While all of the talk nationally over the past few days has been about the mere potential that one of the nation’s richest conferences might expand, things aren’t quite so rosy in other places in Division I.
While The Big Ten May Grow, Division I Just Lost Another Member
↵Saturday, officials at the University of New Orleans, a non-football member of the Sun Belt Conference, announced that the school would reclassify to Divison III. Budget cuts and a major drop in enrollment after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 are the primary reasons for the move. As Division III schools sponsor fewer sports and don’t offer athletic scholarships, the cost savings will be significant.
↵UNO is the second Louisiana school to leave Division I this year. In July, the Summit League’s Centenary College decided to drop down to D-III, thanks again to the economic downturn.
↵The two schools’ departure means Division I lost two of its most distinctive nicknames -- The Centenary Gentlemen and Ladies and New Orleans Privateers. While Centenary never reached the men’s Tournament, UNO earned four bids as a member of the American South and Sun Belt conferences and as an independent. The Privateers won a first round game in 1987 (as a 7 seed) over BYU, and earned an 8 seed and round one loss to Xavier in 1993, under some guy named Tim Floyd..
↵When Centenary and UNO leave, 340 schools will remain in Division I, with seven others in the process of moving up. With the bad economy leading to budget cuts and reduction in school endowments nationwide and travel costs continually rising, the chances are good that Centenary and UNO won’t be the only two schools who decide to make this move.
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