Columbus Monthly / August 2011 / Ohio Dominican: Moving on up

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Ohio Dominican: Moving on up

Ohio Dominican is that little school out by the airport.

At least this is the public perception of the Catholic liberal arts college, says athletic director emeritus Bill Blazer. While Ohio Dominican isn’t moving from its current location near Port Columbus International Airport, big changes are underway—led by the leap into full membership in the NCAA’s Division II, which was officially granted on July 8.

“The perception and name recognition that goes with being in the NCAA and being part of the NCAA brand and marketing machine will really help us,” Blazer says. “Ohio Dominican won’t be the school out by the airport, and people will see we’re a really good school academically and athletically.”

The goal is for Ohio Dominican, which only began to play football in 2004, to become known as that D-II sports powerhouse in Central Ohio. To that end, the school has expanded Alumni Gym and Panther Stadium—the latter to 2,500 seats for football, with plans to one day accommodate 10,000 fans. (The university’s overall aggressive building campaign also includes the
$22 million Griffin Student Center, which opened in 2009.)

Perhaps folks at the airport will be calling Ohio Dominican to ask them to keep the noise down.

“We’re looking at increasing our enrollment to 5,000,” acting athletic director Jeff Blair says. (Current enrollment is about 3,000.)

“And I’m looking at 18 championships, one in every one of our sports,” Blazer adds.

Ohio Dominican was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the David to the Goliath that is the mighty NCAA. There was some initial discussion about whether to seek membership in the NCAA’s D-II or D-III.

“There would have been some natural D-III rivals right here, with Capital and Otterbein right here and Ohio Wesleyan and Kenyon so close,” Blair says. But this would have made the Panthers one of many—and now they’re the only D-II school in sports-crazed Central Ohio.

“We see that as a competitive advantage for recruiting,” Blair says.

The Panthers now are members of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association (GLIAC), which consists mostly of colleges from Michigan and Ohio. “We’re pleased to have them,” says GLIAC commissioner Dell Robinson. “The GLIAC was born and bred in Michigan and the growth was to the north and west of Ohio, so having Columbus is unique and will help build a platform for the GLIAC in other areas.”

Football coach Bill Conley sees the GLIAC’s other Ohio schools—Ashland, Findlay, Tiffin and Lake Erie—as natural rivals.

“This gives us a national name,” says Conley, a former Ohio State assistant coach, quickly adding the Buckeyes will always be the local juggernaut, of course.

“But we want to be the second-biggest show in town,” he says. “And being D-II and in the GLIAC, we can attract better players and win the recruiting wars in Ohio and beyond, and when we do that we will have a chance to compete for championships.”