ALIVE & KICKING
Div. I hiatus programs do not want to be forgotten
Three former NCAA Division II programs who have made the jump to Div. I must wait at least two more years before they take on Div. I status in the postseason.
South Dakota State coach Jason Liles said even though his wrestlers must put their national championship dreams on hold until March 2007, this is a necessary step which needs to be taken. North Dakota State and Northern Colorado are going through the same waiting game.
“To me, it’s a process. We’re in our first year of Division I and we understand why we have to wait,” Liles said.
Liles also knows it could have been worse had the NCAA held to its first “hiatus” ruling. These three programs, until last summer, were supposed to wait until 2009 to compete in the national tournament.
Each of these programs have been very successful on the Div. II level and UNC used to compete on the Div. I level — and produced two Div. I champs — before going Div. II in 1969.
But at least two years ago, these former North Central Conference programs decided to upgrade their status to the Div. I level but cannot compete in the cha
mpionships for two more years. The only difference between the three is that Northern Colorado announced its plan one year earlier. Bears coach Jack Maughan believes his team has earned a chance to compete in the postseason one year earlier than NDSU and SDSU.“We’re appealing and will find out soon, to be in next year,” said Maughan, who is in his 18th year heading up the wrestling program in Greeley, Colo.. “When (the NCAA) allowed one sport to go up for each institution and fast-track it, that meant that North Dakota State and South Dakota State will sit out two years and we will sit out three years.”
In reality, these programs will deal with this decision longer than NCAA’s holding pattern. The future of the Jackrabbits, Bison and Bears changed the moment they first learned they would move up a class, which was two years before it actually happened.
“When they say you have four years to sit out, they announced it two years before we did that,” Jack Maughan said. “So in other words, it’s a six-year penalty.”
And the biggest penalty was forced on the athletes, many of whom decided to transfer to another school — and a continuing chance at an NCAA championship — rather than stay with that school.
“I’ve already lost a ton of kids,” said Jack Maughan, who lists former All-Americans Ronnie Stafford and Jared Deaguero among his Bears who chose to quit or transfer rather than end their careers on the mat at UNC. Meanwhile, former UNC wrestler Dusty Hoffschneider (HWT) transferred to Wyoming, where he earned a Div. I tournament spot.
“The toughest part of the year is keeping your team focused for the end of the year. You can lose them when you don’t have something to wrestle for at the end. Only 25 percent make it to the post-season anyway. You have to have pride in what you do.”
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