这是官方的! 崔加入NCAA第二分部

在一个历史性的举动中, 欧文康考迪亚大学 has completed a three-year journey to become a member of NCAA Division II, 这一变化已经提升了学术水平, athletic competition and 欧文康考迪亚大学's visibility and reputation nationwide.

“二十年后, I believe we will look back on this as one of the most significant decisions the institution has made,Gary McDaniel说, 欧文康考迪亚大学's executive vice president and chief operating officer. “我认为我们会证明，它帮助改变了这个机构.”

这种变化不仅仅关乎品牌形象, 或者获得可识别的NCAA“蓝点”标志. 而, 这意味着通过与NCAA为其二级球队制定的标准和目标保持一致，在运动和学术上向前迈进一步.
That mission can be summed up in one phrase, “Life in the balance.”

“当人们听到NCAA, 他们的第一反应是想到南加州大学, 加州大学洛杉矶分校, 四强-一级学校,Bret Taylor说, 他是一名数学教授，担任了三年的体育代表，是研究转入DII的工作组的一员. 但DII在很多方面都是另一个世界, 鼓励学生运动员在课堂上和体育比赛中发挥出最高水平.

“We liked the idea of a better balance between academics and athletics, 与此同时，更高水平的竞争,Kent schlichtemier说, who chaired the committee and is the assistant dean of the School of Education. 1988- 1993年，他担任女子篮球教练.

2012-2013年，康考迪亚大学欧文分校的四个传统竞争对手——加州浸礼会，改变会议的可能性浮出水面, 高木太平洋, 弗雷斯诺太平洋公司和Pt. Loma-all离开了全国校际体育协会(NAIA)的金州田径大会(GSAC)，加入了NCAA DII的PacWest会议.

施里希特迈尔说:“出现了一种外流现象. 的GSAC, which used to be the most competitive athletic conference in 的NAIA, 正在失去竞争优势吗.

结果是:“会议中出现了支配,泰勒说。, 这意味着康考迪亚大学欧文分校的球队非常出色, 但不像以前那样受到挑战. 不仅如此, 的NAIA, 同时也在中西部地区站稳了脚跟, 在西海岸相对不为人所知.

“我们赢得了全国冠军, but when you opened the OC Register you still had to open the back pages to find it. 这不是头条新闻，”泰勒说.

体育上的成功在经济上也是昂贵的. 康考迪亚大学欧文分校的球队——由康考迪亚大学欧文分校出资——正在全国各地参加全国锦标赛. 在某些情况下, 比赛的最后四支队伍中有三支是GSAC的队伍, meaning that the Eagles were “flying halfway across the country to play schools in our own conference,麦克丹尼尔说。. “这说不通.”

认识到一个可能的转变时刻即将到来, 克鲁格校长咨询了其他管理人员，决定成立一个特别小组，研究为什么其他学校要加入NCAA第二赛区，以及康考迪亚大学欧文分校的未来应该是什么样子. 专责小组, 由全体教员组成, 教练, 和管理员, began interviewing university presidents and athletics directors from schools that had made the switch.

“They were all very positive about the move and in retrospect thought it was the right thing to do,施利希特迈尔说.

对工作组来说，突出的是一组强大的潜在好处——以及一个令人生畏的转换过程和潜在的缺点.

“Cost and compliance were the two biggest questions, and what if we find out we can’t compete?泰勒说。. “你 don’t want to go to a conference and be in last place in everything.”

太平洋西部联盟的第二赛区包括夏威夷的球队, 犹他和海湾地区, 这意味着“旅游旺季的旅行费用预计将翻倍。,施利希特迈尔说, “但与我们派队参加全国锦标赛的费用相比，这仍然是一笔节省.” One major cost advantage is that the NCAA subsidizes all post-season play.

其他费用包括聘请合规官, and spending thousands of hours to create and maintain new systems to ensure
持续的合规. NCAA的规则要严格得多，执行起来也更加严格，涵盖了从训练时间到赛季长度的所有方面, 职系资格及招聘程序.

“整个体育部门需要更多的纪律和时间来满足合规规定,施利希特迈尔说.

一些教练对管理NCAA运动项目和学生运动员的文书工作和规定的数量感到担忧, 这是校园里从未见过的.

二十年后, I believe we will look back on this as one of the most significant decisions the institution has made.

“Of all the groups on campus that had to change the most, it was the 教练,泰勒说。. “They would have to pass a recruiting test each year to even go out recruiting. They would have to change their scheduling, their travel and more.”

例如:

• NCAA DII的教练在试图招募学生运动员之前必须获得学生运动员大专院校的书面许可. 否则，学校将受到处罚.
• 教练必须每周向合规官提交可计算的体育相关活动(CARA)小时数, 谁来确保他们遵守入季或过季的规定. 例如, 一个团队可能被允许每周练习20个小时, 每天4小时, 到了季节，每周休息一天. Any more, and the university would receive a violation and a penalty.
• Incoming athletes must sign a letter committing to play for a specific university for a year. 如果他们违背承诺，他们将失去一年的资格.
• 所有学生运动员的GPA都必须经过NCAA资格中心的认证，在此之前不能进行训练.
• NCAA对学生运动员的成绩要求更高, 以及取特定数量的单位
  每个学期都要拿到学位.

“非正式访问, 进行正式访问, 招聘预先批准, 等等......,安德烈·里奇说, 欧文康考迪亚大学的合规官, 来这里之前在加州州立大学长滩分校的体育部工作的人. “T在这里 are a lot more forms to fill out and rules to follow than in the previous conference. 这是制衡，更多的是组织和结构.”

另一个担忧是竞争力. 康考迪亚大学欧文分校是否能够为其运动队提供足够的资金，使其在太平洋西部地区具有竞争力? 积极的一面, 特别工作组的结论是，NCAA提供的更高的学术标准和更严格的问责制将在学校之间创造一个更公平的竞争环境.

“我们已经要求我们的运动员达到高标准，但很高兴知道比赛也要求他们的运动员达到高标准,施利希特迈尔说.

Other advantages included reconnecting with old rivals like APU and Cal Baptist, and being associated with a much higher-profile brand in the NCAA.

“T在这里’s no need to explain to our constituents what that blue dot means,一个工作组成员说.

特别工作组还研究了进入NCAA第三级联赛的可能性, 但有两个主要因素不利于它:首先, 加州的三级大学在社会上更加自由，与康考迪亚大学欧文分校的文化和使命不一致.

第三区学校也有大量的捐赠基金，可以为学生运动员提供比康考迪亚大学欧文分校高得多的经济援助.
经过六个月的深入研究, the task force believed Division II and its “life in the balance” approach was the right choice.

“我们觉得这对我们的体育项目和康考迪亚大学欧文分校来说是最合乎逻辑的进展,施利希特迈尔说. “It just seemed like it was the right thing to do at that time in our history. T在这里 was always that question of, do we want to invest our time and energy to do this? 对很多人来说，这将是一项非常繁重的工作. But the perceived advantages and value galvanized us to take this step.”

工作组建议向前推进, and 欧文康考迪亚大学 submitted an application to the NCAA in February 2014, 开始了三年充满未知的旅程.

我们觉得这对我们的体育项目和康考迪亚大学欧文分校来说是最合乎逻辑的进展.

莫罗伯森, 现在是康考迪亚大学欧文分校的体育主任, 2013年从加州浸礼会来到康考迪亚大学欧文分校, 刚刚被调到乙级. 雇佣他的时机似乎是天意.

“It was one hundred percent God’s hand in the whole thing,” Roberson says. “我觉得上帝在正确的时间把我带到这里.”

罗伯逊对这种转变有第一手的了解, 并且和NCAA的代表有私人关系. He and then-athletics director Dave Bireline “spent countless hours in this transition,施利希特迈尔说.

曾经持怀疑态度的教练们都抱着乐观的态度.

“他们真的处理得很好, 很好, 甚至有些人还不确定我们是否该这么做,泰勒说。. “一旦决定了，他们说，好吧，我需要做什么? It speaks to their character and their desire for students to do well.”

克里斯托·罗森塔尔02届, 在过去的十年里担任老鹰队07级垒球教练, 对参加DII的可能性感到兴奋吗.

“我相信我们可以在那个水平上竞争，并期待着NCAA的品牌推广，以及这对我们在运动和学术上的意义,她说。.

Riche describes the process as “basically an audit of the whole athletic department, 金融援助, the registrar’s office—double and triple checking that we were following the processes we put in place. 确保我们都能达成共识.”

The NCAA sent representatives to campus regularly for inspections and interviews. Not only did 欧文康考迪亚大学 progress through each stage without a problem, NCAA甚至要求分享一些政策, 康考迪亚大学欧文分校与其他成员学院共同制定了改进的方法和程序.

2017年7月, NCAA打电话给克鲁格校长，欢迎康考迪亚大学欧文分校成为第二赛区的正式成员.

“这对学校来说是一个伟大的举动,克里夫·波利说, 康考迪亚大学欧文分校的运动训练教育项目主任和教师体育代表. “T在这里’s an element of institutional prestige that goes along with being in the NCAA. 它使招聘更容易. Student-athletes gravitate to NCAA institutions and the product on the court is better.”

They are coming to 肯考迪娅 to get their degree and do their best in the pool, courts and field.

他补充说，太平洋西部会议是一个很好的选择，因为“有很多机构拥有类似的使命.”

对转校生更严格的资格要求使教练更有动力去寻找高质量的新生运动员, McDaniel说. 如今，康考迪亚大学欧文分校(欧文康考迪亚大学)的学生运动员的gpa和SAT分数都比三年前高.

“我们正在引进更好的学生运动员，他们更关心上课和取得好成绩,麦克丹尼尔说。.

Already, Taylor and others “are seeing student-athletes who come in prepared academically. They are coming to 肯考迪娅 to get their degree and do their best in the pool, courts and fields. 这对我来说意义重大.”

As for competition, Roberson compares the new reality to “being in the playoffs all season long. 没有简单的游戏.”

但是老鹰队已经取得了惊人的成功. Women’s volleyball won the PacWest title last year in its first year of eligibility. 前一年，男子篮球并列第一. 老鹰足球队一直是前三名. 欧文康考迪亚大学 finished third overall in the PacWest Commissioners Cup, 哪一个是所有运动项目表现的累积衡量标准. In fact, former GSAC teams now make up the top half of the PacWest standings.

“一切进展顺利，”罗伯森说. “A lot of people were nervous that it was going to be really hard. We’ve proven we can compete, and academically we’re getting quality individuals 在这里.”

Taylor says that “the success in the conference validates that we deserve to be 在这里. 如果我们每件事都是最后一名，问题就会出现, 如果我们不能竞争，我们还能让孩子们来吗? But over the three years we’ve managed to find the right balance of students and athletes, 我们绝对可以竞争. 我们相信，只要我们足够努力，找到合适的学生运动员，我们就能在任何项目中赢得分区冠军.”

Softball coach Rosenthal says “it certainly has created more work for 教练, but I think in the long run it’s really beneficial to our programs. The value placed on academics by DII has helped me attract better students to my program, 这样一来，他们来了以后工作就少了.”

老鹰垒球在DII赢得了它的第一次锦标赛，并且在两年的会议中一直处于上半区.

“这是一个伟大的转变，我真的很期待我们现在能够做些什么，因为我们有资格进入季后赛,罗森塔尔说.

麦克丹尼尔给了教练们最大的荣誉. “我们真的很感谢我们的教练组，他们在我们所有的学习曲线中都站得很高,他说.

现在，展望未来.