Talk:List of NCAA Division I institutions

Missing NV
Where is Nevada?
 * Between University of Nebraska Omaha and University of New Hampshire... GWFrog (talk) 03:45, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

NCAA Div-I FCS Schools
Is it necessary to separate out the few schools that complete in NCAA Div-I, but "only" in the FCS? I think it would make better sense, and also keep things consistent thematically, to include these teams in the their respective state's table, but notate that their football programs complete in the FCS via footnote.MightyHunter9 (talk) 17:36, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

UNLV
Do they still call themselves the Runnin' Rebels for basketball, or is that something that doesn't happen anymore? DandyDan2007 (talk) 13:13, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

What about schools who are Div-I for only some sports?
What about schools who are Division I for only some sports? For example, NCAA Division I Ice Hockey has a lot of schools who are D-I only for that sport, and are D-II, D-III, or even NAIA for other sports. I assume that other sports have similar situations. Even among the "major" sports, some schools vary, or have no team in certain sports. (A number have major basketball programs, for example, but no football program. Marquette comes to mind as an example.)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.15.255.227 (talk) 18:36, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

Where's the article?
It's Missing!!!!Go Mizzou 19:30, 10 November 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Esb5415 (talk • contribs)
 * Seems like it was removed, hopefully by accident...Spyder_Monkey (Talk) 22:34, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

In transition/Announced as reclassifying
Those schools which have already begun the process of reclassifying are classified by the NCAA as DI if they are transitioning in or out of DI. Thus, Nebraska at Omaha and Northern Kentucky are DI schools under transition from DII, and Centenary College is a DI school under transition to DIII. The four schools which have announced their intent to begin transition will not be DI schools until that transition has begun. If a school has begun transition, it is a DI school, but only for listing and scheduling purposes. I set up the section of "Announced..." schools because of the foregoing, and I returned the section to same, although I am certain that whoever changed it did so with the best of intentions. GWFrog (talk) 19:01, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Okay, I decided to move the schools in transittion to their own section. GWFrog (talk) 19:46, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Does this explain why the lead says 351 but there are 346 items in the list? That the 351 also includes the six in transition?-- SPhilbrick (Talk)  19:34, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Right; 346 full DI teams, plus 6 transitioning to DI, and minus 1 transitioning from DI. GWFrog (talk) 22:36, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Overhaul in formatting
has twice boldly tried to overhaul the formatting of the list. Per BOLD, revert, discuss cycle I am requesting a discussion here. There was a ton of information that was taken out regarding commonname, conference realignment, and enrollment. There was also the addition of state flags, and a proper LEDE.-UCO2009bluejay (talk) 18:06, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Pinging recent editors to see their thoughts on possible additions/subtractions from this list., , , , , . UCO2009bluejay (talk) 18:06, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
 * As a WP:AGF move I am not going to say that I am not stepping completely in bounds here, as my main concern was the removal of large amounts of information. I perhaps should have asked here before reverting. I personally do find the table clunky.-UCO2009bluejay (talk) 18:11, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
 * My two cents: (1) Common names are useful. I've added quite a few updates/notes on those. (2) Future affiliations are very useful to include, especially during a major realignment cycle as we're now in. (3) I'm neutral on whether to include enrollment figures... but if they're kept, they should be undergraduate only. As a general rule, only undergraduates are eligible to compete in NCAA athletics (with the occasional exception of redshirts or early graduates who get degrees while still athletically eligible). (4) State flags are cruft as far as I'm concerned; no need for them. (5) A proper lead is nice to have, but it doesn't have to be a long one. — Dale Arnett (talk) 18:50, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Keep transitions / future realignments. Neutral on the common name and enrollment columns. I prefer the lead in Quattrovalvole's version. Flag icons are not needed – however, if you want, or going to use them anyway, there is the opportunity to combine the city and state columns into one location column, with the flag icon placed to the left of the city so you can still sort by state (the sorting function will work off the flag icon). Just an option I've seen done usefully on other tables. --DB1729 (talk) 20:25, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarifications. I've only recently started familiarizing myself with these NCAA lists, so I was a tad confused why the prompt reversion. I guess I did remove a substantial amount. Here're my thoughts on each aspect: Quattrovalvole (u/t, s s/t) 12:38, 18 April 2022 (UTC)
 * 1) I'm of the opinion that every list should have at least an attempt at a substantial lead, but I get the logic behind dissenting views on this. I'll let the lead be for now.
 * 2) Personally, I don't see why enrollment figures are necessary. If anyone has some reasoning here, I would very much like to know it.
 * 3) You make good points about realignments and such. Since there are so many of them right now, would it be easier to make a separate section dedicated to them?
 * 4) I like the idea of showing common names, but I'd initially removed them because they were all without citation. For instance, media use both "FIU" and "Florida International" to refer to that school. In that case, which one constitutes a common name? Ideally, I'd think it best to do something like the table below, but I'm not sure if that's practical in this table that's already pretty big.
 * FYI, there is a page that attempts to list all D-I conference changes, both all-sports and single-sport. It's broken down by the effective year of change, with a combined table of future changes (though internally grouped by effective date). That said, I think it would be nice for folks exploring the overall D-I list to be able to see a note on an upcoming conference change without having to jump to a second page. As for the use of full names, a few institutions don't use their full legal names in most contexts. For example:
 * The name of "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University" is, AFAIK, used only on documents such as transcripts and diplomas. "Virginia Tech" is used for everything else.
 * Missouri is legally the "University of Missouri–Columbia", but uses just the first three words in all but the most formal contexts.
 * The name of "Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science" exists in Mississippi statutes nut almost nowhere else; the university usually uses just the first three words. Much the same applies to "Iowa State University of Science and Technology" and "Kansas State University of Agriculture and Applied Science"; diplomas of both schools, and even many Kansas statutes, use just the first three words. — Dale Arnett (talk) 14:32, 18 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I've taken the feedback I received from my first attempt at redoing this list and put together a new and more thorough version. I'm not going to supplant the current page yet since it might just get immediately reverted again, but this new version can be found in my sandbox. I'd appreciate any feedback I can get on my draft of an overhaul. (Update: I got impatient and added the revision.) Quattrovalvole 16:13, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
 * The following is how I see it. IMO:
 * Pros: Better lead section. At this point it eliminates the enrollment column with a football subdivision identifier. Keeping up with enrollment figures is an unnecessary task per above. Shortens the Private/public readers can click on the school if they want information with secular/religous/denomination affiliation. I like the addition of the "partial members"
 * Cons: The color of the "upward transitioning" teams doesn't match what is standard in conference additions. The proposed chart gives nickname of male sports team only. "Full name" replaces school. (I wish I could say that was nitpicking but full name of what?)
 * Neutral: The postal abbreviations per MOS:POSTABBR need to have an abbreviation template with the first instance. I don't know which is standard for notes sections but I imagine it is the current format.
 * In short, I don't understand why the current lists (DII, DIII, and NAIA are logically next) are in need of an overhaul but these are some overall beneficial changes in the proposal.-UCO2009bluejay (talk) 03:42, 2 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you for all the feedback! I changed all the appropriate items to match your recommendations with the exception of the team names. I thought about altering those, but to me using the notes for the teams with multiple names helps keep the size of these already-large tables to a minimum. Also, on the old table where other names were listed, some things wouldn't sort properly. For instance, if you sorted by common name then nickname, Alcorn State (Braves and Lady Braves) would be below Bradley (Braves). Since the primary word in both names is "braves", I felt this needed adjusted, hence the note-system.
 * You're right when you say these lists don't necessarily need an overhaul since they don't have major issues. I simply noticed a number of minor issues or inconveniences when referencing the list recently and decided to go ahead and do an overhaul since I don't have any other projects going on currently. While I do plan on doing the same sort of thing to the D2, D3, and NAIA lists (plus some others), this one is where are the most well-known teams are so I thought it most deserving of updates. Quattrovalvole 19:02, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi @Quattrovalvole @UCO2009bluejay -- just seeing some of these updates now.
 * My only commentary would be on enrollment figures. How are they being collected at this point, generally? From my experience (and I would guess others', too) it is very common to see disagreeing enrollment numbers multiple times within an institution's various different pages. However, I think that it is interesting to note enrollment size and compare to the relative strength of the athletic programs. If there is a one stop shop for enrollment figures somewhere on a yearly basis, I think it should be included. Does anyone know how enrollment figures are generally found and validated at this point? Is there any source that houses a multitude of enrollment figures, or is it individually sought out on a school-by-school basis? Garrettcarrot12 (talk) 17:26, 10 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I was opposed to changes to begin with. Enrollement should be taken out though. It fluctuates yearly and unlike high school athletics, enrollment means nothing regarding NCAA Divisions.-UCO2009bluejay (talk) 22:09, 13 November 2022 (UTC)
 * My only commentary would be on enrollment figures. How are they being collected at this point, generally? From my experience (and I would guess others', too) it is very common to see disagreeing enrollment numbers multiple times within an institution's various different pages. However, I think that it is interesting to note enrollment size and compare to the relative strength of the athletic programs. If there is a one stop shop for enrollment figures somewhere on a yearly basis, I think it should be included. Does anyone know how enrollment figures are generally found and validated at this point? Is there any source that houses a multitude of enrollment figures, or is it individually sought out on a school-by-school basis? Garrettcarrot12 (talk) 17:26, 10 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I was opposed to changes to begin with. Enrollement should be taken out though. It fluctuates yearly and unlike high school athletics, enrollment means nothing regarding NCAA Divisions.-UCO2009bluejay (talk) 22:09, 13 November 2022 (UTC)

Add new columns
There are separate pages which include information that I think would be good to consolidate on this page, at least for NCAA Div 1 schools, rather than having users go to 3 different pages for this information: 1) School abbreviations: List of colloquial names for universities and colleges in the United States 2) Mascot Names: List of college mascots in the United States TDinKS (talk) 13:02, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

Football footnotes
There are a lot of sometimes lengthy footnotes on this article regarding football, clarifying whether conferences sponsor it and where some schools sponsor it if it's outside their home conference, among other things. However, are they really necessary in the context of this article? I understand college football is a very popular sport, but if someone is curious about college football affiliations, that's what we have List of NCAA Division I FBS football programs and List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs for. Finchwidget (talk) 19:29, 20 March 2024 (UTC)