UAFS denied request to play in NCAA Division II
by July 9, 2010 5:33 pm 75 views
The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith has been denied its request to participate in the NCAA Division II.
Moving to Division II would elevate the level of play for baseball, basketball, volleyball, golf and other UAFS sports. According to the NCAA Division II website, there are 293 member institutions in the division, with 52% being public universities. Of the 293 members, 120 have student populations below 2,499, 124 are between 2,500 and 7,499, and 44 are above 7,500.
UAFS reported a little more than 6,800 students in its Spring 2010 semester.
A 2 p.m. press conference scheduled for Friday was cancelled, and that was followed by a 4:55 p.m. announcement of the NCAA rejection.
UAFS Sports Information Director Jonathan Gipson issued the following statement, and said UAFS will “have no further comment” until the appeal process is finished.
UAFS STATEMENT
The University of Arkansas-Fort Smith’s pursuit of active NCAA Division II status is still on-going.
UA Fort Smith athletic director Dustin Smith was notified on Friday afternoon via a conference call with a spokesperson representing the Division II membership committee that the program’s request for active member status had initially been denied.
Smith said he was obviously disappointed in the committee’s initial decision, considering all indications leading up to Friday’s conference call were extremely favorable for approval of active member status.
The committee’s initial decision is not final. UA Fort Smith is currently in the process of filing an appeal with the membership committee in hopes that it will reverse its initial decision. Smith said that he is hopeful that once the program provides additional documentation and fully addresses the committee’s concerns that UA Fort Smith will be granted active membership status.
UA Fort Smith, which was a provisional NCAA member this past season, completed the three-year transition period on time and received high marks from the NCAA at each milestone of the process leading up to Friday’s decision.
Once the appeal is filed with the NCAA, the membership committee will review the appeal and render its final decision at a later date.