THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 20, 1994 TAG: 9408200368
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Next to raising cash, the toughest task facing schools moving to Division I is raising a schedule.
Few in college athletics wield less leverage than the Division II athletic director assembling a Division I schedule. Just ask those who've been there.
``Those Division I teams will play you, but only at their place,'' said John McCutcheon, athletic director at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo.
``It's very tough,'' says North Carolina A&T athletic director Willie Burden. ``Everyone is expecting you to come to them.''
But the good news for the Spartans is that when they go hat in hand, looking for games, they'll have a friend in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The MEAC views Norfolk State and Hampton as the missing links in a conference that stretches from Delaware to Florida, but has no members in Virginia.
So it's no accident that when Hampton University released its first Division I schedule recently - for the 1995-96 season - it was loaded with MEAC teams.
``They asked us for some help, and we helped them,'' said MEAC commissioner Kenneth Free.
Norfolk State can expect the same help. All the MEAC asks in return is that its gestures not go unnoticed. When Hampton, and later Norfolk State, go looking for a new Division I home, the MEAC wants to be considered, Free said.
``We definitely are going to look at how they respond to our help,'' Free said. ``But being one of those benevolent-type conferences with heart, we'll help them get a schedule without a commitment.''
Hampton and Norfolk State have said their first preference is to remain in the CIAA. To do that, the league would have to be split into two tiers, one Division I, the other Division II.
Free said he's aware of the two-tier proposal but still thinks his conference would be a perfect fit for Hampton and Norfolk State.
``We feel we have as much to offer those schools as anybody,'' Free said. ``Playing (MEAC) schools they have a much better chance of drawing fans.''
Norfolk State is annually among the Division II leaders in football attendance. MEAC schools like Howard, South Carolina State and North Carolina A&T would undoubtedly draw well. But there's also been talk of inviting those schools into a revamped CIAA. by CNB