A few staff members from the Claflin University athletic department sat with Dr. Timothy Autry, the director of intercollegiate athletics, as he took a conference call from the National Collegiate Athletic Association regarding the institution’s pending membership.

By the end of the 5 p.m. Wednesday call, Autry and his colleagues were all smiles after discovering Claflin has been granted NCAA Division II status.

“We’re just blooming with excitement to hear the news that we are full members as of Sept. 9,” Autry said.

Claflin's NCAA announcement

Claflin, a previous member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), first applied for NCAA membership in 2004. After completing an institutional self-study, Claflin spent three years as a provisionary member of the NCAA’s Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

During this time, the Panthers’ athletic program was required to complete an annual report and go through the NCAA compliance blueprint process before gaining the recommendation of the membership committee.

“Difficult is not a strong enough word (to define this process),” Autry said, “One of the most difficult things about being in the NCAA is paperwork and reports. You have to have the paperwork and reports in on time.”

Last year, Claflin had 20-win seasons in men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball. Plus, the men’s basketball team (24-2) finished with the best record among HBCUs. Now, with its newly acquired Division II status, Claflin hopes to build on previous success.

“There are two main things the impact is going to have,” Autry said. “First is the recruiting. It’s definitely going to increase our ability to go out and compete with other schools to get some of the top athletes. Financially, we’ll be (affected). When people know that you have a solid athletic program and you’re in the top athletic association, which is the NCAA, they want to give more. They want to be able to see their names in the success of the university.”

Claflin becomes the 12th college or university in South Carolina to compete in NCAA Division II. Along with the status of NCAA member comes the responsibility of maintaining that status, and Autry feels he and his staff are prepared to do just that.

“We’re going to work harder,” Autry said. “We know that we’re going to put more resources into our athletic program. If you look around (Tullis Arena), you can see the championship banners we have from the NAIA. We want to put the same number of banners up there from the NCAA. That’s going to take stability, consistency and resources.”

T&D Sports Writer Emery Glover can be reached by e-mail at eglover@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532. Check out his blog, Cover 2, at www.TheTandD.com.

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