I grew up pulling for the Gophers, watching the Big Ten, hating Indiana, Wisconsin and Purdue (ironic, hmm?) and following the likes of Voshon Lenard, Bobby Jackson, and my personal favorite, Jim Shikenjanski. I was devastated, back in 1989, when I watch a game against Illinois and found out Jim was from Illinois. You were supposed to be Minnesotan if you went to Minnesota! And if you were Minnesotan, you were supposed to go to Minnesota. That’s the way it was. Cut to 2001. I end up going to Purdue. In Indiana. Indiana has three major Universities (Indiana, Notre Dame, and, of course, Purdue) and 7 so called mid-majors, other d-1 schools that didn’t play in one of the major conferences (Ball State, Butler, Valparaiso, Indiana St, Evansville, IUPUI, and IUPFW). Now I was chagrined that Minnesota only had one. But it was ok, because our one was a Big Ten school, and really, was it feasible to to add another school in Minnesota to the D-1 ranks? So what if Iowa also had 4 D-1 schools (Iowa, Iowa State, Drake and Northern Iowa) maybe Minnesota’s schools were just smaller. The U is the second largest school in the country, after all. But then, when North and South Warhawks State went D-1, soon to be followed by UNW, something had to be done. Minnesota had to have another D-1 School. Below is a list of 5 schools in Minnesota, ranked from least to most likely to survive in the big leagues. Notably, they are the other 4 D-1 hockey schools, outside of the Gophers, and one wild card.
Bemidji State – The Beavers are clearly the the least likely team to turn D-1 any time soon. They have 4,900 people, and are tenuously division one in hockey. They are remote. If a school comes in on a road trip, they have the option of flying in to Duluth, Fargo or Minneapolis and driving about 2 or three hours through the woods, and in basketball season, the snow. Not really prime conditions. However, during hockey season, they can host Alabama-Huntsville, so I suppose anything is possible.
Minnesota State – For those of you who didn’t know, Minnesota finally got it’s first [state name] State about eight years ago when Mankato State changed it’s name. Now there is a Minnesota State – Moorhead as well. In any case, MSU has thirteen thousand students, easily elevating it into the enrollment realms of many elite Division 1 schools. Of course, the Mavericks have never really been competetive in anything, even in Division II, and everyone would expect the team to be called the Screaming Eagles. I can’t see any game ending without about a dozen drunk students passed out at center court every time they were on ESPNU.
Winona State – The Warriors handled the the Gophers easily last week. They won the Division two title last year. Winona State gets this high almost solely based on their competetiveness. They have 8,000 students, easily making them the largest school in the Northern Sun conference, but the two main problems they have are A) their competition isn’t going anywhere, so they may be comfortable with their rivalries, and B) They don’t have the leg up like the other four schools on the list, having hosted other division one sporting events. Also, it seems weird to think of Winona State as a division one school. I think that’s what seperates 3-5 from one and two on this list.
Minnesota-Duluth – UMD has a gorgeous campus in a large town setting, with a history of D-1 athletics (namely in hockey) and they are losing most of their division to Division 1 already, as they see North and South Warhawks State, as well as North Warhawks now departing for the riches of the Mid-Continent conference. The Bulldogs have a healthy student body that is fiercely loyal and stands at ten and a half thousand or so, which puts them in the same range as an Atlantic 10 conference team. The problem in Duluth, as I see it, is that the student body isn’t REALLY into their sports, but rather their setting and the campus atmosphere. That hasn’t stopped Arizona State though. Er… I mean…
St. Cloud State – Saint Cloud is the second largest school in the state at roughly 15,000 students, meaning it is more than twice the size of Wake Forest, a veritable D-1 powerhouse. They are in the same conference as Duluth, meaning they are faced with an exodus of schools that were close by, and the addition of two teams from Washington. That means no additional income or travel budget, and an excess of travel. You don’t take bus trips to Bellingham. The Huskies have a history of quality sports teams and a rabid fan base. Of all these schools, SCSU is the closest to the transit hub of Minneapolis-St.Paul, meaning an easy trip to whoever will pay them to come play. With it’s large student body and bustling atmosphere, it won’t be a problem building the team, much less making a successful jump into the big leagues. I can’t imagine staking a claim in the Mid-Continent or Horizon league would be too much of a problem for St. Cloud, among the top ten in size for all of division two, top 5 if you exclude California, higher still if you exclude Alaska.
So, there’s the evidence. Now it’s time for the schools to make that leap. – Ryan
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
