NAU vs. Florida A&M games in the future?

[Lumberjacks76]

I was wondering if NAU had any future plans for
scheduling Florida A&M out of the MEAC Conference? The
Rattlers are a good team and draw around 13,000 per
game to their contest. I would love to see the
Rattlers play NAU in the Skydome.

Paul

[IaaScribe]

*

[IaaScribe]

Very little chance, Paul. NAU is trying to avoid playing intersectional games (UNI being an exception) because the cost of travel is way too high. I think you can expect the non-league schedule to look like this for a long time:

One D-II team
One DI-A money game
One I-AA team from either the Southland or the Great West.

[Lumberjacks76]

Which brings me to another question:

Are the NAU Lumberjacks in danger of losing their football team because of finances?

Paul

[IaaScribe]

No. The Republic put together a typical hit-and-run, doom and gloom piece. Their finances aren't in such disrepair. But certain things were ridiculous, especially on the basketball side, where NAU was scheduling games at Marist, Quinnipiac, Central Connecticut, etc. No need to go that far to find games. Problem is that some of the basketball money game wells have gone dry, most notably UCLA and UNLV, who won't play them anymore because NAU beat them.

It's taken seven years for ASU to even think of playing NAU in hoops. That finally happened this year.

Fallis goal was to get better fundraising, especially out of the Phoenix alumni. That will take some time. Steve Holton ran a really shoddy ship there.

[Lumberjacks76]

I noticed NAU plays a 5 game home schedule, with 6 on the road. Is that related to finances?

Paul

[IaaScribe]

I think it has more to do with the way the Big Sky schedule evolved this year. I think there are only three Big Sky home games, right? So instead of having two I-AA non-conf. home games, they go to UNI and Arizona, plus the four Big Sky roadies.

I had a rather long sit-down with Fallis in April for a Q&A that ran in the Daily Sun, and my feeling was that there was a lot of money being spent in places where it didn't need to be spent. So he was trying to tighten some things. I don't think NAU is in terrible financial shape. And the new things - corporate signage on the new scoreboards, more of an effort to reach out to state alums, etc. - will help immensely.

[Lumberjacks76]

I've contacted both NAU and Florida A&M on the possibility of the two programs scheduling future games with each other. I think NAU should also play Florida A&M in basketball as well. The reason I like NAU playing Florida teams is because they could expand their recruiting into Florida. There are so many great athletes in that state that it is mind numbing.

Travel wise, the teams could meet at a neutral site such as Oklahoma or Texas and make it into a "Coca-Cola Classic" or something like that. Something sponsored by Coca-Cola and broadcoast on ESPN or ESPN2 (another fine way to get Division I-AA football further exposed to the masses).

Paul

[IaaScribe]

NAU just doesn't have the sort of national pull to make that work, Paul. The only way those "classic" games work is when it's one HBCU against another. Jackson State vs. Hampton in Detroit has huge pull; North Dakota State vs. Colgate, not so much.

Hell, half the people in Arizona don't even know NAU exists.

[Lumberjacks76]

What if NAU scheduled BYU or New Mexico in football? I noticed in the mid to late 90s they scheduled at least 5 games between NAU and New Mexico. Would they do that in the future?

Paul

[IaaScribe]

They haven't scheduled New Mexico in recent years because Arizona and Arizona State have been available. As long as NAU can play UA and ASU, that's the only money game they'll play.

I never heard BYU as a potential money game. Oklahoma State was one, but it was wiped out after 9-11 and never rescheduled.

[Lumberjacks76]

That's good from one standpoint: Being able to play UofA or ASU on a yearly or semi-yearly basis. I'm all for that.

Paul

[Big Dawg]

That was out of the blue...Florida A&M vs NAU. This is the first time I've heard someone mention that.

[Lumberjacks76]

Yeah, I like Florida A&M's football program. I'd love to see NAU play them.

Paul

[IaaScribe]

That was out of the blue...Florida A&M vs NAU. This is the first time I've heard someone mention that.

Consider the source. This poster has also started threads about a team with no interest of going to I-A going to I-A, and predicted an NAU win over Arizona, and started at least three threads on NAU-Adams Freaking State.