UTA considering restarting football

[Laker]

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/collegesports/2018/10/25/exclusive-ut-arlington-considering-reviving-football-program-30-years-after-disbanded

[TheRevSFA]

As someone who played high school ball at their stadium, I hope they do

[RootinFerDukes]

I’d think they’d be in the sun belt quicker than you can blink.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Doesn't Texas have enough terrible and/or irrelevant FBS programs? UTEP, UT-San Antonio, North Texas, Texas State, SMU and Rice basically take up space.

[TheRevSFA]

Doesn't Texas have enough terrible and/or irrelevant FBS programs? UTEP, UT-San Antonio, North Texas, Texas State, SMU and Rice basically take up space.

So does Temple in the scheme of things

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

So does Temple in the scheme of things

While Temple doesn't have much football tradition we've been a helluva better than those schools in recent years. Plus, Pennsylvania, while not Texas, is a great football state. Having only 3 state supported D1 football programs prevents things from getting watered down.

[clenz]

While Temple doesn't have much football tradition we've been a helluva better than those schools in recent years. Plus, Pennsylvania, while not Texas, is a great football state. Having only 3 state supported D1 football programs prevents things from getting watered down.

Which has gotten Temple exactly zero extra success, or national exposure.


You’re biased but as a fly over stater who care about college football more than 99% of the NE US, temple is nothing but Rice in a colder climate.


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[Gangtackle11]

Which has gotten Temple exactly zero extra success, or national exposure.


You’re biased but as a fly over stater who care about college football more than 99% of the NE US, temple is nothing but Rice in a colder climate.


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I wonder if Rice would schedule Nova? xpeacex

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Which has gotten Temple exactly zero extra success, or national exposure.


You’re biased but as a fly over stater who care about college football more than 99% of the NE US, temple is nothing but Rice in a colder climate.


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Temple has historically been a basketball school. That was until we fell into the abyss with Dunphy. Despite being terrible we were in the Big East during the conference's heyday. We've gotten plenty of positive national exposure since Al Golden's reclamation project. The program has made significant waves in terms of gaining legitimacy in the Northeast relatively speaking. It's why we've been able to attract one successful coach after another. None of those schools hosted Notre Dame as an undefeated nationally ranked team either in primetime. And Game Day to boot, nearly 3 years to the day before Washington State did...

http://collegegamedaysigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/washington-state-gameday.jpg

But yes in the grand scheme of things we play a distant 2nd fiddle to Penn State. Pitt's history is better than ours but overall the programs are pretty similar in recent years. Both play in half-empty pro stadiums on the reg and winning seasons result in a meaningless bowl. Still, the AAC is a darn good conference that gives a national exposure if we're playing well. Our game against #10 UCF next weekend we'll get some national attention. We have more legitimacy than Rutgers and Maryland football at this point in the Northeast despite their Big 10 status.

[Catatonic]

Doesn't Texas have enough terrible and/or irrelevant FBS programs? UTEP, UT-San Antonio, North Texas, Texas State, SMU and Rice basically take up space.

NOrth Texas has transformed itself into one of the better mid-major programs.

uTEp and TX State are dismal....

[FormerPokeCenter]

As someone who played high school ball at their stadium, I hope they do

As somebody who played college ball in their stadium, I hope they do, too!

That was always a fun trip...UTA always had a tough team back in the day, with lots of great athletes....They had Scotty Caldwell at RB and Bruce Collie, who - at the time - was the biggest human I'd ever seen at 6'5 ish and 340...He had a nice career in San Francisco...

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I wonder if Rice would schedule Nova? xpeacex

Need an Owl quota?

The last thing 'Nova football needs is to venture to Texas to play Rice in 100 degree heat. Get Rutgers back on the schedule xnodx

[uni88]

Which has gotten Temple exactly zero extra success, or national exposure.


You’re biased but as a fly over stater who care about college football more than 99% of the NE US, temple is nothing but Rice in a colder climate.


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkTemple is a good school but it's not on the same level academically as Rice.

[FormerPokeCenter]

Not many places are...

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Temple is a good school but it's not on the same level academically as Rice.

Rice has a 5 billion $$ endowment. Helluva school when it comes to the sciences and engineering. Those factors will always result in a high ranking. Their football program is terrible though...lol

[DFW HOYA]

Nice to see that this has morphed into a Temple thread. What's next, a Patriot League thread?

But back to UTA. The school competed in the Southland, built a brand new stadium in 1985, and promptly shut the program. The problem inherent in this study is that it has a "FBS or nothing" approach which is going to fail at the board level. If Georgetown had this kind of approach in 1963, football would have never got off the ground.

Quoting from the DMN article: "According to an internal budget projection, adding three sports could cost UTA $146.7 million over 10 years." Huh? Or how about "The 10-year projection anticipated spending $1.5 million annually on a head football coach and two coordinator salaries of $417,918." In the Sun Belt??

What the article only briefly cites is that Maverick Stadium is not I-A ready. Yes, there is a rather large stadium two miles away but that would be pointless for a Sun Belt team.

What They Have:

http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/north_america/united_states/texas/arlington_maverick1.jpg

Studies like this are tailor made for a university president to say "See, I told you so" and tamp down football for another generation.

[uni88]

Rice has a 5 billion $$ endowment. Helluva school when it comes to the sciences and engineering. Those factors will always result in a high ranking. Their football program is terrible though...lolNot arguing about the quality of their football team. If you're going to compare them academically to a PA school, Lehigh and Carnegie are more applicable.

[FormerPokeCenter]

When I was in HS, my best friend's older brother was a QB at Rice...We'd go over on Saturdays (it was a two hour drive) to go watch him play. The school was an awesome environment....this was 1979 and 1980, and the dorm that my buddy's brother lived in was Coed, which was AWESOME. I forget which hall he lived in, but there were towers on each end, with two rooms per floor...in theory guys were on one floor with girls on the other, but in the towers sometimes the guys and the girls lived right next to each other. The girls who lived next door to my buddy's brother were Wicked Smaht, and hot...at least for a kid in HS....

Dusty Hill's Mom worked in the football office at Rice. So there was always ZZ Top blaring on the stereo system in the locker rooms and during pregame...


I got to see Billy Simms, JC Watts and George Cumby play for OU and then Tim Campbell, Steve McMicheal, Johnny Lam Jones, Kenneth Sims and Bill Acker for the Texas Longhorns...Pretty cool stuff....Rice had Earl Cooper, a 6'2" 245 lb tail back who played at San Francisco...I bumped into him one night on the dance floor at the Student Union after a game. I thought I'd hit one of the support poles holding up the building, until I turned around and saw this freaking mountain of a guy....I think I was 6'1, about 185, LOL..."Excuse me SIR"...



I used to LOVE to go see those games...

[FormerPokeCenter]

Nice to see that this has morphed into a Temple thread. What's next, a Patriot League thread?

But back to UTA. The school competed in the Southland, built a brand new stadium in 1985, and promptly shut the program. The problem inherent in this study is that it has a "FBS or nothing" approach which is going to fail at the board level. If Georgetown had this kind of approach in 1963, football would have never got off the ground.

Quoting from the DMN article: "According to an internal budget projection, adding three sports could cost UTA $146.7 million over 10 years." Huh? Or how about "The 10-year projection anticipated spending $1.5 million annually on a head football coach and two coordinator salaries of $417,918." In the Sun Belt??

What the article only briefly cites is that Maverick Stadium is not I-A ready. Yes, there is a rather large stadium two miles away but that would be pointless for a Sun Belt team.

What They Have:

http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/north_america/united_states/texas/arlington_maverick1.jpg

Studies like this are tailor made for a university president to say "See, I told you so" and tamp down football for another generation.


All they'd have to do is fix the visitor's side and it would be commensurate with ULM and North Texas....

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Nice to see that this has morphed into a Temple thread. What's next, a Patriot League thread?

But back to UTA. The school competed in the Southland, built a brand new stadium in 1985, and promptly shut the program. The problem inherent in this study is that it has a "FBS or nothing" approach which is going to fail at the board level. If Georgetown had this kind of approach in 1963, football would have never got off the ground.

Quoting from the DMN article: "According to an internal budget projection, adding three sports could cost UTA $146.7 million over 10 years." Huh? Or how about "The 10-year projection anticipated spending $1.5 million annually on a head football coach and two coordinator salaries of $417,918." In the Sun Belt??

What the article only briefly cites is that Maverick Stadium is not I-A ready. Yes, there is a rather large stadium two miles away but that would be pointless for a Sun Belt team.

What They Have:

http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/north_america/united_states/texas/arlington_maverick1.jpg

Studies like this are tailor made for a university president to say "See, I told you so" and tamp down football for another generation.

I'm not the one who brought up Temple. I was tying to keep it relative to Texas xnodx

That stadium looks like it easily could be expanded. What's UTA's sugar daddy situation? I feel like all it takes is one or two at a Texas school to get things rolling no matter what the grand plan is.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

All they'd have to do is fix the visitor's side and it would be commensurate with ULM and North Texas....

And Wichita State. Although, the home side at UTA doesn't look like it extends past the 15s. Even so you could easily get 25-30k out of that template.


https://i0.wp.com/footballscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Cessna-Stadium-2.jpg?resize=640%2C360

[FormerPokeCenter]

Shocker!

[katss07]

On the surface this looks great. Adding UTA to the SLC seems like the most likely option and it would be great for the school and conference. Dallas-FW is an untapped FCS market that had lots of money. If this project is to be privately funded, UTA needs every last penny. Adding the Mavs would bring the conference to a nice 12 team league. As UIW and ACU seemingly begin their ascent (HBU is a lost cause IMO) it would make sense to add another team. UTA can compete right away as well. We saw Kennesaw do it in ATL. I see no reason to believe UTA would be much different. As a football move, it makes sense. Tons of sense.

But there are issues that I think will be too big to overcome. First of all, this “10 year plan” includes adding beach volleyball and women’s soccer. These two sport’s combined cost would still be 100 million shy of football’s. This brings up the point...is it worth it? Maybe, in Texas it seems like donations for football would not be tough to come by. But 120-130$ million? Thats no pocket change. Can UTA come up with the money is just one question, but do they think it is really worth their time and cash in the end is another thing.

Attendance would likely be an issue. The metro already has 3 FBS schools. SMU(an improved program), N. Texas (average G5 program) and TCU(good football program) would all draw fans and alums away from gameday. Especially considering UTA hasn’t had a team in years and years. And lets not forget, this is Dallas-FW we’re talking about. You can throw Oklahoma, Okla St, UT and Tx A&M into the mix of FBS team that take priority for most. Hell, add in Arkansas and LSU. I can’t imagine UTA would draw well.

I doubt this happens. WSU looked into it and apparently found nothing appealing. I guess I just think the cons outweigh the pros. I’d love to see them back though.

[DFW HOYA]

All they'd have to do is fix the visitor's side and it would be commensurate with ULM and North Texas....

North Texas is way, way better than that.

https://texasbob.com/stadium/simages/311.jpg

[FormerPokeCenter]

I momentarily forgot they built a new one. I have not-so-fond memories of Fouts Field....where the Mean Green imitated the Texas Armadillos for the movie Necessary Roughness!

https://www.ntdaily.com/wp-uploads/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2013-06-13-at-1.44.39-PM-680x365_c.png

[JacksFan40]

If they don’t jump the gun for FBS and end up like Tx State, I can see them emerging as a solid FCS team. As stated previously the DFW area is untapped for the FCS. They won’t sell out to 20k stadiums like Montana, but they could sell out an 8k stadium like Kennesaw. If they get a good coaching staff to start, they’ll be fine.
Or they’ll jump to the Sun Belt and end up like Tx State, Georgia State, and Charlotte in the C-USA, which I’d argue is worse than the Sun Belt. Id put the SBC as the 3rd best G5 conference behind the AAC and MWC, but well ahead of the MAC and C-USA.

[JacksFan40]

I momentarily forgot they built a new one. I have not-so-fond memories of Fouts Field....where the Mean Green imitated the Texas Armadillos for the movie Necessary Roughness!

https://www.ntdaily.com/wp-uploads/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2013-06-13-at-1.44.39-PM-680x365_c.png
Take away the track and it’s a great field, until then it’s a glorified high school stadium.

[katss07]

North Texas is way, way better than that.

https://texasbob.com/stadium/simages/311.jpg
Yes, I was about to say that. UNT has really developed into a pretty good program.

One thing I hope doesn’t happen but inevitably will is UTA making the jump to FBS. The pasture isn’t greener at all. Come home Tx St, GSU (both of them), ODU, Coastal Carolina, UMass, ect. (Congrats on your AP Ranking Appy, we miss you guys)

[FormerPokeCenter]

Take away the track and it’s a great field, until then it’s a glorified high school stadium.

Part of that's been demolished...they're using it for track only....eventually, it'll be a parking garage...

[dgtw]

I’d think they’d be in the sun belt quicker than you can blink.

They are already in the Sun Belt.


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[CHIP72]

RE: Rice - Rice Stadium is an excellent older football stadium (built I think in 1950) with superb site lines. (The neighborhood where Rice is located is nice too IMO, one of the few nice ones that isn't super hoity-toity in Houston.) One of the early Super Bowls (SB 8 in January 1974) was played there. I was fortunate enough to attend a game there in 2015 when I visited my brother, who was still living in Houston at the time. We saw Southern Mississippi/Rice and Memphis/Houston back-to-back that day.

As for UT-Arlington (who interestingly enough I saw in basketball last season at Alabama; they lost by 1 point to the Crimson Tide), should they end up playing at the DI-A/FBS level, that would put 4 DI-A teams in the Metroplex (TCU, SMU, and North Texas are the three already playing at that level in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.) With those teams, the other regional DI-A programs (Texas in particular, who of course plays once a year in Dallas when they play Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl), and the Dallas Cowboys, UT-Arlington could easily get lost in the shuffle, regardless if they play at the DI-A or DI-AA level.

[RootinFerDukes]

They are already in the Sun Belt.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know. Hence my comment. Their football would also quickly go to the Sun Belt.

[dgtw]

I know. Hence my comment. Their football would also quickly go to the Sun Belt.

Sorry, I wasn’t following you. Thanks for clarifying.

Yes, that was the path South Alabama took when they started. If they did begin a program and go FBS, what becomes of Arkansas-Little Rock? Do they give them one last chance to start football and then kick them out? Would they look for a 12th football member? Like maybe one somewhere in the Eastern United States? You know anyone that fits that geographic description?


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[RootinFerDukes]

Sorry, I wasn’t following you. Thanks for clarifying.

Yes, that was the path South Alabama took when they started. If they did begin a program and go FBS, what becomes of Arkansas-Little Rock? Do they give them one last chance to start football and then kick them out? Would they look for a 12th football member? Like maybe one somewhere in the Eastern United States? You know anyone that fits that geographic description?


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Campbell perhaps. The Dukes have already turned down the Sun Belt 5 years ago. Rumor that UT-Chattanooga did too.