The first Louisiana school to ever send a baseball team to the college world series won't be sending one again. The LSU Board of Supervisors Friday approved UNO Chancellor Tim Ryan's proposal to leave the NCAA's Division I, and drop down to Division III.
Ryan says without another $3 million in the annual budget, the school can't afford the higher-profile Division I. Ryan said moving to Division III may not be popular with some students, but there just aren't enough of them in the stands to justify staying at the current level. Some students wanted to revive a proposal to increase student fees to fund athletics, a proposal students already voted down earlier this year.
"The data indicates they don't attend athletic events," said Chancellor Ryan. "Is this the highest priority? Are we going to the students and saying, 'we want you to more than double the fee that you pay' to support an athletic program that they don't attend?"
UNO Chancellor Tim Ryan talks with LSU Baton Rouge Bureau reporter Todd Dunne.
Ryan said under the D-III model, there are no athletic scholarships, and therefore it is less costly to the university.
"Division III fits the academic mission of the university," said Ryan. "Division III allows for participation, it allows for a large number of sports, it allows for sports that are popular. Sports like football and soccer, which we can't even think about doing under Division I."
In order to complete the move to D-III in time, UNO had to give notice to the Sunbelt Conference by the end of December, or it would owe a $500,000 fine. Ryan said he also wanted to give maximum time to students currently on athletic scholarship to consider transferring to other schools.
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