D2 NCC commish "IAA is not a higher level of competition"

[Hansel]

Roger Thomas, the former football coach and athletic director at the University of North Dakota, said a desire to continue recruiting local players was one factor in UND’s decision not to follow NDSU to Division I-AA. The Grand Forks school has 39 players from North Dakota on its 107-man roster this year, 36 percent of the team.

“You’re trying to play at a different level – I wouldn’t say higher, just a different level of competition – and we’re in a sparsely populated area, and to find the number of players you need to do that, you’d have to expand the recruiting area,” said Thomas, now commissioner of the Division II North Central Conference, of which UND is a member.

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/ind...section=Sports

the man is an idiot

[NoCoDanny]

The Americans are not in Bagdad...

[Baldy]

He needs to give our AD a call.
I'd love to give any team in his conference a lesson in DI football...

[DaBears]

After UNC's 2-9 season with our first real I-AA schedule, I think our players would beg to differ with Roger. UNC never did have a problem disposing of the UND Sue on an annual basis but are having trouble with I-AA.

[Hansel]

Isn't that the guy who is the main source of NDSU animosity still towards U. North Dakota? He needs to give it a rest.

correctamundo (both he and UND's president, who is also on record as calling IAA "a supposedly higher level of comp."

[bison95]

UND WHO? :confused: :confused: :confused:


















sue suc

[bkrownd]

More lame D2 bashing? Yawn.

[henfan]

It's not bashing to call out someone on a silly comment.

A majority of I-AA is both different and competes at a higher level than the majority of D-II. It's nutso to suggest that any NCC school is on the same level with the Gateway, Big Sky, SoCon, Patriot, etc. For the most part, I-AA is different than D-II because most of our schools compete at a different level/sponsor football to a greater degree.

And, of course, the sponsorship issue necessarily goes well beyond just FB, into Olympic sports, which Thomas' statement fails to acknowledge. The NCAA makes the distinction between D-I and D-II for good reason.

[henfan]

Ralph, evidently, at least one D-II conference commish doesn't want to hear it either.

[HensRock]

I wouldn’t say higher, just a different level of competition

If it's a different level, then it's either a higher level or a lower level. If it's not higher and not lower, than it's the same level, not a different one.

If he had said it was a different type or different class of competition, then it make make a little bit more sense, but only a little.