What is Real DII College Rugby
Monday May 11, 2009 in Amateur Competitions Division II Colleges
(Tiny Middlebury in blue versus huge Wisconsin in white. Dobson Images.)
May 11, 2009 – What is a DII college team? Well in American rugby it means a college team that tells it’s local and territorial unions, and USA Rugby for that matter, that they are DII.
There is no other definition.
We at ERugbyNews follow that definition in our rankings and reporting. We don’t say “Wisconsin, which is really large enough to be a DI team, made the DII final today.” We just call them DII and leave it at that. But what if we didn’t?
Having completed yet another college season, we can now afford to look at enrollment figures and see who is really a true DII team.
So, here is our final men’s DII Top 25:
1 Middlebury
2 UW Madison
3 Miami of Ohio
4 South Florida
5 Georgetown
6 Arizona State
7 Salisbury
8 Cal Maritime Academy
9 Utah Valley
10 Humboldt State
11 N. Colorado
12 East Carolina
13 Col. Sch. Mines
14 Loyola
15 St. Louis University
16 St. John's Minn
17 Texas State
18 Claremont Colleges
19 West Virginia
20 Appalachian State
21 WWU
22 St. Joseph's
23 MaineOrono
24 Kent State
25 Western Oregon
Here they are ranked in order of male undergraduate enrollment (most of this figures came to us a year ago from Darrin Barner and Chip Auscavitch. We augmented some with some info from the Princeton Review and the colleges’ own websites). Lowest enrollment first.
ERN Rk School Enrollment
8 Cal Maritime Academy 598
1 Middlebury 1186
25 Western Oregon 1568
16 St. John's Minn 1938
14 Loyola 2133
22 St. Joseph's 2135
13 Col. Sch. Mines 2266
18 Claremont Colleges 2410
7 Salisbury 2544
10 Humboldt State 2631
5 Georgetown 2975
15 St. Louis University 3193
23 MaineOrono 3847
11 N. Colorado 3957
21 WWU 5249
20 Appalachian State 6167
24 Kent State 6181
12 East Carolina 6446
3 Miami of Ohio 6930
17 Texas State 8315
4 South Florida 9726
19 West Virginia 9985
2 UW Madison 12575
9 Utah Valley 13955
6 Arizona State 15809
As you can see there’s a massive disparity. Texas State, South Florida, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Utah Valley and Arizona State are very large, and are really DI teams based on size. Some teams are in sort of a limbo size (5,000-7,000), while 14 are what you call legitimate DII-size schools. Amazing to see what Middlebury has accomplished given their size. Same goes for Cal Maritime.
So what if we re-jiggered the rankings based on performance and size? We worked a formula to take into account both (if you play well and are large, you don’t get ranked as highly as a smaller school that does comparably well).
Here’s what we came up with – it’s a combination of our rankings and enrollment, with the lower numbers better:
ERN Rk School Score
1 Middlebury 5.9
8 Cal Maritime Academy 23.9
5 Georgetown 74.4
7 Salisbury 89.0
3 Miami of Ohio 104.0
2 UW Madison 125.8
10 Humboldt State 131.6
13 Col. Sch. Mines 147.3
14 Loyola 149.3
16 St. John's Minn 155.0
4 South Florida 194.5
25 Western Oregon 196.0
18 Claremont Colleges 216.9
11 N. Colorado 217.6
22 St. Joseph's 234.9
15 St. Louis University 239.5
12 East Carolina 386.8
23 MaineOrono 442.4
6 Arizona State 474.3
21 WWU 551.1
20 Appalachian State 616.7
9 Utah Valley 628.0
17 Texas State 706.8
24 Kent State 741.7
19 West Virginia 948.6
As you can see, based on size and ability, Middlebury is still the best DII team in the country … by a mile. Cal Maritime, Georgetown and Salisbury also get credit for size and ability. The only large school that really gets up there is Wisconsin-Madison.
And what about the women?
Here’s our final women’s DII rankings:
1 Shippensburg
2 Michigan
3 Stonehill
4 Bowdoin
5 Delaware
6 Marist
7 Washington State
8 Slippery Rock
9 East Carolina
10 Central Florida
11 UMDuluth
12 Claremont Colleges
13 Sacramento State
14 Norwich
15 LaSalle
16 University of Vermont
17 Illinois State
18 Wyoming
19 Texas Tech
20 UC Santa Cruz
21 Arizona
22 Western Washington
23 Texas State
24 Utah State
25 Wayne St. Neb.
But break them down based on enrollment and you see a different story:
14 Norwich 509
4 Bowdoin 838
3 Stonehill 1335
25 Wayne St. Neb. 1357
15 LaSalle 1843
6 Marist 2570
12 Claremont Colleges 2700
1 Shippensburg 3219
18 Wyoming 3540
8 Slippery Rock 3731
11 UMDuluth 4254
16 University of Vermont 4623
24 Utah State 5285
22 Western Washington 6635
7 Washington State 6917
20 UC Santa Cruz 7081
5 Delaware 9107
9 East Carolina 9386
17 Illinois State 9614
23 Texas State 10157
19 Texas Tech 10301
13 Sacramento State 10416
2 Michigan 12372
21 Arizona 14932
10 Central Florida 15766
Once again, a massive disparity (#10 Central Florida has 30 times the female students than Norwich has). Of the Top 25, nine have female enrollment over 9,000, including two teams from the Big Four.
Use our formula and here’s what you get:
1 Shippensburg 16.1
4 Bowdoin 16.8
3 Stonehill 20.0
14 Norwich 35.6
6 Marist 77.1
2 Michigan 123.7
15 LaSalle 138.2
8 Slippery Rock 149.2
12 Claremont Colleges 162.0
25 Wayne St. Neb. 169.6
5 Delaware 227.7
11 UMDuluth 234.0
7 Washington State 242.1
18 Wyoming 318.6
16 University of Vermont 369.8
9 East Carolina 422.4
24 Utah State 634.2
13 Sacramento State 677.0
20 UC Santa Cruz 708.1
22 Western Washington 729.9
10 Central Florida 788.3
17 Illinois State 817.2
19 Texas Tech 978.6
23 Texas State 1168.1
21 Arizona 1567.9
Shippensburg, Bowdoin and Stonehill are almost identical, with Norwich not that far off. Three schools have a higher formula score than the highest men’s team.
DII means nothing when it comes to enrollment figures – very true also in DI as St. Mary’s, with a male enrollment of less than 1,000, remains one of the best college teams in the nation.
What we propose is the formulation of a new division system – Division I, for the best teams, Division IA for large schools (cutoff of gender enrollment of 4,000-5,000) that are not competitive in DI, and DII, for teams under a specific enrollment size.
DII teams could move up, but if they did, perhaps they would need to go a season in DIA first.
Just a thought for a Monday afternoon.
- Alex Goff © www.erugbynews.com
