(07-31-2019 01:55 PM)Once a Knight... Wrote: (07-31-2019 01:46 PM)arkstfan Wrote: 1978 split was pretty agreeable in how it happened.
There were conferences playing Division I in everything except football and the belief was they needed to play everything Division I except they weren't especially enthusiastic about Division I football and the high scholarship limit and lack of post-season opportunity that would exist for them.
The solution simply was to split football into I-A and I-AA with a lower scholarship limit, allowing one less assistant coach and the NCAA would provide a post-season opportunity for them. They wouldn't be in on the NCAA TV deal but their savings on 25 scholarships and one assistant position was more money than what their conference share of TV would have been.
It was truly a mutual deal. Those schools felt it was a better solution for them in being pushed to give up Division II football than being in an undivided Division I where they could offer fewer scholarships but would have no post-season to play for.
Interesting, looking at some of the schools on the FCS side in 1978, many of which have sense moved up to FBS, and others still wanting to move up, I wonder if many would've stayed on the FBS side if they could predict how the future w went with the explosion of bowl games, TV dollars, exposure, etc.
Schools I see on the 1-AA (FCS) side of that divide in 1978...
Boise St
Western Kentucky (WKU)
Middle Tenn St (MTSU)
UMass
UConn
Nevada
If I recall that list got much larger once several other conferences moved down to FCS in later years ie. Missouri Valley, PCAA, Ivy League, SoCon, Southland, also a fair number of independents too judging from the list I'm seeing here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_NCAA_...all_season
1982 saw A LOT of teams moving down...
"Conference changes and new programs
This was the first season the Ivy League, Southern Conference, and Southland Conference competed at the I-AA (FCS) level.[7] Southwestern Louisiana] was the only team from those three conferences to remain in Division I-A, becoming an independent.
Ivy League — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale
Southern Conference — Appalachian State, Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, Furman, Marshall, The Citadel, VMI, and Western Carolina
Southland Conference — Arkansas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, and Texas–Arlington
Southwestern Louisiana, who had been a member of the Southland during the 1981 season, remained in Division I-A as an Independent. The school was renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1999.
This season also saw the loss of Division I-A independent teams Colgate, Holy Cross, and Northeast Louisiana; dropping the total number of Division I-A teams down to 113 from the previous season's 137 teams.
As of 2019, Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Northeast Louisiana (renamed the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1999), Louisiana Tech and Marshall have returned to Division I-A, renamed FBS in 2006."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_NCAA_...all_season