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wkufreakyfan Offline
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Post: #1
 
MTSU below new I-A attendance requirement




Bloomberg and staff reports

The NCAA said Division I-A football teams that fail to average at least 15,000 fans at home games twice over a 10-year period risk being dropped from the highest level of college athletics. It's a move that could be very bad for Middle Tennessee State football.

The membership standard was approved yesterday at the NCAA's Division I Board of Directors meeting in Indianapolis.

Any school that doesn't average at least 15,000 fans at home football games this season will receive notice from the NCAA that its Division I-A status is in jeopardy, said chairman Robert Hemenway, the chancellor at the University of Kansas.

If the school fails to reach the membership requirement a second time in the next 10 years, the team will be placed on restricted status, meaning it will be ineligible for a postseason bowl game. A school on restricted status would have to average 15,000 fans per home game for two years to regain full Division I-A status and avoid being dropped to a lower level of competition.

MTSU, despite drawing 23,261 fans for its 2003 season opener, averaged 11,021 for six games at Floyd Stadium last season.

MTSU moved from being a Division I-AA member in the Ohio Valley Conference to I-A status in 1999. Since making the move, the Blue Raiders have expanded Floyd Stadium, but they have yet to average more than 13,000 fans a game in any season.

''I didn't expect it not to pass,'' MTSU Athletics Director Boots Donnelly said. ''There was no question about it. Anytime you can solidify what the rule is, it's better. We haven't really known in the past.

''On the other hand, do I agree with the rule? No, I don't think there is any justification for it. But it's there and we'll beat the criteria whatever it is.''

The new rule also would be an issue for the entire Sun Belt Conference, of which MTSU is a member. According to figures from last season, five of the eight Sun Belt teams fell below the 15,000 threshold

MTSU President Sydney McPhee is on the NCAA's Board of Directors, which cast the votes for rule. It was unknown how he voted or what the vote total was.

MTSU adds grad assistant: Richard Burnoski, a former high school coach in Florida, joined the Middle Tennessee State coaching staff yesterday.

Burnoski will serve as a graduate assistant with an emphasis on the defensive line.

" Richard is a guy with head coaching experience and will add a lot to our program,’’ said Coach Andy McCollum. " He produced nine 1-A prospects last year, which is pretty impressive.’’

Burnoski coached at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Fla., from 2000 to 2003.




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08-06-2004 09:26 AM
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DC_Clone
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Post: #2
 
Not so fast slick, DNJ article from the Muts board.

NCAA attendance requirement no longer 'do-or-die'
By Adam Sparks / DNJ Staff Writer

The only numbers that will define MTSU's place in Division I-A football this season will be on the scoreboard.

That realization comes from the results of Thursday's NCAA Board of Directors meeting in Indianapolis, an event that saw the Division I-A football attendance requirements amended by a unanimous vote in favor of schools battling to reach the average home attendance mark of 15,000.

"This is good news for MTSU," said MTSU President Sidney McPhee, who pushed for the amendment as a member of the NCAA Board of Directors.

"We amended the original recommendation and then approved it. And what it means is that it's not going to be one year and you're out (of Division I-A). This gives universities like Middle Tennessee time to adjust and grow — a little bit of time, but still time."

The original recommendation of the guideline called for all I-A members to draw a home average of 15,000 fans over a season, or else face immediate expulsion from the I-A level.

The amended version instead makes a first offense — failing to reach the 15,000 mark — a warning. If a member school's average is below the 15,000 mark for the first year, a second offense within the next nine years would bring ejection from I-A.

However, that is assuming a second year under the new rule ever arrives.

"More significantly is that we have approved a full year to review the rule," McPhee said. "That's the bigger news. We're going to take some time to study the membership criteria, so that we can put it to a legal test and examine other issues involved in it because there are a lot of questions to be answered.

"That also provides some time so that there won't be any concerns this year as far as a do-or-die situation. It's not going be a this-way-or-the-highway thing like when it was proposed three years ago. The Board has the final say now, and we exercised that authority."

The board of directors may study the attendance policy itself for next year's final vote or a subcommittee could be appointed.

McPhee, who seconded the motion for the one-year overview, said the policy could face some integrity issues.

"We'll look over every issue with the policy, and then we can either totally eliminate it or affirm it."

Either way, MTSU — which averaged an attendance of 11,021 last year — knows that its Division I-A status will not be in jeopardy when this season's home opener kicks off against Florida Atlantic Sept. 18.

"It's kind of a Catch-22 for me because I don't want us to relax and take a deep breath. In that way, I have mixed feelings," McPhee said. "We have to keep our focus on filling that stadium. This just gives us a little more time and some temporary relief.

"It was explained to us (during the NCAA meeting) that it's a soft landing rather than a crash. That's a good way to describe it."

Another notable issue passed in Thursday's meeting was an eight-part policy that places university presidents in a heightened position of authority and accountability in terms of their athletic department's recruiting practices.

The policy calls for university presidents to approve the recruiting guidelines for their own school's athletic department — therefore, making those presidents accountable for potential violations.

"With power comes accountability, and that puts presidents in the middle of everything," McPhee said. "But if you hire good coaches and a good athletic director like we have at Middle Tennessee, you don't have to overstep your bounds.

"This just demands that presidents become more involved and informed in their own institution's athletics. It doesn't mean that you run the operations, but you'd better know what's going on."
08-06-2004 10:04 AM
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kalca Offline
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Post: #3
 
Thanks for the update Meangreen61. This is affecting more than MTSU without saying.

"More significantly is that we have approved a full year to review the rule," McPhee said. "That's the bigger news. We're going to take some time to study the membership criteria, so that we can put it to a legal test and examine other issues involved in it because there are a lot of questions to be answered.


The above quote says a lot. FAU hopefully will hit this mark and sustain it over the years.
08-06-2004 10:23 AM
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wkufreakyfan Offline
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You might have earned some extra time with this, but its sad that a school like MTSU that resides so close to Nashville and yet can't average more than 11K fans a year. Seems like some schools did better at maintaining their attendance when they were I-AA. Anyways, I hope they don't pass an attendance requirement. Maybe if they fail it, then smaller schools will try to test the I-A waters.
GO TOPS
08-06-2004 10:41 AM
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galojah Offline
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I do like some of the changes from the origional rule. But it is still doom. The programs that are in risk, are in risk every year, not just 2 out of 10 years. So, it still is bad news, just buys them another year with a warning.

MTSU has not averaged over 13K since they went 1-A in 1999. So by the end of 2005's season, they could be on probation. Then if they don't get it up in 2 years, they could be forced to move down to 1-AA. So, if I understand what I've read (correct me if I am wrong) MTSU could be 1-AA by 2007.

2004 - Warning
2005 - restricted status
2006 - still under 15k
2007 - 2nd year under 15k after probation... forced to move down.

That is how I understand it could work. Now, hopefully, MTSU fans and faithful are going to step it up and support their team and their will never be a warning.


"If the school fails to reach the membership requirement a second time in the next 10 years, the team will be placed on restricted status, meaning it will be ineligible for a postseason bowl game. A school on restricted status would have to average 15,000 fans per home game for two years to regain full Division I-A status and avoid being dropped to a lower level of competition."
08-06-2004 11:19 AM
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DC_Clone
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Post: #6
 
It's interesting that this thread is about Sun Belt football attendance and it's started and dominated by WKU posters. :ninja:
08-06-2004 11:32 AM
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galojah Offline
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First, I am interested in how this turns out. It DOES effect WKU. It effects the stability of Sun Belt conference and revenue. The revenue of the total conference is divided equally, including football.

Second, this is another piece of the puzzle for WKU's possible move to 1-A. Everyone has been pretty hard on WKU for not having gone 1-A already. But this rule could have an impact on what we do. We don't average 15k so this could be a problem for us and may keep us from doing 1-A. WKU is very smart for waiting it out and seeing how everything lands before making an uninformed decision. Once we walk away from the Gateway Football Conference (the best 1-AA football conference), I doubt we could get back if we realize it was a mistake.
08-06-2004 11:52 AM
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Unixmaster
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wkufreakyfan Wrote:Since making the move, the Blue Raiders have expanded Floyd Stadium, but they have yet to average more than 13,000 fans a game in any season.
the Tennessean article is typical of the Tennessean with no one putting their name to it.

The article is inaccurate is some ways, especially about attendance averages since we expanded Floyd. In 1998 we averaged 21,314 and in 2001 we averaged 17,857. In the last three seasons we have had five home games with attendance exceeding 20,000. That was done without having a team from a name school in our stadium.

What has hurt attendance since 2001 is our two home openers where our f'n braintrust of a coaching staff were outcoached against two 1aa teams losing the games in front of well over 20,000 each time. I don't care if you're a school in the Belt, WAC, or MAC, if you do that you are going to have problems with attendance the rest of the year.

I expect once again a decent home opening crowd this September. If our head coach and his staff have not extracted their heads from where they have had them inserted the last two seasons and lose this opener, they won't be in place to see another home opener from the sidelines, IMHO.
08-06-2004 01:02 PM
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I personally would like for WKU to at least start scheduling some Sunbelt football schools, even if we stay 1-AA for a while, especially MTSU. The Blue Raiders are a great rivalry for WKU. I am a longtime Hilltopper fan and have been impressed with the fan base when we play bball in Diddle. I can also remember some great crowds at L.T. Smith stadium with MTSU. I definately want WKU to be 1-A, but until the powers that be decide to, at least schedule a good regional rival i.e. MTSU. Financially and competitively it should be a win-win for both schools. 04-cheers
08-06-2004 01:51 PM
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galojah Offline
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Reddog, it actually ISN'T financially a win-win for us. We typically play 1-A game a year. The rest of our games are 1-AA. Our 1-A game is against a BCS school that is willing to pay us 400K-500K for a game. MTSU or any other SBC school cannot pay us that. We are better off playing Auburn or Kansas State. We can't schedule too many 1-A games because we have to make sure we are at least 8-3 at the end of the season. A 7-4 record will not get you into the 1-AA playoffs. The Gateway is such a tough conference, we need to schedule some easy games for our team.
08-06-2004 02:37 PM
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REDDOG2 Offline
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Good point TopperJeff, I just remember some great games with great crowds with MT. Money does rule but always remember THE SPIRIT MAKES THE MASTER. GO WKU. 04-cheers
08-07-2004 09:02 AM
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