Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Phone: (502)852-5752; Fax: (502)852-6222
 
Mike posted a summary of NCAA 20.4... Guidelines for schools being able to
petition for playing up/down in divisions. Since Mike just got the NC$$ Manual
it is probably up-to-date, BUT I have a copy of section 20 which says:
 
20.4.1.2.2 Classification of a Sport in Division III. A member of Div II may
petition to be classified in Div III in any sport in which there is a Div III
championship, but not a Div II championship. (Apparently passed in 91 to
become effective 9/1/93).
 
I've reread several of the many confusing parts of 20..., but can't be sure of
what is and isn't allowed regarding playing up or down in various sports and
had assumed that if a Div II hockey team wanted to play Div III it was
allowed, but would have to follow Div III scholarship rules (=none, financial
need only) and could not count play in Div III toward the Div II requirement
of fielding 4 varsity sports incuding 2 team sports for male and female (male
can also be mixed gender). If Div II plays Div I hockey, that does count
toward team total in Div II and Div II school can use Div I scholarship and
game total rules.
 
Section 20.8.2.2 also seems to allow II to play III. So my reading of Section
20 which I got from our SID suggests playing down is allowed and contradicts
what seems to be a widely held opinion that it is not permitted to play down.
 
So what gives? Do we have any folks with a talent for disentangling NC$$
obfuscation?