Georgia State AD

[JMU1992]

Check out this quote from the new Georgia State AD, Mary McElroy, when discussing the possibility of adding football. She says this like actually having playoffs to determine a championship is a bad thing. And this person is the new AD. Wow.

Article link:
http://www.gsusignal.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/07/434995be0b0d0

Football Consideration

For several years, some students and alumni have been pushing for the athletic department to obtain a football team for the university. Initially, the university would not entertain the thought but now they want to look into the feasibility of it.

McElroy’s opinion concurs with that of Patton, a neutral stance. “We want to address the issue by looking at, we are not saying we are in support of it nor are we against it” she emphasized. “We have to look at the framework of it by analyzing support, competitiveness and finances.”

“Football does not automatically succeed. To start, we would compete in the 1-AA division,” she explained. “There are no bowls such as the Peach and Rose Bowls to compete towards only a regular season and a championship in that division”

Once again, the issue of game attendance comes into question with football.

“Supporters of football need to practice now by filling the stands for other sports,” she said. “The major concern will be our ability to pack the house for games.”

McElroy’s concerns include the difficulty in disposing of a potential failure.

“It’s very rare for a university to eliminate the football program because of failure,” she explained. “One school did do just that but they recently brought the sport back but still reporting problems with it.”

[Stang Fever]

Check out this quote from the new Georgia State AD, Mary McElroy, when discussing the possibility of adding football. She says this like actually having playoffs to determine a championship is a bad thing. And this person is the new AD. Wow.

Article link:
http://www.gsusignal.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/07/434995be0b0d0

Football Consideration

For several years, some students and alumni have been pushing for the athletic department to obtain a football team for the university. Initially, the university would not entertain the thought but now they want to look into the feasibility of it.

McElroy’s opinion concurs with that of Patton, a neutral stance. “We want to address the issue by looking at, we are not saying we are in support of it nor are we against it” she emphasized. “We have to look at the framework of it by analyzing support, competitiveness and finances.”

“Football does not automatically succeed. To start, we would compete in the 1-AA division,” she explained. “There are no bowls such as the Peach and Rose Bowls to compete towards only a regular season and a championship in that division”

Once again, the issue of game attendance comes into question with football.

“Supporters of football need to practice now by filling the stands for other sports,” she said. “The major concern will be our ability to pack the house for games.”

McElroy’s concerns include the difficulty in disposing of a potential failure.

“It’s very rare for a university to eliminate the football program because of failure,” she explained. “One school did do just that but they recently brought the sport back but still reporting problems with it.”


This lady is crazy....if you think that I-A is so great...go to a school there...cause i dont know how 100 teams every year get so happy to be the ....Champion of some crap name bowl....So what did you actually win...are you a national champ...or you a regional champ...are you a state champ...I mean a bowl is a bowl....and i would always want to take my chance at winning a national title instead of some crap bowl


I would say that 75% of the teams out there...dont have a chance in hell to win the national champ...

[Baldy]

This really throws a monkey wrench in gsu's 'plans'.
Their president is anti-football to the core. It looks like he hired an AD that shares his feelings.

Football wouldn't work there anyway. It's a commuter school whose student body has got to be at least 50%+ grad students. Not trying to dis gsu because it is a pretty good school, but a football team there would be like the University of Phoenix fielding a football team.

[Coastal89]

So why did the CAA think adding GSU was a good idea?

As for her comment about attendance at other events. Coastal averaged about 500 for a terrible basketball team and about 300 for a great baseball team. We average 8400 for football. and the economic impact on the area is tremendous.

[blur2005]

Georgia State was added for basketball, to give the league an even 12 teams.

[JALMOND]

When we were entertaining the thought of going to I-A (the WAC), we at Portland State were thinking of the attendance in getting Oregon, Oregon State and even Washington to play in Portland. In pursuing the idea, what we found is that these teams would rather schedule other BCS I-A schools instead of us. If what she is looking at is the opportunity at the revenue for playing the SEC (Georgia) and the ACC (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, she might be sorely disappointed. Georgia Southern fans, help me out...How often does Georgia play Georgia Tech? Once a year or less frequent? I highly doubt a school like Georgia State, who would probably go to the Sun Belt, would be able to schedule the SEC or ACC, and, playing in the Sun Belt, she would never play in a BCS bowl game anyway. Delusions of grandeur yes indeed!

[bigbluetiger]

Excuse me but what is so wrong with what she's saying? Football is expensive and on the I-AA level it is hardly a money maker. I'm a little slow today so help me out.

[JMU2K_DukeDawg]

I've been told they are the VCU of Atlanta. A fairly large student body, but as mentioned earlir, mostly commuter.

While VCU in Richmond is growing increasingly popular as an urban campus, and in my opinion, shaking off a little of that "commuter" label, they will never have a football program unless major money is spilled for it. With UR, UVA, W&M, Hampton, even smaller schools like Randolph-Macon, within an hour or so of Richmond, VA, it just won't happen.

I have a feeling this AD feels the same about the situation in Atlanta. Plus, as opposed to Richmond, where there is no major sports to compete with, Atlanta has much more to offer, and gives less reason that football could ever succeed as that type of school.

Maybe Villanova people in Philly would have a different perspective?

All in all, she's still a deush and has no clue about football. :cool: