THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 20, 1994 TAG: 9408200351
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 131 lines
There's a joke among college athletic directors that goes like this:
What's the difference between Division I and Division II?
About a million dollars a year.
Not much of a joke. But for schools trying to jump from Division II to Division I, raising a million bucks is no laughing matter.
Norfolk State, which has announced plans to move to Division I in 1997, is one of those schools. With an athletic budget of about $2 million, the Spartans' bottom line - like the punch line - is about $1 million short of even small Division I schools like North Carolina A&T and Delaware State. Closing that gap may be the biggest challenge Norfolk State faces in its bid to join the big time.
``We've got to get some money,'' athletic director Dick Price said. ``We need some help.''
Norfolk State spends about $300,000 on football now. It can expect to spend between $750,000 and $1 million once it moves to Division I-AA, according several to the athletic directors at several I-AA schools.
The Spartans will also need more cash for men's and women's basketball scholarships, and for scholarship increases in 11 other sports.
``We're going to have to gear up shortly,'' said Malverse Nicholson, executive director of Norfolk State's Athletic Foundation. ``We're going to have to look at it seriously now that we're going Division I.''
The foundation currently provides about $25,000 annually to the athletic program, Nicholson said, a mere drop in the bucket of what will be needed in 1997.
Price says the school will probably assemble a ``blue-ribbon'' committee to come up with a fundraising strategy.
``We're going to have a big drive with alumni and boosters, and have coaches out soliciting funds,'' he said.
Other schools provide examples of how it can be done.
At Troy State, in Troy, Ala., a fundraising blitz raised $1 million in three years, according to athletic director Johnny Williams. Troy State went Division I last Sept. 1.
Troy State's success in Division II - the Trojans won 11 national championships in football, baseball and golf - made fans and alumni more willing to give, Williams said.
At Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo, they took another approach.
``We passed a referendum of the student body, and raised student fees,'' said athletic director John McCutcheon. ``It gave us a little over $2 million that we didn't have.''
As a result, Cal-Poly, like Troy State, will enter Division I with its program fully funded. Cal-Poly begins Division I play Sept. 1.
NCAA regulations don't require schools to offer the maximum number of grant-in-aids in each sport. In fact, schools can qualify by offering 50 percent of the maximum in each sport.
But a school that does that would be competing with one hand tied behind its back.
``You don't want to go in there fighting a battle with a switch,'' Price said.
Norfolk State probably won't be able to afford 63 football scholarships during its first year in Division I-AA, Price said. He said he'd like to offer about 50, and work up to 63 over two or three years.
One of the benefits of going Division I, several athletic directors said, is that once you're in, you have more opportunities to raise cash.
``You would hope that going Division I would create more opportunities to draw well,'' said Benny Hollis, the athletic director at Tennessee-Martin, which has been Division I since 1992.
The theory is that playing big-name schools will fill arenas, and stadiums. But small schools can raise money by going on the road, too, and receiving appearance fees from their larger brethren.
``Our costs have gone up, but so have our revenues,'' said Williams, from Troy State. ``This year we'll bring in $225,000 in football guarantee money. ``Prior to that, the most we ever made was $50,000.''
One source of revenue that likely would not be available for eight years is NCAA basketball tournament money.
A new Division I school is essentially banned for eight years from competing for a men's basketball championship in a conference that has an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. If the MEAC accepted Norfolk State, it would forfeit its automatic NCAA bid by allowing the Spartans to participate in its basketball tournament.
It's unlikely the MEAC would do so, given the publicity and hundreds of thousands of dollars that the league receives from the NCAA tournament.
Norfolk State could play each MEAC team during the regular season, and could even win the mythical regular-season title. But barring a change in NCAA guidelines, it would have to sit out of the tournament until the year 2006.
The NCAA put that rule in place to try to dissuade Division II schools from moving to Division I.
The Spartans would be eligible for at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. The College of Charleston claimed an at-large bid last season in its first year in Division I.
Moreover, they would be able make money by going on the road. Basketball teams in the MEAC average between $150,000 and $200,000 in guarantees each year, according to Delaware State athletic director John Martin.
``It just depends on how many games you're willing to play,'' Martin said.
And how many drubbings you're willing to take. Delaware State played at Arkansas last season. North Carolina A&T traveled to Georgia Tech and Ohio State.
Norfolk State could do the same. But McCutcheon, the Cal-Poly AD, said a school would be foolish to rely on guarantees alone to fund a move to Division I.
``You're really on thin ice,'' he said.
Still, if it's done right, a move to Division I can pay off - and not just on the playing field.
``We're playing at a higher level which is gaining a lot more exposure for our institution,'' Williams said. ``During the last three years our enrollment is up 34 percent. We really believe our visibility has been enhanced through athletics.
``Athletics is the doorway to the community.''
Nothing kicks open that door like television. Troy State made its Division I basketball debut on ESPN, against George Mason. The Trojans have since joined the Mid-Continent Conference, which has a regional TV contract.
Even if they don't land on TV, one financial worry Norfolk State doesn't have - one other schools have faced - is the quality of its facilities.
Norfolk State plays football in 25,600-seat Foreman Field. It's basketball arena, Echols Hall, holds 7,900. Construction is under way on a new track, and there are plans to improve the baseball and softball fields. The final piece of the puzzle would be a 30,000-seat, on-campus stadium proposed by President Harrison B. Wilson.
With more than 8,000 students, Norfolk State is larger than many Division I schools, and most in the MEAC. North Carolina A&T, for example, has 6,500 students, Delaware State only 2,600.
``It can be done,'' Williams said. ``Not all Division I schools are Notre Dame and Nebraska.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
What it takes to be Division I
For complete information see microfilm
by CNB