The University of California, Davis Aggies announced on March 11 that they are forgoing their Division II affiliation. After years of speculation, UCD chancellor Larry Vanderhorf finally put the rumors to rest, announcing the Aggies would be joining Sacramento State as a member of Div. I. The Hornets are currenty members of the Big Sky Conference and the Aggies will be joining the Big West Conference.

“I think it’s going to make (the rivalry) even stronger,” Sac State athletic director Terry Wanless said of Davis moving into the Big West. “We are rivals by region, we are rivals by history and the fact that we are not in the same conference; we are rivals by attempted supremacy in regards to which is in the better league. We know we’re in the better league, we just have to prove it to them.”

Davis’ undergraduate population of 22,700 has tremendously outgrown Div. II capacities since most Div. II schools average a population of 4,000. The school has won six Director’s Cup over the past seven years, an award given out by the National Association of Collegiate Directors Athletics, which gives the award to the school with the most successful athletic program in the country in its respective division. The award is based on the number of championship appearances athletic teams make.

Current UCD students approved a referendum in the fall that will hike up student fees $15 next year and $61 by the 2006-07 school year. The fee increases will mostly cover the fees that will help UCD reach NCAA regulations as far as scholarships are concerned.

The program currently doesn’t offer any full scholarships, but this year issued about $460,000 in aid to student athletes, about $1,000 per athlete.

By 2007 the Aggies hope to be issuing the maximum number of scholarships permitted by the NCAA. Davis will be permitted to give out around 285 partial and full scholarships based on the number of sports team they have. Sac State currently gives out 204 full athletic scholarships.

UCD’s complete move to Div. I and the Big West won’t be until the 2007-08 season, when they have fulfilled all their Div. I requirements.

Big West opponents will include three other UC schools: Santa Barbara, Riverside and Irvine. With UC Davis just 19 miles down Interstate 80, the Sacramento State athletic department can only speculate on how the Aggies’ move will affect a Hornet athletic program that is continuing to grow and improve.

“I think it’s great,” head football coach Steve Mooshaigan said of Davis’ move. “Now they have guidelines and limitations for their program… It evens the playing field for recruitment.”

The new division will require Davis to cut their coaching staff for the football team from 25 to 11 and force them to sign athletes on the national signing day — two regulations the Aggies were not subject to as a Div. II member.

Sac State and Davis have established a rivalry, but with both schools participating in the same division, the potential for the schools to increase the Sacramento area fan base on a heated rivalry becomes an interesting topic.

“You want to make it a great game for people of this area,” Mooshaigan said of the Causeway Classic, the premier football game that pits the Aggies against the Hornets. “If (fans) only see one game a year, that’s it…We want tickets to be hard to come buy.”

With two Div. I schools just a causeway apart, potential collegiate athletes could become better acquainted with the area.

The possibility of more athletes and fans being attracted to this area is an obvious likelihood if a cut-throat rivalry is to ensue. It may not be Tobacco-row, but the Fray at the Causeway seems like a good fit.

“We need to start playing each other. There was an intense rivalry when both schools were Div. II,” women’s volleyball coach Debby Colberg said. “We don’t have to do a whole lot to pick up the rivalry.”