(03-09-2011 03:59 PM)OwlFamily Wrote:  

(03-09-2011 03:53 PM)FIU Panther Fan Wrote:  Warning: This thread is about to get hijacked! Go F I U!

P.S. I don't really care much about the whole F_U thing. It will be a thing of the past once we are not bottom dwellers. I.E. this past year, FIU was off after the first 4 weeks. Go F I U!

Im curious if you agree with me in regards to our schools and the distances involved hindering rivalrys and causeing logistic issues for other confrence mates?

FAU has travelled prety good to FIU and also to USF and UCF when weve played them. The other schools are just not an easy trip to make.

Hypothetically, would FAU and FIU fans look forward to traveling to UNF or FGCU if both schools were playing FBS football.

(03-10-2011 02:11 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Hypothetically, would FAU and FIU fans look forward to traveling to UNF or FGCU if both schools were playing FBS football.

For me personally, (and I admit I dont know where these schools are) if they were within a 4 hour drive I would certainly be able to make those away trips. Right now having 2 little ones and driving 10+ hours to get to a football game is not worth it.

FIU has a series against UCF and FAU has good ties with USF so we do try to get those scheduled every other year or so. Ive gone on record as saying I would love for FAU/FIU to swap against USF/UCF every year. I think it would be great for all 4 programs.

(03-10-2011 02:33 PM)OwlFamily Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 02:11 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Hypothetically, would FAU and FIU fans look forward to traveling to UNF or FGCU if both schools were playing FBS football.

For me personally, (and I admit I dont know where these schools are) if they were within a 4 hour drive I would certainly be able to make those away trips. Right now having 2 little ones and driving 10+ hours to get to a football game is not worth it.

FIU has a series against UCF and FAU has good ties with USF so we do try to get those scheduled every other year or so. Ive gone on record as saying I would love for FAU/FIU to swap against USF/UCF every year. I think it would be great for all 4 programs.

I understand about the little ones.

UNF - Jacksonville, FL ( 5 hours away from FAU)
FGCU - Ft Myers, FL ( 2 hours away)

Does that sound manageable?

(03-10-2011 02:04 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  No. you are not wrong. That is why I, to the chagrin of some, keep mentioning upcoming programs, that would alleviate some of FIU and FAUs travel cost in non footbal sports. That's right. Logistics is a b*tch. That is why Miami left the Big East for the ACC.

Logistics, plus more money and a high quality of opponent.

(03-10-2011 03:29 PM)VideoGreenEagle Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 02:04 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  No. you are not wrong. That is why I, to the chagrin of some, keep mentioning upcoming programs, that would alleviate some of FIU and FAUs travel cost in non footbal sports. That's right. Logistics is a b*tch. That is why Miami left the Big East for the ACC.

Logistics, plus more money and a high quality of opponent.

True, True.

UNF is in Jacksonville, and FGCU is in Ft. Meyers. So a trip from FIU to UNF is still the length of the state, but Ft. Meyers would definitely be closer. Both schools have all sports except football.

UNF has 16 sports (meets FBS requirements), with 7 men's and 9 women's. They have just over 16K students, with about half coming from the Jacksonville/Duval Co. area.

FGCU has 14 sports, 6 men's and 8 women's. They have just over 12K students, also with just under half coming from Lee and Collier Counties.

UNF held its first class in 1972, while FGCU held its first class in 1997. For comparison, FAU was founded in 1961 and FIU in 1965.

(03-10-2011 10:42 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 09:30 AM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 09:01 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  A budget number cutoff is one of those things that sounds reasonable on first glance but a half-way creative accountant can defeat it in a good a afternoon with a serious of payments from the university or the university foundation that are followed by athletics then paying the university or the foundation for an equally priced set of goods, services, or etc.
The better course is to set minimum scheduling requirements with real teeth and change how revenue is shared to better reward success and hand out those checks at league meetings so schools will get an up-close look at the difference success makes in their revenue.

I don't know why we're making 'with or without UL-M' a debatable point. They, like FIU and FAU and Troy, were there when Belt football needed them most. If they are now able to reap some of the fruit that this conference is producing, then good for them.

And to La Tech, if we can agree on conference inclusion, then we take each other, warts and all.

*p.s. my two favorites are La Tech and Appy St. (though I must profess ignorance as far as ASU's demographics are concerned) to get us to 12 football members.

I am certainly in favor of ULM remaining in the conference and my preferences for adding two would (to get to 12 football-playing teams) be Georgia State and Charlotte. Just say no to adding anymore western schools. JMO.

As for the F_U schools, they knew when they added football where their locations were and how far they would have to travel to play. Of course the cost of travel skyrocketed and who knew? Scheduling FSU, UM, USF, UCF and playing eachother would cut down ontravelling expenses drastically.

And now to the sectionally named "UL-?" schools, I have the solution. Change ULL to UL, and ULM to Monroe State. Problem solved.

simple...problem solved.

Geaux Louisiana Ragin Cajuns

I brought Louisiana into the discussion because Cajun fans don't like to be called ULL or whatever and I was making a comparison since some FIU and FAU fans complain about ESPN calling them the F_U's (like in the Bottom Ten thing specifically). I am not complaining about the F_U, asking a genuine question. And I call your school Louisiana-Lafayette because it is what I have always called your school and is your legal name.
[/quote]
You must be real young because they were Southwest Louisiana for a loooooonnnnnnggggg time. ULL is more recent. I'll call them ULL until they do a switch like Texas St. did or UW-Green Bay, Milwaukee, dropping the UW part. No one calls N.Carolina UNC-Chapel Hill. U of Louisiana makes sense since no one else has claimed it.

I just checked wiki. It said ULL tried to change from SW Louisiana to U Louisiana in 1984 but was over turned in court. in 1999 they switched from SW La. to ULL which is their current name.
[/quote]

We will likely always officially be the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Athletically, we are Louisiana and UL. Just like in your conference, Nevada is officially Nevada Reno but decided to brand themselves as Nevada athletically. That is something that everyone has accepted, yet have a problem with Louisiana.

BTW, isn't Fresno State officially California State University at Fresno? No problem with using Fresno State, but if your official name is not used athletically, why should ours?

Just as a historical point, From 1874 to 1969, they were University of Nevada, period, nothing else. The school fought tooth and nail against UNLV. When it started it was 100% under University of Nevada control. Then it gained independence and became Nevada Southern and finally UNLV. The Reno tag was added forcibly because the growth of Las Vegas had shifted political power to the southern part of the state and there was extreme resentment over their efforts to stifle UNLV. Being permitted to use Nevada without -Reno has been a fairly recent development (actually it is , Reno).

Anyone in the state age 50 or older remembers it as simply Nevada because that's what the school was until 1969. For a significant portion of the population they knew them as simply Nevada until political retribution struck and it still isn't fully accepted, the Las Vegas Sun calls them UNR on first reference in articles.

(03-10-2011 03:28 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 02:33 PM)OwlFamily Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 02:11 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Hypothetically, would FAU and FIU fans look forward to traveling to UNF or FGCU if both schools were playing FBS football.

For me personally, (and I admit I dont know where these schools are) if they were within a 4 hour drive I would certainly be able to make those away trips. Right now having 2 little ones and driving 10+ hours to get to a football game is not worth it.

FIU has a series against UCF and FAU has good ties with USF so we do try to get those scheduled every other year or so. Ive gone on record as saying I would love for FAU/FIU to swap against USF/UCF every year. I think it would be great for all 4 programs.

I understand about the little ones.

UNF - Jacksonville, FL ( 5 hours away from FAU)
FGCU - Ft Myers, FL ( 2 hours away)

Does that sound manageable?

You must throw West Florida (Pensacola)in "the little ones" mix also. They have plans in place to start a football program, eventually moving to Div. II and possibly to I-AA in the future. The UWF Argonauts could be a future opponent of the F_U schools someday and maybe even the USA Jaguars. If those Metro Miami schools can travel to Pensacola, they can travel to Mobile.

Make that if they can travel to Mobile, they can travel to Pensacola.

(03-10-2011 10:42 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  And now to the sectionally named "UL-?" schools, I have the solution. Change ULL to UL, and ULM to Monroe State. Problem solved.

You must not pay much attention to this issue. The Cajuns are fighting all kinds of opposition to the name change to UL and unless I'm mistaken, ULM isn't exactly leading the charge on that one. It's not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

(03-11-2011 02:47 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 10:42 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  And now to the sectionally named "UL-?" schools, I have the solution. Change ULL to UL, and ULM to Monroe State. Problem solved.

You must not pay much attention to this issue. The Cajuns are fighting all kinds of opposition to the name change to UL and unless I'm mistaken, ULM isn't exactly leading the charge on that one. It's not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

In fairness, they really aren't leading the charge on anything.

They are excellent followers though.

(03-10-2011 09:01 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  A budget number cutoff is one of those things that sounds reasonable on first glance but a half-way creative accountant can defeat it in a good a afternoon with a serious of payments from the university or the university foundation that are followed by athletics then paying the university or the foundation for an equally priced set of goods, services, or etc.

The better course is to set minimum scheduling requirements with real teeth and change how revenue is shared to better reward success and hand out those checks at league meetings so schools will get an up-close look at the difference success makes in their revenue.

That is a reasonable response. People seem to have selective memory about posts - they see one thing, knee jerk - and don't read the part that says "I don't care how we get there, we just need to improve, does anyone have a better suggestion, blah blah blah!!!" - thank you Mark for providing a reasonable response to help improve the perception of the conference :). I am sick of the Belt being an afterthought. Much like the Big West, the Belt has some salty teams in it that play some damn good football. But the perception keeps away the viewers. We have to get more viewers (more than just fans of the schools)... it is the only way that we can improve our perception.

(03-11-2011 02:47 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 10:42 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  And now to the sectionally named "UL-?" schools, I have the solution. Change ULL to UL, and ULM to Monroe State. Problem solved.

You must not pay much attention to this issue. The Cajuns are fighting all kinds of opposition to the name change to UL and unless I'm mistaken, ULM isn't exactly leading the charge on that one. It's not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

Sorry, but I was trying to be a bit facetious. Guess I shoulda thrown in a "dancing banana" icon or a "stirring the pot" one to ward off being taken serious.

(03-11-2011 11:47 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(03-11-2011 02:47 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 10:42 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  And now to the sectionally named "UL-?" schools, I have the solution. Change ULL to UL, and ULM to Monroe State. Problem solved.

You must not pay much attention to this issue. The Cajuns are fighting all kinds of opposition to the name change to UL and unless I'm mistaken, ULM isn't exactly leading the charge on that one. It's not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

Sorry, but I was trying to be a bit facetious. Guess I shoulda thrown in a "dancing banana" icon or a "stirring the pot" one to ward off being taken serious.

It matters not what ulm wants or doesnt want.. They might not be around much longer anyway. The budget cuts are a ***** in Louisiana...

Z

(03-11-2011 12:09 PM)zeebart21 Wrote:  

(03-11-2011 11:47 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(03-11-2011 02:47 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 10:42 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  And now to the sectionally named "UL-?" schools, I have the solution. Change ULL to UL, and ULM to Monroe State. Problem solved.

You must not pay much attention to this issue. The Cajuns are fighting all kinds of opposition to the name change to UL and unless I'm mistaken, ULM isn't exactly leading the charge on that one. It's not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

Sorry, but I was trying to be a bit facetious. Guess I shoulda thrown in a "dancing banana" icon or a "stirring the pot" one to ward off being taken serious.

It matters not what ulm wants or doesnt want.. They might not be around much longer anyway. The budget cuts are a ***** in Louisiana...

Z

They= school or They= football or athletics?

(03-11-2011 12:29 PM)SidJag Wrote:  

(03-11-2011 12:09 PM)zeebart21 Wrote:  

(03-11-2011 11:47 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(03-11-2011 02:47 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 10:42 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  And now to the sectionally named "UL-?" schools, I have the solution. Change ULL to UL, and ULM to Monroe State. Problem solved.

You must not pay much attention to this issue. The Cajuns are fighting all kinds of opposition to the name change to UL and unless I'm mistaken, ULM isn't exactly leading the charge on that one. It's not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

Sorry, but I was trying to be a bit facetious. Guess I shoulda thrown in a "dancing banana" icon or a "stirring the pot" one to ward off being taken serious.

It matters not what ulm wants or doesnt want.. They might not be around much longer anyway. The budget cuts are a ***** in Louisiana...

Z

They= school or They= football or athletics?

It's possible he meant any of the three. In the least dramatic he could have meant FBS football. Their budget is paltry as it is, with cuts, they simply may not be able to afford it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have heard talk of Louisiana consolidating schools in an effort to resolve some of the budget issues. Don't know if would ever actually happen, but I know I've seen it discussed on a few message boards.

(03-10-2011 07:43 PM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 03:28 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 02:33 PM)OwlFamily Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 02:11 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Hypothetically, would FAU and FIU fans look forward to traveling to UNF or FGCU if both schools were playing FBS football.

For me personally, (and I admit I dont know where these schools are) if they were within a 4 hour drive I would certainly be able to make those away trips. Right now having 2 little ones and driving 10+ hours to get to a football game is not worth it.

FIU has a series against UCF and FAU has good ties with USF so we do try to get those scheduled every other year or so. Ive gone on record as saying I would love for FAU/FIU to swap against USF/UCF every year. I think it would be great for all 4 programs.

I understand about the little ones.

UNF - Jacksonville, FL ( 5 hours away from FAU)
FGCU - Ft Myers, FL ( 2 hours away)

Does that sound manageable?

You must throw West Florida (Pensacola)in "the little ones" mix also. They have plans in place to start a football program, eventually moving to Div. II and possibly to I-AA in the future. The UWF Argonauts could be a future opponent of the F_U schools someday and maybe even the USA Jaguars. If those Metro Miami schools can travel to Pensacola, they can travel to Mobile.

That is funny. I was referring to his kids. I have children as well.

Good point about UWF. That is what I have been watching for the past year. UWF is 45 miles from Mobile and there is a rivalry between the two cities that goes back 300 years. If UWF decides to start football then UNF would feel pressure immediately since FGCU has already stated that football will be in the mix once the alumni base grows and it is growing fast.

(03-11-2011 12:09 PM)zeebart21 Wrote:  

(03-11-2011 11:47 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(03-11-2011 02:47 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-10-2011 10:42 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  And now to the sectionally named "UL-?" schools, I have the solution. Change ULL to UL, and ULM to Monroe State. Problem solved.

You must not pay much attention to this issue. The Cajuns are fighting all kinds of opposition to the name change to UL and unless I'm mistaken, ULM isn't exactly leading the charge on that one. It's not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

Sorry, but I was trying to be a bit facetious. Guess I shoulda thrown in a "dancing banana" icon or a "stirring the pot" one to ward off being taken serious.

It matters not what ulm wants or doesnt want.. They might not be around much longer anyway. The budget cuts are a ***** in Louisiana...

Z

Yeah. From what I have been reading higher education in LA has been slashed by 15% over the past two years and they were talking about shuttering some schools or combining theire administrations.