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Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
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WKUFan518 Offline
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Post: #141
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
]
(04-16-2014 02:26 PM)EKUSteve Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 02:18 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 01:44 PM)EKUSteve Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 01:28 PM)eku50 Wrote:  
(04-07-2014 11:43 AM)statefanatic Wrote:  Could an EKU fans post some pics of there facilities.

Attached are McBrayer Arena and Roy Kidd Stadium. Both getting upgrades.

Here is the link to the Facilities page of EKUSports:

http://www.ekusports.com/sports/2013/12/...spx?&tab=7
Understand I have no ax to grind with EKU. I lived in the area for 11 years and know many alumni. Great police training academy there. With that said, EKU is miles away from moving to FBS. The first hurdle is getting funding for major upgrades through the KY legislators in Frankfort. In the commonwealth of KY, UofL and UK are the darlings of the state. UK wants to upgrade Rupp arena and the state just voted no to allow bonds to be sold to help pay those upgrades. Many state schools are being asked to cut spending. EKU needs some major upgrades to facilities that would run in the 30-50 million dollar range. The football stadium looks nice in the pic you see, but it's basically a one sided stadium with metal bleachers on the other side. Unless private donors step to the plate in a HUGE way EKU will struggle to make the necessary upgrades. We've not even discussed title IX compliance and having to add the extra scholarships. Like I said, I like EKU, but knowing some of the inner workings of the political system there it's going to be a major uphill battle. I don't see UK being thrilled about adding another FBS school 20 miles away and that won't make it any easier to transition either. What do some of the EKU posters think? I'm not stirring the pot, but would seriously like to know their opinions.

Understand. There was a link earlier put in one of the threads where the school president already laid out the strategy. Showed what it would cost for the additional football scholarships as well as the same number of women's scholarships. Yes, it is one sided right now. The plan is to build a new stadium structure on the side the bleachers are on. WKU was the same when they made the move.Funding wise from the state, we got approval for $15 million in bonding from the state and the school is already working on obtaining at least that much more in private funding.

Here is the link to the Forum on Athletics that occurred two weeks ago.

http://president.eku.edu/insidelook/forum-athletics

Slides are on a .pdf on the same page.

Yea and took us 10 years before we were truly ready and we had a conf. waiting to join....Seems to me EKU is much worse off to make a move the next 4 or 5 years as WKU fans have stated over and over again...
(This post was last modified: 04-16-2014 02:31 PM by WKUFan518.)
04-16-2014 02:29 PM
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pjc1979 Offline
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Post: #142
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 02:22 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  http://www.championshipsubdivision.com/a...um/eku.jpg

Look on the positive side, it doesn't have a track around it like ours.
04-16-2014 02:35 PM
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EKUSteve Offline
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Post: #143
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 02:35 PM)pjc1979 Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 02:22 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  http://www.championshipsubdivision.com/a...um/eku.jpg

Look on the positive side, it doesn't have a track around it like ours.

Texas A&M did up until they put in "The Zone" in the north end of the stadium... IIt was still there when I was there for grad school in 88 and 89.
04-16-2014 02:37 PM
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EKUSteve Offline
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Post: #144
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 02:29 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  ]
(04-16-2014 02:26 PM)EKUSteve Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 02:18 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 01:44 PM)EKUSteve Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 01:28 PM)eku50 Wrote:  Attached are McBrayer Arena and Roy Kidd Stadium. Both getting upgrades.

Here is the link to the Facilities page of EKUSports:

http://www.ekusports.com/sports/2013/12/...spx?&tab=7
Understand I have no ax to grind with EKU. I lived in the area for 11 years and know many alumni. Great police training academy there. With that said, EKU is miles away from moving to FBS. The first hurdle is getting funding for major upgrades through the KY legislators in Frankfort. In the commonwealth of KY, UofL and UK are the darlings of the state. UK wants to upgrade Rupp arena and the state just voted no to allow bonds to be sold to help pay those upgrades. Many state schools are being asked to cut spending. EKU needs some major upgrades to facilities that would run in the 30-50 million dollar range. The football stadium looks nice in the pic you see, but it's basically a one sided stadium with metal bleachers on the other side. Unless private donors step to the plate in a HUGE way EKU will struggle to make the necessary upgrades. We've not even discussed title IX compliance and having to add the extra scholarships. Like I said, I like EKU, but knowing some of the inner workings of the political system there it's going to be a major uphill battle. I don't see UK being thrilled about adding another FBS school 20 miles away and that won't make it any easier to transition either. What do some of the EKU posters think? I'm not stirring the pot, but would seriously like to know their opinions.

Understand. There was a link earlier put in one of the threads where the school president already laid out the strategy. Showed what it would cost for the additional football scholarships as well as the same number of women's scholarships. Yes, it is one sided right now. The plan is to build a new stadium structure on the side the bleachers are on. WKU was the same when they made the move.Funding wise from the state, we got approval for $15 million in bonding from the state and the school is already working on obtaining at least that much more in private funding.

Here is the link to the Forum on Athletics that occurred two weeks ago.

http://president.eku.edu/insidelook/forum-athletics

Slides are on a .pdf on the same page.

Yea and took us 10 years before we were truly ready and we had a conf. waiting to join....Seems to me EKU is much worse off to make a move the next 4 or 5 years as WKU fans have stated over and over again...

Maybe. I just know our Benson is pushing this pretty hard.
04-16-2014 02:38 PM
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Colonels12 Offline
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Post: #145
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
We also may not have 5-10 years before FCS dies.

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04-16-2014 02:39 PM
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Post: #146
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
EKU doesn't have the time like Western to build first. What EKU needs is to set out a plan and sell the SBC on they can get it done in 2 to 3 years. That's what EKU is doing laying out their plain even without the needed bonding in place and hoping that will be good enough for the SBC.

If the reports from SBC fans are correct that the SBC wants to go east at almost any cost EKU is still in the game. Especially if the other two schools have backed out. Actually I think MSU never was in the game just more of fans thinking something and building something from nothing...especially ASU fans. JMU was the only team the SBC wanted and if they said no...a for sure no that really only leaves a few schools and EKU is most likely close to the top....

other words a school with less warts and a football program with some history behind it. If that's the case selling the SBC on "we can built it" if we have a home might just work for EKU. I still think the finial upgrade project will be far from what EKU wants but that's just half the battle. Getting a home is the most important one. To me that's a lot closer for EKU to achieve today than a week or so ago.
04-16-2014 04:34 PM
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MWC Tex Offline
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Post: #147
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 02:39 PM)Colonels12 Wrote:  We also may not have 5-10 years before FCS dies.

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FCS isn't going to die, otherwise there wouldn't be quite a few schools starting up FCS football.
04-16-2014 04:37 PM
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DawggoneEagle Offline
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Post: #148
Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
FCS isn't going to die, that's a baseless fear, but your program's window of opportunity to may close for a while and your stuck.


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04-16-2014 04:56 PM
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EKUSteve Offline
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Post: #149
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
I don't think FCS is going to die either, but I do see the OVC moving to being a more basketball-centric conference based on comments and discussions earlier with the OVC.
04-16-2014 05:28 PM
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LexColonel Offline
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Post: #150
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
WKU fans keep comparing EKU moving to what they did. Your strategy worked. Great. Wonderful. However, let's keep in mind WKU is NOT the only school that's moved from FCS to FBS and made it work, I would guess not all used the same WKU "model". Several schools have been mentioned on here as "candidates ", some who don't have football at any level... And no stadium period. There was a WKU fan somewhere back in the EKU discussion who mentioned Northern KY U as a better choice than EKU. NKU has no football program at all and as far as anyone knows, no plans to start one. That's just one example of the bias concerning EKU.
I believe an EKU fan on here mentioned, we as well as other schools hoping to move to FBS, probably do not have the luxury of time Western KY had. I believe that EKU's President Benson as well as the BOR, are intelligent enough to get this done and to move forward if this is in any way feasible. All the: "I've been to EKU, I live in Lexington, they can't do what we have done, they have an ugly stadium, they're too close to uk", etc, blah, blah, blah, does not mean a hill of beans. EKU will do what it takes to move this forward or we won't. I have faith in Benson, he has talked about this from Day 1. This may not mean anything to any of you, but he does his homework. Before his interview, he came to campus, walked around without telling anyone who he was, talked to students, faculty and staff, talked to the coaches, he knew this university well before he was chosen. He knew what the needs were before he was hired and then he hit the ground running.
(This post was last modified: 04-16-2014 05:35 PM by LexColonel.)
04-16-2014 05:30 PM
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Post: #151
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 04:34 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  EKU doesn't have the time like Western to build first. What EKU needs is to set out a plan and sell the SBC on they can get it done in 2 to 3 years. That's what EKU is doing laying out their plain even without the needed bonding in place and hoping that will be good enough for the SBC.

If the reports from SBC fans are correct that the SBC wants to go east at almost any cost EKU is still in the game. Especially if the other two schools have backed out. Actually I think MSU never was in the game just more of fans thinking something and building something from nothing...especially ASU fans. JMU was the only team the SBC wanted and if they said no...a for sure no that really only leaves a few schools and EKU is most likely close to the top....

other words a school with less warts and a football program with some history behind it. If that's the case selling the SBC on "we can built it" if we have a home might just work for EKU. I still think the finial upgrade project will be far from what EKU wants but that's just half the battle. Getting a home is the most important one. To me that's a lot closer for EKU to achieve today than a week or so ago.

Not being "on the ground" my opinion obviously lacks knowledge of some of the nuances.

But never stopped me before. 03-lmfao

I perceive the WKU/EKU situations as vastly different.

WKU had as positives a long track record of being a broad based athletic program and was used to paying competitive salaries at least in a selective manner as needed. WKU could add 25 athletes to campus without taxing the support structure of academic counselors and such.

WKU's negative was the football stadium had to be redone to be viable. At less than 18k it wasn't viable to use the facility even as a stop gap while moving, WKU had to attack the facility issue before FBS was viable.

EKU is the polar opposite.

While the stadium does not appear to be a showplace, it is functionally large enough to be used immediately, though I suspect it would be an unpopular stop for ESPNU and deemed inadequate for ESPN/ESPN2 in press box facilities (ESPN hates our set-up, that's one of the motivations for moving the press box remodel from third on our to-do list to second). I doubt the offices and dressing rooms would be deemed competitive by Sun Belt standards but would be functional, and EKU would just have to lump it until they could be improved.

The negative for EKU is in staff size. they have to fund about 30 more more positions and bump scholies up by about a million.

WKU's most pressing need was capital outlay, EKU's most pressing need is annual outlay.

WKU needed a larger sum up front to be functional and wasn't looking at a big (in percentage of budget) increase in annual funding while EKU can kick the can down the road on a lot of capital issues but needs around $2.5 million more per year in annual funding.

WKU could make the annual commitment and capital outlay in full confidence of a waiting home. EKU can defer $1 million to $1.5 million until actually accepted but needs to know with some confidence they can meet that within 12 to 18 months of acceptance.

Maybe I'm missing something, but the only real similarity I see in the two situations is that each school is located in Kentucky.
04-16-2014 09:03 PM
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arkstfan Away
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Post: #152
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 04:56 PM)DawggoneEagle Wrote:  FCS isn't going to die, that's a baseless fear, but your program's window of opportunity to may close for a while and your stuck.


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The reports of the death of FCS are greatly exaggerated.

In 2003, there were 11 FCS schools that reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Ten remain FCS with no stated intention of moving. 34 reported 10k or more attendance and four of those have reclassified or are in the process.

In 2008, once again 11 FCS schools reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Nine remain FCS with no stated intention of moving. 30 reported 10k or more average attendance, four have reclassified or are headed into it.

In 2013, 12 schools reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Two have accepted invites to FBS leagues, two (Liberty and Jax St) have stated a desire to move but have not been invited. A total of 26 drew 10k or more average and 3 have accepted FBS invites.

At first glance the assumption would be that FCS is weakening as we go from 34 drawing 10k or better to 26 but digging in something pops up. In 2003 of that group of 34 schools, 12 were HBCU's. In 2013 of the 26 drawing 10k or more there were only seven HBCU's. WKU and TXST who were in group of 34 FCS schools in 2003 weren't on the FCS list in 2013.

The numbers indicate FCS is no less healthy today than it was 11 seasons ago, unless your school is an HBCU.
04-16-2014 09:27 PM
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Eagleditka Offline
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Post: #153
Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
Sounds like excuses people made about Georgia Southern before we were added.


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(This post was last modified: 04-16-2014 10:14 PM by Eagleditka.)
04-16-2014 09:38 PM
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DawggoneEagle Offline
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Post: #154
Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
On the FCS, I'm sure there will be some DII move ups as well. Three immediately come to mind, UNA, VSU, and UWG. North Alabama, I've heard would like to, Valdosta plays at a municipal stadium that hosts VHS but it has a 15,000 seat capacity, and West Georgia who, yah they aren't that good but their on campus stadium is about the best for DII in the country. Also KSU and ETSU start in 2015. That's just in two states.
Also Stetson and Mercer started this year.

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(This post was last modified: 04-16-2014 09:43 PM by DawggoneEagle.)
04-16-2014 09:39 PM
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Post: #155
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 09:03 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 04:34 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  EKU doesn't have the time like Western to build first. What EKU needs is to set out a plan and sell the SBC on they can get it done in 2 to 3 years. That's what EKU is doing laying out their plain even without the needed bonding in place and hoping that will be good enough for the SBC.

If the reports from SBC fans are correct that the SBC wants to go east at almost any cost EKU is still in the game. Especially if the other two schools have backed out. Actually I think MSU never was in the game just more of fans thinking something and building something from nothing...especially ASU fans. JMU was the only team the SBC wanted and if they said no...a for sure no that really only leaves a few schools and EKU is most likely close to the top....

other words a school with less warts and a football program with some history behind it. If that's the case selling the SBC on "we can built it" if we have a home might just work for EKU. I still think the finial upgrade project will be far from what EKU wants but that's just half the battle. Getting a home is the most important one. To me that's a lot closer for EKU to achieve today than a week or so ago.

Not being "on the ground" my opinion obviously lacks knowledge of some of the nuances.

But never stopped me before. 03-lmfao

I perceive the WKU/EKU situations as vastly different.

WKU had as positives a long track record of being a broad based athletic program and was used to paying competitive salaries at least in a selective manner as needed. WKU could add 25 athletes to campus without taxing the support structure of academic counselors and such.

WKU's negative was the football stadium had to be redone to be viable. At less than 18k it wasn't viable to use the facility even as a stop gap while moving, WKU had to attack the facility issue before FBS was viable.

EKU is the polar opposite.

While the stadium does not appear to be a showplace, it is functionally large enough to be used immediately, though I suspect it would be an unpopular stop for ESPNU and deemed inadequate for ESPN/ESPN2 in press box facilities (ESPN hates our set-up, that's one of the motivations for moving the press box remodel from third on our to-do list to second). I doubt the offices and dressing rooms would be deemed competitive by Sun Belt standards but would be functional, and EKU would just have to lump it until they could be improved.

The negative for EKU is in staff size. they have to fund about 30 more more positions and bump scholies up by about a million.

WKU's most pressing need was capital outlay, EKU's most pressing need is annual outlay.

WKU needed a larger sum up front to be functional and wasn't looking at a big (in percentage of budget) increase in annual funding while EKU can kick the can down the road on a lot of capital issues but needs around $2.5 million more per year in annual funding.

WKU could make the annual commitment and capital outlay in full confidence of a waiting home. EKU can defer $1 million to $1.5 million until actually accepted but needs to know with some confidence they can meet that within 12 to 18 months of acceptance.

Maybe I'm missing something, but the only real similarity I see in the two situations is that each school is located in Kentucky.

Athletic budgets (2012) per USA Today:

Eastern Kentucky $12,954,360
Georgia Southern $11,335,102
Louisiana-Monroe $11,323,485

EKU would be at the low end but not an outlier by SBC standards.

Missouri State is in the same neighborhood at $13,761,264 but that wasn't considered a big problem when they were still on the prospect list.
04-17-2014 01:32 AM
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Post: #156
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 05:30 PM)LexColonel Wrote:  WKU fans keep comparing EKU moving to what they did. Your strategy worked. Great. Wonderful. However, let's keep in mind WKU is NOT the only school that's moved from FCS to FBS and made it work, I would guess not all used the same WKU "model". Several schools have been mentioned on here as "candidates ", some who don't have football at any level... And no stadium period. There was a WKU fan somewhere back in the EKU discussion who mentioned Northern KY U as a better choice than EKU. NKU has no football program at all and as far as anyone knows, no plans to start one. That's just one example of the bias concerning EKU.
I believe an EKU fan on here mentioned, we as well as other schools hoping to move to FBS, probably do not have the luxury of time Western KY had. I believe that EKU's President Benson as well as the BOR, are intelligent enough to get this done and to move forward if this is in any way feasible. All the: "I've been to EKU, I live in Lexington, they can't do what we have done, they have an ugly stadium, they're too close to uk", etc, blah, blah, blah, does not mean a hill of beans. EKU will do what it takes to move this forward or we won't. I have faith in Benson, he has talked about this from Day 1. This may not mean anything to any of you, but he does his homework. Before his interview, he came to campus, walked around without telling anyone who he was, talked to students, faculty and staff, talked to the coaches, he knew this university well before he was chosen. He knew what the needs were before he was hired and then he hit the ground running.

I feel your pain as we hear the same thing from Troy. Not sure if the situation is anywhere near the same but appears WKU doesn't want any competition. If your not sure if you can outperform someone you try to degrade them.
04-17-2014 06:19 AM
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Post: #157
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-17-2014 06:19 AM)Gemofthehills Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 05:30 PM)LexColonel Wrote:  WKU fans keep comparing EKU moving to what they did. Your strategy worked. Great. Wonderful. However, let's keep in mind WKU is NOT the only school that's moved from FCS to FBS and made it work, I would guess not all used the same WKU "model". Several schools have been mentioned on here as "candidates ", some who don't have football at any level... And no stadium period. There was a WKU fan somewhere back in the EKU discussion who mentioned Northern KY U as a better choice than EKU. NKU has no football program at all and as far as anyone knows, no plans to start one. That's just one example of the bias concerning EKU.
I believe an EKU fan on here mentioned, we as well as other schools hoping to move to FBS, probably do not have the luxury of time Western KY had. I believe that EKU's President Benson as well as the BOR, are intelligent enough to get this done and to move forward if this is in any way feasible. All the: "I've been to EKU, I live in Lexington, they can't do what we have done, they have an ugly stadium, they're too close to uk", etc, blah, blah, blah, does not mean a hill of beans. EKU will do what it takes to move this forward or we won't. I have faith in Benson, he has talked about this from Day 1. This may not mean anything to any of you, but he does his homework. Before his interview, he came to campus, walked around without telling anyone who he was, talked to students, faculty and staff, talked to the coaches, he knew this university well before he was chosen. He knew what the needs were before he was hired and then he hit the ground running.

I feel your pain as we hear the same thing from Troy. Not sure if the situation is anywhere near the same but appears WKU doesn't want any competition. If your not sure if you can outperform someone you try to degrade them.

I don't think most WKU fans want to hold EKU back. If anything, I believe most of our fans are sensitive to that very thing. I'm sure it's the same in most states concerning the "flagship" universities, but there is a history of being held back for us in our state through funding and state legislature that goes wayyyyyy back. There's been somewhat of a pecking order: uk, UofL, WKU, etc. You can probably tell where my stance is on that by my capitalization (or not) for some of the school's names.

Good luck to them, if they can get it done.
04-17-2014 07:56 AM
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Saint3333 Offline
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RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-16-2014 09:27 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 04:56 PM)DawggoneEagle Wrote:  FCS isn't going to die, that's a baseless fear, but your program's window of opportunity to may close for a while and your stuck.


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The reports of the death of FCS are greatly exaggerated.

In 2003, there were 11 FCS schools that reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Ten remain FCS with no stated intention of moving. 34 reported 10k or more attendance and four of those have reclassified or are in the process.

In 2008, once again 11 FCS schools reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Nine remain FCS with no stated intention of moving. 30 reported 10k or more average attendance, four have reclassified or are headed into it.

In 2013, 12 schools reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Two have accepted invites to FBS leagues, two (Liberty and Jax St) have stated a desire to move but have not been invited. A total of 26 drew 10k or more average and 3 have accepted FBS invites.

At first glance the assumption would be that FCS is weakening as we go from 34 drawing 10k or better to 26 but digging in something pops up. In 2003 of that group of 34 schools, 12 were HBCU's. In 2013 of the 26 drawing 10k or more there were only seven HBCU's. WKU and TXST who were in group of 34 FCS schools in 2003 weren't on the FCS list in 2013.

The numbers indicate FCS is no less healthy today than it was 11 seasons ago, unless your school is an HBCU.

FCS on the east coast is dying. The power resides in the Midwest and West now.

If the CAA and SoCon recruiting footprint you now have ODU, App, UNCC, GSU, GA St., and USA. That is 384 NEW scholarships and a total of 510 FBS scholarships that didn't exist 5 years ago. That will have an impact on the caliber of player signed by mid-atlantic and southern FCS programs.

I'd wager the percentage of teams that make the quarterfinals of the FBS playoffs that come from the west will be much greater and shift has already started.
04-17-2014 09:17 AM
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The4thOption Offline
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Post: #159
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
(04-17-2014 09:17 AM)Saint3333 Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 09:27 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  
(04-16-2014 04:56 PM)DawggoneEagle Wrote:  FCS isn't going to die, that's a baseless fear, but your program's window of opportunity to may close for a while and your stuck.


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The reports of the death of FCS are greatly exaggerated.

In 2003, there were 11 FCS schools that reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Ten remain FCS with no stated intention of moving. 34 reported 10k or more attendance and four of those have reclassified or are in the process.

In 2008, once again 11 FCS schools reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Nine remain FCS with no stated intention of moving. 30 reported 10k or more average attendance, four have reclassified or are headed into it.

In 2013, 12 schools reported attendance of 15,000 or more. Two have accepted invites to FBS leagues, two (Liberty and Jax St) have stated a desire to move but have not been invited. A total of 26 drew 10k or more average and 3 have accepted FBS invites.

At first glance the assumption would be that FCS is weakening as we go from 34 drawing 10k or better to 26 but digging in something pops up. In 2003 of that group of 34 schools, 12 were HBCU's. In 2013 of the 26 drawing 10k or more there were only seven HBCU's. WKU and TXST who were in group of 34 FCS schools in 2003 weren't on the FCS list in 2013.

The numbers indicate FCS is no less healthy today than it was 11 seasons ago, unless your school is an HBCU.

FCS on the east coast is dying. The power resides in the Midwest and West now.

If the CAA and SoCon recruiting footprint you now have ODU, App, UNCC, GSU, GA St., and USA. That is 384 NEW scholarships and a total of 510 FBS scholarships that didn't exist 5 years ago. That will have an impact on the caliber of player signed by mid-atlantic and southern FCS programs.

I'd wager the percentage of teams that make the quarterfinals of the FBS playoffs that come from the west will be much greater and shift has already started.

FCS as a Division isn't going to be dead, but the separation in ability to compete between the teams that remain in FCS and the FBS teams (especially the AQ programs) is going to get even wider. The decision is either to move your football program forward - or by default = your talent will migrate backwards. The mountain is crumbling under the FCS's feet.

From a Georgia Southern view - I see so many programs that we used to play and beat that are now AAC, SBC, CUSA etc. Before our invite I was going crazy. You have to figure that in the Mid 80's when were first so good - most of those players would have seen no advantage in those schools over Southern. If we had been recruiting those same players in todays landscape - we probably would have never landed them (Tracy Ham etc.).

Additionally, many more teams in the footprint exist today. USF, F?UX2, UNCC, etc. Even if us and them were all FCS(1-AA) - the competition would be much harder. Plus the D2 Move ups.. Troy!
And out of footprint competition known more now because of more sports channels and coverage.

But just in the footprint - look at all the competition that exist today. Now figure that each of them is going to pull MORE athletes due to having 22 more scholarships! Just the numbers are going to tell you that you are going to have a tough row to hoe in FCS within this footprint. It isn't like there is a different NCAA academic requirement (an advantage D2 can claim). Your only advantages are that transfers don't have to sit out a year (from FBS programs) AND a true playoff.
If/When the FBS CFP is expanded - well then there goes that advantage.

JMU is making a big mistake. Too bad they wasted all that money on such a nice stadium.
(This post was last modified: 04-17-2014 10:19 AM by The4thOption.)
04-17-2014 10:15 AM
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Yosef Himself Offline
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Post: #160
RE: Meanwhile EKU continues with what they need to do
The more I look at this EKU possibility the more and more good with it.

They've made 20 appearances in the Iaa/FCS playoffs. Second to only Montana. Have a few Iaa championships under their belt, though 30 years ago. They have a good starting point with their current stadium and it's easy to expand it. They have a President that wants to be FBS and in the Belt.
04-17-2014 11:04 AM
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