http://newsok.com/article/1874028/?template=home/main

I hate to see them do it....They're just so small. I attended OCU back when they were the Chiefs and won three NAIA Basketball Championships...those days will be long gone if they join the NCAA.

Also, I thought they already had tennis? Maybe it went away in the almost 10 years I've been away.

As a current OCU student, I love the idea. It's great publicity for the school to play in DI. Also, I think that if the school can build some decent facilities, they can be competitive.

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It's kind of a catch-22. They might not win national championships in major sports in D-1, but they will get more exposure just from winning a D-1 conference or even just making a tournament appearance. I agree with the article that the conference affiliation is very important.

From a publicity stand point, if they can be occasionally competitive, it will be a great move. And, no matter what one thinks about it, publicity generated from sports boosts almuni interest. In turn, it motivates donations, even to academic areas.

If SMU, TCU, and Tulsa can survive in D-1 and get a little exposure, shouldn't OCU be able to as well?

The article isn't clear, but I can't think they talking about adding football and being D-1A. It has to be OCU wants to be more like Oral Roberts, Temple or St Louis University and be a non-football D-1 school.

All those schools you mentioned are D-1A football schools. Football is really, really expensive, even with a stadium, which would be needed.

No, OCU won't be doing football anytime soon. For one thing, I can't think of where they'd put the stadium.

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I agree, Midtowner! We should remember this is a move to RETURN to NCAA Division 1 status. They had some good basketball programs in the Fifties & Sixties as a NCAA D1 school under Coach Abe Lemons. I remember well, as a young boy, going to see the visiting UCLA Bruins play the Chiefs and UCLA had a great center by the name of Lew Alcindor....yeah, that guy....who changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar! Those were great days. Little old Fredrickson Field House was small, but would rock. Some tidbits....

As a Division 1 NCAA Basketball School....

- OCU Made the NCAA Tournament 1952-1955 and again from 1963-1967.
- OCU led the nation in scoring in '67.
- The Chiefs went to the NIT in 1959 and 1968, when the NIT was still a great tourney.
- Rich Travis was a first-team All-American in 1967 and 1968.


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Good point. I don't know why I was thinking they had football. Still, the basketball tournament does wonders for small schools' publicity. Think Gonzaga, Butler, Pacific, Iona, etc. Most people wouldn't have heard of these schools without some exposure from men's D-1 basketball. I know that most around the country don't know there an Oklahoma City University. D-1 sports at least affords the schools some sense of familiarity they wouldn't have without it.

If I remember reading right, Oklahoma City is one of the largest cities in the country (if not the largest) not to have a D1 school in the city. I know we're a little different, with OU just inside the metro area and OSU just a little further out, but it will give Oklahoma City, as well as OCU greater exposure.

I knew this was in the works when wrestling and volleyball were recently added to the mix of sports offered.

Go Stars!

Now, we just need UCO to move up to D-1. I think it's silly they're still a D-2 school with the student numbers they have....close to 15,000 students!

UCO needs to at least move up to D-IAA. Them being D-II is a joke.

It's a question of facilities and $. For Basketball, Hamilton Fieldhouse is a pathetic excuse of a facility. For football, the facility is certainly up to par for D-IAA, however, the problem is in finding a league to play in. The closest D-IAA schools that I'm aware of are in South Texas, so with the travel, it just might not be feasible at this time.

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