Notre Dame College Athletics

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- Falcon Athletics is continuing on its path to becoming a full-fledged member of NCAA Division II. On Friday, the NCAA Membership Committee informed Notre Dame Director of Athletics Sue Hlavacek that the College has been approved for Candidacy Year-Two in the membership process.

"This is tremendous news for the College," said Hlavacek. "So much work has been done on this front so far and by so many. And we're all excited about continuing the work for the benefit of the College and our student-athletes."

Since being approved for the Division II membership process nearly a year ago to the day, Notre Dame was charged with implementing several new items during Candidacy Year One. The NCAA monitored the school’s progress over the past 12 months before issuing a positive recommendation.

Now, Candidacy Year Two presents further goals to meet in order to be ready to operate as a Division II member. The College’s provisional year would be 2011-12. Provided it continues to meet NCAA obligations, Notre Dame would become a full D-II member in time for the 2012-13 academic year.

Notre Dame will wrap up a 20-plus year association with the NAIA following the 2010-11 athletics season. 2010-11 will also mark the school’s final year in the American Mideast Conference.

Six colleges and universities in the state of Ohio -- Ashland, Central State, Findlay, Lake Erie, Tiffin, and Urbana -- are active NCAA-II members. Two other schools from the state in the NCAA membership process include Cedarville and Ohio Dominican.