'A step, not a leap': Mercyhurst's NEC peers confident Lakers will succeed in D-I sports

A step, but not a leap.

That’s how two athletic directors described their school’s recent move from NCAA Division II athletics to Division I.

Mercyhurst University recently announced plans to do the same, leaving D-II’s Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) for the D-I Northeast Conference (NEC).

Stonehill and Le Moyne colleges, the NEC’s newest members, have adapted to D-I life smoothly since joining in 2022 and 2023, respectively. From their perspective, Mercyhurst is positioned to do the same.

“When we moved to Division I, a lot of people asked, how are you going to be able to compete with Texas and UCLA and Florida?” posed Dean O’Keefe, director of athletics at Stonehill. “You educate folks that there are 360-something D-I schools. There are a lot more that look like Mercyhurst and Stonehill than look like Florida and UCLA.”

Making their moves

Stonehill and Mercyhurst have a lot in common.

They’re both private, Catholic institutions of similar size. Stonehill had 192 more students and 22 less student-athletes than Mercyhurst, according to 2022 data from the U.S. Department of Education — nearly twins.

Stonehill, located in Easton, Massachusetts, offers 21 varsity sports. Mercyhurst offers 27.

Comparing 'Hurst to NEC, PSAC: Will Mercyhurst sports fit in with other Northeast Conference teams? What key stats say

They share one key sport, among others: Football.

“We marched into our first Division I (football) season with largely the team we expected to march into our D-II season with and found that the talent level in D-II at the high end is really, really strong,” O’Keefe said.

Stonehill jumped to D-I athletics in 2022. Its first FCS football opponent was Duquesne, an established program.

Stonehill beat the Dukes 24-20 and finished 2-5 in NEC play.

“The PSAC is probably the hardest conference in all of Division II — period — so it’s gotten us ready to compete at (the Division I) level,” said Mercyhurst head football coach Ryan Riemedio. “Obviously recruiting is a big piece of it, but we’re going to be playing more scholarships, and that’s the biggest thing I don’t think people see and understand.”

Stonehill won its first NEC championship last fall in women’s cross country. Le Moyne women’s basketball reached the NEC championship game its first year.

“I don’t think there’s a tremendous difference between high Division II and low-to-mid majors in Division I,” said Bob Beretta, director of athletics at Le Moyne. “There was great fear and anxiety of the unknown and I was trying to be the voice of reason — you’re good enough to compete right now.”

More: What to know about each member of the Northeast Conference, Mercyhurst University's new home

Getting there

How does an athletic department become D-I proficient? Many upgrades, including to facilities and staff size, happen ahead of time.

Others must be done as finances allow, part of why the NCAA requires a four-year probationary period for schools reclassifying from D-II to D-I. That designation disqualifies them from NCAA postseason competition.

Le Moyne’s largest growing pains, Beretta said, have been in staffing. Support levels of coaching and administrative staff needed to increase, as did salary ranges.

“Financially, it wasn’t going to work for us to flip a switch and add whatever number of full-time jobs and positions,” Beretta said. “Much like Mercyhurst, we had a long tradition of success and we felt it was just a matter of being able to infuse the program with sources where we needed to. We’d love to be fully staffed in year one but that wasn’t going to be feasible.”

Numbers illustrate the disparities between D-II and D-I staffs.

The nine schools which will populate the NEC in 2024-25 employ, on average, 47 total assistant coaches, 17 of which are full time. PSAC schools average 34 total and eight full-time assistant coaches.

NEC assistant coaches of male varsity teams made an average salary of $33,912 and their PSAC counterparts made $27,354. Assistants of female teams made $25,564 in the NEC and $17,941 in the PSAC.

Mercyhurst employed 54 total and 16 full-time assistants. Assistants on male teams made $21,418 and on female teams $15,847, suggesting the bodies are in place despite remaining gaps in pay.

“We always say that this is a decision for Stonehill for the long term, but our first goal was to make sure the experience for our student-athletes in year one was good,” O’Keefe said. “We were very diligent about putting together schedules that allowed them an opportunity to be competitive and also travel to places that created some excitement.”

Unprecedented exposure

O’Keefe recalled wearing Stonehill gear in a Lexington, Kentucky airport. His Skyhawks were in town for a non-conference men’s basketball game against John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats.

“The entire state of Kentucky, at least for a day, knew about Stonehill College,” O’Keefe said. “There were probably a lot of Google searches that would never happen if we didn’t play that game.”

Similar marketing opportunities are abundant in D-I athletics. Le Moyne men’s basketball played Georgetown and Villanova this past season; its men’s soccer team traveled Penn State and its women’s basketball team to Colorado and Southern California.

More: How Mercyhurst athletic programs will make the jump to Division I, Northeast Conference

“Le Moyne teams had never been on national television and very rarely on regional television,” Beretta said. “This year, we were on national TV several times, regional television six-to-eight times, ESPN+, national streaming platforms. We’ve been able to expand our profile dramatically through athletics, and I thought that was a very important element of this decision.”

Last year’s NEC basketball television contract featured 25 nationally broadcast games across ESPN platforms and CBS Sports Network. Regional broadcasts are televised through the YES Network.

“The transition is part mental, part physical,” said NEC commissioner Noreen Morris. “From a perspective of just coming in prepared and really elevating what they’re doing around their student-athletes, both Stonehill and Le Moyne have done tremendous things to prepare for D-I and work their way through the reclassification process.”

More than athletics

Division I athletics have “energized” Stonehill’s student body, O’Keefe said, and data shows increased applications in NEC markets. That makes the extra costs of D-I worth every dollar.

“Athletics is the front porch of your institution,” O’Keefe said. “Higher education is an incredibly competitive industry, especially today, and athletics has really been a great marketing tool to reach people and markets that we wouldn’t reach otherwise.”

O’Keefe, Beretta and Norris each mentioned how Mercyhurst’s university mission aligns with other NEC schools. Common size, common sports and common goals: All part of why the trio feels ‘Hurst will thrive in D-I.

“It’s going to be a step up, but it’s not going to be this great leap forward,” Beretta said. “Some sports were probably better suited to transition than others, but we had some programs that were more competitive in the Northeast-10 than others. We’re going to schedule smartly and pick our fights wisely.”

A step that, whether ready or not, Mercyhurst will soon take.

“We all share a vision on athletics and how it fits into our campuses, and the expenditures and resources we have to make sure there is competitive equity,” O’Keefe said. “It was certainly a step, but not a leap to move from the Northeast-10 — a very competitive Division II conference from a national and regional perspective — to the NEC.”

Contact Jeff Uveino at juveino@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @realjuveino.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Mercyhurst can compete in Division I sports from start, NEC peers say