JAMESTOWN, N.D. -- When the North Dakota College Athletic Conference and the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference merged in 2000, the new 10-team league seemed set for decades to come.
Ten years later the Dakota Athletic Conference -- known then as the DAC-10 -- has been cut in half and could now be known as the DAC half.
The first crack came in 2005 when Si Tanka-Huron University (S.D.) closed amid severe economic problems. The league did not fill Huron's spot and then one year later the University of Mary announced its move to NCAA Division II, creating another void.
Once Mary left, whispers soon began that Minot State would make the jump to D-II, which became a reality last year. Minot State has one year left in the DAC, before they too are gone.
As soon as Minot State left, rumblings out of Rapid City and Spearfish had South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State kicking around Division II. That scenario also has come to fruition with both schools applying to the NCAA earlier this month.
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Neither has been accepted yet, but as South Dakota Mines athletic director Dick Kaiser said, "The train has left the station and we're heading down the D-II tracks."
Trimmed to five
So where does that leave things?
For the upcoming 2010-11 season, nothing will change -- at least as far as the DAC is concerned.
With eight teams, the conference retains its automatic bid into National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic national tournaments.
But that will no longer be the case after the coming school year.
In order to qualify for national tournaments, the NAIA requires that a conference have six member schools. Once Minot State, Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines are gone, that leaves Jamestown College, Dickinson State, Valley City State, Mayville State and Dakota State -- the last school standing from South Dakota.
"This certainly is not an ideal situation," said DAC commissioner LaVern Jessen. "I don't think it's a situation where we got caught not paying attention to what was going on around us. I feel as though our institutions have been proactive in terms of finding a solution.
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"Obviously there are a lot of decisions that need to be made going forward. We want to find a solution that will work for everyone involved."
All along Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines seemed attached at the hip. Wherever one went, the other would follow.
Kaiser said South Dakota Mines began casting its gaze towards Division II when Northern State (S.D.) left the SDIC for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 1978.
A huge step
The biggest challenge is a financial one.
Competing at the Division II level means increased scholarships and the money to fund them. It's also a step up in the level of competition. Not just in terms of wins and losses, either, but facilities, academic offerings and other amenities have to be met, said retired University of Mary AD Al Bortke, "St. Cloud State's locker rooms are oak. Ours are metal," he joked.
Kaiser realizes the challenges his school and Black Hills State face, and also is sympathetic for the uncertainty their void leaves in the DAC.
"We don't like leaving our brothers and sisters in a lurch," he said, "but for us this is the step we feel we need to take and we're excited about what the future holds."
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The Jamestown Sun and Herald are both owned by Forum Communications Co.
