ST. LOUIS — While representing Lindenwood University this summer at a local festival, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Jason Coomer kept hearing about the university’s decision to move to the NCAA's Division I.
“Anytime you go out into the community, people are asking about Division I and they are talking about how excited they are that Lindenwood is going to be Division I,” Coomer said. “That means the message is getting out there, people are hearing it and they are paying attention. We may not have played a single game yet, but people know.”
In February, the university announced its decision to reclassify from the NCAA’s Division II to Division I, the NCAA’s highest level of competition. Lindenwood, with its primary campus in St. Charles, joined the Ohio Valley Conference in July and will begin competing at DI this academic year.
The DI decision has become Lindenwood's most high-profile growth initiative, but it is just one piece of its broader agenda to boost enrollment and revenue. It’s that growth mindset that helped land it within DI athletics, said Beth DeBauche, commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference, based in Brentwood, Tennessee.
“They clearly appeared interested in growth and there was this sense of optimism about that. It really was that sense of energy that first attracted me to continue the discussions with Lindenwood,” DeBauche said.
The D! move will require Lindenwood to make new investments into its athletic teams and facilities, but the university anticipates doing so will help generate new revenue and attract students to campus, while also tying Lindenwood more closely to the region as it seeks to build a local fanbase for its teams.
A new ballgame
Lindenwood moved fast to break into DI. In the fall of 2021, it was contacted by the Ohio Valley Conference. By February, its board approved the move.
Lindenwood President John Porter, though, said the decision wasn’t made in haste.
“We did the due diligence,” Porter said. “We put our own internal analysis together, and then we hired a consultant to validate and come up with their own numbers.”
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