Post by elonfirefighter on Jun 30, 2007 17:17:47 GMT -5
Presbyterian steps into Division I
PETE IACOBELLI
Associated Press
Presbyterian starts a new journey Sunday, stepping up to NCAA Division I status.
The athletic department has planned for this since announcing 15 months ago it would give up its long-held Division II status to join the Big South Conference.
It's been an exciting time around the athletic offices, basketball coach Gregg Nibert says, in recent weeks with staffers and athletes discussing what's ahead.
"Now we get to have our cake and eat it, too," said Nibert, who'll coach his 19th and most difficult season this fall.
Nibert's team is jumping right into to Division I basketball competition. The Blue Hose will play NCAA runner-up Ohio State along with regional heavyweights like North Carolina State, Wake Forest and Georgia.
They'll also take on their new Big South compatriots like Winthrop, Coastal Carolina and North Carolina Asheville as they finally see what they can do day in, day out against bigger competition.
"We know that we have many lessons to learn as well," Presbyterian athletic director William "Bee" Carlton said. "But I can say with confidence that we are very excited and energized by the challenges ahead."
And there are plenty of them.
Presbyterian's football program plans to upgrade equipment and practice fields as it gets ready for Division I-AA competition. This fall, the Blue Hose will have just three home games while going on the road to play such recent NCAA playoff teams like Furman and Coastal Carolina.
Presbyterian, a liberal arts school of about 1,200 in Clinton, S.C., had competed in the Division II South Atlantic Conference.
The school's softball and men's tennis teams will gain full NCAA status in 2009-10. The rest of its 14 athletic programs must wait two more seasons when the school becomes an official Big South opponent and NCAA championship available institution.
The transition isn't easy.
The football team is budgeted for 40 scholarships, 23 fewer than the best I-AA teams offer. The department's total operating budget is around $7 million, nowhere near what some leading schools at its new level spend.
Carlton has been confident that alumni and the school's athletic booster group, the Scotsman Club, will help the department financially with upgrades and improvements.
Nibert already has changed his scope. Basketball prospects who might have used the Blue Hose as a fallback position waiting on a Division I school are now looking at Presbyterian from the start.
The majority of Nibert's roster came from the Southeast a year ago. Nibert says he'll go as far as Las Vegas this time to seek potential talent.
Nibert expects it could take his program at least four years to adjust to their new status and be a championship factor.
The Blue Hose can draw on their Division II past. Presbyterian went 10-2 to win the South Atlantic Conference football title in 2005, along the way defeating Division I-AA Charleston Southern 42-0.
"I think Charleston Southern won a Big South" football championship that year, Nibert said.
The Buccaneers shared the conference crown with Coastal Carolina that season.
Carlton says such winning accomplishments got Presbyterian to these heights. "This foundation gives us confidence that a successful transition is both feasible and achievable," he said.
If attitude counts for anything, Nibert says opponents should watch out for the Blue Hose.
At a recent campus-wide gathering, athletic staffers were understandably excited about the move. But Nibert said professors and administrators were also geared up for the switch.
"It's in all the departments," Nibert said. "This is going to be a total team effort for us."
PETE IACOBELLI
Associated Press
Presbyterian starts a new journey Sunday, stepping up to NCAA Division I status.
The athletic department has planned for this since announcing 15 months ago it would give up its long-held Division II status to join the Big South Conference.
It's been an exciting time around the athletic offices, basketball coach Gregg Nibert says, in recent weeks with staffers and athletes discussing what's ahead.
"Now we get to have our cake and eat it, too," said Nibert, who'll coach his 19th and most difficult season this fall.
Nibert's team is jumping right into to Division I basketball competition. The Blue Hose will play NCAA runner-up Ohio State along with regional heavyweights like North Carolina State, Wake Forest and Georgia.
They'll also take on their new Big South compatriots like Winthrop, Coastal Carolina and North Carolina Asheville as they finally see what they can do day in, day out against bigger competition.
"We know that we have many lessons to learn as well," Presbyterian athletic director William "Bee" Carlton said. "But I can say with confidence that we are very excited and energized by the challenges ahead."
And there are plenty of them.
Presbyterian's football program plans to upgrade equipment and practice fields as it gets ready for Division I-AA competition. This fall, the Blue Hose will have just three home games while going on the road to play such recent NCAA playoff teams like Furman and Coastal Carolina.
Presbyterian, a liberal arts school of about 1,200 in Clinton, S.C., had competed in the Division II South Atlantic Conference.
The school's softball and men's tennis teams will gain full NCAA status in 2009-10. The rest of its 14 athletic programs must wait two more seasons when the school becomes an official Big South opponent and NCAA championship available institution.
The transition isn't easy.
The football team is budgeted for 40 scholarships, 23 fewer than the best I-AA teams offer. The department's total operating budget is around $7 million, nowhere near what some leading schools at its new level spend.
Carlton has been confident that alumni and the school's athletic booster group, the Scotsman Club, will help the department financially with upgrades and improvements.
Nibert already has changed his scope. Basketball prospects who might have used the Blue Hose as a fallback position waiting on a Division I school are now looking at Presbyterian from the start.
The majority of Nibert's roster came from the Southeast a year ago. Nibert says he'll go as far as Las Vegas this time to seek potential talent.
Nibert expects it could take his program at least four years to adjust to their new status and be a championship factor.
The Blue Hose can draw on their Division II past. Presbyterian went 10-2 to win the South Atlantic Conference football title in 2005, along the way defeating Division I-AA Charleston Southern 42-0.
"I think Charleston Southern won a Big South" football championship that year, Nibert said.
The Buccaneers shared the conference crown with Coastal Carolina that season.
Carlton says such winning accomplishments got Presbyterian to these heights. "This foundation gives us confidence that a successful transition is both feasible and achievable," he said.
If attitude counts for anything, Nibert says opponents should watch out for the Blue Hose.
At a recent campus-wide gathering, athletic staffers were understandably excited about the move. But Nibert said professors and administrators were also geared up for the switch.
"It's in all the departments," Nibert said. "This is going to be a total team effort for us."