Why no 5th D1 team in the state of OK?

[Ham]

OU, OSU, ORU and Tulsa...why no 5th D1 team in the state?
I know OCU used to be a D1 school 30 years ago.

How hard is it to become D1?
Why haven't others or why wouldn't they? Is it all to do with budgets?
And who would be next in line? I'd guess UCO? But that's purely a guess.

 

[IndySooner]

OU, OSU, ORU and Tulsa...why no 5th D1 team in the state?
I know OCU used to be a D1 school 30 years ago.

How hard is it to become D1?
Why haven't others or why wouldn't they? Is it all to do with budgets?
And who would be next in line? I'd guess UCO? But that's purely a guess.

Four is actually a lot for a state our size. Look at states in the region:

Oklahoma: 4
Arkansas: 4 (off the top of my head, I may be missing one)
Missouri: 4
Kansas: 2
Iowa: 3
Nebraska: 1

 

[perryj74]

Don't forget Creighton!

 

[coachd4]

Kansas has 3 KU, KSU, Wichita st.

 

[sheepdog]

Iowa has 4
Arkansas has 5
Missouri has 5

 

[Ham]

Yeah, that's part of why I asked. There are states smaller than Oklahoma with more D1 schools. Population is clearly not the major factor.

States with less than 4 million in population.
27. Oregon 4 (Oregon, Oregon State, Portland, Portland State)
28. Oklahoma 4 (OU, OSU, Tulsa, ORU)
29. Connecticut 7 (UConn, Yale, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, CCSt, Hartford, Fairfield)
30. Iowa 4 (Iowa, ISU, Drake, Northern Iowa)
less than 3 million in population
31. Mississippi 6 (Ole Miss, MSU, So. Miss, Miss Valley, Alcorn St, Jackson St)
32. Arkansas 5 (Ark, Ark St, UALR, UAPB, Cent Ark)
33. Kansas 3 (KU, KSU, Wich St)
34. Utah 6 (BYU, Utah, Utah St, Weber St, Utah Valley, So. Utah)
35. Nevada 2 (UNLV, Nevada-Reno)
Just look at these last two, almost identical populations.
Idaho has a population half the size of Oklahoma and has 3 (Boise St, Idaho, Idaho St)
I'll just stop there, the point is made.

(also FTR, Neb-Omaha is going D1 in a few years, so Neb will have 3)

So I guess nobody knows why Oklahoma doesn't have more?

 

[Max Power]

Yeah, that's part of why I asked. There are states smaller than Oklahoma with more D1 schools. Population is clearly not the major factor.

States with less than 4 million in population.
27. Oregon 4 (Oregon, Oregon State, Portland, Portland State)
28. Oklahoma 4 (OU, OSU, Tulsa, ORU)
29. Connecticut 7 (UConn, Yale, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, CCSt, Hartford, Fairfield)
30. Iowa 4 (Iowa, ISU, Drake, Northern Iowa)
less than 3 million in population
31. Mississippi 6 (Ole Miss, MSU, So. Miss, Miss Valley, Alcorn St, Jackson St)
32. Arkansas 5 (Ark, Ark St, UALR, UAPB, Cent Ark)
33. Kansas 3 (KU, KSU, Wich St)
34. Utah 6 (BYU, Utah, Utah St, Weber St, Utah Valley, So. Utah)
35. Nevada 2 (UNLV, Nevada-Reno)
Just look at these last two, almost identical populations.
Idaho has a population half the size of Oklahoma and has 3 (Boise St, Idaho, Idaho St)
I'll just stop there, the point is made.

(also FTR, Neb-Omaha is going D1 in a few years, so Neb will have 3)

So I guess nobody knows why Oklahoma doesn't have more?

http://www.una.edu/division1/

Article on North Alabama moving up. It looks like you athletic budget has to be a certain amount.

 

[jerry]

Stop!! There are too many now. We don't need more we need less. Over 300 now.

 

[IndySooner]

Yeah, that's part of why I asked. There are states smaller than Oklahoma with more D1 schools. Population is clearly not the major factor.

States with less than 4 million in population.
27. Oregon 4 (Oregon, Oregon State, Portland, Portland State)
28. Oklahoma 4 (OU, OSU, Tulsa, ORU)
29. Connecticut 7 (UConn, Yale, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, CCSt, Hartford, Fairfield)
30. Iowa 4 (Iowa, ISU, Drake, Northern Iowa)
less than 3 million in population
31. Mississippi 6 (Ole Miss, MSU, So. Miss, Miss Valley, Alcorn St, Jackson St)
32. Arkansas 5 (Ark, Ark St, UALR, UAPB, Cent Ark)
33. Kansas 3 (KU, KSU, Wich St)
34. Utah 6 (BYU, Utah, Utah St, Weber St, Utah Valley, So. Utah)
35. Nevada 2 (UNLV, Nevada-Reno)
Just look at these last two, almost identical populations.
Idaho has a population half the size of Oklahoma and has 3 (Boise St, Idaho, Idaho St)
I'll just stop there, the point is made.

(also FTR, Neb-Omaha is going D1 in a few years, so Neb will have 3)

So I guess nobody knows why Oklahoma doesn't have more?

The easy reason is $$$$. Didn't OCU used to be?

 

[BanjoCharley]

It's easy to figure out. Oklahoma had over twenty teachers colleges unlike any other state I know. They started to turn into "universities in the second half of the twentieth century. Up until that time they had little purpose in climbing the divisional ladder. Late start, too many schools diluting interest and resources, voila! not many Div 1 colleges.