Historic question about Division I status

[bozbobcat]

I know that the football team has played in many divisions over its history. The last 50 years have seen MSU in the NAIA, NCAA Small College Division, Division II, and I-AA/FCS. However, it seems like the basketball team has always been Division I and the Big Sky Conference has always been a D-I conference. It seemed like the Big Sky had an auto bid from the mid-1960s on, and while football was D-II in the 1970s, Idaho State beat UCLA out of the NCAA tournament and the Griz almost beat UCLA in the 1970s. Does anyone have an answer for this one? Thanks.

[Bengal visitor]

I don't know the precise answer to your question, but a look at the Big Sky media guide shows the first conference team to play in the NCAA tournament was Weber State in 1968. That would indicate either the conference wasn't Division 1 from 1963 until that time, or it did not have an automatic birth the first five years of its existence.

Interestingly, the old Rocky Mountain Conference did have an NCAA birth and Idaho State played in the NCAA tournament several times in the 1950s as the RMC's representative.

[mslacat]

I talked to Bill Lamberty about this and from what he told me he is quite sure MSU has been D-1 since at least 1963 when the Big Sky conference was formed. He is also pretty sure we were NAIA until the mid 1950's. From 1956 to 1963 it is a little unclear in his mind as MSU bounced around from an independent and the Rocky Mountain Conference.

[vike_king]

I talked to Bill Lamberty about this and from what he told me he is quite sure MSU has been D-1 since at least 1963 when the Big Sky conference was formed. He is also pretty sure we were NAIA until the mid 1950's. From 1956 to 1963 it is a little unclear in his mind as MSU bounced around from an independent and the Rocky Mountain Conference.

If the football team is any indication, we were NAIA when we won the first football championship in 1956. Thereafter, don't know.

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/di ... ?year=1955" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe we were NAIA for one sport and not the other. Today that wouldn't happen, maybe it did back in the day?