Return to Front Page
NC Central in, WSSU out of MEAC
Lut Williams
BCSP Editor
The long and painstaking reclassification process from NCAA Div. II to Div. I status took markedly different turns for two institutions last week as the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference announced Thursday that North Carolina Central University had been admitted to its league only to find out a day later that Winston-Salem State University decided to withdraw from it.
The developments brought some degree of closure to
administrators who have worked tirelessly over the past five
years trying to fulfill all the provisions for a move up, including putting in place
all the necessary funds and facilities. For fans however, who have perhaps
suffered most as the process played out, it brought a mixture of relief and confusion.
Why, some NCCU fans ask, did it take so long for the MEAC to make this decision? And why, WSSU fans ask, did the Rams go through five years of changes to end up where it started in Div. II and the Cenral Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).
MEAC Commissioner Dr. Dennis Thomas, for obvious reasons, is one of those dealing with a mixture of elation and disappointment.
Thomas was on hand Thursday in Durham, N.C. for the happy announcement that NCCU, one of the original founding members of the MEAC in 1970 who decided to withdraw when the conference reclassified to NCAA Div. I status in 1979, had been voted back into the league effective July 1, 2010. NCCU, who had returned to the CIAA and competed there from 1979 to 2007, is in the third year of its reclassification from NCAA Div. II to Div. I.
"I am elated to have such an outstanding academic institution as North Carolina Central return to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference," said Thomas at the press conference announcing the decision. "I commend Chancellor (Charlie) Nelms, (Athletics Director) Dr. (Ingrid) Wicker-McCree, and the entire NCCU family for all their continued hard work as they make the transition from Division II to Division I."
Thomas said NCCU was a "perfect fit" for the MEAC and kept the conference in compliance with its long-range strategic plan of adding up to 14 members. On Thursday, NCCU was the league's 13th member.
But before the ink literally dried on that announcement, the league was knocked back to 12 members Friday when WSSU, another former CIAA member who had been seeking reclassification to Div. I since 2004 and had been conditionally admitted to the MEAC in 2007, decided to give up its Div. I and MEAC pursuit, and attempt to return to Div. II and the CIAA.
In that school's press release, WSSU Chancellor Donald J. Reaves said, "in the final analysis the resources to complete the reclassification simply were not available, currently nor prospectively, in sufficient amounts." Reaves, who reported that the athletic department had lost $6 million since announcing the move up in '04 and projected losses of some $15 million by 2012 if it continued the process, recommended to the WSSU Board of Trustees to halt the reclassification. The board unanimously backed his recommendation.
Reaves went on to say in the statement, "as the athletics deficits continued to mount, there appeared to be no rational way we could continue the process. I believe this is the right decision for WSSU at this point in time given our resources."
Critics of WSSU's decision point out that several members of its current Board of Trustees are the same who voted unanimously in 2004 to make the move up. The original decision was made when current A&T Chancellor Harold L. Martin was chancellor at WSSU. Many feel Reaves has been against the move and strongly lobbied the board to reverse course.
Thomas was in Winston-Salem Thursday night for the nationally televised MEAC football game on ESPNU between WSSU and Florida A&M. He was not on hand Friday for WSSU's deflating announcement.
"I'm obviously disappointed when a member-institution decides to leave," Thomas said Monday from his office in Virginia Beach, Va. "We understand that they're dealing with the situation as best they can. They've decided that it's in their best interest to go back to Div. II. We wish them well on their journey."
Thomas, who as athletic director helped Hampton University make the move from Div. II to Div. I and from the CIAA to the MEAC in the mid-1990s, would not comment on the particulars of WSSU's decision, nor the hurdles NCCU will face going forward.
"Each institution stands on its merits," he said.
"Chancellor Reaves had publicly stated what the problems were," said Thomas, who says he's been working with WSSU on the move since 2003.
"This is the landscape of intercollegiate athletics these days," he said while noting changes that have taken place in bigger conferences like the ACC, Big East and Big 12 over the last decade. "There's a lot of movement. Changes are the nature of the business. Our game plan is to move forward."
Based on current projections, NCCU will be fully eligible for MEAC championships beginning in the 2011-12 season, Thomas said. According to Reaves' statement, WSSU will begin the process of going back to Div. II immediately but will continue to compete in the MEAC and Div. I for the 2009-10 season.
Also according to Reaves, WSSU will have to file a letter of intent to the NCAA Div. II Membership Sub-Committee, reduce athletic staff and scholarships, the latter affecting a number of student/athletes who were recruited based on Div. I standards.
". . . We will be working with each affected-student to ensure that to the extent possible they are held harmless," Reaves statement read. "Those who may be affected by this move, either through loss of scholarship or the move from Division I athletics, will be given as much guidance and assistance as possible."
For now, the developments also bring an end to the MEAC's dream of having North Carolina's three largest Historically Black Universities and natural rivals separated by less than 100 miles WSSU, NCCU and North Carolina A&T State Universityin the conference, a sure blow to attendance numbers, as well as marketing and revenue opportunities. It also leaves the MEAC in somewhat of quandary as it relates to its basketball tournament, which made a decision last year to bring the tourney to Winston-Salem in hopes that the local school's participation would boost attendance and revenue numbers.
Meanwhile, the CIAA, which has seen its ranks depleted by defections to the MEAC, is glad to be getting WSSU back.
"We welcome them back with open arms," CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry told the Winston-Salem Journal's John Dell. "I'm as happy as I can be. I'm glad to hear they are back in our conference, and it's going to be a big boost for our league." Kerry also said that if WSSU can reduce its scholarships, it would be eligible to compete for CIAA titles next fall.
© 2009 Azeez Communications, Inc.