Upper Iowa University athletic director Gil Cloud says he would support expansion of the conference the school will begin competing in this fall. The Peacocks are now part of the ten member Northern Sun Conference which could add some schools from the North Central Conference which has seen its numbers dwindle.
Northern Colorado, North Dakota State and South Dakota State left the conference a few years ago to join the division one ranks and North Dakota and South Dakota are poised to follow which could leave the remaining schools in the NCC needing a home.
Cloud says they haven’t talked about merging with anyone because of the economic and other consequences. Cloud says they want to be proactive in expansion.
Cloud says a lot will depend upon how many schools leave the North Central Conference and how soon it happens. He says he can’t says what the conference position would be on the number of members. As a school, he says more would be better.
Cloud says it will be critical for the Northern Sun Conference to come up with a plan that would cover a number of different scenarios. He says if you don’t have a clear cut plan, then you get polarization in the conference. Cloud says they want to be solid and have a clear plan that says what will happen for each school.
One member of the Northern Sun, Minnesota-Crookston, is considering a move out of division two and back to the NAIA ranks.