Scholarship increases 30 to 65

[BEAR]

Hi.
University of Central Arkansas fan here and future Southland Conference member with one quick question. UCA currently has 30 football players on scholarship and we recently played UT martin who has I believe 65 on scholarship. Since next year will be UCAs first year in DIaa, how does a university go about adding schollys and what does it usually do to the surrounding talent in the state. Arkansas is not unique but it has many schools who have teams. Will that take some of the talent away from those schools or will it leave them as is? I have so many questions that I guess will be answered soon enough, but as for tomorrow, Thursday September 15th at 1:30 p.m. the Commish of the Southland conference and President Lu Hardin with Coach Conque and the rest will formally accept the offer to join the great dIaa world. I can't wait to scholly up with you guys and give you a run for the title. Any info would be great! Thanks!

[Hansel]

DII Scholie MAx is 36, IAA Max is 63

teams moving up from DII add scholies at different rates

In 03 N Colorado and UC- Davis moved up I think UNC is around 45 scholies with UCD around 35 (ball park on both)

In 04 NDSU and SDSU moved up, NDSU is at 63 scholies (IAA max), and SDSU is around 45

NDSU is still mainly recruiting area (ND/MN/WI/SD) players, but has also started to add some new recruiting areas (TX, FL etc)

[blackfordpu]

Hi.
University of Central Arkansas fan here and future Southland Conference member with one quick question. UCA currently has 30 football players on scholarship and we recently played UT martin who has I believe 65 on scholarship. Since next year will be UCAs first year in DIaa, how does a university go about adding schollys and what does it usually do to the surrounding talent in the state. Arkansas is not unique but it has many schools who have teams. Will that take some of the talent away from those schools or will it leave them as is? I have so many questions that I guess will be answered soon enough, but as for tomorrow, Thursday September 15th at 1:30 p.m. the Commish of the Southland conference and President Lu Hardin with Coach Conque and the rest will formally accept the offer to join the great dIaa world. I can't wait to scholly up with you guys and give you a run for the title. Any info would be great! Thanks!

Better start calling it I-AA or you may offend ralph. :) ;)

[IaaScribe]

I know it took Portland State some time before it actually hit the 63 skolly mark. It has a lot to do with funding. Scholarships aren't free. Does UCA have a solid endowment fund? Donors? State money?

[TxSt02]

We are looking forward to seeing you in the next couple years! Welcome to I-AA ball!

[BEAR]

UCA has many high dollar "investors" who are willing to give to make it work. One of them has already given millions, Rush Harding..I believe he is Americas top real estate builder..or one of the top anyway. Then you have the Rockefellers, Waltons and Tysons to name a few.. I believe UCA will get to 63 scholarships in about 3 to 4 years, but in the meantime, we are willing to take the licks. :cool:
UCA's current budget for atheletics is about $4.5 million but is constantly going up every year. Stadium holds over 10,000 fans seated (not officially, but has in the past) and the facilities are brand new, rebuilt about 6 years ago. impressive and worth a trip to see. Not as big as some d1-aa schools stadiums, but nice.
If you go to www.uca.edu (http://www.uca.edu) you can see the money spent on the university is immense for a d1-aa school and is continually growing. You will learn more about us in the near future. I can't wait to meet some of you at the games ! :nod:

[TexasTerror]

What is the word on mens' soccer? Div I independent status?

[Tribe4SF]

UCABEAR,

Now that you've got 10 posts......it's DI-AA. Ralph will give you some slack for awhile, but eventually he will light you up. :D

Welcome aboard!

[89Hen]

I know it took Portland State some time before it actually hit the 63 skolly mark. It has a lot to do with funding. Scholarships aren't free. Does UCA have a solid endowment fund? Donors? State money?
I think it may also have a lot to do with the fact that if you bring in a class of 20-25 athletes, in four years you're screwed when they all use up their eligiblity.

[TexasTerror]

By the end of the transition, you guys will get to that mark. No reason to throw out all those scholarships as mentioned above. What a recruiting nightmare if you gave out all those added scholarships in one year, four years or five years from now, that's trouble...

[NoCoDanny]

We have added gradually...

2003 - 40
2004 - 45
2005 - 50
2006 - 57
2007 - 63

[kmax]

We have added gradually...

2003 - 40
2004 - 45
2005 - 50
2006 - 57
2007 - 63
NoCoDanny, Was that the planned timeframe all along or did that get accelerated due to requirements set forth by the Big Sky? Good to here you guys will be near or at the scholly level when you come into the Sky.

[Hansel]

NoCoDanny, Was that the planned timeframe all along or did that get accelerated due to requirements set forth by the Big Sky? Good to here you guys will be near or at the scholly level when you come into the Sky.
From what I understand UNC's timeframe for FB scholies was expedited due to BSC requirements

[NoCoDanny]

NoCoDanny, Was that the planned timeframe all along or did that get accelerated due to requirements set forth by the Big Sky? Good to here you guys will be near or at the scholly level when you come into the Sky.

My understanding was that it was planned, however, I do know it was a big contingency with the Big Sky so it could of been a more flexible schedule prior to the Big Sky deal. UNC never planned to under fund any scholarships levels and that was determined prior to the move. So if they did accelerate the time table it would of only been by a year at the most.

[arkstfan]

NDSU jumped numbers fast. Did you convert some players on partial aid to full aid?

[Bear Fan 101]

What is the word on mens' soccer? Div I independent status?

I believe in the press conference today they said Soccer will not be a sport recognized in the conference. So I am assuming we are either looking into other conference affiliations for that, or we will just play as independents. Which kind of stinks, our men's program is pretty good right now.

Has the Southland ever recognized men's soccer as a sport for anyone?

[Hansel]

NDSU jumped numbers fast. Did you convert some players on partial aid to full aid?
I'm assuming so, we also got some JUCO transfers who I am sure got some fulls, the main reason we did it is so we could be a counter when we play IA's (Ball St in 06, Minnesota rumored for 07)

[TigerFan17]

We moved from the non-scholly Patriot League to the full-scholly Atlantic 10 after the 2003 season. In our first season in the A-10, we had around 40. The rest of the scholarships will be cycled in as new people are brought in each year. Thus, the timetable is 4 years (the same amount of years it would take for everyone to use up their eligibility).

[GeauxLions94]

Better start calling it I-AA or you may offend ralph. :) ;)

Better start calling it I-AA or we'll rescind the offer :bang:

[BEAR]

I-AA


:nod:

[ArrowsATC]

I believe in the press conference today they said Soccer will not be a sport recognized in the conference. So I am assuming we are either looking into other conference affiliations for that, or we will just play as independents. Which kind of stinks, our men's program is pretty good right now.

Has the Southland ever recognized men's soccer as a sport for anyone?
Sorry to say this, but since this is not a surprise, conversations have been going on for a while to find a home for our Ranked mens soccer program....and it actually looks like they will die. The logistics involved....i.e. travel budget, will not allow UCA to participate as an independent. The conferences that would be a possible fit have expressed no interest in allowind UCA to become an associate member.

[dakotadan]

Sorry to say this, but since this is not a surprise, conversations have been going on for a while to find a home for our Ranked mens soccer program....and it actually looks like they will die. The logistics involved....i.e. travel budget, will not allow UCA to participate as an independent. The conferences that would be a possible fit have expressed no interest in allowind UCA to become an associate member.

Well, if this is true you can always look on the bright side: you just found some of your new FB schollies. ;)

[ArrowsATC]

I am afraid people are going to look at ti that way, however, there is a surprising and thrilling amount of support for the soccer team in forums and in the community. I have been surprised by the concern showed by everyone and I hope they stay alive.
The one thing that troubles me is this...the announcement yesterday was the worst kept secret in Arkansas. If they knew for that long that they would be accepting the invitation, why didn't Vance have the affiliate status of the soccer team already decided so they could announce at the same time......the only reason I can think of is that there is noone who has showed alot of interest in letting the guys join. Good luck Bears and all the fans keep talking them up so everyone knows we want mens soccer to stay in Conway.

[McTailGator]

Hi.
University of Central Arkansas fan here and future Southland Conference member with one quick question. UCA currently has 30 football players on scholarship and we recently played UT martin who has I believe 65 on scholarship. Since next year will be UCAs first year in DIaa, how does a university go about adding schollys and what does it usually do to the surrounding talent in the state. Arkansas is not unique but it has many schools who have teams. Will that take some of the talent away from those schools or will it leave them as is? I have so many questions that I guess will be answered soon enough, but as for tomorrow, Thursday September 15th at 1:30 p.m. the Commish of the Southland conference and President Lu Hardin with Coach Conque and the rest will formally accept the offer to join the great dIaa world. I can't wait to scholly up with you guys and give you a run for the title. Any info would be great! Thanks!

If I were your coach, I'd go out and recruit about 27 players this year plus how ever many seniors your schools is about to graduate. In addition, I'd go out and sign about 8 or nine top notch players that have "Questionable" grades (Props) that the I-A's are either staying away from, or not offering a full ride to and I'd stick them in remedial classes over the summer, and place them in tutorial sessions to get their grades up for their freshman year.

Then, I'd red shirt every one of those 27 incoming freshmen and let those props. sit out a year getting their grades up. Then, I'd go out and get some transfers and JuCo players to come in for the 2007 year and join all those RS freshman and top notch props that have now qualified.

Then presto... Instantly compeditive team.

Keep in mind however, your not just looking for 27 football players to put on scholarship, your also looking for 27 females to meet your title IX obligations too.

So those 27 new football scholarships just cost your school a total of 54 scholarships