G, etc.) would have some interest in sponsorship. I know all those companies and more have a presence on the NKU campus as it is.

 

Fidelity used to even have a small branch on campus. I could see them being a name throw around as well.

Fidelity used to even have a small branch on campus. I could see them being a name throw around as well.

 

Can't believe I forgot about them considering I worked there for 2+ years. :lol: