The NCAA’s Division II has advanced eight schools to full membership after successfully completing their three-year process that requires them to prove they are meeting all NCAA Division II rules and requirements. These eight schools will now be eligible to compete with full rights as NCAA Division II members, including participation at NCAA Championships.
There is one more step in the process, approval of the Management Council, but once schools advance through the Membership Committee, it would be highly atypical for membership to be derailed by the council.
The 8 new programs are below:
- Azusa Pacific University
- Point Loma Nazarene University (no swimming)
- Robert Wesleyan University (no swimming)
- Shorter University (no swimming)
- Southern Nazarene University (no swimming)
- Trevecca Nazarene University (no swimming)
- Union University (no swimming)
- Young Harris College (no swimming)
This means the NCAA Division II now has 300 member institutions – the smallest of the three divisions (Division I has about 340 members, Division III about 449, at last numbers we found).
Fresno Pacific University has been recommended to repeat their third year of the probationary period after violations were found in the men’s and women’s tennis programs. They will again vie for full membership after the 2014-2015 academic year. Fresno Pacific sponsors swimming, but for now the result is a “class” of just one new swim program to Division II: the Azusa Pacific women.
Azusa Pacific, a former NAIA member, has been competing in the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference (PCSC) which spans the NCAA’s Division I, Division II, and Division III.
Last season, the Azusa Pacific women finished 4th at the conference championship meet, including 4th among NCAA Division II active members. At least two other members of the conference, Simon Fraser and Concordia University (Irvine) are currently in the process of becoming NCAA Division II members.
APU is an exceedingly young program. At last year’s PCSC Championship meet, they broke 9 school records, and 5 of them were done by freshmen. With the NCAA logo officially stamped upon the program, their ability to recruit should only improve from here, so expect another record-breaking season in 2014-2015.
Note: these 8 new members are at a different status than those we reported yesterday, who are just beginning their three-year journey. That includes defending NAIA men’s and women’s champion teams Oklahoma Baptist.
I agree with Phil, we just need to convince the NCAA of the need. Our division will continue to grow even with the out flow of DII teams to DI, i.e. GCU, UIW. We have a net increase of men’s teams and a meet that isn’t representative of our division.
Simon Fraser is already a DII school officially and has competed at the last 2 DII National Championships, including having a national champion breaststroker.
Now it’s time to increase the DII cap at NCAAs. Keeping the cap so low while still adding schools (just wait till others, Fresno Pacific, Oklahoma Baptist, etc move in) is making the meet ridiculous to get in. Not to mention we’re still looking at a real possibility of not filling lanes in finals (see relays).