In the 30 years since a joint team of USD and SDSU men's basketball players ventured to Cuba for a "goodwill trip," there have been few other such athletic-related foreign trips.
But USD Athletics Director Joel Nielsen said it hasn't been without effort.
"It's something that gets discussed in our department; we do talk about it," Nielsen said. "Each coach receives solicitations from different sports travel companies. It's not uncommon for coaches to have initial talks with me, about the feasibility. For various reasons, it hasn't worked out."
The USD men's basketball team ventured to England in August 1999 for a nine-day trip. There, the Coyotes won two of its four games.
Additionally, the team nearly traveled to China in May 2005. The China expedition, which was organized by Basketball Travelers, Inc. of Edmonds, Wash., was canceled two weeks before the Coyotes were to leave.
"We hadn't budgeted for that trip, so there was quite a bit of financial work to be done," Nielsen said. "It would have been a once in a career type of experience; a nice team-building activity."
To pay for these foreign trips, Nielsen said the teams fundraise on their own or search for a sponsor to alleviate the costs.
"With trips like these, they're booked up a few years in advance, which gives the specific team a long time to come up with money," Nielsen said. "They're not annually budgeted items."
NCAA regulations state that Division II teams can travel to overseas competition once every four years.
"It really is a great experience for our players," Nielsen said. "Something like that would be more of a learning experience outside the game."
Reach reporter Jeremy Hoeck at Jeremy.Hoeck@usd.edu.
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