Elon Announces They Will Provide No COA

[SU DOG]

One of the first FCS schools to declare their answer is NO.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/sports/elon-sports/cost-of-business-elon-holds-purse-as-schools-decide-on-cost-of-attendance-rule-1.485247

[Lehigh Football Nation]

FWIW, now FCS has gone from "well, there's not a lot of interest out there to pursue FCOA - why would anyone bother?" to "we need to issue a statement affirming that we don't offer FCOA".

[Bisonoline]

FWIW, now FCS has gone from "well, there's not a lot of interest out there to pursue FCOA - why would anyone bother?" to "we need to issue a statement affirming that we don't offer FCOA".

Do you stay up all night thinking this stuff up?

[Libertine]

Even if you're not going to offer COA, I don't know why you would a make a blanket public statement to that effect. You've just put yourself at a recruiting disadvantage to both those who will offer COA as well as to everyone else who won't offer it but who hasn't actually come out and said as much.

Also, this is not a good quote.

“I think we’re in agreement that we’re not interested in seeing a different class of citizen on our campus because the NCAA has changed some rules,” Blank said.
I'm sure it was intended quite innocuously but, in print, that statement can mean a whole lot of things you don't want it to mean.

[Sader87]

Very, very few FCS schools are going to go FCOA imo.....makes zero economic sense.

[bluehenbillk]

The entire CAA said over the weekend that they will not use COA for football.

[Pinnum]

This is not really a public statement. I checked the Elon athletics website and see nothing. This is not the school putting out an official statement in a media release.

This was the work of a journalist who was doing their job and investigated a question that a lot of people want to know about. It is not like the school is going to hide their position. I mean, any recruit that would ask them would know the answer so when the reporter asks they answered.

[Libertine]

This is not really a public statement. I checked the Elon athletics website and see nothing. This is not the school putting out an official statement in a media release.

This was the work of a journalist who was doing their job and investigated a question that a lot of people want to know about. It is not like the school is going to hide their position. I mean, any recruit that would ask them would know the answer so when the reporter asks they answered.

They didn't really need to take a position at all, especially since COA hasn't been on the table all that long. When Skrosky and Friends go on the road recruiting and a player they want asks about COA, up until this point the answer could have been something along the lines of, "That's something our institution is looking into," as they continued the recruiting process, trying to convince the player that Elon is worth a look. They can't do that now. COA is going to be a factor that's important to some recruits and, by publicly making the statement -- whether or not it's an official statement from the university, it's still a direct quote from the AD -- you are potentially shutting down your coaches' ability to recruit that kid before it can begin. Kudos to the reporter for getting the money quote from the AD.

It may be worth noting that while the CAA, as billk stated, has said no to COA for football, the way I read the link above it appears that Elon's AD is barring COA for any sport including basketball.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The entire CAA said over the weekend that they will not use COA for football.

I think the words you're looking for are "reaffirmed" and "vote of confidence"

[Pinnum]

They didn't really need to take a position at all, especially since COA hasn't been on the table all that long. When Skrosky and Friends go on the road recruiting and a player they want asks about COA, up until this point the answer could have been something along the lines of, "That's something our institution is looking into," as they continued the recruiting process, trying to convince the player that Elon is worth a look. They can't do that now. COA is going to be a factor that's important to some recruits and, by publicly making the statement -- whether or not it's an official statement from the university, it's still a direct quote from the AD -- you are potentially shutting down your coaches' ability to recruit that kid before it can begin. Kudos to the reporter for getting the money quote from the AD.

It may be worth noting that while the CAA, as billk stated, has said no to COA for football, the way I read the link above it appears that Elon's AD is barring COA for any sport including basketball.

Come on... You think they should be deceitful and advocate lies of omission?

I have much more respect for a coach and administration that is honest and transparent with all stakeholders including recruits and donors. Elon did the right thing and should be commended.

[Libertine]

Obviously, I'm not advocating for lying to a recruit. My point is that the COA issue isn't far enough along, especially at the FCS level, that Elon's administration -- or any FCS administration -- absolutely has to make a decision on it, particularly with a definitive negative. The college football landscape is far from settled and nearly every school, especially at this level, is continuing to evaluate the question of COA. Establishing a flat, long-term answer to this ongoing, unsettled issue then hamstrings the coaches' ability to effectively recruit and does it unnecessarily. Athletic recruiting is just as much about sales as anything else and, if a potential customer asks one of your salespeople a tough question, an honest "I don't know" can allow them to continue the process while an honest "no" can curtail the whole thing entirely. Now, if Elon is trying to present itself more in the Ivy model of higher education, this move sort of makes sense. Or, it would if they were actually in the Ivy or Patriot Leagues as opposed to the CAA.

[Pinnum]

It isn't a long-term answer. It is a answer. They do not plan to offer it and they gave their reason. Sure, the landscape may (or may not) be dynamic and schools will always be re-evaluating.

There is nothing wrong with what they said. I have more respect for an administration that will make a stand than one that continues to waver so you can not make an informed decision.

[Libertine]

It isn't a long-term answer. It is a answer. They do not plan to offer it and they gave their reason. Sure, the landscape may (or may not) be dynamic and schools will always be re-evaluating.


You know what? You're right. I just re-read the article and I take back every post I've made in this thread.

The piece never quotes the Elon AD as actually saying EU will never get into COA. In reality, he does say more or less exactly what I've been arguing that he should have said so....never mind.

[bluehenbillk]

To clarify here's the link on the CAA's stance - note it's only definitely covering the upcoming season....doesn't say what will happen after this fall.

http://www.richmond.com/sports/article_66941e79-3514-505b-be77-ab6e463086c8.html

[Lehigh Football Nation]

None of the CAA Football schools will provide cost of attendance, at least not this season

xlolx

That's like saying JMU is a member of the CAA, at least for this season

[WestCoastAggie]

Wouldn't be ironic if NC A&T offers FCOA and Elon doesn't?

[Pinnum]

Wouldn't be ironic if NC A&T offers FCOA and Elon doesn't?

Do you really think A&T will offer FCOA?

[WestCoastAggie]

Do you really think A&T will offer FCOA?

At least for Men's & Women's Basketball.

[JayJ79]

do the NCAA limits apply to COA as well?
for instance, FBS teams can provide scholarships to a maximum of 85 football players, so can they only provide COA to those 85 players on scholarship?

How would that apply to sports where partial scholarships are allowed (such as FCS football)?

[Pinnum]

do the NCAA limits apply to COA as well?
for instance, FBS teams can provide scholarships to a maximum of 85 football players, so can they only provide COA to those 85 players on scholarship?

How would that apply to sports where partial scholarships are allowed (such as FCS football)?

Yes, they would be able to provide 85 FCOA scholarships.

Equivalency sports will prorate the FCOA stipend based on the counter. For instance, if a FCOA scholarship is offered for the soccer team and you have one kid on a full ride (counter of 1 scholarship) and another on a half scholarship (.50 counter) and the FCOA scholarship is $25,000 ($20,000 scholarship plus $5,000 stipend) then the full ride kid would get $25,000 and the half ride kid would get $12,500 ($10,000 scholarship and $2,500 stipend). As a result, the schools offering FCOA to their equivalency sports can, in effect, raise the scholarship limit without actually giving any single individual more than the current value of a scholarship.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Yes, they would be able to provide 85 FCOA scholarships.

Equivalency sports will prorate the FCOA stipend based on the counter. For instance, if a FCOA scholarship is offered for the soccer team and you have one kid on a full ride (counter of 1 scholarship) and another on a half scholarship (.50 counter) and the FCOA scholarship is $25,000 ($20,000 scholarship plus $5,000 stipend) then the full ride kid would get $25,000 and the half ride kid would get $12,500 ($10,000 scholarship and $2,500 stipend). As a result, the schools offering FCOA to their equivalency sports can, in effect, raise the scholarship limit without actually giving any single individual more than the current value of a scholarship.

Let me net it out: FCOA on partial scholarships (which inadvertently also includes FCS football) is an ill-thought-out hot mess that even the P5 still doesn't really know how they will fully handle.

[Bisonoline]

Let me net it out: FCOA on partial scholarships (which inadvertently also includes FCS football) is an ill-thought-out hot mess that even the P5 still doesn't really know how they will fully handle.

When did the P5 start giving out partials?
Wont be hard to figure out. What % do the receive of a full ride? Give the appropriate % in COA. Next.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Schools themselves do not know.

http://thesportdigest.com/2015/05/vcu-to-pay-an-average-of-4100-per-scholarship-student-athlete-in-cost-of-attendance/


For VCU, which plays in the Atlantic 10, it’ll take the form of the “Student Athlete Experience Initiative,” as the school is asking current donors to consider increasing their annual gift by 15 percent, according to a news release, to help cover the additional expenses.

According to VCU, this initiative will affect all scholarship athletes over all varsity sports, however, it is not known how much an student-athlete on a partial scholarship will receive as opposed to what a full-scholarship student-athlete gets. The Rams have 16 varsity programs, soon to be 17 as women’s lacrosse will come online next academic and athletic year.

[Pinnum]

Schools themselves do not know.

http://thesportdigest.com/2015/05/vcu-to-pay-an-average-of-4100-per-scholarship-student-athlete-in-cost-of-attendance/

It isn't a matter of not knowing what is permissible. That is known. It is a matter of figuring out how to fund it and how to implement it to balance sports offerings.

It is like a school announcing they are starting a football program and then being asked how many scholarships they will be offering. The school responds that they are fundraising and won't know how many scholarships they will be offering until after the fundraising efforts and then looking at what their peers offer.

In both instances they know what they can do but they don't know where the money will come from and how they will implement it. As always, it comes down to a finite amount of resources.

[Libertine]

It isn't a matter of not knowing what is permissible. That is known. It is a matter of figuring out how to fund it and how to implement it to balance sports offerings.

It is like a school announcing they are starting a football program and then being asked how many scholarships they will be offering. The school responds that they are fundraising and won't know how many scholarships they will be offering until after the fundraising efforts and then looking at what their peers offer.

In both instances they know what they can do but they don't know where the money will come from and how they will implement it. As always, it comes down to a finite amount of resources.

This. There are a lot of questions surrounding COA but "How much COA is a partial scholarship worth?" isn't one of them. Any AD with a calculator can figure what their COA is going to be for a partial scholarship.
The partials aren't the question, it's the full ones. COA is not a hard and fast number and different schools are going to define the costs of attendance differently.

[AmsterBison]

So COA is still DOA in the CAA?

[ursus arctos horribilis]

So COA is still DOA in the CAA?

R
O
C
K

in the USA.

[phoenix3]

So, if a recruit's family is on food stamps, medicaid and on housing assistance along with any other state assistance, and goes to a public university, does ths recruit have to give up the referred to state assistance? If not, why not? Is it fair for a family that works hard to make ends meet but just exceeds the income necessary to get state assistance, to get nothing if the said public school doesn't pony up for COA?

Especially, considering that family #2 is in actuality helping fund family #1's COA while they get nothing...

[Libertine]

So, if a recruit's family is on food stamps, medicaid and on housing assistance along with any other state assistance, and goes to a public university, does ths recruit have to give up the referred to state assistance? If not, why not? Is it fair for a family that works hard to make ends meet but just exceeds the income necessary to get state assistance, to get nothing if the said public school doesn't pony up for COA?

Especially, considering that family #2 is in actuality helping fund family #1's COA while they get nothing...

Maybe I'm not understanding the question but I don't see how COA for a college athlete is tied to the state welfare system.

[Pinnum]

Maybe I'm not understanding the question but I don't see how COA for a college athlete is tied to the state welfare system.

I think he is asking if it will count as income for the individual and if so, it could impact the welfare funding a family gets for a dependent. It would all depend on the state and the social programs offered at that state and how they are implemented.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Elon does not provide COA. Their scholarship without COA is, say, $50,000. COA is $5,000. An athlete gets athletic scholarship assistance that is the equivalent of $25,000. What percent of a counter are they?

[Pinnum]

Elon does not provide COA. Their scholarship without COA is, say, $50,000. COA is $5,000. An athlete gets athletic scholarship assistance that is the equivalent of $25,000. What percent of a counter are they?

.5

[Lehigh Football Nation]

.5

25,000/55,000 = 45%

[Libertine]

Elon does not provide COA. Their scholarship without COA is, say, $50,000. COA is $5,000. An athlete gets athletic scholarship assistance that is the equivalent of $25,000. What percent of a counter are they?

Seriously? I'm staring at this post trying to find the trick question.

25,000/50,000 = 50%
27,500/55,000 = 50%

50% is 50% all day every day.

[Pinnum]

25,000/55,000 = 45%

No. The school has defined a scholarship as $50k.

They can use the FCOA definition if they want to increase the 'scholarship cap' but schools don't want to increase spending.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

No. The school has defined a scholarship as $50k.

They can use the FCOA definition if they want to increase the 'scholarship cap' but schools don't want to increase spending.

So now, Vanderbilt offers FCOA. They, too, price their scholarship at $50,000, and FCOA is $5,000. They offer 1/2 a scholarship, but no FCOA. What percent of a counter are they?

[Pinnum]

So now, Vanderbilt offers FCOA. They, too, price their scholarship at $50,000, and FCOA is $5,000. They offer 1/2 a scholarship, but no FCOA. What percent of a counter are they?

You said two contradictory statements. You said they offer FCOA and don't offer FCOA.

If you define a scholarship to include FCOA then it is applied to all sports. You can choose to artificially lower your scholarship limit to not add the additional expense (which is what most schools are doing when they only offer it for basketball). This is no different than the many schools that for years have not fully funded their various sports teams. Most D1 teams actually have less than the full allotment of scholarships available to be used (due to their school deciding to not make that level of financial commitment).

So, now, back to your example.

Let's say that Vanderbilt has been offering the maximum number of NCAA women's bowling scholarships and their scholarships were valued at $50k. They had 5.0 counters available to them at a value of $250k a year to award to the team.

Now, they have redefined the scholarship in order to offer football players FCOA. Now the scholarship is worth $55k in value. Under this instance, offering a woman on the bowling team a $25k scholarship would give them a counter of .45. So what schools are doing when they are not offering the FCOA to certain sports is that they are not increasing the scholarship funding levels for those sports. Vanderbilt would be permitted to award up to $275k under the 5.0 counter but they are electing to keep the total award level pegged at $250k which actually changes their available scholarship counter to 4.55 for women's golf.

For people that are familiar with state schools with variable tuition rates (in-state vs out-of-state) it will make more sense.

It is not uncommon to see a sport with a strange counter cap applied to it because of a balancing women's sport having a certain cap.

[Pinnum]

Think of it this way.

Reporter: Are you going to offer FCOA?
AD: Only for basketball.
Reporter: How will that impact the other teams.
AD: There will be no visible impact to other teams. We will continue to offer the same scholarship funding for every sport. We are only offering the increase FCOA funding to basketball.

Everything that is said is accurate. The dollar figures have not changes and the impact on individual scholarship recipients has not changed. However, the compliance accounting has changed. Think of it like a stock split. The accounting has changed but the value has remained the same.

[Pinnum]

Lehigh Football Nation - I think I understand your confusion. You're a reasonable person and you're thinking "Why would there be two permitted definitions to a scholarship? Doesn't it make more sense to just apply the FCOA to all schools and allow them to just elect to artificially reduce their scholarships?"

You're correct. However, the counter is used in the rule book for a lot of different things.

For instance, FBS schools use the counter for their FBS membership minimum football funding requirement (though I think they all FBS schools are going to offer FCOA so it is moot).

Most notably, for this forum, is the counter that an FCS school must have in order for a game with an FBS school to be able to count towards bowl qualification. In order to not require FCS schools to have to increase funding to get those games (or maybe more importantly to not make it harder for FBS schools to schedule FCS countable wins) they have permitted use of both definitions of scholarship.

This also means that the portion of the revenue sharing pool from the NCAA basketball tournament that is awarded based on scholarship funding levels will not penalize small schools that are not offering the new allowable definition of a scholarship.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Lehigh Football Nation - I think I understand your confusion. You're a reasonable person and you're thinking "Why would there be two permitted definitions to a scholarship? Doesn't it make more sense to just apply the FCOA to all schools and allow them to just elect to artificially reduce their scholarships?"

You're correct. However, the counter is used in the rule book for a lot of different things.

For instance, FBS schools use the counter for their FBS membership minimum football funding requirement (though I think they all FBS schools are going to offer FCOA so it is moot).

Most notably, for this forum, is the counter that an FCS school must have in order for a game with an FBS school to be able to count towards bowl qualification. In order to not require FCS schools to have to increase funding to get those games (or maybe more importantly to not make it harder for FBS schools to schedule FCS countable wins) they have permitted use of both definitions of scholarship.

This also means that the portion of the revenue sharing pool from the NCAA basketball tournament that is awarded based on scholarship funding levels will not penalize small schools that are not offering the new allowable definition of a scholarship.

Great discussion you guys are putting out there. Thanks LFN cuz the questions lead to some great information here.xthumbsupx

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Lehigh Football Nation - I think I understand your confusion. You're a reasonable person and you're thinking "Why would there be two permitted definitions to a scholarship? Doesn't it make more sense to just apply the FCOA to all schools and allow them to just elect to artificially reduce their scholarships?"

You're correct. However, the counter is used in the rule book for a lot of different things.

For instance, FBS schools use the counter for their FBS membership minimum football funding requirement (though I think they all FBS schools are going to offer FCOA so it is moot).

Most notably, for this forum, is the counter that an FCS school must have in order for a game with an FBS school to be able to count towards bowl qualification. In order to not require FCS schools to have to increase funding to get those games (or maybe more importantly to not make it harder for FBS schools to schedule FCS countable wins) they have permitted use of both definitions of scholarship.

This also means that the portion of the revenue sharing pool from the NCAA basketball tournament that is awarded based on scholarship funding levels will not penalize small schools that are not offering the new allowable definition of a scholarship.

The 63 scholarship counter for "FBS win over FCS school" is one thing, however there's a bigger issue.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/title-ix/article/7959799/the-silent-enemy-men-sports


Put simply, scholarship limits protect and promote revenue sports. The NCAA allows individual schools to fund specific men's sports only to the degree that those sports make money nationally. That means LSU -- or any other school -- can't give out more than 11.7 baseball scholarships, even if it were willing to shift grants from its basketball or football or golf teams.

This is an old article, and it's unclear whether the scholarship limit is still 11.7 for baseball, but lets say it is.

Last year, LSU split up 11.7 scholarships, and UNC-Wilmington split up 11.7 scholarships. LSU's squad size is 35; let's assume UNCW's is the same. Also, let's assume everyone is getting an equal scholarship, i.e. every member on the roster is getting 1/3 of a scholarship.

Same example, $50,000 tuition, $5,000 FCOA. 1/3 of a $50,000 scholarship is $16,667.

UNCW decides to not offer FCOA. They still offer 1/3 a scholarship per player, counting up to 11.7. They cannot go beyond this limit.

LSU "decides to offer it for all the athletes" but elects not to fund it for baseball. They compute the percentage of their counter at $16,667/$55,000, or 30% That's 10.5 total "counters". And now they now could offer three more athletes at 1/3 of a scholarship than UNCW. They essentially are allowed to offer three more athletes at the same rate as UNCW (based on their definition - 1/3rd of $50,000).

QED, hot mess.

[JayJ79]

if a train leaves Los Angeles carrying athletes awarded a FCOA scholarship traveling at 50 mph, and a train leaves New York carrying athletes not awarded FCOA traveling at 60 mph....

[Pinnum]

The 63 scholarship counter for "FBS win over FCS school" is one thing, however there's a bigger issue.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/title-ix/article/7959799/the-silent-enemy-men-sports



This is an old article, and it's unclear whether the scholarship limit is still 11.7 for baseball, but lets say it is.

Last year, LSU split up 11.7 scholarships, and UNC-Wilmington split up 11.7 scholarships. LSU's squad size is 35; let's assume UNCW's is the same. Also, let's assume everyone is getting an equal scholarship, i.e. every member on the roster is getting 1/3 of a scholarship.

Same example, $50,000 tuition, $5,000 FCOA. 1/3 of a $50,000 scholarship is $16,667.

UNCW decides to not offer FCOA. They still offer 1/3 a scholarship per player, counting up to 11.7. They cannot go beyond this limit.

LSU "decides to offer it for all the athletes" but elects not to fund it for baseball. They compute the percentage of their counter at $16,667/$55,000, or 30% That's 10.5 total "counters". And now they now could offer three more athletes at 1/3 of a scholarship than UNCW. They essentially are allowed to offer three more athletes at the same rate as UNCW (based on their definition - 1/3rd of $50,000).

QED, hot mess.

As always, I haven't read the link you posted but to your second point...

I posted that two months ago.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?168682-Liberty-First-FCS-Program-to-Cover-Cost-of-Attendance&p=2219946&viewfull=1#post2219946

Yes, the salary cap has been effectively raised for BCS schools in equivalency sports.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Yes, the salary cap has been effectively raised for BCS schools in equivalency sports.

... which in effect makes a mockery of the limit for most equivalence sports.

FBS football is not affected (it is a headcount sport, all or nothing) and FCS football would only have limited impact (travel size limits are not all that much higher than the scholarship limit of 63), but there's now a hot mess where LSU can offer the same tuition % as UNCW but can offer 3 more players. It creates an unfair playing field with many non-revenue sports.

[Pinnum]

... which in effect makes a mockery of the limit for most equivalence sports.

FBS football is not affected (it is a headcount sport, all or nothing) and FCS football would only have limited impact (travel size limits are not all that much higher than the scholarship limit of 63), but there's now a hot mess where LSU can offer the same tuition % as UNCW but can offer 3 more players. It creates an unfair playing field with many non-revenue sports.

Yes, and no.

Yes, it is true that it could play out that way but it is more likely that a FCOA school like Liberty would have an advantage over UNC-W in this regard. LSU is not likely to offer more athletes (there is still a cap on 30 receiving aid). LSU is more likely to have recruits stolen by Tulane, Rice, Georgia, and Auburn if they do not make good offers to their top recruits. They also will, as always, face competition from the MLB draft and being able to offer a full-ride plus FCOA will allow them to ensure they land more late round high school draft picks.

Baseball is not really where it will lead to too much competitive imbalance.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Yes, and no.

Yes, it is true that it could play out that way but it is more likely that a FCOA school like Liberty would have an advantage over UNC-W in this regard. LSU is not likely to offer more athletes (there is still a cap on 30 receiving aid). LSU is more likely to have recruits stolen by Tulane, Rice, Georgia, and Auburn if they do not make good offers to their top recruits. They also will, as always, face competition from the MLB draft and being able to offer a full-ride plus FCOA will allow them to ensure they land more late round high school draft picks.

Baseball is not really where it will lead to too much competitive imbalance.

I agree in that it doesn't affect every sport equally. It's complex, involving a mixture of squad size and scholarship limits.

[Hammersmith]

Lehigh Football Nation - I think I understand your confusion. You're a reasonable person and you're thinking "Why would there be two permitted definitions to a scholarship? Doesn't it make more sense to just apply the FCOA to all schools and allow them to just elect to artificially reduce their scholarships?"

You're correct. However, the counter is used in the rule book for a lot of different things.

For instance, FBS schools use the counter for their FBS membership minimum football funding requirement (though I think they all FBS schools are going to offer FCOA so it is moot).

Most notably, for this forum, is the counter that an FCS school must have in order for a game with an FBS school to be able to count towards bowl qualification. In order to not require FCS schools to have to increase funding to get those games (or maybe more importantly to not make it harder for FBS schools to schedule FCS countable wins) they have permitted use of both definitions of scholarship.

This also means that the portion of the revenue sharing pool from the NCAA basketball tournament that is awarded based on scholarship funding levels will not penalize small schools that are not offering the new allowable definition of a scholarship.

Thanks a bunch for this. I couldn't see any benefit for a school to use the old scholarship calculation, but this makes a bunch of sense. I doubt it's so much about the FBS scholarship minimums as those standards should be easy to meet for even the lowest FBS programs(200 total grants or $4M), but the money from the basketball tourney could be a big deal for smaller DI schools.



If you define a scholarship to include FCOA then it is applied to all sports.

This statement was from another post. You're not saying a school can only choose one method or the other are you? The bits of specifics I've found say a school can chose to implement which method they want to use on a student by student basis. Have you seen something different?

[Hammersmith]

New article on NDSU and COA. Figured I'd dump it in here rather than starting yet another COA thread.


http://www.inforum.com/sports/3766157-many-other-fcs-schools-ndsu-waiting-play-its-hand-providing-student-athletes-cost

Short version: Seriously looking at it, no decision until 2016-17 school year.

Also some quotes from SDSU's and UND's ADs in the article as well as the Big Sky commish. Nothing particularly new from any of them.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Liberty will most likely be the experimental case and you can bet athletic directors will be paying attention to football signing day next February. Will Liberty get higher-rated recruits? Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton isn’t so sure.

“Let me ask you this: what kind of player are they going to get at Liberty that they don’t already get?” he said. “Who are they going to steal from? Are they going to steal players from the Sun Belt? They already compete with them. I don’t know where they’re going to steal players from. Maybe I have a parochial view but out here in the west, we have three people that play football – Mountain West, Pac-12 and us. We don’t recruit the same people. They’ll be getting the same kids, it will just cost them more.”

The outspoken Mr. Fullerton doesn't seem very happy with Liberty's institutional decision. But I'm guessing that it probably comes as a surprise to the rest of the coaches of the Big Sky that they don't compete for recruits with the Pac-12 and Mountain West.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

The outspoken Mr. Fullerton doesn't seem very happy with Liberty's institutional decision. But I'm guessing that it probably comes as a surprise to the rest of the coaches of the Big Sky that they don't compete for recruits with the Pac-12 and Mountain West.

Why would that come as a surprise? Only a couple of BSC teams even have a chance at getting some of the kids that PAC 12 or the top of the Mountain West wants. They are gonna get the kids 95% of the time. We aren't competing for the same kids for the most part.

Fullerton probably doesn't give two ****s about what Liberty does cuz it doesn't have much affect on the BSC at this point. Liberty is on an island right now and as was said they are the experiment and he is just saying what most of us are thinking anyway...don't think it's gonna make a lot of difference as to who they get for their program.

Not sure why you come up with the conclusions you do but I just don't think you identify what or how people saying or feeling about things real well. Fullerton sure doesn't seem miffed about what Liberty is doing, he seems perplexed at best.

You are always trying to manufacture some controversy man.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Why would that come as a surprise? Only a couple of BSC teams even have a chance at getting some of the kids that PAC 12 or the top of the Mountain West wants. They are gonna get the kids 95% of the time. We aren't competing for the same kids for the most part.

Fullerton probably doesn't give two ****s about what Liberty does cuz it doesn't have much affect on the BSC at this point. Liberty is on an island right now and as was said they are the experiment and he is just saying what most of us are thinking anyway...don't think it's gonna make a lot of difference as to who they get for their program.

Not sure why you come up with the conclusions you do but I just don't think you identify what or how people saying or feeling about things real well. Fullerton sure doesn't seem miffed about what Liberty is doing, he seems perplexed at best.

You are always trying to manufacture some controversy man.

Why would he even weigh in, or have any sort of opinion on it?

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Why would he even weigh in, or have any sort of opinion on it?

I don't know, he was asked about it? Jesus Christ, why do any of us weigh in on every damn thing? He's in a position that is much more interesting than any of ours because it actually affects what he does. Geez, I wonder he would have any sort of opinion on it? Mystifying!

[WestCoastAggie]

The MEAC recently to opt out of FCOA. I have no idea what this means for NC A&T but I doubt if FCOA happens for the Aggies in 2015.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

The MEAC recently to opt out of FCOA. I have no idea what this means for NC A&T but I doubt if FCOA happens for the Aggies in 2015.

The whole conference opted out?

[WestCoastAggie]

The whole conference opted out?

Yes. Most of 'em can't afford it anyways but each school should have the choice alone.