Votruba envisions NCAA Division I for NKU: ‘You are who you play’

(Article from The Kentucky Post that ran on March 10, 2005)

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Northern Kentucky University is wasting no time studying whether to upgrade from NCAA Division II athletics to Division I.

Just one day after the General Assembly approved $54 million for a special events center at NKU, university administrators on Wednesday briefed the school's board of regents about a study to evaluate the pros and cons of going to Division I or staying in Division II. School officials said they plan to have a recommendation ready for regents to vote on later this year.

"The Board of Regents is very interested in this," NKU President Dr. James Votruba said.

Jumping to Division I — the top level of college athletic competition — wouldn't have been even considered without a bigger basketball arena than the current 2,000-seat Regents Hall, NKU officials said.

On Tuesday, the 2005 General Assembly authorized construction of The Bank of Kentucky Center on NKU's Highland Heights campus. The arena, which will seat between 8,000 and 10,000 fans, is expected to open in 2009.

"The arena almost requires consideration of Division I," said Votruba. "You don't build an 8,000 or 10,000 seat arena without giving Division I serious consideration."

Two consulting firms hired by NKU to study the requirements and ramifications of Division I status are to report findings and recommendations to an NKU steering committee in May, said NKU Vice President for Student Affairs Mark Shanley, co-chairman of the steering committee.

Carr Sports Associates, headed by former University of Houston Athletic Director Bill Carr, is doing a feasibility study about what it will take for NKU to successfully compete in Division I.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, in association with Market Vision, a Cincinnati firm, is assessing the support that would be given to Division I by NKU's various constituents, including students, faculty, the general public and community groups.

The steering committee plans to make a recommendation to Votruba this summer on whether to remain in Division II or jump to Division I. Then, it will be up to Votruba and his staff to decide what to propose to the regents, who will make the final decision.

While a move to Division I would give NKU more publicity and treat sports fans to a higher level of competition to watch, there is a big price to be paid.

"The 800-pound gorilla in all this is the cost," said Votruba. "I expect consultants are going to tell us the (annual) cost to move to Division I is somewhere in the $3 million to $3.5 million range.

"We would have to ratchet up our fund-raising in the community big-time. It also requires support either from student tuitions or the state. I intend to talk with students to see how important Division I is to them."

There have been vivid examples recently of the pros and cons of Division II schools moving up to Division I.

Votruba said he was impressed when he saw a television sports report Wednesday morning about Oakland (Mich.), which jumped to Division I eight years ago, upsetting Oral Roberts on Tuesday night to gain a berth in the NCAA basketball tournament.

"If that had been NKU and a potential student had seen this on TV, would that have made a difference in a choice to consider NKU?" the NKU president said.

However, three weeks ago, a school that recently jumped to Division I, Savannah State, got a ton of bad national publicity about the move after it completed an embarrassing winless basketball season.

An Associated Press article about the fiasco, which was published by hundreds of newspaper across the country, stated flatly that Savannah State was "the most striking example of a school that had no business jumping to Division I."

The article concluded that "moving up to the highest level has been a major blunder" for Savannah State, which lacks money to fully fund its sports program and hasn't been able to find a conference to play in.

NKU wouldn't dare go to Division I without being included in a conference, said Votruba.

He said NKU is looking into a couple of conferences — the Horizon League and the Mid-Continent Conference.

The Horizon League consists of Butler, Cleveland State, Detroit, Illinois-Chicago, Loyola, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State and Youngstown State.

The Mid-Continent Conference is Chicago State, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, Oakland (Mich.) University, Oral Roberts, Southern Utah, Missouri-Kansas City, Valparaiso and Western Illinois.

Joining the right conference is not only important for athletics, but also for a school's academic reputation because a school is often perceived to be on an equal academic rank with its conference confederates, said Votruba.

"Bill Carr made a comment that stuck in my mind because it reinforces what I believe to be true," said Votruba. "He said, 'You are who you play.'"

Votruba recalled growing up in East Lansing, Mich., when the University of Chicago left the Big Ten Conference and the president of Michigan State University "did everything in his power to leverage Michigan State into the Big Ten because it was all about, 'You are who you play.'"

The NKU president noted that the school's enrollment of 14,000 makes it one of the biggest schools competing in Division II. He said NKU is the only public university in Kentucky, aside from Kentucky State, to not be in Division I.