The question of whether a college team should be forced to move up a division is one I have fielded for many, many years.

Usually, the answer has been, “How should I know?” But of course that’s a bit of a quick dismissal. The answer is more accurately, “Sometimes, but it depends on the circumstances.”

See Part I Of This Series Here

USA Rugby’s vision has been, for years, to somehow emulate NCAA FBS football, have conferences that are recognizable (if not exact replicas of well-known football conferences), and not allow big schools to loiter in lower divisions.

For the most part, that has been accomplished. As we said in our previous column, there are often calls for certain programs to move up because of continued success, and we’re going to talk about a few specific examples.

First, though, let us give you our idea of what a D1A and D1AA program should be:

D1A Parameters

— Funded varsity program with some exceptions; small schools and D3 schools shouldn’t be pressured to be D1A just because they’re varsity.

— Funded or supported non-varsity programs D2 or higher in other sports.

— Elevated club programs that are D1 in other sports.

— Major D1 colleges.

D1AA Parameters

— Funded varsity programs that are relatively new and just getting going.

— Funded or supported non-varsity programs that are relatively new and just getting going.

— Non-major D1 colleges.

D2 Parameters

— If a college is D2 in other sports, it shouldn’t be forced to be D1 in rugby, unless other criteria above come in to play.

Now, there will always be exceptions to these general rules, and in American college rugby, we actually have a lot. By our count, there are 33 colleges with D1 football programs that don’t have a D1 rugby team. Some hardly have a rugby team at all. Forcing most of those up to D1AA is a waste of time. However, there is a small number that perhaps we should look at.

Meanwhile, there are about a dozen D1A and D1AA college rugby teams from schools that don’t have D1 football teams or may not have a football team at all.

That kind of proves you can’t mirror football in everything (nor would you want to).

Anomalies

The most common anomaly is a D2 school that has a varsity, or almost varsity, rugby team. There aren't a lot, but they are significant, and included NAIA teams Life University and Lindenwood-Belleville, as well as Central Washington, Davenport, Kutztown, Lindenwood, American International College, and Notre Dame College.

All of these are special cases, and all probably belong in D1A, with a couple needing a growing-out period. All, also, show how college rugby is different from college football.

Question-Mark Teams

Wisconsin-Whitewater: National D2 champs two years in a row, Wisconsin-Whitewater is an excellent rugby team. However, it’s a D2 school, and when this year’s group of senior players graduate, there’s no guarantee the Warhawks will be as dominant next year. It’s a club sport on campus. The school’s student body is nowhere near cracking the 100 largest schools. It’s a classic example (see Minnesota-Duluth) of a team spurring the debate solely by success.

Norwich: A varsity program with a paid coach and a team supported by the athletic department. But, come on, you can’t force a college with fewer than 2,500 male undergraduate students into D1 rugby. And Norwich's funding might exist, but what teams near rural Vermont do you expect the Cadets to play? OK, NEC… maybe AIC… Dartmouth. Not many. Leave them be.

Bethel College: A D2 team that is now varsity. Well, the Pilots haven’t even won their conference yet and just came out of NSCRO. Another small student body — according to U.S. News & World Report, their male undergraduate enrollment is fewer than 500.

AIC: Well, AIC wanted to be in the Liberty Conference but wasn’t invited. It applied to be in Rugby East and wasn't accepted. So it’s not AIC’s fault the Yellowjackets aren’t in D1A. The way the program is put together says they should be… but as we said in the earlier column, travel budgets aren’t unlimited. What AIC leadership wanted was a New York/New England-centric schedule, partly due to financial considerations.

New England College: Played basically a D1A schedule and lost every game. Kudos to the Pilgrims for playing that tough of a schedule. They clearly want to be a D1A team.

Those two above don’t deserve to be shamed about being D1AA teams. They have made the effort.

The entire Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference: There are grumblings about the schools from the SCRC not playing in the highest college rugby competition. And it’s a legit commentary in that Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina are all elevated club teams from top schools. But it kind of stops there. Florida and Alabama, and, to a certain extent, Auburn are all good club teams with not a ton of on-campus support but a solid supply of athletic talent. And after that the strength drops quickly. 

So we run up against the desire to keep recognizable conferences intact. When, really, only half of the SCRC is D1A ready, maybe less, should it be forced to spend money it doesn’t have? No, of course not.

Northern PAC-12: The PAC Rugby Conference has six teams but is missing those from the Pacific Northwest. At first glance it seems a no-brainer to have North and South divisions, and if the North teams aren’t as strong, well they can work their way up.

But… Oregon State was in the PAC and left because, competitively, the Beavers were having a very tough time. Oregon and Washington would be able to compete, but Washington State has an ongoing issue of financial support and coaching (it’s tough to get someone to move to Pullman, WA, to coach a rugby team). If it were done, it would be for show. Maybe that’s good enough.

Anyone who wins D1AA: No. There’s more to being D1A than winning D1AA. Finances, having a conference or a list of teams somewhat nearby to play, and expectation of continued success are all factors.

Central Florida: A fairly successful D1AA team (two-time national champs) and one of the highest student enrollments in the nation. The Knights are a no-brainer to be told to move to D1A. Except… rugby is still a club sport at UCF. USA Rugby is still in no position to tell club teams to move up regardless of outside issues. Central Florida's outside issues are not insignificant, the main one being that the nearest current D1A team is seven hours away. It makes sense for the Knights to stay in a conference where there are teams nearby… and if you take a closer look at that conference (the SIRC South), the size of many of those schools makes you think maybe the whole group should be D1A.

And finally…

North Carolina State: Hey Wolfpack fans, you know we love you, but your rugby team needs to move out of D2. The fall of 2016 was unavoidable, as changes in conferences left NC State without a place to play. Now you’re just a cuckoo in a wren’s nest. 

One of the issues for NC State is that the school, on a varsity level, plays in the ACC. That conference is, not to put too fine a point on it, stupid. It covers from Syracuse and Boston to Louisville and Florida. That’s not feasible for non-varsity rugby, obviously, and so all of the rugby teams in ACC schools end up somewhere else. NC State somehow didn’t figure it out yet. Should the Wolfpack go to the Mid-South? That's a lot of travel but maybe it could be worked out. The SCRC? Well you’d be sullying the purity of the SEC, but, sure, go ahead. Or maybe look at the Chesapeake?

It’s true that NC State’s isolation, helped by UNC struggling, makes it very difficult for the Wolfpack to compete at the D1 level. This, perhaps, on a micro level, is where USA Rugby needs to be helpful.

But, you see, it's not as straightforward as just telling a team: "You're D1A." Money, geography, and school size all play a part. Rarely is the reasoning for staying in a lower division about avoiding competition.