National title puts Augustana's future in discussion

When the Augustana men's basketball team took the court at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas, during its national title run, the Vikings were surrounded by a group of banners hanging from the rafters, reminding them of past champions.

Some of those names are mainstays of Division II basketball, while other dropped off the landscape of the sport, moving down a level or simply ceasing to be competitive. Many others, however, have outgrown the level and used their success in Division II as impetus for a rise to Division I, for more money and more notoriety.

Kennesaw State, UC Davis, Cal State Bakersfield: All have won Division II men's basketball titles in the past 20 years, and all have moved up to Division I. Going back further results in names with even more clout in college sports, like Old Dominion, Evansville and South Dakota State.

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Now that Augustana has earned itself one of those banners, the conversation about the basketball program's place in the NCAA is more heated than ever. They have the facilities, with the 4,000-plus capacity Sioux Falls Arena and a spacious upstairs practice gym at the Elmen Center. They have a coach in Tom Billeter who has already shown the ability to pluck Division I-caliber recruits out of neighboring states and one in women's head coach Dave Krauth who brought the team to the Final Four in 2013.

And, most importantly, they've been winning, both at the Division II level and with an exhibition victory over Iowa last November. With Augustana's exposure higher than ever – the national championship game aired on CBS – the question has never been more relevant: Where do the Vikings fit?

Champions! Augustana rolls to D-II title

"I really think it's a feather in our cap, to say that we're mentioned in those conversations," said Augustana athletic director Slade Larscheid. "I also know that we're in a really good spot right now in Division II."

Neither Larscheid nor university president Rob Oliver will commit one way or another to the athletic department's eventual home – "You always look at where you belong," Oliver said – but Larscheid did say that if the Vikings were going to move divisions, it would be the entire athletic department moving up.

Story continues below photo gallery from championship win.

That requirement would make moving to Division I significantly more difficult. Football is the most expensive sport for athletic departments to run, and Augustana has made a commitment to football, with a relatively new stadium and an additional full-time coaching position added last fall. Furthermore, the scholarship limit of 63 at the Football Championship Subdivision is more than twice the NSIC's limit of 28.

Add that to the increased travel expenses and the other investments that would be required to be competitive at that level, and football would quickly consume Augustana's athletic department. Of the Division II men's basketball champions that have jumped up to Division I, most of them have been large public universities with the budget and endowment to support football. Others, like Evansville in Indiana  and Mount St. Mary's in Maryland, don't have football teams at all. When Nebraska-Omaha moved up to Division I from Division II, the school cut its wrestling and football programs.

The precedent of a team in Division I with an enrollment and endowment similar to Augustana's as well as a football team, is almost nonexistent. Jacksonville University, with a student body of 3,223 and an endowment of $37,417,045, as reported by U.S. News and World Report in 2014 -- Augustana was reported to have 1,671 students and an endowment of $66,548,932 -- has a Division I football program, but it competes in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League.

Schools are allowed to have a single program in Division I: Dallas Baptist is in Division II, except for its baseball program, and Johns Hopkins is in Division III except for its lacrosse teams. A number of Division II schools, including four in the NSIC, have Division I hockey programs.

Story continues below photos from celebration at Elmen Center.

Moving only the basketball program up to Division I and keeping the rest of the programs in Division II would not only go against Larscheid's vision for the athletic department but be without precedent: No Division I program competes at that level solely in basketball. To join a conference like the Summit League, Augustana would likely have to bring its entire athletic department with it up to Division I.

The Vikings aren't in the financial spot to do that, nor are they feeling the need. There's the matter of the increasingly unstable Division I landscape, with the "Power Five" conferences talking of increasing autonomy and the gap between them and the rest of the college landscape growing with the money pouring in from TV networks.

Also, the fact that Augustana has been so successful at the Division II level is just as much of a reason to stay there. The discussions tend to come during times of success: Billeter remembers hearing them during the Vikings' last seasons in the North Central Conference, when USD and UND were about to jump up and Augustana was still competing hard with those schools, sweeping the Coyotes in the 2007-08 season.

"It was a legitimate question," Billeter said. "It was just the financial part of it (that didn't fit)."

To reach the top, Augustana had to top itself

Now that the Vikings have shown that they can be a contender for national titles, they can use that opportunity to attract recruits. Dan Jansen, the school's all-time leading scorer, got recruiting attention from Division I schools but said the possibility of winning a championship, rather than at best reaching the Sweet 16, attracted him to Augustana. John Warren, who got significant playing time as a freshman during the Vikings' championship run, also used that line of thinking when making his decision.

Universities that experience unparalleled athletic success often feel the impact in the academic sphere. When George Mason made it to the Final Four in 2006, its admissions and applications skyrocketed, especially from out-of-state students. The same thing has happened at Alabama, where head football coach Nick Saban has made the Crimson Tide almost unstoppable.

Ideally, the exposure on national television that Augustana received in Frisco, as well as what it got from beating Iowa, would put the Vikings in a similar position. Being a small private institution, however, means the university can't expect a sea change on the admissions front.

"I think everything happens on a scale," Oliver said. "And obviously, our scale is smaller to begin with."

But the title can still help Augustana, in attracting more donations, raising the profile of the school in Division II and providing a model for success in other sports. And even if the Vikings stay in Division II, like Winona State has done even after winning two men's basketball championships in three years in the last decade, it shouldn't be seen as settling.

"I'm a product of Division I," said Larscheid, who was a kicker and punter at Northwestern University. "But there's something to be said, to be able to say: 'I was a national champion.' It's special. I don't care what level."