Upper Iowa University may be a permanent member of the N-C-A-A division two ranks in a year. School officials announced last summer that the athletic department was leaving the Iowa Conference and the division three ranks and reclassifying at division-two. Upper Iowa competed as a division-two independent and was not eligible for post-season play last year and athletic director Gil Cloud says that will also apply to next season, though the schedules for the sports teams will feature a majority of division-two foes. Cloud feels after one sports season it was the right move and one that better fits the University. He says sometimes a stark change is the best way to change the perception. He says he feels an energy on campus he didn’t feel when he first came there. Upper Iowa will have scholarship athletes competing next season but Cloud says success at the division two level will not happen overnight. He says he figured it would take three years to see a measurable change. Upper Iowa’s football schedule will include games against Missouri-Rolla, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State and South Dakota.
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