FARGO — Dennis McCulloch has a major item on his to-do list that needs to be resolved in the coming months, and could involve a move to NCAA Division II.
The Valley City State athletic director and longtime head football coach and the university need to find a new conference home for the 2025-2026 school year.
“We’re trying to do our due diligence to figure out where’s the best fit for us for the next 20 years," McCulloch said. “Some of that takes a little bit longer than a couple of days to look at that.”
The Vikings are an NAIA member. The North Star Athletic Association is dissolving after 2024-2025, leaving VCSU mulling multiple options. That includes a potential move to Division II, a jump that other similar North Dakota universities have made in recent history.
“We’re looking into the D-II more seriously, having an outside source look at us," said McCulloch, who has been at Valley City State for 30 years. “Do we have the necessary things that would attract a D-II conference to look at us?”
ADVERTISEMENT
Valley City State, Dakota State, Mayville State and Bellevue (Neb.) University are four NSAA members looking to find a conference home. Dickinson State is headed to the Frontier Conference, an NAIA league that is based in Montana. Viterbo (Wis.) and Waldorf (Iowa) have found new conferences for 2024-2025.
The University of Jamestown will spend 2024-2025 in the NSAA before it moves to Division II and joins the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The North Star has six members for its final school year, including Valley City State, Dickinson State, Dakota State, Mayville State and Bellevue.
“We have to look at all of it," McCulloch said. "All options and make sure that we are making the right decision.”
McCulloch said school president Dr. Alan D. LaFave will make the final decision.
McCulloch said VCSU could remain NAIA or consider moves to Division II or even Division III. He said the university has already been approached by a Division III conference, but added NAIA and Division II would currently be the more preferred options.
If VCSU remains in NAIA, joining the Frontier Conference would be the best current solution, McCulloch said, especially if Mayville State, Dakota State and Bellevue also made that same decision.
“If we would all go, that would help," McCulloch said.
McCulloch said the university is likely to make a conference decision by the spring. That's why having a consultant assess the viability of VCSU as a Division II program is important. To make a potential move to D-II, the university would need an invite from a conference first.
ADVERTISEMENT
The NSIC and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference are the two Division II leagues that would make sense for the Vikings from a geographic standpoint. The NSIC is growing to 16 members once it adds Jamestown in 2025-2026. The RMAC has 15 members.
“We are forced right now to make a large decision for the future of our athletic program," McCulloch said.
Valley City State has seen several NAIA rivals in North Dakota move to Division II in recent history, all of them joining the NSIC. The University of Mary joined the NSIC in 2006, Minot State in 2012 and the University of Jamestown set to join in 2025.
McCulloch said the financial commitment to move to Division II is an important piece if VCSU would decide to move in that direction. He said the Vikings had a $700,000 operating budget in 2022-2023.
“Scholarship-wise, we’re not that far off from the basic (level), here’s what it would take, the minimum," McCulloch said. "But do you want to be competitive, too? Those are things you’ve got to weigh out. I don’t want to go anywhere to get your butt beat. I’m a competitive person."
The Trust Project
