Valdosta (just curious...)

[McNeese_beat]

Has there been serious talk about Valdosta going D-I? It seems like Georgia is not loaded with college football (which probably works to Valdosta's advantage as a D-II sitting near the Fla. border) and it could handle another D-I program, especially down near the Fla. border.

[mistersykes]

Not sure about the logistics of such a move, but they are clearly one of the best teams in D-II. Similarly to what App admin and fans are thinking, there's a lot more to changing (sub)divisions than the quality product on the field. Maybe the Georgia Southern fans can give a little bit of insight to the situation down there. The Valdosta State team sure is representing pretty well today!

[spelunker64]

They're looking good now on E$PN2...

[ChooChoo]

There has been a good bit of talk about moving up. Winning this title will no doubt fuel it further.

[Sir William]

If VSU is going to move up to FCS, they might want to consider building their own stadium, and quit playing in the local high school one.

VSU ain't moving up. Write it down. North Alabama is more apt to move up than VSU.

[brownbear]

If VSU is going to move up to FCS, they might want to consider building their own stadium, and quit playing in the local high school one.

VSU ain't moving up. Write it down. North Alabama is more apt to move up than VSU.

The high school stadium is nicer than a lot of FCS stadiums

http://www.valdostafootball.com/stadium%5Frenovation/aerial/images/DSC00005_smaller.jpg

Kinda weird having the Valdosta Wildcats logos on the seats with the Blazers playing there.

[BEAR]

I think this topic needs to be moved to anther area. I posted something exactly like this when UCA was in the same position and it was moved quickly. Mod said we were DII. C'mon mod. Do your job! xrulesx xrulesx xlolx

(can you tell I hate the blazers..xlolx )

[Sir William]

The high school stadium is nicer than a lot of FCS stadiums.

Nonetheless...

[GSU Just One More Time]

VSU, is the fastest growing school in the state. Right now they play in the High school Stadium there but I could see them making the jump in 2 -3 years . They have more room to grow than any other school in the state besides maybe GSU. I would love to see them up in the SoCon before we move(if we move up).

[soweagle]

They do not have the local support. They play second fiddle to the local high schools, as if the picture of the high school stadium didn't already give you a clue.

[mathman]

VSU, is the fastest growing school in the state. Right now they play in the High school Stadium there but I could see them making the jump in 2 -3 years . They have more room to grow than any other school in the state besides maybe GSU. I would love to see them up in the SoCon before we move(if we move up).
Kennesaw State is the fastest growing school in Georgia. Over the past 10 years, KSU has added over 7,000 students while VSU has grown over the same period a little over 1,000. And expect more growth at KSU despite a shortage of land.

And I can see why VSU plays at a high school stadium. Valdosta is 'famous' for its high school football and they have a nice stadium which happens to be about 1 block from VSU. VSU's enrollment size with a little over 11,000 students is decent, but the athletic fees would be higher to support FCS than say for KSU or Georgia State which have 20,600 and 27,100 students respectively.

[GSU Just One More Time]

When you talk about KSU or Georgia State you have to think about how many non-traditional students they have. Look at 18 - 23 in each school while Georgia State has more than VSU (just a little over 1000), KSU does not. But we are talking about supporting a football program VSU is much more likely to gain support than State or KSU. State b/c of Tech and KSU b/c of all the older students and Tech an UGA.

[mathman]

When you talk about KSU or Georgia State you have to think about how many non-traditional students they have. Look at 18 - 23 in each school while Georgia State has more than VSU (just a little over 1000), KSU does not. But we are talking about supporting a football program VSU is much more likely to gain support than State or KSU. State b/c of Tech and KSU b/c of all the older students and Tech an UGA.
True, but students have to pay the athletic fee. So the teams are financed regardless. And both KSU and Georgia State are aggressively pursuing dorms. Like Valdosta, Cobb County loves its high school football so I wonder if the locals will rally around KSU as well.

Everyone including Georgia Tech suffers from UGA's popularity. Tech has trouble selling out all of its seats and is now embarking on a program to try and attract people not affiliated with Tech who are living downtown to come to Tech games. Right now, support for Georgia State or KSU in terms of attendance of football games is a big question mark.

[GSU Just One More Time]

I just think it would be much harder for Ga. St. or KSU to keep a fan base. VSU is all the way across the state from UGA. If they have a good team I think they could draw a crowd and Keep it. As for the fee's I believe only full-time students pay the Athletic fee and in Undergrad classes not grad school. I think. Not totally sure.

[mathman]

No, at Georgia State and KSU, both undergrad and grad pay all fees. Only during Summer Semester does Georgia State charge prorated fees according to hours taken, but still an athletic fee is paid.

Don't know the mood of Valdosta residents but as said before, they love their high school football and Valdosta State is not that popular although maybe moving to FCS might help but I'm guessing nothing short of FBS will do.

What KSU and Georgia State do have going for them is a lot of their alumni still live in Atlanta and Georgia State has something like 120,000 alumni. But the shadow of UGA looms large and maybe like I suggested before, in the minds of a lot of people, if it ain't FBS it ain't.

[mathman]

I checked attendance figures for 2006. Valdosta averaged around 5,239 which fair for DII, and acceptable but not so hot for FCS.

But Fort Valley State might consider moving up. They averaged 13,682 which would be excellent even for FCS, and almost passable for FBS.

[lizrdgizrd]

If VSU is going to move up to FCS, they might want to consider building their own stadium, and quit playing in the local high school one.

VSU ain't moving up. Write it down. North Alabama is more apt to move up than VSU.
Elon played in a HS stadium when they first moved up. They eventually built Rhodes Stadium - one of the nicest places in the FCS to watch a game. xthumbsupx

[UCAMonkey]

They do not have the local support. They play second fiddle to the local high schools, as if the picture of the high school stadium didn't already give you a clue.


I watched a broadcast of their Thursday night game and they had lots of empty seats for a big conference match up. Their town obdviously does not care too much about their collegiate program even with all of the major success it has had. Pretty sad. xcoffeex

[Fresno St. Alum]

With UNA & W.Georgia both looking into a move to D-I. The GSC would mostly be in Arkansas with 6 schools from there 1 in Miss and 1 in Alabama. That would be a lot of travel, plus 2 of VSU's big rivals would be gone thus pushing them to D-I. So if UNA & UWG go VSU will go. There's a lot of talk about this on the D-II board

[mathman]

With UNA & W.Georgia both looking into a move to D-I. The GSC would mostly be in Arkansas with 6 schools from there 1 in Miss and 1 in Alabama. That would be a lot of travel, plus 2 of VSU's big rivals would be gone thus pushing them to D-I. So if UNA & UWG go VSU will go. There's a lot of talk about this on the D-II board
Wow, Alabama has enough DI teams! USA will be starting FCS but since they are in the Sun Belt, will move up as soon as they can to FBS. So Alabama might be top heavy with FBS teams.

Sounds like Georgia could be going from a relative dearth of FCS teams, just Georgia Southern and Savannah State, to a whole lot, West Georgia, Valdosta, Georgia State, and Kennesaw State. Though Georgia State seems further along to starting a team than KSU. Course, Georgia Southern's alumni keep pressuring to make the move to FBS.

[Appdad]

They do not have the local support. They play second fiddle to the local high schools, as if the picture of the high school stadium didn't already give you a clue.

And what high school programs they are...:)

[BEAR]

............and why is a thread about a Division II team still on this board?? C'mon mods. xmadx xrulesx

[gophoenix]

Elon played in a HS stadium when they first moved up. They eventually built Rhodes Stadium - one of the nicest places in the FCS to watch a game. xthumbsupx

No no no :) and I know you went to high school there. The high school played in Elon/Burlington's municipal stadium. Elon actually paid for that to be built. Then they put a high school next to it.

I think Elon sold it to Burlington for $1 or something afterwards.

[lizrdgizrd]

No no no :) and I know you went to high school there. The high school played in Elon/Burlington's municipal stadium. Elon actually paid for that to be built. Then they put a high school next to it.

I think Elon sold it to Burlington for $1 or something afterwards.
All I'm saying is that it can be done with those types of facilities. xnodx

Besides, if I have PE class in it it's a HS stadium. :p

[UCAMonkey]

With UNA & W.Georgia both looking into a move to D-I. The GSC would mostly be in Arkansas with 6 schools from there 1 in Miss and 1 in Alabama. That would be a lot of travel, plus 2 of VSU's big rivals would be gone thus pushing them to D-I. So if UNA & UWG go VSU will go. There's a lot of talk about this on the D-II board

UNA I could see leaping to FCS and doing well right away but WGA & VSU still play in high school stadiums and do not get great community support.

[appfan2008]

KSU and GSU are schools that have most of their students commute into classes and then out each day which would not be very condusive to building a large fan base for college football

[UCABEARS75]

No one has mentioned this ( I don't think) but one problem Valdosta would have is the change in recruiting.

Recruiting athletes which are D-I eligible is different than getting those who are not. While Valdosta benefits greatly from their location and the ability to get D-I transfers from Ga., Fla., & Fla. State they also get some tremendous athletes who might otherwise go to one of these schools or, more likely, Ga. Southern.

This change affected us (UCA) also but we are in a somewhat different situation geographically by being the only FCS school in our state other than UAPB which is in a completely different situation due to size of school, financial support, conference, etc.

Not saying that Valdosta could not succeed at the FCS level but it would be more difficult for them than UNA or UCA in my opinion.

To be quite honest, this is the main reason that I personally believe we will be more successful in the SLC than the Gulf South. We were going to have a hard time competing with Valdosta year in and year out due to the reasons outlined above.

[ChooChoo]

KSU and GSU are schools that have most of their students commute into classes and then out each day which would not be very condusive to building a large fan base for college football
As for Georgia State:
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2007/12/12/gulch_1213.html
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/business/1212gulch/
http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwmsp/2006/masterplan/index.htm
The above plans allows for 10,000 students out of the projected 40,000 enrolled to be in downtown dorms in the next ten years. Most may still commute, but it is becoimg less of a commuter school each year. That Plus the over 95,000 almuni in metro Atlanta is a pretty good fan base to start with.

[Fresno St. Alum]

UNA I could see leaping to FCS and doing well right away but WGA & VSU still play in high school stadiums and do not get great community support.

UWG is getting a new stadium that should be open by 2009

[soweagle]

No one has mentioned this ( I don't think) but one problem Valdosta would have is the change in recruiting.

Recruiting athletes which are D-I eligible is different than getting those who are not. While Valdosta benefits greatly from their location and the ability to get D-I transfers from Ga., Fla., & Fla. State they also get some tremendous athletes who might otherwise go to one of these schools or, more likely, Ga. Southern.

This change affected us (UCA) also but we are in a somewhat different situation geographically by being the only FCS school in our state other than UAPB which is in a completely different situation due to size of school, financial support, conference, etc.

Not saying that Valdosta could not succeed at the FCS level but it would be more difficult for them than UNA or UCA in my opinion.

To be quite honest, this is the main reason that I personally believe we will be more successful in the SLC than the Gulf South. We were going to have a hard time competing with Valdosta year in and year out due to the reasons outlined above.

That is a good point. One of the Valdosta starting DB's was Roger King. He signed with GSU initally. I'm not sure of the details but b/c of academics he ended up at Valdosta. He would have played a big role for GSU this season and possbily been a starter especially when we were moving running backs to the secondary late in the season.