https://www.news4jax.com/sports/2019/12/...l-program/

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville University will no longer play football and will discontinue its Division I program, effective immediately, the university announced Tuesday.

The university cited “a data-driven analysis” as the reason for the major changes to the athletics program.

“This was a difficult decision,” Athletic Director Alex Ricker-Gilbert said in a release announcing the change. “Our student-athletes and coaches in the football program are talented, tenacious and hard working. We respect them immensely. Reinvesting these resources into our other Division I programs better positions us to enhance the experience for all 450 student-athletes.”

The university will offer full-tuition scholarships to every football student-athlete who chooses to stay at Jacksonville University until graduation and will honor the employment agreements for all football coaches.

Good on them to honor scholarships and contracts, but this sucks to see. Hate it for players, coaches ans fans who care about JU football.

ODU played them in FCS I believe. Didn't realize they had only been around 20 years

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I believe will be seeing a contraction of schools playing football over the next 10 years.

I wonder if Stetson will drop now that Jax is gone. That'd drop the PFL to 9 teams.


Now the PFL has Non-Scholly teams in:

Florida
South Carolina
North Carolina
Kentucky
Ohio
New York
Indiana
Iowa
...California

(12-03-2019 11:47 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  I wonder if Stetson will drop now that Jax is gone. That'd drop the PFL to 9 teams.


Now the PFL has Non-Scholly teams in:

Florida
South Carolina
North Carolina
Kentucky
Ohio
New York
Indiana
Iowa
...California

I know we talk about how far CUSA is spread out but this league takes the cake.....California, New York, Florida and Iowa with many in between has to be killer on the travel

(12-03-2019 11:32 AM)FAU Connoisseur! Wrote:  I believe will be seeing a contraction of schools playing football over the next 10 years.

book it Danno!

Just realized they don't offer scholarships for athletics, so I guess they'll honor the academic scholarships the kids had. Which is still a nice thing to do.

Sadly I agree with others this may be the beginning of a number of programs dropping football.

Didn't know Jax had a college football team....I mean Jaguars might as well be one...

(12-03-2019 11:47 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  I wonder if Stetson will drop now that Jax is gone.

Not likely any time soon, my wife is a Stetson grad and that team is a real source of pride for that school.

Sad to see. I think we had some history w/ them in bball back in either the old Sun Belt or Metro conference days when we were a bball only school ourselves

clt says this is what happens when you let BORTLES leave town

Didn't Stetson just re-start their football program less than 10 years ago?

(12-03-2019 06:20 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  Sad to see. I think we had some history w/ them in bball back in either the old Sun Belt or Metro conference days when we were a bball only school ourselves

Jacksonville had some phenomenal teams back in the day, including losing the 1970 NCAA Tournament championship game to UCLA back when JU was led by Artis Gilmore.

(12-03-2019 06:20 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  Sad to see. I think we had some history w/ them in bball back in either the old Sun Belt or Metro conference days when we were a bball only school ourselves

That was the old Sun Belt — a very strong league that never really got the credit it deserved. JU was not a charter member IIRC but they joined early and stayed even after we left for the Great Midwest in ’91. As the Sun Belt evolved, JU felt out of place and joined the Atlantic Sun a while later.

Ive never agreed that non-scholarship or partial scholarship football should be at the DI level. It just gives most schools a seat at the DI table that they shouldn't have as it gives them an unfair advantage. They don't have to have 63 scholarships and don't have to equal that out on the woman's side to appease Title IX. That means they also don't have to have a higher football budget. That's anywhere between 7-10 million dollars they can allocate in other athletic area's.

You should have 3 options if you are non-scholarship and want to be DI and have football.

1) Sponsor Football with Scholarships
2) Drop Football
3) Drop to DIII

The writing was on the wall after the 2015 season about Jacksonville. They refused to renew their HC Kerwin Bell's contract. Bell had Jacksonville rolling but he also thought they should upgrade to scholarship football. The president and BOG wasn't on board.

(12-07-2019 12:37 AM)HerdZoned Wrote:  Ive never agreed that non-scholarship or partial scholarship football should be at the DI level. It just gives most schools a seat at the DI table that they shouldn't have as it gives them an unfair advantage. They don't have to have 63 scholarships and don't have to equal that out on the woman's side to appease Title IX. That means they also don't have to have a higher football budget. That's anywhere between 7-10 million dollars they can allocate in other athletic area's.

You should have 3 options if you are non-scholarship and want to be DI and have football.

1) Sponsor Football with Scholarships
2) Drop Football
3) Drop to DIII

The writing was on the wall after the 2015 season about Jacksonville. They refused to renew their HC Kerwin Bell's contract. Bell had Jacksonville rolling but he also thought they should upgrade to scholarship football. The president and BOG wasn't on board.

I agree with you here. Non-scholarship football doesn't belong at the D1 level. Your post about Kerwin Bell seems to have been a foreshadowing moment for JU football.