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Friday, July 10, 2009 might be remembered by many schools in the NAIA's American Mideast Conference (AMC) as "Black Friday." Four schools from the AMC--Ursuline College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Walsh College, and Malone University--were denied admission to NCAA Division II, while Notre Dame College and Cedarville University were invited to enter year one of the candidacy period, effective September 1.

The NCAA explained the reasons behind its decision in a recent release.

Division II Membership Committee members did not believe those institutions met all of the conditions cited in a set of "minimum expectations" the panel adopted this past year in sports sponsorship, compliance, personnel, strategic planning and financial aid, among others. Those standards were developed as part of the application to ensure that prospective schools are adequately prepared to enter the membership process and move through the candidacy and provisional periods more efficiently.

"The expectations are meant to provide greater clarity to institutions interested in applying for Division II membership," said Membership Committee Chair Glenn Stokes, the Faculty Athletics Representative at Columbus State. "These benchmarks provide guidance as to what qualities the committee is looking for in an institution that wants to become a part of Division II."

Stokes said the guidelines also support the notion of Division II as "a membership destination."

The six schools leaving the AMC are believed to have been planning to launch a new Division II athletic conference that would help them retain the same rivalries and level of competition they had in the AMC. Such plans were derailed by the NCAA's recent rulings.

The new conference would have allowed the members an opportunity to slowly move into the process of becoming a full D-II member in certain areas while also keeping the programs from becoming overwhelmed by playing only against established D-II schools. Present D-II conferences might see the addition of a new conference as horning in on automatic qualifiers and allowing the new members a quick route to national championships.

With only two of the former AMC schools accepted, the league will have to quickly re-group. Unfortunately, none of the six schools, even those who were invited to enter the candidacy period, have much time to figure out their next moves, including future scheduling.

The NCAA has released an update stating that those schools whose applications were rejected now have the option to appeal the rulings or apply again next year, which would require another substantial fee for the application process.

"We (NCAA) will refund the $28,000 application fee to the schools that applied. The money will be returned right away if they do not choose to go through the appeals process and if they choose to go through the appeals process we will refund it when the appeals have been exhausted."

With the loss of schools like Ohio Dominican and Urbana earlier and the six AMC schools looking to move to D-II, the remaining conference members were forced to react, creating a ripple effect across the NAIA. For example, Rio Grande will be joining the NAIA's Mid-South Conference starting this school year, with Shawnee State looking to join in the 2010-11 school year. Also, the University of Northwestern Ohio has been looking into joining the NAIA's Wolverine-Hoosier Conference.

Recent moves have many believing that the NCAA may have "slowed" down the process of NAIA schools making the jump to D-II. Schools considering making the jump in the future may be afraid to go through the process if they feel their application is likely to be denied.

Being denied admission to Division II can be an impediment to an athletic program. The four schools that were denied made major announcements about going through the D-II process, which played into their recruiting with prospective student-athletes thinking they would be playing at the D-II level during their careers. Now those schools face a minor public relations problems.

In my opinion, if the NCAA really wants to expand D-II to make-up for the loss of schools moving up to D-I, they might have just made a major mistake. The association's actions could cause other schools to pause and cause them to re-think future plans to move to Division II. On the flip side, this might also give new life to the NAIA, with schools deciding to stay put and making it work for them.

Could all of this have been avoided? You never know, but hindsight tells us the AMC schools may have been better served by taking some additional time to consider their application, while also looking into the consequences of a rejection.

From my viewpoint, a lack of communication at all levels of the process likely contributed to the current situation. One thing is for sure: there will be a lot of scrambling going on for everyone in the remaining summer months.

This situation should serve as a wake-up call for schools considering similar moves. One thing we always tell schools when we work with them is, "Set the example--don't be the example." Pay attention to the mistakes made by others because avoiding similar missteps can benefit your conference and the future of your athletic program.

Dave Schmidt is a consultant and owner of THE SENIOR REPORTS. He has worked with high school and college conferences on ways to improve their operations. He was a founder and the first commissioner of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. Contact him at: www.theseniorreports.com.

To read his full analysis of the situation, click here.