THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609210536
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: JACKSONVILLE, FLA. LENGTH: 38 lines
When Norfolk State meets Bethune-Cookman tonight at Jacksonville Stadium, the Spartans will be preparing for the pending move to Division I-AA in two ways: on the field and on future schedules.
Since Norfolk State has targeted the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference as its conference of choice, the Spartans want a complete MEAC schedule lined up when they move from Division II to Division I-AA next fall.
To achieve that, the Spartans began locking as many MEAC teams as possible into two-year and four-year contracts, which led to tonight's game against Bethune-Cookman in the 43rd annual First Union Gateway Classic.
``If you don't lock a team like Howard or Bethune-Cookman into a two-year, maybe they lock into a two-year with some other school,'' NSU head coach Darnell Moore said. ``Then they can't break the obligation to make room for you on their schedule the next year.
``This way, we've got four MEAC teams on our '96 schedule (Bethune-Cookman, Delaware State, Howard and Hampton),'' Moore said. ``And we've reached agreements with almost all the other MEAC schools for future contracts starting next season.''
The Spartans have agreements for future games with Florida A&M, South Carolina State and Morgan State. North Carolina A&T is the lone holdout.
``And the only problem there is a scheduling date,'' NSU athletic director Dick Price said. ``I think we'll get it worked out.''
When the Spartans move to Division I-AA, they will keep two Division II opponents on the schedule - Virginia State and Virginia Union - primarily because of NSU's long-standing relationship with the schools.
The Spartans will christen their 30,000-seat campus stadium next season when they open against Virginia State.
``We needed to take the opportunity now to get our schedules in line,'' Price said. ``When we make our final petition to the NCAA, we have to have schedules lined up for the next four seasons, through the year 2000.'' by CNB