Could UTPA start up football?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/?title=utpa-athletics-lacks-true-leader&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Edwards won’t say whether he’s working with an existing conference or one he hopes will form. But Schnall says don’t expect anything earth-shattering, and there have been no recent developments to suggest otherwise.

“It’s probably the independent thing, which would be useless,” Schnall said. “You’re dealing with New York Tech and New Jersey Tech and perhaps Northern Colorado and that school in Chicago. Name one of those schools where we have anything in common or that’s geographically in close proximity.

“It would not help them one bit. All it is is window dressing, there’s no help. The only way you’re going to be able to make anything happen is you’ve got to get into a conference that’s already established.”

The only way to do that, he says, is to start playing football, something he doesn’t see happening under the current regime. With a football program, Schnall believes UTPA could become a legitimate candidate for the Division I Southland or Division II Lone Star conferences.

He points to Coastal Carolina (Conway, S.C) and Incarnate Word as examples of small schools that have begun football. The Cardinals start playing in Division II in 2009, and Coastal Carolina has played in the Football Championship Subdivision for six years - going from 3,500 students to about 8,300 during that time, he says as a direct result.

It looks like there could be interest if the president could be convinced... and it looks a lot like there is an athletics mess over there at UTPA that needs cleaning up.

[McNeese_beat]

As much football as there already is in Texas, there isn't any way down in that Harlingen-Brownsville-Edinburgh area. There could be a market for it.

I'd hate for them to join the SLC though. It's an airplane trip for most teams in the league and one of the great things about the Southland is that it's largely a league where everybody is accessible to each other by bus

[Lionsrking]

It looks like there could be interest if the president could be convinced... and it looks a lot like there is an athletics mess over there at UTPA that needs cleaning up.

Problem with UTPA is they're so far from everywhere and there's no good way to get there. If they were to join the Southland, the closest trip would be San Marcos which is about 300 miles and the farthest would be Conway, Arkansas at over 800. Trips to Hammond, La. and Thibodaux, La. would be well over 650 miles. I can't imagine the eastern half of the league feeling very enthusiastic about picking them up. It would be like our side wanting to add Delta State or North Alabama.

[RabidRabbit]

UTPA is semi attractive to Summit conference, and by extension, the Great West.

Being an already CORE athletic program is their ONLY redeeming quality as they are a LONG ways south.

[chrisattsu]

As much football as there already is in Texas, there isn't any way down in that Harlingen-Brownsville-Edinburgh area. There could be a market for it.

I'd hate for them to join the SLC though. It's an airplane trip for most teams in the league and one of the great things about the Southland is that it's largely a league where everybody is accessible to each other by bus

Maybe not down in the far valley, but Kingsville is less than two hours from the border. A&I (Texas A&M-Kingsville) has a strong Division II tradition, and I would hate for them to lose their hold on South Texas.

As it is right now, Kingsville is a better fit for the Southland's foot print than it is for the Lone Star Conference. Their closest regional opponent is Tarleton State (over 400 miles away).

UTPA (and or Kingsville) wouldn't be be much of a stretch for the Southwest Corner of our conference (Texas State, UTSA, A&M-Corpus).



If UTPA ever gets their act together, could football be on the horizon for this Texas State system school?
He lost credit right there. It is called The University of Texas-Pan American. one can assume that the University of Texas part would mean it is part of their system.

[TexasTerror]

I posted the same article a few days ago...

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42604

Conference affiliation? Ha! They are just going to announce a new independent affiliated league that is just bigger and better than they have had before.

Football? They can't even pay their staff peanuts. UT-Pan Am will not stand a chance in adding football and while the SLC allows them to present a proposal, no one in the league wants them to join the conference...