 The men's basketball team returned to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980, making it all the way to the national championships before losing 80–74 to Virginia Union.The baseball team also returned to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980 and continued to perform at the top of its game as it moved to NCAA Division I in 1983.A new era was ushered in when NYIT's founding president, Alexander Schure, Ph.D., Ed.D., took up the role of chancellor in 1982, and his son, Matthew Schure, Ph.D., was named president of the college.