Originally Published: August 6, 2007

Division II, III schools require less of a 'boost'

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By Chris Preston
Special to ESPN.com
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What does it take to be successful at the Division II and III levels? In this four-part series, ESPN.com looks at the role of money, recruiting and fan sites at the lower levels.

T. Boone Pickens didn't simply make the two largest donations in Oklahoma State University history. The second of those two donations -- a $165 million gift announced in January 2006 -- was the most generous donation to an athletic program in NCAA history.

The now 79-year-old Pickens, a billionaire oil tycoon and OSU graduate, already earned the right to have his alma mater's football stadium named after him (what was once Lewis Field is now Boone Pickens Stadium). He previously pledged $70 million to the school in 2003, $20 million of which went towards upgrading the Cowboys' 48,000-seat football facility. Pickens' donations will enable OSU to expand Boone Pickens Stadium's seating capacity to 53,000 after Phase I is completed and possibly to as large as 73,000 thereafter, and to create an athletic village just north of their ballooning stadium.

Pickens is clearly not your typical donor, but there are many like him at Division I colleges and universities. The University of Oregon has become renowned for its state of the art sports facilities and for the hip (tacky?) Nike-sponsored jerseys their teams wear. It's not a coincidence: Nike co-founder Phil Knight is Oregon's highest profile  and certainly most generous  donor. The University of Virginia's new 15,000-seat John Paul Jones basketball arena? Wahoo fans can thank Virginia graduate Paul Tudor Jones II for that, seeing as it was his $35 million donation that really made it possible.

Really, when the donations have that many zeros at the end of them, the people writing the checks are no longer mere "donors." They are called boosters. And since money talks in America -- even in our most reputable institutions of higher learning -- boosters cast a shadow over every Division I athletic program. They have a major influence over which coaches are fired (good-bye, Tubby Smith) and who gets hired (hello, Billy Gillispie and his fat new $2.3 million-a-year contract as Smith's replacement as Kentucky's men's basketball coach). And they have a say on which programs they want to donate money towards (Duke basketball) and which ones they do not (Duke football). Boosters can revolutionize an athletic program … but at a cost.

We get good support from our boosters, but they are not involved in any decision making. Our alums are tremendously loyal to this school and very supportive, while not being very intrusive at all.

Tim Selgo

Refreshingly, they are far less of a factor at the Division II level. Granted, there is no shortage of boosters at Division II schools. The University of California, San Diego recognizes two booster clubs: the Triton Athletic Associates, made up of donors who have given between $50 and $2,500, and the UCSD Athletic Board, an organization of 21 people who each have given no less than $10,000 to the school's athletic programs. As is the case at a place like Oklahoma State, booster donations have had a direct effect on UCSD's facilities.

The school is in the process of performing $500,000 worth of renovations on its softball field thanks in part to a $350,000 donation from a former player. Meanwhile, the swimming and water polo teams are the beneficiaries of a new swimming pool. But still, boosters do not influence a Division II program the way they do in Division I.

"Boosters do not play nearly as large a role in DII as they do in DI," says Grand Valley State University (Mich.) athletic director Tim Selgo. "We get good support from our boosters, but they are not involved in any decision making. Our alums are tremendously loyal to this school and very supportive, while not being very intrusive at all."

Boosters are even less influential/intrusive at the Division III level -- the land of no scholarships. "Boosters are zero factor in terms of influence [here]," Harry Sheehy, Williams College's (Williamstown, Mass.) director of athletics, insists. "They play no part in the hiring and firing of coaches."

Middlebury (Vt.) College's AD, Eric Quinn, concurs. "It's in more of an indirect way [in Division III]. [Donations are] all made through the college. The college might identify a need and match it with a particular donor or donors. Our support from alumni and parents is more filtered through the college. There's no big money involved."

There's no big money involved at DIII schools -- at least not when you compare their total operating expenses to a school like Texas.

Life In The Lower Levels

What does it take to be successful at the Division II and III levels? ESPN.com investigates.

• Monday: Grand Valley State, Williams shine
• Tuesday: No money, no (booster) problems
• Wednesday: Fan sites target niche market
• Thursday: Division III sells school, not sport

During the 2005-06 academic year, UT listed the total operating expenses for its athletic department at $11.4 million -- surpassing that of perennial Directors' Cup winner Stanford ($7.8 million). Reflecting the gap between the importance of money at a 33,000-plus enrollment Division I school like Texas and any lower division institution, the operating expenses at 2006-07 Division II Directors' Cup winner Grand Valley State is almost on par with those at Williams, Division III's juggernaut sports program. Grand Valley State's '05-06 total operating athletic expenses were $837,634; Williams' were $800,428. In fact, Middlebury -- Division III runner-up in last year's Directors' Cup standings -- reported over $1 million in expenses for that same year, exceeding Grand Valley State's.

Clearly, the difference between Divisions II and III in terms of athletic spending is virtually negligible compared to the Division I money-making machines. Money just matters more for athletic programs like those at Texas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State. Thusly, boosters play a far more critical role. Smaller, lower division schools simply don't need jaw-dropping donations from billionaire oil tycoons or Nike co-founders in order for their athletic programs to be successful. In comparison, their operating costs are -- I had to take it -- slim Pickens.

Chris Preston is a staff writer for the Shelburne (Vt.) News and a frequent contributor to Varsity Magazine. He can be reached at ChrisPreston@shelburnenews.com.

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