The Frustrating saga of UCSD’s Division I Efforts

UCSD has been trying to get into NCAA Division I for years. For a while, it looked like it was finally happening. Then, the Cal State system stepped in. 

In a shocker that shouldn’t have been, it seems as though Cal State Presidents voted “No” while UC Chancellors voted “Yes” to extending UCSD an offer. 

Here’s a paragraph from a recent OP-ED in the UCSD Guardian (a paper I used to write for):

When looking at the composition of the conference, it is evenly balanced between UC and CSU schools, with four of each as well as a ninth school in the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Seven of the chancellors or presidents in the conference needed to approve the move in order for UCSD to be admitted. Numerous sources have indicated that the UC Chancellors voted “yes” while the Cal State Presidents voted “no.” There is reliable speculation that the Cal State schools opposed UCSD’s membership as part of an ongoing effort to gain conference membership for Cal State Bakersfield. Thus, UCSD has seen its NCAA Division I ambitions stalled, not for lack of merit or conference fit, but as part of a political agenda.

For some history, CSU Bakersfield was not admitted into the Big West Conference when it made its move to Division I between 2006 and 2010. Apparently, CSU schools and UC Schools vote together a lot of the time like bad political parties. Parties with potentially long memories.

With Hawai’i as the 9th school, they are the current would-be tiebreakers. But, as it says above, you need seven schools to vote yes. And seven schools did not vote yes.

As indicated above, schools seem to have voted along party lines for and against UCSD’s admission. It could be the exact opposite of how CSU Bakersfield’s vote went. It’s also the kind of thing that makes a person just want to give up college athletics all together. But politics are a reality of NCAA sports at every level. 

The “logic” of it all

A logical decision by any of the individual schools throughout the Big West might be to let UCSD in. There is no real compelling reason not to. Many of their facilities are better than many of the current Big West schools. Their academic reputation would instantly vault them to being in the top 1-3 in the conference. They’d give the Big West a San Diego school and make the number of teams in the conference an easy one. You can see why any individual school in the Big West might think this is a good idea. 

But we’re talking about real life Survivor here. There are deep alliances. There may have been hurt feelings in the past. There is also money and unclear motives on the part of stakeholders that up the intrigue of the whole thing from an outsider’s perspective and engender distrust and disillusionment of the whole process and structure.

But, as an alum of both the UCSD and a CSU school (Cal Poly), I must come to understand realities at some point. Here we are.

One point I want to make sure I memorialize is that NOWHERE has anyone in the know said “UCSD wouldn’t be a great fit for the Big West,” or “We don’t want UCSD,” or “UCSD’s athletic department didn’t show us they were ready for Division I or the Big West.” They are ready. They have spent hours and days and years preparing for an invitation. Everyone thought it was a good idea. Athletic directors unanimously recommended the Tritons.

And when the time came… well… the Tritons were stood up. The invitation didn’t come.

Some possible scenarios

Moving forward, maybe these are tons of possible scenarios. Some of them are realistic. Some of them are me spitballing. Hopefully you can tell the difference.

1. The CSU decides to change their answer without any other changes to the deal. Maybe they were hung up on where in RIMAC UCSD was going to sell hot dogs, or on how the colors are too similar to the other UC schools. So maybe some of the presidents break with party lines vote yes and, presto! UCSD is in. UCSD has over a year to be invited, so we could all just wait. This is not a likely scenario.
2. Some kind of deal can be struck. Maybe this means along with UCSD, the Big West reverses course on CSU Bakersfield (which already competes in the Big West for beach volleyball). This would allow the conference to maintain an even number of UC’s and CSU’s. The problematic thing would be Hawai’i then. An 11th team does some weird things for schedules. Those issues are of much less import, apparently, than the two public school systems in California having uneven representation. I guess there could also be whatever issues with CSUB the Big West had a decade ago. They could still be issues. Maybe issues they’re willing to look past now? I dunno. Moving on. 
3. Would the CSU schools even block a move like number two? They could. CSU athletics already have a strong Division I program in San Diego. San Diego State has an FBS football program and competes in the stronger Mountain West Conference. Would CSU presidents be instructed to vote no, even if CSU Bakersfield was on the table? Sacrificing CSUB being in a conference that makes better geographical sense to maintain a stranglehold on D-1 athletics in San Diego seems like kind of a gangster move. Who knows? I’m really just thinking out loud here. 
4. Wait it out. For a long time. This is the thing that UCSD students, staff, faculty, and alumni are probably rooting against the most. They did everything they needed to. Everyone was poised to make it happen. And then it didn’t happen. In 5 or 10 years, it’s a possibility that the “Power 5” NCAA conferences (Pac 12, ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big 10) will split off into their own system or governing body, leaving the rest of college athletics to sort out the ensuing mess. If UCSD doesn’t get into the Big West by their self-imposed deadline, they would be stuck in a Division they have long outgrown for the forseeable future. 
5. There are other shades of things above and probably outcomes I haven’t considered. I’m not the CSU Chancellor or the UC Chancellor. I do not sit with the UC Regents at their meetings (I sure did write those people a LOT of checks in my day, though). Maybe all it’ll take is for Janet Napolitano and Timothy White to have lunch together and hash it out. If it were only that simple.

If you want to just blow it up…

I’m going to throw this in here — you can comment below and tell me if I’m wrong or crazy or whatever… . Again, it’s just spitballing. 

If the CSU really wants all the power over its conferences, why doesn’t it just START ITS OWN CONFERENCE. Think about it. Members would be Sac State, San Jose State, Fresno State, Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, CSUN, Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, and San Diego State. Did I miss anybody? That makes nine teams. Have Cal Poly and Sac State still play in the Big Sky in football, let SJSU, Fresno State, and SDSU compete in whatever FBS conference they want for football, and call it a day. 

The outlier here would be Cal Poly in terms of academics. This would be really tough for Cal Poly, since getting into school there is often more difficult than most/all UC schools in the Big West. Having them only compete against other CSUs would only heighten that academic inequity.

Where does that leave the UC schools? In the cold I guess. The remaining schools (UCSB, UC Davis, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, and presumably UCSD) could go off into their own conference. I don’t think there are any other UC’s with big athletic aspirations (the Division III UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs aren’t exactly an athletic powerhouse). Perhaps Hawai’i would go with the UC’s. Maybe they pick up a few WAC schools like Grand Canyon, Seattle, etc… to round out the conference. 

None of this nuclear option is good for anybody, but it was in my head for a bit, so I’m writing it down. Everybody takes their own ball and goes home so they can play by their own rules and have complete control over everything. It would be the ultimate third-grader-with-a-bad-attitude move. I’ve seen worse in college sports.

Here’s hoping nothing ever comes to ridiculousness like this. Having UC and CSU schools in the same conference is good for college athletics in the state, and using one school’s D-1 bid as a bargaining chip is lame. Figure something out people and stop leaving UCSD and their students, staff, and alumni hanging.

More reading on the Subject:

UCSD’s Way Forward to Division I (Union-Tribune) 

Big West Denies UCSD’s Quest for Div. I (Union-Tribune)

UCSD Students vote to fund Division I Sports (Union-Tribune)

Big West Denies UCSD Division I Membership (UCSD Guardian)

Athletics Director addresses UCSD’s Future for Going D-1 (UCSD Guardian)