Celebrating 25 years of Division I athletics
went from D3 to the NCAA’s highest level in only three years
embarked on its historic move from NCAA Division III to Division I intercollegiate athletics in the late 1990s. In spring 1996, the campus Intercollegiate Athletics Board (IAB) voted to recommend to then-President Lois B. DeFleur that the University elevate to NCAA Division II and ultimately move toward NCAA Division I status. DeFleur agreed and the school began competing in NCAA Division II in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) in fall 1998. After serving three years at the Division II level, moved to Division I and was accepted into the America East Conference in fall 2001.
This fall marks the 25th year since arrived at the NCAA’s highest level of athletics — and the quarter-century anniversary warrants a look back at the circumstances and successes that paved the way.
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Before ’s first NCAA Division I win. … Before the school gained membership into the America East Conference. … Before it ranked among the nation’s top 10% for overall Division III success in three successive years. … Before all of that — there was a battle over a fax machine.
In 1989, Director of Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics Joel Thirer took over an NCAA Division III athletics program that by all accounts was unremarkable. There had been pockets of team success over the years — particularly in wrestling and men’s soccer — and individual achievements across other sports. But unlike its closest neighbors and frequent opponents SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College, didn’t possess a reputation or administrative support for athletics prowess. Those two colleges boasted budgets more than triple ’s and while they set their sights on winning multiple NCAA titles yearly, Thirer’s goals were more rudimentary.
“We were sorely lacking in staffing and resource allocation, and our facilities were fairly unacceptable,” Thirer recalls. “We received a yearly appropriation from the Student Association (SA) toward operating expenses and I had to submit a budget to the assistant to the provost for his approval. In fall 1991, our newly hired sports information director requested a fax machine to send game results and stats to the Press & Sun- Bulletin [newspaper]. That modest request was denied and met with the response: ‘Just use the fax machine in the Administration Building.’”
Ten years before winning a Division II President’s Cup that confirmed the school’s readiness to elevate to Division I, still had to make strides just to become a respected Division III program, particularly in a region that, in addition to Cortland and Ithaca, also included successful, well-funded, private-school athletic programs such as University of Rochester, Hamilton, Skidmore, Hobart and William Smith, and Rochester Institute of Technology.
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The 1991 arrival of Lois B. DeFleur to start a 19-year tenure as president changed the landscape of athletics at . A former collegiate basketball player, DeFleur was supportive of athletics and her vision for the University included a strong school spirit tied to a successful intercollegiate athletics program.
Thirer felt strongly that athletics should mirror the University in keeping company with academic peers, so DeFleur spoke with her colleagues at the other SUNY university centers at Buffalo, Albany and Stony Brook about their athletics programs. Buffalo had already begun its move toward Division I and both Albany and Stony Brook were considering a similar move.
One salient point Thirer made in support of a divisional move was that wasn’t competing against its academic peers while a member of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC). In fact, was one of only 10 Division III public schools in the country with an enrollment of more than 10,000. The Division III level was composed of nearly 80% of private schools; 86% of the 350-plus membership had an enrollment below 5,000. athletics didn’t fit the profile of an NCAA Division III program.
With DeFleur and Thirer leading the way, the University began a campaign to initiate a mandatory athletics fee. Despite early opposition, the fee passed and critical funding became available.
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Fast forward to 1996 and, with a stronger budget base, full-time coaches and a pointed focus on winning, repeated as a top-15 program in the NCAA Directors’ Cup — a competition that rewards overall sports success based on NCAA tournament advancement. By March 1996, the school’s Intercollegiate Athletics Board (IAB) submitted a proposal to DeFleur to elevate the entire 19-sport athletics program to NCAA Division I. DeFleur approved the recommendation on March 26 and the wheels were set in motion.
In the school’s Division III finale on May 21–23, 1998, track and field standouts and future Hall of Famers Monique Hacker and Jewdyer Osborne won national championships in St. Paul, Minn. It was Hacker’s fifth NCAA title in three years. Osborne provided the school’s final Division III entry when he won the 110 hurdles championship with a dramatic lean at the tape.
By fall 1998 with athletics scholarships in hand, thanks to expanded fundraising and the athletics fee, began competition in the New England Collegiate Conference alongside Albany and Stony Brook. One year later, captured the NECC Presidents’ Cup as the top program in the 10-team conference, giving the school all-sports titles in both Division III and Division II. The 1998–99 school year also ended with two big announcements — the first being that would begin a two-year NCAA Division I compliance period, setting the stage for Division I competition in fall of 2001. And the second was the unveiling of “Bearcats” as the school’s new nickname and logo, concluding a four-year study and campus committee selection.
“The decision to move to NCAA Division I is an investment in the future of ,” DeFleur said at the time. “I believe that excellent academic programs as well as athletics are complementary learning experiences for many students, and competitive intercollegiate athletics enhance the quality of life on campus and in the local community. This move will raise ’s visibility and reputation.”
Atop the “to-do” list for Thirer, DeFleur and was to secure membership in a Division I conference — a critical step for long-term sustainability and success at the NCAA’s highest divisional level. While there were a few Northeast-based Division I conferences, the one with the best fit was the America East, which already was considering Albany and Stony Brook for membership. The fact that the America East had just lost core members Delaware, Hofstra, Towson and Drexel to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opened the door for the three SUNY newcomers.
But Thirer and DeFleur still needed to persuade member schools that was a viable candidate — one that would enhance the academic and athletic profile of the conference. What followed was an extensive campaign that included a barnstorming tour to the conference campuses and a comprehensive dossier touting ’s funding, sports offerings and recent success, facility development, and support both on campus and with its alumni and fan base. To enhance the school’s bid for membership, Thirer offered to add men’s and women’s lacrosse as varsity sports. To say the school’s future as a viable Division I member hinged on the decision would not be hyperbole.
“We didn’t have a lot of other options,” Thirer recalls. “It was a pivotal point in time, just as our move into the Division II NECC was. We did a hard sell with the athletic directors and [DeFleur] worked hard lobbying the other presidents. The process was very stressful and it was never a done deal until it was over.”
Support from America East Commissioner Chris Monasch and ultimately a successful vote from the conference Presidents’ Council rewarded with its first NCAA Division I “win” before any team took the field. On April 18, 2001, the conference and University jointly announced ’s membership effective July 1, 2001. joined fellow new members Albany and Stony Brook and existing members Boston University, Northeastern, Hartford, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
“Not many schools have such an opportunity right out of the gate and we see it as a crowning moment for our program,” DeFleur said of the conference acceptance.
“It’s an outstanding conference comprised of institutions that share our academic and athletics mission,” Thirer added. “It’s a perfect fit for .”
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With a stable Division I conference “home,” a $33.1 million Events Center fieldhouse under construction, a new nickname, and skyrocketing school spirit across the campus and region, the seeds were sewn. Twenty-five years later, those seeds have yielded 57 conference championships, 35 NCAA Division I All-Americans and two recent Commissioner’s Cup titles as the top athletics program in the America East.
“In retrospect, the battle to procure the necessary funding, overall resources, and dramatic facility upgrades became the driving force of my 20 years as athletics director,” says Thirer, who was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011. “It was quite a journey.”