Southern Indiana To Decide On Possible NCAA Division 1 Switch

Evansville IN

02 February, 2022

11:11 AM

Description

By John Gibson, WNIN February 2, 2022 The University of Southern Indiana will decide next week whether to switch to NCAA Division One athletics. The USI Board of Trustees has scheduled a special meeting for Feb. 7th. The agenda states the board will "discuss the potential application to the National Collegiate Athletic Association for reclassification from Division II to Division One Athletics." The board is scheduled to hold an executive session in the President's Suite before the public meeting at 1 p.m. in Carter Hall. An exploratory committee provided its findings to the board earlier this month, saying USI is ready to make the jump -- if the university is ready to spend the money. USI currently spends about $6.6 million a year on athletics. School officials have said that budget would need to nearly double -- to $12 million – to move to Division One. The two largest funding sources would come from student fees and private donations. A proposal would gradually increase student fees by $475 a year at the end of four years to help with the costs. WNIN is the NPR/PBS affiliate in Evansville, Indiana. We serve Southwestern Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois from our multimedia facility located on the Ohio River in downtown Evansville. For the past several years, the recognized quality of our local news has placed us among the best small market radio news organizations in the nation.