Incarnate Word to Division I?

[TexasTerror]

Thanks to JoshUCA for providing this article and it's definitely worth keeping an eye on for Southland schools and others in the region...

Basically if the LSC rejects UIW, the President feels there is no other option than going Division I, particularly into the Southland. They can have the spot occupied by Texas State-San Marcos or UTSA, as one of them seems likely to leave the league. It'd keep the SLC in that area, though they'd have to pour even more money in...


He's the mastermind, the unquestioned leader of the school's unprecedented growth in recent years.

So when University of the Incarnate Word president Louis Agnese, awash in pride over his new football team, suggests taking UIW's athletics programs into NCAA Division I by 2012, it's not a surprise.

“We're not that little college at the corner of Broadway and Hildebrand anymore,” he said.

UIW and Division I?

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/local_colleges/29778834.html

[TexasTerror]

Thread on D2 board about it...

http://www.d2messageboard.com/showthread.php?t=14127

[TexasTerror]

Any of our Div II fans or those in the state of Texas know anything new on this front? With UTSA adding football, UIW got some mention in the media as well, as they are nearing kickoff.

[Go...gate]

Agree with the one commenter that Tom Benson should spend money on making ICW a top academic school before it becomes a "football school". Have to say I agree. Not everybody can do what Liberty did as fast as Liberty did.

[henfan]

Word... up.

[TexasTerror]

UIW will join the Lonestar Conference. They will not be coming to the Southland, but this really helps UIW as a football program, giving them the necessary boost needed.

With UTSA coming online, the "market" just got much more cluttered for those schools not named the University of Texas in the San Antonio-Austin "region".

It's going to be a fight for sponsorship dollars. UIW has Tom Benson in their corner. UTSA is viewed as the next USF or UCF and are actually in San Antonio. Throw in TXST...should be interesting...


The Lone Star Conference will expand to 16 member institutions as league officials announced Tuesday the University of Incarnate Word has accepted an invitation to join the conference in July 2010.

The Lone Star Conference Council of Presidents gathered at the NCAA Convention in Washington D.C. on January 16 for their annual winter meeting, where they unanimously voted to extend an invitation to the University of Incarnate Word.

"Our expansion committee's recommendation was to invite Incarnate Word, both because they satisfy the primary needs of the Conference and they present an opportunity for mutual gain," said LSC Commissioner Stan Wagnon. "For our Presidents to approve that recommendation unanimously speaks to the value we believe UIW brings as a new member. Incarnate Word is a great fit for our membership on a number of levels, but most importantly because of the way they fit with regard to academic reputation, sports sponsorship, and geographic and economic viability."

http://www.lonestarconference.org/sports/LSC/2008-09/news/090120_UIWjoinLSC

[TexasTerror]

No Div I for UIW, but they drew over 6200 for their first game. Solid numbers. SRO!

They love their college football in San Antonio. I think UTSA will draw well...


As they might say in West Texas, “the joint was jumpin’” when a standing-room only crowd of 6,235 surged through the gates at Benson Stadium to be a part of history. And with the faithful cheering near every move by the Cardinals, a turning point might have come less than four minutes into the contest.

http://www.cardinalathletics.com/news/2009/8/30/FB_0830094425.aspx

[dgreco]

No Div I for UIW, but they drew over 6200 for their first game. Solid numbers. SRO!

They love their college football in San Antonio. I think UTSA will draw well...



http://www.cardinalathletics.com/news/2009/8/30/FB_0830094425.aspx

I thought a year ago the word was no acceptance into LSC would send them DI, but since they got into the LSC they will stay. I think they have a chance to be a top DII team.

[TexasTerror]

I thought a year ago the word was no acceptance into LSC would send them DI, but since they got into the LSC they will stay. I think they have a chance to be a top DII team.

Correct. The story about going Div I was old, but I was commenting on the fact they drew a nice crowd and mentioning that San Antonio will support college football since this is the first Div I or II team in the city.

[dgreco]

I think it bodes well for UTSA in the future since UIW did a great job drawing for DII

[W. DeMontague]

They can have the spot occupied by Texas State-San Marcos or UTSA, as one of them seems likely to leave the league.





Remind me again where these schools would likely end up at if one or both do leave?

[TexasTerror]

Remind me again where these schools would likely end up at if one or both do leave?

Sun Belt.
WAC.
Mountain West.
C-USA.

These are the four conferences talked about the most.

[Big Al]

They'd have no chance getting into the Mountain West.

[chrisattsu]

They'd have no chance getting into the Mountain West.

I really don't think anyone in the TxSt or UTSA camps is seriously talking about joining the MWC.

Both fanbases would like to see a CUSA-invite, but I do not think it is likely.

From a Texas State perspective, I think our best shots are the SBC or the WAC.

The Sun Belt is stable, but during the offseason there has been considerable expansion talk. The Western SBC Schools would like to see Texas State or Missouri State get nod, while the eastern schools are in favor of a Georgia school.

The WAC's commish stated that they will not expand at their last media days. However, they will have to when Boise leaves. It is just a matter of how they want to expand. If they want to get more regionalized as some current members have stated, then I except them to go after UC Davis, Cal Poly, Sac State, or Montana.

However if they want to expand the eastern half of the conference to create a true two-divsion league then Texas State and UTSA could be a good addition.

[EmeryZach]

Is there something wrong with me that I have never heard of Incarnate Word?

[GeauxColonels]

Is there something wrong with me that I have never heard of Incarnate Word?
Nah. I'm a Southland Conference follower and I never head of them until the talk of them possibly trying to get into the SLC.

[W. DeMontague]

I can see the WAC happening in order to have a presence in Texas and to keep La Tech somewhat happy.

Definitely see the Sun Belt. North Texas would be really happy to have another Texas school.

[chrisattsu]

Is there something wrong with me that I have never heard of Incarnate Word?

No,

The University of the Incarnate Word is a private, catholic university in San Antonio, Texas. They have less than 10,000 students and until this past season played in the D2 Heartland Conference.

Tom Benson, a San Antonio businessman and owner of the New Orleans Saints, wrote UIW a seemingly-'blank' check to start a football program.

Their goal was to join the Division 2 Lone Star Conference which has teams throughout Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. However, the LSC wasn't looking at expansion. At that point, rumors started to speculate that they would jump to D1 and try to get a SLC bid.

At the last minute, the LSC decided it was in their best interest to add UIW and the San Antonio media market to the fold.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The University of the Incarnate Word is a private, catholic university...

Patriot League? xeyebrowx


...in San Antonio, Texas. They have less than 10,000 students and until this past season played in the D2 Heartland Conference.

Tom Benson, a San Antonio businessman and owner of the New Orleans Saints, wrote UIW a seemingly-'blank' check to start a football program.

Oops. Never mind. Seriously, if they were in Maryland, the Patriot League would be all over them as a potential candidate.

[ncguitarplyr]

I'm currently stationed in San Antonio

There are billboards everywhere about TX State trying to go FBS and they are the "big" school in town (San Marcos is basically just East San Antonio), I live in San Antonio and I'm actually closer to TX State than I am to UTSA

UIW is pretty small and I would have a hard time seeing them even being in the FCS, UTSA isn't big but is growing fast and I bet they could do ok in the FCS, TX State has the potential to do well in the FBS with a good name/location but they're just not that big yet

[TexasTerror]

Congrats to UIW on joining their new conference today...


An intense effort spanning the past few years came to fruition on January 16, 2010, when the president’s council of the Lone Star Conference (LSC) voted to invite Incarnate Word to its membership.

The specified date is officially here, July 1, 2010. UIW is the 16th member-school for the league which has nearly 80 years of history behind it.

The Lone Star Conference sponsors championships in 16 sports, eight men’s and eight women’s. Incarnate Word will be the sole member to compete in all 16. UIW also will continue its programs in men’s and women’s swimming (Rocky Mountain Conference) and in synchronized swimming.

http://www.cardinalathletics.com/news/2010/7/1/GEN_0701105856.aspx

[DG Cowboy]

Hope, for his sake, that Mike Santiago has a better gig at UIW than he did at SFA and SUU. Or is he gone already?

[TexasTerror]

Hope, for his sake, that Mike Santiago has a better gig at UIW than he did at SFA and SUU. Or is he gone already?

He went 5-5 in year one of the program. Of the five losses, there were by 5 points or less (including the final two games of the year). We'll see how they do with a LSC schedule next year with the competition taken up a notch...

[Bogus Megapardus]

I don't know much about Incarnate Word, but I know that they're now in the same conference as Abilene Christian, which is place for which I have gained an abiding respect. I have a colleague who is an Abilene Christian alum here in New Jersey whom I admire and he speaks very highly of his alma mater. It's impressive when a small college like Incarnate Word sees the benefit of sponsoring a variety of sports in order to provide its students with a range of opportunities. If it is like my alma mater, all the athletes, in whatever sport, support and encourage the others to the fullest. I've now put Incarnate Word's games on my Outlook and I will be sure to follow their progress this year. Thanks for alerting me to this, and good luck to the Cardinals!

[Longhorn]

I'm currently stationed in San Antonio

There are billboards everywhere about TX State trying to go FBS and they are the "big" school in town (San Marcos is basically just East San Antonio), I live in San Antonio and I'm actually closer to TX State than I am to UTSA

UIW is pretty small and I would have a hard time seeing them even being in the FCS, UTSA isn't big but is growing fast and I bet they could do ok in the FCS, TX State has the potential to do well in the FBS with a good name/location but they're just not that big yet

Huh? I take it you're not a native of San Antonio and are serving in the military. To set the record straight, TXST may be the "big school" in San Marcos...is that what you're trying to say? Because while TXST is well thought of by folks in SA, it most certainly isn't the "big school" in San Antonio, which is how your post reads.

And as for the comment/notion that "UTSA isn't big but is growing fast"...check again. UTSA is already a large school, bordering on 30k students. It is also the dominant public university in San Antonio, has been for a couple decades, and is poised to become even more so with the advent of D1 football.

[dirty bird]

There are billboards everywhere about TX State trying to go FBS and they are the "big" school in town (San Marcos is basically just East San Antonio), I live in San Antonio and I'm actually closer to TX State than I am to UTSA



I hate to beat the dead horse here, buuut, there are way many more UTSA billboards in the city [a city of 407 square miles] than Texas State. Not only that, but I was in the military too and I know that map skills are very important. So to state that San Marcos is East San Antonio, is not only factually incorrect, but also a bit humorous. San Marcos is around 40 minutes north of the outer reaches of SA. To get there, you have to pass a bunch of suburbs, a big town in New Braunfels and then you see it. There are many Texas State fans here - and the school does enjoy a better reputation than it did 20 years ago, however, as Longhorn posted, the dominant public school is UTSA, since it has three campuses, two downtown and one in a very cosmpolitan part of the city [six flags, neiman marcus, la canter, the rim, etc].

[Bogus Megapardus]

Do they really have college billboards in Texas? Talk about culture differences. We all ought to have an FCS summit meeting at a nice centrally-located pub somewhere to so we can all get on the same page. Aside from the University of Phoenix or some such thing, you'll never see a billboard promoting respectable college in the northeast. I think its because colleges here somehow think they should just be "known," not advertised.

These kind of culture differences probably play a role in the extreme perceptions expressed on this board. That's the great thing about this board - we all played football somewhere, and we all just wanted to win. Yet I still wonder what it would be like if I had gone to a southern school (Elon and Rice both wanted me to attend, as I recall correctly, but I never applied). Maybe I wouldn't continue to come across as such an elitist pr*ck if I did.

[dirty bird]

Do they really have college billboards in Texas? Talk about culture differences. We all ought to have an FCS summit meeting at a nice centrally-located pub somewhere to so we can all get on the same page. Aside from the University of Phoenix or some such thing, you'll never see a billboard promoting respectable college in the northeast. I think its because colleges here somehow think they should just be "known," not advertised.


You do see college billboards, but honestly, I would say that UTSA has about 5 - 7 in the city, and to date, I have only seen one from Texas State.
UTSA has only been around for 41 years, teaching for about 36 years, and playing sports since 1981. So it's a very young school and I suspect, that ads are the way to get the name across a state with tons of schools. San Antonio alone has 5 junior colleges, and three other universities besides UTSA. It's a crowded field, and we have to standout somehow. Hopefully [really really hoping] fielding a competitive football team will help do that as well.

[Bogus Megapardus]

Hopefully (really really hoping) fielding a competitive football team will help do that as well.

Up here around Princeton, NJ you see ads about certain esoteric graduate programs, even some from Harvard, Yale or Columbia at times, printed in sections of the New York Times or Forbes. It's always really discreet. I'm pretty certain that I've never seen a billboard advertising a college football team. A small college like Lafayette maybe could do more to imbed the the school's identity in the minds of prospective college recruits. A lot of football players across the nation played H.S ball New Jersey. Even so, I can tell you for sure that there is a negative visceral mindset about advertising.

The cognitive differences about advertising between different parts of the country would make for an great forum discussion on AGS.

[TexasTerror]

Do they really have college billboards in Texas? Talk about culture differences. We all ought to have an FCS summit meeting at a nice centrally-located pub somewhere to so we can all get on the same page. Aside from the University of Phoenix or some such thing, you'll never see a billboard promoting respectable college in the northeast. I think its because colleges here somehow think they should just be "known," not advertised.

My favorite is going south on I-45 from Huntsville to Houston and see a SHSU billboard - just before seeing an SFA one! :) SHSU has them in Houston, Conroe, The Woodlands, Huntsville and Dallas - I believe.

Got them here in New Orleans too. See ones for Tulane and UNO all over the place, particularly their continuing education and MBA programs.

[TheBisonator]

Up here around Princeton, NJ you see ads about certain esoteric graduate programs, even some from Harvard, Yale or Columbia at times, printed in sections of the New York Times or Forbes. It's always really discreet. I'm pretty certain that I've never seen a billboard advertising a college football team. A small college like Lafayette maybe could do more to imbed the the school's identity in the minds of prospective college recruits. A lot of football players across the nation played H.S ball New Jersey. Even so, I can tell you for sure that there is a negative visceral mindset about advertising.

The cognitive differences about advertising between different parts of the country would make for an great forum discussion on AGS.

You see billboards advertising universities here in the upper midwest. Everything from technical colleges to the U of Minn. NDSU has billboards all across the state of ND. There's even an NDSU billboard on one of the main interchanges in Fargo that advertises the football team for half the year. I'm surprised that doesn't happen in the northeast, what with New Jersey being the billboard capital of the US and all.

[chrisattsu]

You do see college billboards, but honestly, I would say that UTSA has about 5 - 7 in the city, and to date, I have only seen one from Texas State.
UTSA has only been around for 41 years, teaching for about 36 years, and playing sports since 1981. So it's a very young school and I suspect, that ads are the way to get the name across a state with tons of schools. San Antonio alone has 5 junior colleges, and three other universities besides UTSA. It's a crowded field, and we have to standout somehow. Hopefully [really really hoping] fielding a competitive football team will help do that as well.

I remember seeing LSU, UNT, and Texas Tech billboards in San Antonio a few years ago. I don't see many Texas State billboards around the Alamo City. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is on 35 Northbound between 410 and 1604.

I will say that Texas State has done a piss-poor job of marketing itself. As a high school senior, I had no idea that the school existed. They didn't recruit in my area of the state, and nobody I knew went down there.

[TexasTerror]

Wait a moment... time to 'bump' this thread back up!


The University of the Incarnate Word is actively considering plans that could lead to Division I athletic status within three years.

UIW President Lou Agnese said Friday the Cardinals are considering joining the Southland Conference after less than two years in the Division II Lone Star Conference.

UIW's interest in Division I is a calculated move by Agnese to “extend the brand” of his school, which has mushroomed in enrollment during his tenure as leader.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/article/UIW-s-football-goal-Division-I-2175261.php#ixzz1YJW5pyqi

[DFW HOYA]

When was the last private school in the SLC, Trinity?

[TexasTerror]

Funny how we were talking about this in 2008... now talking about it in 2011.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?102776-Incarnate-Word-approves-move-to-Division-I/

To answer DFW HOYA's question - league now has two privates in HBU and Oral Roberts.

[TheBisonator]

Do they really have college billboards in Texas? Talk about culture differences. We all ought to have an FCS summit meeting at a nice centrally-located pub somewhere to so we can all get on the same page. Aside from the University of Phoenix or some such thing, you'll never see a billboard promoting respectable college in the northeast. I think its because colleges here somehow think they should just be "known," not advertised.

These kind of culture differences probably play a role in the extreme perceptions expressed on this board. That's the great thing about this board - we all played football somewhere, and we all just wanted to win. Yet I still wonder what it would be like if I had gone to a southern school (Elon and Rice both wanted me to attend, as I recall correctly, but I never applied). Maybe I wouldn't continue to come across as such an elitist pr*ck if I did.

NDSU has billboards all around Fargo and the state of ND promoting the school and FB team. Though a lot of Bison fans seem to think that there's not enough of the billboards around the state.

Here's a billboard from 2008 or 09 on the corner of 25th Street and I-94 (It was our worst ad campaign in a decade since the whole "Scream Yellow" fiasco)

http://www.flint-group.com/uploads/NDSU_Athletics_Billboard_2_LG.jpg

[kdinva]

Mack Brown may want to add UIW as an O.O.C. game by 2017 or thereabouts........

[TheBisonator]

You see billboards advertising universities here in the upper midwest. Everything from technical colleges to the U of Minn. NDSU has billboards all across the state of ND. There's even an NDSU billboard on one of the main interchanges in Fargo that advertises the football team for half the year. I'm surprised that doesn't happen in the northeast, what with New Jersey being the billboard capital of the US and all.

How come I see my name next to this post?? I didn't post this!! I think TwentySix did.