Columbus State To Examine Adding Football, Move to D1

[superman7515]

Columbus State Committee to Consider Adding Football, Moving to Division I (http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/12/12/2310059/columbus-state-committee-to-look.html#storylink=cpy)


Columbus State University has formed a committee and hired a consultant to study the direction of the athletic program, which could include adding a football team.

The university announced the move in an email to faculty and staff this morning. A news release was put out early this afternoon.

Among the things the committee will consider is moving the athletic program to NCAA Division I. Currently the CSU teams, with the exception of the rifle team, compete in Division II...
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Columbus State University has added five sports over the past four years and currently fields 13 sports in the Peach Belt Conference, with women’s volleyball starting in the fall 2013. The coed rifle program competes in the Ohio Valley Conference...

Possibly an expansion candidate for the OVC since they already have a small foot in the door, although ten teams kinda stinks for football in the normal 11 game seasons. Add to that the weird scheduling with Tennessee State and they may be better served looking elsewhere. A replacement for Georgia Southern in the SoCon? Replacement for Stony Brook in the Big South?


http://www.csucougars.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/photos/0002/2010NewLogoCollage.jpg?max_width=530

[Laker]

That would be quite a jump, to go from not having football at all at the D2 level and then jump to FCS. I'm not very familiar with this school but where would they get all the money?

[dgtw]

They'd be a geographic outlier no matter what league they joined, but I'd rather not have a startup in the OVC. If Jax State ever gets promoted to FBS, they'd be even further away from everyone else in the OVC.

[superman7515]

They'd be a geographic outlier no matter what league they joined...

http://www.samford.edu/images/soconmap.png

They are no more a geographic outlier in the SoCon than Georgia Southern to every school except The Citadel (since Charleston is leaving anyway), while being closer to Chattanooga and Samford.

[bjtheflamesfan]

Unfortunately I dont think our commissioner is intelligent enough to proactively offer an invite to them if they did add football. Would be nice if both happened though (although someone like SC State would be a better addition as far as quality goes)

[DSUrocks07]

http://www.samford.edu/images/soconmap.png

They are no more a geographic outlier in the SoCon than Georgia Southern to every school except The Citadel (since Charleston is leaving anyway), while being closer to Chattanooga and Samford.

SoCon makes perfect sense geographically. But I suspect that they would have to be in the Big South for awhile first. How about the MEAC?



Especially if we can pull ASU from the SWAC. xshhhx

[DJnva]

That would be quite a jump, to go from not having football at all at the D2 level and then jump to FCS.

Plenty of teams are doing this, and doing it well--ODU for instance.

[superman7515]

I don't think Old Dominion counts because they were already D1, not D2 like Laker said. However, there are other schools doing it like Houston Baptist (and to some extent Incarnate Word) to the Soutland Conference.

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

They'd be a geographic outlier no matter what league they joined, but I'd rather not have a startup in the OVC. If Jax State ever gets promoted to FBS, they'd be even further away from everyone else in the OVC.

Columbus, Georgia.

The Aflac HQ is there. Wonder if they would chip in some money to help them get off the ground.

[unknown3]

Now that's one I didn't see coming.

[lionsrking2]

Surprised Columbus State hasn't considered adding football until now ... Columbus, GA is a good size city (just under 200K) that sits on the Alabama border ... it's a great area for high school and college football, with Auburn about 30-45 minutes away ... Atlanta metro is less than 2 hours drive. I'm sure they'll have to compete with Auburn and UGA for fan interest but no reason why they couldn't build a successful program relatively quickly.


Columbus State Committee to Consider Adding Football, Moving to Division I (http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/12/12/2310059/columbus-state-committee-to-look.html#storylink=cpy)


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Possibly an expansion candidate for the OVC since they already have a small foot in the door, although ten teams kinda stinks for football in the normal 11 game seasons. Add to that the weird scheduling with Tennessee State and they may be better served looking elsewhere. A replacement for Georgia Southern in the SoCon? Replacement for Stony Brook in the Big South?


http://www.csucougars.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/photos/0002/2010NewLogoCollage.jpg?max_width=530