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NCAA Division II

April 04, 2023

NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment offered in Division III.

Before 1973, the NCAA's smaller schools were grouped together in the College Division. In 1973, the College Division split in two when the NCAA began using numeric designations for its competitions. The College Division members who wanted to offer athletic scholarships or compete against those who did became Division II, while those who chose not to offer athletic scholarships became Division III.

Nationally, ESPN televises the championship game in football, CBS televises the men's basketball championship, and ESPN2 televises the women's basketball championship. Stadium broadcasts six football games on Thursdays during the regular season, and one men's basketball game per week on Saturdays during that sport's regular season.

The official slogan of NCAA Division II, implemented in 2015, is "Make It Yours."[1]

Membership

There are currently 303 full, 7 reclassifying and 2 provisional members of Division II.[2] Division II schools tend to be smaller public universities and many private institutions. A large minority of Division II institutions (91 schools / 30%) have fewer than 2,499 students. Only 18 institutions have more than 15,000 undergraduates, and only 5 have more than 25,000, led by Simon Fraser University. Division II has a diverse membership, with two active member institutions in Alaska and three in Hawaii. Additionally, it is the only division that has member institutions in Puerto Rico and the only division that has expanded its membership to include an international member institution. Simon Fraser University became the first institution outside the US to enter the NCAA membership process. This occurred after the Division II Membership Committee accepted the institution's application during a July 7–9 meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. Simon Fraser, located in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, British Columbia, began a two-year candidacy period September 1, 2009. Prospective members also must complete at least one year of provisional status before being accepted as full-time Division II members. In the fall of 2012, the NCAA President's Council officially approved Simon Fraser University as the organization's first international member.[3] In April 2017, the NCAA made permanent the pilot program under which Simon Fraser was admitted to the NCAA,[4] allowing each division to determine whether to allow Canadian or Mexican schools to join.[5] In January 2018, Division II became the first NCAA division to officially allow Mexican schools to apply for membership, provided that they meet the same standards as US-based D-II members, including US regional accreditation.[5] The Mexican school CETYS, which is fully accredited in both countries, is seeking to join the NCAA with the backing of the California Collegiate Athletic Association.[4] At this time, CETYS had men's and women's basketball, men's and women's volleyball, baseball, softball, men's soccer, cheerleading and football.[6] Because their football team carries a larger roster than most sports, this may require the university to field six women's teams and four men's team in order to meet the equal gender balance requirement (they were also looking to add a track and field team for men).[6]

Overview

Men's team sports

Number Sport Teams[7] Conferences Scholarships
per team 		Season Most Championships
1 Football 164 16 36.0 Fall Northwest Missouri State (6)
2 Basketball 306 24 10.0 Winter Kentucky Wesleyan (8)
3 Baseball 256 24 9.0 Spring Florida Southern (9)
4 Soccer 206 24 9.0 Fall Southern Connecticut (6)
5 Lacrosse 75 24 10.8 Spring Adelphi (7)
6 Volleyball[a] 31 6[b] 4.5 Spring UCLA (19)
7 Water polo[a] 8 4 4.5 Fall California (13)
Notes
  1. ^ a b Championships are combined with Division I.
  2. ^ As of the upcoming 2023 season (2022–23 school year), 7 conferences in all sponsor men's volleyball at the National Collegiate (Divisions I and II) level. Of these conferences, one consists entirely of D-I members and thus is not included in the count of 6. Four conferences consist of a mix of D-I and D-II members, and two consist solely of D-II members.

Sports are ranked according to total possible scholarships (number of teams x number of scholarships per team). Since all Division II sports are considered equivalency sports (as opposed to the "head-count" status of several Division I sports: men's and women's basketball, FBS football, women's gymnastics, women's tennis, women's [indoor] volleyball), all scholarship numbers are indicated with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if needed.

Men's individual sports

No. Sport Teams[7] Athletes[8] Season
1 Track (outdoor) 223 7,555 Spring
2 Track (indoor) 173 6,289 Winter
3 Cross country 275 3,640 Fall
4 Swimming & diving 75 1,619 Winter
5 Golf 227 2,353 Spring
6 Tennis 167 1,617 Spring
7 Wrestling 62 1,884 Winter

Women's team sports

No. Sport Teams[7] Conferences Scholarships
per team 		Season Most Championships
1 Basketball 306 24 10.0 Winter Cal Poly Pomona and North Dakota State (5)
2 Soccer 259 24 9.9 Fall Grand Valley State (6)
3 Volleyball 295 24 8.0 Fall Concordia St. Paul (8)
4 Softball 283 24 7.2 Spring Cal State Northridge (4)
5 Lacrosse 111 24 9.9 Spring Adelphi (8)
6 Rowing 16 24 20.0 Spring Western Washington (8)
7 Field Hockey 36 24 6.3 Fall Bloomsburg (13)
8 Water Polo* 12 6 8.0 Spring UCLA (7)

* Championships are combined with D-I

Women's individual sports

No. Sport Teams[7] Athletes[8] Season
1 Track (outdoor) 255 7,530 Spring
2 Track (indoor) 202 6,399 Winter
3 Cross country 300 3,829 Fall
4 Swimming & diving 104 2,101 Winter
5 Golf 198 1,547 Spring
6 Tennis 223 1,901 Spring
7 Gymnastics 7 148 Winter

National Championships Festival

Another feature unique to Division II is what the NCAA calls the "National Championships Festival"—an annual event, explicitly modeled after the Olympics, in which a single city hosts national championship finals in multiple sports over a period of several days. Each festival has formal opening and closing ceremonies, and competitors are housed in a centrally located hotel, allowing a village-like experience. The first such festival was held in Orlando, Florida in 2004 for spring sports. It became an annual event in the 2006–07 school year, and has been held each school year since with the exception of 2009–10. Since the current annual cycle began in 2006–07, the event has rotated between featuring fall, spring, and winter sports, in that order (the cycling was not interrupted by the one-year hiatus).[9]

Requirements

Division II institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women (or four for men and six for women), with two team sports for each sex, and each playing season represented by each sex. Teams that consist of both men and women are counted as men's teams for sports sponsorship purposes.[10] There are contest and participant minimums for each sport,[11] as well as scheduling criteria—football and men's and women's basketball teams must play at least 50 percent of their games against Division II or Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) or Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) opponents. For sports other than football and basketball there are no scheduling requirements, as long as each contest involves full varsity teams. The only NCAA sport in which contests against club teams can count toward a team's contest minimum is women's rugby, in which two such contests per school year can be counted.[12] There are not attendance requirements for football, nor arena size requirements for basketball. There are maximum financial aid awards for each sport, as well as a separate limit on financial aid awards in men's sports, that a Division II school must not exceed. Division II teams usually feature a number of local or in-state student-athletes. Many Division II student-athletes pay for school through a combination of scholarship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings. Division II athletics programs are financed in the institution's budget like other academic departments on campus. Traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs.[13]

Athletic scholarships are offered in most sponsored sports at most institutions, but with more stringent limits as to the numbers offered in any one sport than at the Division I level. For example, Division II schools may give financial aid in football equivalent to 36 full scholarships (whereas each school in Division I FBS, the highest level, is allowed 85 individuals receiving financial aid for football), although some Division II conferences limit the number of scholarships to a lower level. Division II scholarship programs are frequently the recipients of student-athletes transferring from Division I schools; a transfer student does not have to sit out a year before resuming sports participation as would usually be the case in the event of transferring from one Division I institution to another. Several exceptions to this rule currently exist, of which three are the most significant. First, football players transferring from a Division I FBS school to a Division I FCS school do not have to sit out a year, provided that the player has at least two remaining seasons of athletic eligibility. The same also applies to players transferring from scholarship-granting FCS schools to non-scholarship FCS schools.[14][a] Second, a first-time transfer does not have to sit out a year, provided that the player's former institution grants a scholarship release. Before the 2021–22 school year, this applied to sports other than football, baseball, men's and women's basketball, and men's ice hockey;[14] it was extended to the remaining sports effective in 2021–22.[15] Additionally, student-athletes in any sport who complete a bachelor's degree and still have athletic eligibility remaining can transfer to another school and be immediately eligible, provided that they enroll in a separate degree program (whether graduate, undergraduate, or professional) at the new institution. There are also some restrictions with transferring to another school for the same sport in the same conference.[16]

Conferences

Notes
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Non-Football Conferences.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Conferences that sponsor football.
  3. ^ Sponsoring football in 2025.

The newest D-II conference is the Mountain East Conference, formed in 2012 after the football-sponsoring schools in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) announced that they would leave to form a new league,[17][18] a move that led to the demise of the WVIAC. The Mountain East was approved by the NCAA Division II Membership Committee in February 2013, and became an official conference on September 1 of that year.[19]

The most recent change to the roster of D-II conferences was the demise of the Heartland Conference at the end of the 2018–19 school year. In August 2017, eight of its nine members announced a mass exodus to the Lone Star Conference.[20] The remaining Heartland member, Newman University, announced in February 2018 that it would become a de facto member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association at that time. Newman technically became an associate member because it does not sponsor football, a mandatory sport for full MIAA members, but now houses all of its varsity sports in that league.[21] One of the eight schools that originally announced a move to the LSC, Rogers State University, later changed course and instead chose to follow Newman into de facto MIAA membership (like Newman, and indeed all other Heartland members, Rogers State does not sponsor football).[22]

A more recent change saw the Great Northwest Athletic Conference drop football after the 2021–22 school year. Over time, the GNAC saw most of its football-playing schools drop the sport, and it entered into a football scheduling alliance for 2020 and 2021 with the Lone Star Conference.[23] The alliance was further extended for 2022 and 2023, by which time the GNAC football membership had dropped to three,[24] but was superseded when the three GNAC schools became football-only LSC members effective in 2022.[25]

Independents

Scholarship limits by sport

The NCAA imposes limits on the total financial aid each Division II member may award in each sport that the school sponsors. All Division II sports are classified as "equivalency" sports, meaning that the NCAA restricts the total financial aid that a school can offer in a given sport to the equivalent of a set number of full scholarships.[26] This differs from Division I, in which some sports are "head-count" sports in which the NCAA limits the total number of individuals who can receive athletic aid. In another practice that differs from Division I, Division II members are limited to a combined total of 60 scholarship equivalents for men's sports apart from football and basketball.[27]

Scholarship limits in bold are identical to those for Division I members in the same sport for the same sex. Most, but not all, of these sports have a single championship open to schools from all divisions (for example bowling and rifle), or a combined Division I/II national championship and a separate Division III championship (as in women's ice hockey and men's volleyball). Examples of sports with identical scholarship numbers in the two divisions, but separate national championships for each, include men's cross-country and women's rowing.

In sports that conduct "National Collegiate" championships open to schools from multiple divisions, Division II schools are allowed to award the same number of scholarships as Division I members.[28] If the Division I scholarship limit is higher than the Division II limit, the D-II member must annually file a declaration of intent to compete under Division I rules with the NCAA prior to June 1.[29]

Additionally, if the NCAA sponsors a Division I championship but not a Division II championship in a given sport, D-II members are allowed to compete in the D-I championship,[30] and are also allowed to operate under D-I scholarship limits.[31] An example of this situation can be seen in men's ice hockey, which has not had a Division II championship in the 21st century. Several full members of the Northeast-10 Conference, plus men's hockey-only member Post University, compete under Division II scholarship limits; other Division II schools with programs in that sport choose to play as Division I programs under the higher Division I scholarship limits.

The NCAA classifies teams that consist of both men and women as men's teams for purposes of sports sponsorship and D-II limitations on total scholarships. Three NCAA sports are open to competitors of both sexes. In rifle, not only is there a single team championship for all divisions, but men and women compete as equals. Fencing and skiing also have single team championships, but schools have separate men's and women's squads, with all bouts or races involving members of a single sex, and the NCAA has separate men's and women's scholarship limits in both sports.

Sport Men's Women's
Acrobatics & tumbling – 9.0
Baseball 9.0 –
Basketball 10.0 10.0
Beach volleyball – 5.0
Bowling – 5.0
Cross-country/track & field 12.6[s 1] 12.6[s 2]
Equestrian – 15.0
Fencing 4.5 4.5
Field hockey – 6.3
Football 36.0 –
Golf 3.6 5.4
Gymnastics 5.4 6.0
Ice hockey 13.5 18.0
Lacrosse 10.8 9.9
Rifle 3.6 –
Rowing – 20.0
Rugby – 12.0
Skiing 6.3 6.3
Soccer 9.0 9.9
Softball – 7.2
Swimming and diving 8.1 8.1
Tennis 4.5 6.0
Triathlon – 5.0
Volleyball 4.5 8.0
Water polo 4.5 8.0
Wrestling 9.0 10.0
Notes
  1. ^ Schools that do not sponsor men's indoor or outdoor track, but do sponsor men's cross-country, are allowed 5.0 equivalents.[32]
  2. ^ Schools that do not sponsor women's indoor or outdoor track, but do sponsor women's cross-country, are allowed 6.0 equivalents.[32]

Interaction with other divisions

The NCAA does not strictly prevent its member institutions from playing outside of their own division, or indeed playing against schools that are not members of the NCAA, but it is discouraged in many sports.

NAIA

Many Division II schools frequently schedule matches against members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which consists of colleges and universities across the United States and Canada that promote competitive and character-based athletics that is controlled by its membership, as opposed to the NCAA that serves as a regulating body.

Division I

Division II schools also frequently schedule "money games", usually in football and men's basketball, against Division I schools.

In football, D-II teams once occasionally played games against schools that are now in Division I FBS, but this practice has ended because, under current NCAA rules, FBS schools cannot use victories over schools below the FCS level for establishing a bowl eligibility. Today, D-II "money games" are exclusively against FCS schools, whose postseason eligibility is less seriously impacted by scheduling a D-II opponent. In basketball, where conference tournaments play a large role in determining postseason participants, D-I schools have less of a penalty for scheduling an occasional D-II opponent, resulting in more "money games".

In any event, the D-II school is almost invariably the visiting team, and is invited to play with the knowledge that it will likely be defeated but will receive a substantial (at least by Division II standards) monetary reward which will help to finance much of the rest of the season and perhaps other sports as well. Such games are funded by Division I schools that can afford such games.

In recent years, "money games" in men's basketball have also included preseason exhibitions against D-I programs, typically in the same region, that do not count in official statistics for either team. Under NCAA rules, Division I teams are allowed to play two exhibition games in a season and must host these games.[33]

The University of Kansas helps the state's four Division II members by rotating them onto the Jayhawks' exhibition schedule annually. Milwaukee, which has been a Division I member since 1990, has continued its series with their former Division II rival Wisconsin-Parkside as part of their exhibition schedule.

When these exhibition games do happen, there are times when the Division II team does win, and against a well-respected Division I program. In 2009, a Division II team beat the eventual Big East regular season champion.[34] In 2010, two other Division II teams beat teams that reached the NCAA Division I tournament.[34] In 2011, another Division II team defeated a Division I team that finished in the top half of the Pac-12 Conference. In 2012, another Division II team beat[34] eventual Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament champion Miami.[35]

Also in basketball, one of the best-known early-season tournaments for D-I men's teams, the Maui Invitational, is hosted by D-II member Chaminade. Through the 2017 edition, Chaminade competed in every tournament, but now competes only in odd-numbered years. The now-defunct Great Alaska Shootout, which had men's and women's tournaments, was also hosted by a D-II member, namely Alaska–Anchorage. Chaminade typically loses all games it plays in Maui; Alaska–Anchorage also typically lost all of its men's Shootout games, but was frequently competitive in the women's version.

Non-revenue sports competition

Matches between the different collegiate divisions in non-revenue sports are often quite competitive. Indeed, in some sports, among them ice hockey and men's volleyball, there is no Division II national championship. In hockey, many schools whose athletic programs are otherwise Division II compete in Division I, and men's volleyball has a truncated divisional structure with a Division III championship but no Division II championship. In any sport that does not have a Division II national championship, Division II members are allowed to award the same number of scholarships as Division I members. One D-II conference, the East Coast Conference, features D-I Bryant as an associate member in bowling, a sport with a single NCAA championship event open to all divisions.

An earlier example is that at least during the 1970s, NCAA golf tournaments in California were usually played with Division I and Division II schools competing together in one group. Sometimes, Division II schools won those tournaments. Additionally, matches involving two or four schools were common among schools from these two divisions.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Most FCS members award football scholarships, but the following programs do not award football scholarships:
    • Members of the Ivy League, which prohibits its members from awarding athletic scholarships in any sport.
    • Members of the Pioneer Football League, a football-only league that also bans athletic scholarships (though only in that sport).
    • Georgetown, which chose to remain a non-scholarship football program after its football home of the Patriot League began allowing football scholarships in 2013.

References

  1. ^ "Division II begins rollout of 'Make It Yours' logo". NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA. 2015-07-08. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  2. ^ "Division II Facts and Figures" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  3. ^ "NCAA makes it official: SFU is admitted as first Canadian member" (Press release). Simon Fraser University. 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  4. ^ a b Tracy, Marc (May 1, 2017). "Looking to Cross the Border From Mexico, Into the N.C.A.A." The New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Division II votes to permit membership applications from schools in Mexico" (Press release). NCAA. January 20, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  6. ^ a b "NCAA allows Mexican institutions to join Division II, with one aiming to be first". Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  7. ^ a b c d "Composition and sport sponsorship of the NCAA membership". NCAA. December 1, 2021. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  8. ^ a b "NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report: 1981-82 – 2018-19" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  9. ^ "National Championships Festivals". NCAA. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  10. ^ "Bylaw 20.10.3 Sports Sponsorship". 2017–18 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). p. 316. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  11. ^ "Bylaw 20.10.3.3 Minimum Contests and Participants Requirements for Sports Sponsorship". 2017–18 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). pp. 317–19. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  12. ^ "Bylaw 20.10.3.3.7.1 Exception—Women's Rugby". 2017–18 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). p. 318. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  13. ^ "Divisional Differences and the History of Multidivision Classification | NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA". NCAA.org. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  14. ^ a b "Bylaw 14.5.5.2.10: Transfer Regulations, One-Time Transfer Exception". 2016–17 NCAA Division I Manual (PDF). NCAA. p. 170. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  15. ^ "Division I Board of Directors, Presidential Forum discuss sustainability" (Press release). NCAA. April 28, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  16. ^ "Bylaw 14.6.1: Graduate Student/Postbaccalaureate Participation, One-Time Transfer Exception". 2021–22 NCAA Division I Manual (PDF). NCAA. p. 198. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  17. ^ . Hazard, KY: WYMT-TV. August 20, 2012. Archived from the original on August 21, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  18. ^ Rine, Shawn (August 20, 2012). "Cards, Toppers Set To Jump Into New League". The Intelligencer & Wheeling News Register. Wheeling, WV. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  19. ^ "NCAA Adds Mountain East Conference As Newest DIvision II League" (Press release). Mountain East Conference. February 15, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  20. ^ "Lone Star Conference to Add Eight Schools in 2019" (Press release). Lone Star Conference. August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  21. ^ "Newman To Compete In MIAA As Associate Member In 2019-20" (Press release). Newman University Athletics. February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  22. ^ "Hillcats to join MIAA Conference for 2019-2020 season" (Press release). Rogers State Hillcats. October 18, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  23. ^ "LSC, GNAC agree to football scheduling alliance" (Press release). Lone Star Conference. February 20, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  24. ^ "LSC, GNAC to extend football scheduling alliance" (Press release). Lone Star Conference. March 11, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  25. ^ "Three football teams to join LSC as affiliate members" (Press release). Lone Star Conference. November 18, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  26. ^ "Bylaw 15.4.2 Equivalency Sports". 2020–21 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). NCAA. August 1, 2020. pp. 166–67. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  27. ^ "Bylaw 15.4.2.1.1.1 Overall Limit". 2020–21 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). NCAA. August 1, 2020. p. 167. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  28. ^ "Bylaw 20.7.1.1 Maximum Awards Exception". 2016–17 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). NCAA. p. 298. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  29. ^ "Bylaw 20.7.1.1.1 Declaration of Intent to be Exempt". 2016–17 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). NCAA. p. 298. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  30. ^ "Bylaw 20.7.2 Options When No Division II Championship Is Conducted". 2016–17 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). NCAA. p. 298. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  31. ^ "Bylaw 20.7.2.1 Participation in Division I Championship". 2016–17 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). NCAA. p. 298. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  32. ^ a b "Bylaw 15.4.2.1.4 Maximum Equivalency Limits—Institutions That Sponsor Cross Country but Do Not Sponsor Track and Field". 2020–21 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). NCAA. August 1, 2020. p. 167. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  33. ^ Bolen, Erin (June 17, 2011). "Missouri State men's basketball to play Missouri Southern in exhibition". Springfield News-Leader. Springfield, Missouri. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
  34. ^ a b c "Is Miami's exhibition loss to Division II St. Leo an aberration or an omen?". Yahoo Sports. 5 November 2012.
  35. ^ "Miami (FL) Hurricanes Basketball 2013-14 Schedule - Hurricanes Home and Away - ESPN". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2013-08-17.

External links

  • Official website

April 04, 2023
ncaa, division, intermediate, level, division, competition, national, collegiate, athletic, association, ncaa, offers, alternative, both, larger, better, funded, division, scholarship, free, environment, offered, division, before, 1973, ncaa, smaller, schools,. NCAA Division II D II is an intermediate level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA It offers an alternative to both the larger and better funded Division I and to the scholarship free environment offered in Division III Before 1973 the NCAA s smaller schools were grouped together in the College Division In 1973 the College Division split in two when the NCAA began using numeric designations for its competitions The College Division members who wanted to offer athletic scholarships or compete against those who did became Division II while those who chose not to offer athletic scholarships became Division III Nationally ESPN televises the championship game in football CBS televises the men s basketball championship and ESPN2 televises the women s basketball championship Stadium broadcasts six football games on Thursdays during the regular season and one men s basketball game per week on Saturdays during that sport s regular season The official slogan of NCAA Division II implemented in 2015 is Make It Yours 1 Contents 1 Membership 2 Overview 2 1 Men s team sports 2 2 Men s individual sports 2 3 Women s team sports 2 4 Women s individual sports 2 5 National Championships Festival 3 Requirements 3 1 Conferences 3 2 Independents 4 Scholarship limits by sport 5 Interaction with other divisions 5 1 NAIA 5 2 Division I 5 3 Non revenue sports competition 6 See also 7 Footnotes 8 References 9 External linksMembership EditThere are currently 303 full 7 reclassifying and 2 provisional members of Division II 2 Division II schools tend to be smaller public universities and many private institutions A large minority of Division II institutions 91 schools 30 have fewer than 2 499 students Only 18 institutions have more than 15 000 undergraduates and only 5 have more than 25 000 led by Simon Fraser University Division II has a diverse membership with two active member institutions in Alaska and three in Hawaii Additionally it is the only division that has member institutions in Puerto Rico and the only division that has expanded its membership to include an international member institution Simon Fraser University became the first institution outside the US to enter the NCAA membership process This occurred after the Division II Membership Committee accepted the institution s application during a July 7 9 meeting in Indianapolis Indiana Simon Fraser located in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby British Columbia began a two year candidacy period September 1 2009 Prospective members also must complete at least one year of provisional status before being accepted as full time Division II members In the fall of 2012 the NCAA President s Council officially approved Simon Fraser University as the organization s first international member 3 In April 2017 the NCAA made permanent the pilot program under which Simon Fraser was admitted to the NCAA 4 allowing each division to determine whether to allow Canadian or Mexican schools to join 5 In January 2018 Division II became the first NCAA division to officially allow Mexican schools to apply for membership provided that they meet the same standards as US based D II members including US regional accreditation 5 The Mexican school CETYS which is fully accredited in both countries is seeking to join the NCAA with the backing of the California Collegiate Athletic Association 4 At this time CETYS had men s and women s basketball men s and women s volleyball baseball softball men s soccer cheerleading and football 6 Because their football team carries a larger roster than most sports this may require the university to field six women s teams and four men s team in order to meet the equal gender balance requirement they were also looking to add a track and field team for men 6 Overview EditMen s team sports Edit Number Sport Teams 7 Conferences Scholarshipsper team Season Most Championships1 Football 164 16 36 0 Fall Northwest Missouri State 6 2 Basketball 306 24 10 0 Winter Kentucky Wesleyan 8 3 Baseball 256 24 9 0 Spring Florida Southern 9 4 Soccer 206 24 9 0 Fall Southern Connecticut 6 5 Lacrosse 75 24 10 8 Spring Adelphi 7 6 Volleyball a 31 6 b 4 5 Spring UCLA 19 7 Water polo a 8 4 4 5 Fall California 13 Notes a b Championships are combined with Division I As of the upcoming 2023 season 2022 23 school year 7 conferences in all sponsor men s volleyball at the National Collegiate Divisions I and II level Of these conferences one consists entirely of D I members and thus is not included in the count of 6 Four conferences consist of a mix of D I and D II members and two consist solely of D II members Sports are ranked according to total possible scholarships number of teams x number of scholarships per team Since all Division II sports are considered equivalency sports as opposed to the head count status of several Division I sports men s and women s basketball FBS football women s gymnastics women s tennis women s indoor volleyball all scholarship numbers are indicated with a decimal point with a trailing zero if needed Men s individual sports Edit No Sport Teams 7 Athletes 8 Season1 Track outdoor 223 7 555 Spring2 Track indoor 173 6 289 Winter3 Cross country 275 3 640 Fall4 Swimming amp diving 75 1 619 Winter5 Golf 227 2 353 Spring6 Tennis 167 1 617 Spring7 Wrestling 62 1 884 WinterWomen s team sports Edit No Sport Teams 7 Conferences Scholarshipsper team Season Most Championships1 Basketball 306 24 10 0 Winter Cal Poly Pomona and North Dakota State 5 2 Soccer 259 24 9 9 Fall Grand Valley State 6 3 Volleyball 295 24 8 0 Fall Concordia St Paul 8 4 Softball 283 24 7 2 Spring Cal State Northridge 4 5 Lacrosse 111 24 9 9 Spring Adelphi 8 6 Rowing 16 24 20 0 Spring Western Washington 8 7 Field Hockey 36 24 6 3 Fall Bloomsburg 13 8 Water Polo 12 6 8 0 Spring UCLA 7 Championships are combined with D I Women s individual sports Edit No Sport Teams 7 Athletes 8 Season1 Track outdoor 255 7 530 Spring2 Track indoor 202 6 399 Winter3 Cross country 300 3 829 Fall4 Swimming amp diving 104 2 101 Winter5 Golf 198 1 547 Spring6 Tennis 223 1 901 Spring7 Gymnastics 7 148 WinterNational Championships Festival Edit Another feature unique to Division II is what the NCAA calls the National Championships Festival an annual event explicitly modeled after the Olympics in which a single city hosts national championship finals in multiple sports over a period of several days Each festival has formal opening and closing ceremonies and competitors are housed in a centrally located hotel allowing a village like experience The first such festival was held in Orlando Florida in 2004 for spring sports It became an annual event in the 2006 07 school year and has been held each school year since with the exception of 2009 10 Since the current annual cycle began in 2006 07 the event has rotated between featuring fall spring and winter sports in that order the cycling was not interrupted by the one year hiatus 9 Requirements EditDivision II institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women or four for men and six for women with two team sports for each sex and each playing season represented by each sex Teams that consist of both men and women are counted as men s teams for sports sponsorship purposes 10 There are contest and participant minimums for each sport 11 as well as scheduling criteria football and men s and women s basketball teams must play at least 50 percent of their games against Division II or Football Bowl Subdivision formerly Division I A or Football Championship Subdivision formerly Division I AA opponents For sports other than football and basketball there are no scheduling requirements as long as each contest involves full varsity teams The only NCAA sport in which contests against club teams can count toward a team s contest minimum is women s rugby in which two such contests per school year can be counted 12 There are not attendance requirements for football nor arena size requirements for basketball There are maximum financial aid awards for each sport as well as a separate limit on financial aid awards in men s sports that a Division II school must not exceed Division II teams usually feature a number of local or in state student athletes Many Division II student athletes pay for school through a combination of scholarship money grants student loans and employment earnings Division II athletics programs are financed in the institution s budget like other academic departments on campus Traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs 13 Athletic scholarships are offered in most sponsored sports at most institutions but with more stringent limits as to the numbers offered in any one sport than at the Division I level For example Division II schools may give financial aid in football equivalent to 36 full scholarships whereas each school in Division I FBS the highest level is allowed 85 individuals receiving financial aid for football although some Division II conferences limit the number of scholarships to a lower level Division II scholarship programs are frequently the recipients of student athletes transferring from Division I schools a transfer student does not have to sit out a year before resuming sports participation as would usually be the case in the event of transferring from one Division I institution to another Several exceptions to this rule currently exist of which three are the most significant First football players transferring from a Division I FBS school to a Division I FCS school do not have to sit out a year provided that the player has at least two remaining seasons of athletic eligibility The same also applies to players transferring from scholarship granting FCS schools to non scholarship FCS schools 14 a Second a first time transfer does not have to sit out a year provided that the player s former institution grants a scholarship release Before the 2021 22 school year this applied to sports other than football baseball men s and women s basketball and men s ice hockey 14 it was extended to the remaining sports effective in 2021 22 15 Additionally student athletes in any sport who complete a bachelor s degree and still have athletic eligibility remaining can transfer to another school and be immediately eligible provided that they enroll in a separate degree program whether graduate undergraduate or professional at the new institution There are also some restrictions with transferring to another school for the same sport in the same conference 16 Conferences Edit California Collegiate Athletic Association conf 1 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference conf 1 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association conf 2 Conference Carolinas conf 1 conf 3 East Coast Conference conf 1 Great American Conference conf 2 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference conf 2 Great Lakes Valley Conference conf 2 Great Midwest Athletic Conference conf 2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference conf 1 Gulf South Conference conf 2 Lone Star Conference conf 2 Mid America Intercollegiate Athletics Association conf 2 Mountain East Conference conf 2 Northeast 10 Conference conf 2 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference conf 2 Pacific West Conference conf 1 Peach Belt Conference conf 1 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference conf 2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference conf 2 South Atlantic Conference conf 2 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference conf 2 Sunshine State Conference conf 1 Notes a b c d e f g h Non Football Conferences a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Conferences that sponsor football Sponsoring football in 2025 The newest D II conference is the Mountain East Conference formed in 2012 after the football sponsoring schools in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference WVIAC announced that they would leave to form a new league 17 18 a move that led to the demise of the WVIAC The Mountain East was approved by the NCAA Division II Membership Committee in February 2013 and became an official conference on September 1 of that year 19 The most recent change to the roster of D II conferences was the demise of the Heartland Conference at the end of the 2018 19 school year In August 2017 eight of its nine members announced a mass exodus to the Lone Star Conference 20 The remaining Heartland member Newman University announced in February 2018 that it would become a de facto member of the Mid America Intercollegiate Athletics Association at that time Newman technically became an associate member because it does not sponsor football a mandatory sport for full MIAA members but now houses all of its varsity sports in that league 21 One of the eight schools that originally announced a move to the LSC Rogers State University later changed course and instead chose to follow Newman into de facto MIAA membership like Newman and indeed all other Heartland members Rogers State does not sponsor football 22 A more recent change saw the Great Northwest Athletic Conference drop football after the 2021 22 school year Over time the GNAC saw most of its football playing schools drop the sport and it entered into a football scheduling alliance for 2020 and 2021 with the Lone Star Conference 23 The alliance was further extended for 2022 and 2023 by which time the GNAC football membership had dropped to three 24 but was superseded when the three GNAC schools became football only LSC members effective in 2022 25 Independents Edit Division II Independent schoolsScholarship limits by sport EditThe NCAA imposes limits on the total financial aid each Division II member may award in each sport that the school sponsors All Division II sports are classified as equivalency sports meaning that the NCAA restricts the total financial aid that a school can offer in a given sport to the equivalent of a set number of full scholarships 26 This differs from Division I in which some sports are head count sports in which the NCAA limits the total number of individuals who can receive athletic aid In another practice that differs from Division I Division II members are limited to a combined total of 60 scholarship equivalents for men s sports apart from football and basketball 27 Scholarship limits in bold are identical to those for Division I members in the same sport for the same sex Most but not all of these sports have a single championship open to schools from all divisions for example bowling and rifle or a combined Division I II national championship and a separate Division III championship as in women s ice hockey and men s volleyball Examples of sports with identical scholarship numbers in the two divisions but separate national championships for each include men s cross country and women s rowing In sports that conduct National Collegiate championships open to schools from multiple divisions Division II schools are allowed to award the same number of scholarships as Division I members 28 If the Division I scholarship limit is higher than the Division II limit the D II member must annually file a declaration of intent to compete under Division I rules with the NCAA prior to June 1 29 Additionally if the NCAA sponsors a Division I championship but not a Division II championship in a given sport D II members are allowed to compete in the D I championship 30 and are also allowed to operate under D I scholarship limits 31 An example of this situation can be seen in men s ice hockey which has not had a Division II championship in the 21st century Several full members of the Northeast 10 Conference plus men s hockey only member Post University compete under Division II scholarship limits other Division II schools with programs in that sport choose to play as Division I programs under the higher Division I scholarship limits The NCAA classifies teams that consist of both men and women as men s teams for purposes of sports sponsorship and D II limitations on total scholarships Three NCAA sports are open to competitors of both sexes In rifle not only is there a single team championship for all divisions but men and women compete as equals Fencing and skiing also have single team championships but schools have separate men s and women s squads with all bouts or races involving members of a single sex and the NCAA has separate men s and women s scholarship limits in both sports Sport Men s Women sAcrobatics amp tumbling 9 0Baseball 9 0 Basketball 10 0 10 0Beach volleyball 5 0Bowling 5 0Cross country track amp field 12 6 s 1 12 6 s 2 Equestrian 15 0Fencing 4 5 4 5Field hockey 6 3Football 36 0 Golf 3 6 5 4Gymnastics 5 4 6 0Ice hockey 13 5 18 0Lacrosse 10 8 9 9Rifle 3 6 Rowing 20 0Rugby 12 0Skiing 6 3 6 3Soccer 9 0 9 9Softball 7 2Swimming and diving 8 1 8 1Tennis 4 5 6 0Triathlon 5 0Volleyball 4 5 8 0Water polo 4 5 8 0Wrestling 9 0 10 0Notes Schools that do not sponsor men s indoor or outdoor track but do sponsor men s cross country are allowed 5 0 equivalents 32 Schools that do not sponsor women s indoor or outdoor track but do sponsor women s cross country are allowed 6 0 equivalents 32 Interaction with other divisions EditThe NCAA does not strictly prevent its member institutions from playing outside of their own division or indeed playing against schools that are not members of the NCAA but it is discouraged in many sports NAIA Edit Many Division II schools frequently schedule matches against members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics NAIA which consists of colleges and universities across the United States and Canada that promote competitive and character based athletics that is controlled by its membership as opposed to the NCAA that serves as a regulating body Division I Edit Division II schools also frequently schedule money games usually in football and men s basketball against Division I schools In football D II teams once occasionally played games against schools that are now in Division I FBS but this practice has ended because under current NCAA rules FBS schools cannot use victories over schools below the FCS level for establishing a bowl eligibility Today D II money games are exclusively against FCS schools whose postseason eligibility is less seriously impacted by scheduling a D II opponent In basketball where conference tournaments play a large role in determining postseason participants D I schools have less of a penalty for scheduling an occasional D II opponent resulting in more money games In any event the D II school is almost invariably the visiting team and is invited to play with the knowledge that it will likely be defeated but will receive a substantial at least by Division II standards monetary reward which will help to finance much of the rest of the season and perhaps other sports as well Such games are funded by Division I schools that can afford such games In recent years money games in men s basketball have also included preseason exhibitions against D I programs typically in the same region that do not count in official statistics for either team Under NCAA rules Division I teams are allowed to play two exhibition games in a season and must host these games 33 The University of Kansas helps the state s four Division II members by rotating them onto the Jayhawks exhibition schedule annually Milwaukee which has been a Division I member since 1990 has continued its series with their former Division II rival Wisconsin Parkside as part of their exhibition schedule When these exhibition games do happen there are times when the Division II team does win and against a well respected Division I program In 2009 a Division II team beat the eventual Big East regular season champion 34 In 2010 two other Division II teams beat teams that reached the NCAA Division I tournament 34 In 2011 another Division II team defeated a Division I team that finished in the top half of the Pac 12 Conference In 2012 another Division II team beat 34 eventual Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament champion Miami 35 Also in basketball one of the best known early season tournaments for D I men s teams the Maui Invitational is hosted by D II member Chaminade Through the 2017 edition Chaminade competed in every tournament but now competes only in odd numbered years The now defunct Great Alaska Shootout which had men s and women s tournaments was also hosted by a D II member namely Alaska Anchorage Chaminade typically loses all games it plays in Maui Alaska Anchorage also typically lost all of its men s Shootout games but was frequently competitive in the women s version Non revenue sports competition Edit Matches between the different collegiate divisions in non revenue sports are often quite competitive Indeed in some sports among them ice hockey and men s volleyball there is no Division II national championship In hockey many schools whose athletic programs are otherwise Division II compete in Division I and men s volleyball has a truncated divisional structure with a Division III championship but no Division II championship In any sport that does not have a Division II national championship Division II members are allowed to award the same number of scholarships as Division I members One D II conference the East Coast Conference features D I Bryant as an associate member in bowling a sport with a single NCAA championship event open to all divisions An earlier example is that at least during the 1970s NCAA golf tournaments in California were usually played with Division I and Division II schools competing together in one group Sometimes Division II schools won those tournaments Additionally matches involving two or four schools were common among schools from these two divisions See also EditList of NCAA Division II institutionsFootnotes Edit Most FCS members award football scholarships but the following programs do not award football scholarships Members of the Ivy League which prohibits its members from awarding athletic scholarships in any sport Members of the Pioneer Football League a football only league that also bans athletic scholarships though only in that sport Georgetown which chose to remain a non scholarship football program after its football home of the Patriot League began allowing football scholarships in 2013 References Edit Division II begins rollout of Make It Yours logo NCAA org The Official Site of the NCAA 2015 07 08 Retrieved 2017 03 27 Division II Facts and Figures PDF NCAA org Retrieved 2022 01 20 NCAA makes it official SFU is admitted as first Canadian member Press release Simon Fraser University 2012 08 10 Retrieved 2013 08 17 a b Tracy Marc May 1 2017 Looking to Cross the Border From Mexico Into the N C A A The New York Times Retrieved May 4 2017 a b Division II votes to permit membership applications from schools in Mexico Press release NCAA January 20 2018 Retrieved February 2 2018 a b NCAA allows Mexican institutions to join Division II with one aiming to be first Retrieved 2018 09 14 a b c d Composition and sport sponsorship of the NCAA membership NCAA December 1 2021 Retrieved January 20 2022 a b NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report 1981 82 2018 19 PDF NCAA Retrieved August 15 2020 National Championships Festivals NCAA Retrieved March 24 2019 Bylaw 20 10 3 Sports Sponsorship 2017 18 NCAA Division II Manual PDF p 316 Retrieved February 4 2018 Bylaw 20 10 3 3 Minimum Contests and Participants Requirements for Sports Sponsorship 2017 18 NCAA Division II Manual PDF pp 317 19 Retrieved February 4 2018 Bylaw 20 10 3 3 7 1 Exception Women s Rugby 2017 18 NCAA Division II Manual PDF p 318 Retrieved February 4 2018 Divisional Differences and the History of Multidivision Classification NCAA org The Official Site of the NCAA NCAA org Retrieved 2015 07 09 a b Bylaw 14 5 5 2 10 Transfer Regulations One Time Transfer Exception 2016 17 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA p 170 Retrieved June 14 2017 Division I Board of Directors Presidential Forum discuss sustainability Press release NCAA April 28 2021 Retrieved May 4 2021 Bylaw 14 6 1 Graduate Student Postbaccalaureate Participation One Time Transfer Exception 2021 22 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA p 198 Retrieved January 17 2022 UVa Wise Accepts Charter Membership in Mountain East Conference Hazard KY WYMT TV August 20 2012 Archived from the original on August 21 2012 Retrieved August 21 2012 Rine Shawn August 20 2012 Cards Toppers Set To Jump Into New League The Intelligencer amp Wheeling News Register Wheeling WV Retrieved August 21 2012 NCAA Adds Mountain East Conference As Newest DIvision II League Press release Mountain East Conference February 15 2013 Retrieved July 7 2013 Lone Star Conference to Add Eight Schools in 2019 Press release Lone Star Conference August 30 2017 Retrieved August 31 2017 Newman To Compete In MIAA As Associate Member In 2019 20 Press release Newman University Athletics February 8 2018 Retrieved February 9 2018 Hillcats to join MIAA Conference for 2019 2020 season Press release Rogers State Hillcats October 18 2018 Retrieved October 18 2018 LSC GNAC agree to football scheduling alliance Press release Lone Star Conference February 20 2019 Retrieved January 17 2022 LSC GNAC to extend football scheduling alliance Press release Lone Star Conference March 11 2020 Retrieved January 17 2022 Three football teams to join LSC as affiliate members Press release Lone Star Conference November 18 2021 Retrieved January 17 2022 Bylaw 15 4 2 Equivalency Sports 2020 21 NCAA Division II Manual PDF NCAA August 1 2020 pp 166 67 Retrieved May 19 2021 Bylaw 15 4 2 1 1 1 Overall Limit 2020 21 NCAA Division II Manual PDF NCAA August 1 2020 p 167 Retrieved May 19 2021 Bylaw 20 7 1 1 Maximum Awards Exception 2016 17 NCAA Division II Manual PDF NCAA p 298 Retrieved August 14 2016 Bylaw 20 7 1 1 1 Declaration of Intent to be Exempt 2016 17 NCAA Division II Manual PDF NCAA p 298 Retrieved August 14 2016 Bylaw 20 7 2 Options When No Division II Championship Is Conducted 2016 17 NCAA Division II Manual PDF NCAA p 298 Retrieved August 14 2016 Bylaw 20 7 2 1 Participation in Division I Championship 2016 17 NCAA Division II Manual PDF NCAA p 298 Retrieved August 14 2016 a b Bylaw 15 4 2 1 4 Maximum Equivalency Limits Institutions That Sponsor Cross Country but Do Not Sponsor Track and Field 2020 21 NCAA Division II Manual PDF NCAA August 1 2020 p 167 Retrieved May 19 2021 Bolen Erin June 17 2011 Missouri State men s basketball to play Missouri Southern in exhibition Springfield News Leader Springfield Missouri Retrieved October 30 2011 a b c Is Miami s exhibition loss to Division II St Leo an aberration or an omen Yahoo Sports 5 November 2012 Miami FL Hurricanes Basketball 2013 14 Schedule Hurricanes Home and Away ESPN Espn go com Retrieved 2013 08 17 External links EditOfficial website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title NCAA Division II amp oldid 1143467438, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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