North Alabama Moves on to Div I Study

[TexasTerror]

Well, looks like we'll know in the next few months whether or not North Alabama is going to make the move to Div I. I'm guessing the Ohio Valley Conference is their likely option and they would have ample time to get a few things in order so they can apply for Div I in light of the moratorium and the deadlines associated with applying for such status.


FLORENCE — On the day six Arkansas and three Oklahoma schools announced intentions to petition the NCAA to form a new Division II athletic conference, University of North Alabama officials took another step closer to moving to Division I.

At their yearly retreat Monday, the board of trustees agreed to have university President William Cale and other school officials put together a comprehensive business plan detailing the feasibility of moving from Division II to Division I. They want the plan completed in time for the Sept. 10 board meeting.

The purpose of the plan will be to develop an idea of the cost associated with the move, understand the benchmarks the university would have to meet to see the move happen and determine community support, according to President Pro Tem Steve Pierce.

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100714/ARTICLES/307149998/1164?Title=Study-will-determine-UNA-athletics-future

[darell1976]

Well, looks like we'll know in the next few months whether or not North Alabama is going to make the move to Div I. I'm guessing the Ohio Valley Conference is their likely option and they would have ample time to get a few things in order so they can apply for Div I in light of the moratorium and the deadlines associated with applying for such status.



http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100714/ARTICLES/307149998/1164?Title=Study-will-determine-UNA-athletics-future

Back in the day they were a D2 football powerhouse. It seemed like they were playing for national title after national title. D1 would be a good fit for them.

[TheBisonator]

Looks like that big rule change in reclassification hasn't stopped more schools from wanting a piece of that DI pie...

[aztecjim]

Dumb question. Can a complete feasability study be done that quickly?

[MplsBison]

Looks like that big rule change in reclassification hasn't stopped more schools from wanting a piece of that DI pie...

I don't think they were trying to stop the biggest and best football schools in DII from moving up to FCS...it's not really that many.


I think they're were trying to stop every tiny, 2-bit school with a hoops team and a 1k arena from moving up to DI bball and getting a piece of the DI MBB tourny money.

[TheBisonator]

I don't think they were trying to stop the biggest and best football schools in DII from moving up to FCS...it's not really that many.


I think they're were trying to stop every tiny, 2-bit school with a hoops team and a 1k arena from moving up to DI bball and getting a piece of the DI MBB tourny money.

"THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE"

[TexasTerror]

Dumb question. Can a complete feasability study be done that quickly?

I do not think it would be hard. I'm sure the folks at UNA have been working on this for awhile (before the announcement) and there's pretty basic information to determining the costs and ramifications of moving to Div I. Does not seem like there would be much investigative work to be had...

[F'N Hawks]

Back in the day they were a D2 football powerhouse. It seemed like they were playing for national title after national title. D1 would be a good fit for them.

When your giving out 60 some scholarships and everyone else is giving out 36, your going to be pretty good. There is a reason they went on probation and weren't relevant for a number of years after those NC's.

[TexasTerror]

A response to the story by a UNA fan...


D2 is our home! Stop, realize it's fiscally irresponsible to change divisions and commit (publicly) to Division II!

Talk about misinformation. I'd like to know what 'problem' Mr. Flippo is speaking of because the GSC was fine before the Arkansas schools and will be fine after. I'd also like to know what fairy tale the Student Body VP is living in when stated "we've been the top of" D2 for so long? Our last national title was 7 years ago in volleyball and over 15 years in any other sport. We didn't rank in the Top 100 of D2 schools in All-Sports standings this year. Those are the facts.

I even offer that we have a lot of ground to cover in many aspects (fiscal, facilities, teams) to be considered a top Division II school. To continue to publicly study and consider 'moving up' (reclassifying) is a slap in the face to the division we should consider our home and be proud to represent.

The NCAA has awarded UNA the Division II Football Championship Game, now associated with the D2 Hall of Fame and the Harlon Hill trophy, in Florence for over 20 years because it is the stereo-typical small college town. We are the 'de facto' home of D2 football, but some aren't satisfied until we are like Jacksonville State (heard of them lately?) or Troy, who did "have a plan" but has only had mediocre success in non-football sports with their football claims-to-fame coming in sound-bytes like 'we were beating LSU in the third quarter.'

UNA is an outstanding regional university that should use moderate enrollment figures as an attribute to the learning environment and embrace the small college dynamic. That is certainly why I chose to attend.

Let this debate ensue once and for all! It seems Mr. Pierce and a few others are dead set on this happening. I, personally, can only chalk up this continued debate to a case of Little Man syndrome. Hopefully this round of discussion will repress some of that personal ambition with what is best and right for the University.

It is my hope that UNA will remain where it should be, in D2, and focus on winning more championships. It's been a while!

ROAR LIONS!

And a thread on the GSC message board - http://www.d2messageboard.com/showthread.php?t=33132

[TexasTerror]

AP article...the $12 a semester fee is really low, if you ask me. It is a school of about 7000 students. If you were to raise the fee to $100 a semester (which does not seem like much when compared to most other schools), you are making $1.4M via student fees. The other $1.6M difference between UNA and the average between OVC schools will be made up with bigger guarantees and increased revenue. You could make about $500-600k in football guarantees alone, get your hoops team to net you $250k in revenue (which is four good money games) and then find the rest elsewhere...


UNA athletic director Mark Linder said it would cost between $900,000 and $1.3 million for the three-time Division II football national champions to apply for the move.

"I don't know where the money will come from," he told The TimesDaily of Florence in a story Wednesday.

Hiking the $12-a-semester athletic fees for students could bring in part of the money.

A study commissioned by North Alabama in May 2008 showed the school's athletic budget is about $3 million less than the average program in the Ohio Valley Conference, which includes Jacksonville State.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20100714/NEWS/100714008/North+Alabama+may+move+to+Division+I

[gophoenix]

I don't think they were trying to stop the biggest and best football schools in DII from moving up to FCS...it's not really that many.


I think they're were trying to stop every tiny, 2-bit school with a hoops team and a 1k arena from moving up to DI bball and getting a piece of the DI MBB tourny money.

I love how every D-II moveup fan points the finger and says, not me basically.

So who of this group should have been stopped or prevented? These are all the moveups I could find (not startups) since

Hampton '95
Jacksonville State '95
Wofford '95
Norfolk State '97
UAPB '98
Elon '99
Albany '99
Sacred Heart '99
Alabama A&M '99
Gardner-Webb '00
Morris Brown '01 (folded)
Savannah State '02
UC-Davis '04
North Dakota State '04
South Dakota State '04
Central Arkansas '06
Winston-Salem State '06
NC Central '07
Presbyterian '07
North Dakota '08
South Dakota '08
Bryant '08

[kperk014]

When your giving out 60 some scholarships and everyone else is giving out 36, your going to be pretty good. There is a reason they went on probation and weren't relevant for a number of years after those NC's.

Now let's not go making things up and passing it off for the truth. The run in we had with the NCAA was in the mid-80s for using an ineligible player during mop-up time in blowout games. Irrelevance after that? 3 consecutive NCs in the early and mid 90s sounds relevant to me. We slipped for a couple of years after Bobby Wallace left but we've been a contender ever since Hudspeth and then Bowden came aboard. Did we whip you guys back then? What school is Sioux?

[kperk014]

I love how every D-II moveup fan points the finger and says, not me basically.

So who of this group should have been stopped or prevented? These are all the moveups I could find (not startups) since

Hampton '95
Jacksonville State '95
Wofford '95
Norfolk State '97
UAPB '98
Elon '99
Albany '99
Sacred Heart '99
Alabama A&M '99
Gardner-Webb '00
Savannah State '02
UC-Davis '04
North Dakota State '04
South Dakota State '04
Central Arkansas '06
NC Central '07
Presbyterian '07
North Dakota '08
South Dakota '08
Bryant '08

FYI, I'll point my finger and say "not us" because we really have no alternative. The GSC will only have 5 football-playing schools after this year. Unlike in the past, there are no replacements for the Arkansas 6 so it's move or quit. I've always been an advocate of moving up since the mid-80s to keep our rivalries going, not to get a piece of your pie.

[MplsBison]

I love how every D-II moveup fan points the finger and says, not me basically.

So who of this group should have been stopped or prevented? These are all the moveups I could find (not startups) since

Hampton '95
Jacksonville State '95
Wofford '95
Norfolk State '97
UAPB '98
Elon '99
Albany '99
Sacred Heart '99
Alabama A&M '99
Gardner-Webb '00
Savannah State '02
UC-Davis '04
North Dakota State '04
South Dakota State '04
Central Arkansas '06
NC Central '07
Presbyterian '07
North Dakota '08
South Dakota '08
Bryant '08

Well, how about starting at the new requirements? Could all of these schools say that they could've come up with a $1 million dollars cash for the application and already had an invitation to an established DI conference?

I know for NDSU, we did not get invited to the Mid-Continent/Summit League until a few years of being independent first. So we would've failed that criteria and who knows if that requirement would've been in place would things have been any different?

[lionsrking2]

I think North Alabama will be a strong addition to FCS football...I'm on their campus at least once a year and they definitely fit the profile...nice campus, good recruiting base, fan support and Florence is a nice college town...plus it would give SLC schools one more D-I scheduling option...wouldn't mind seeing Delta State move up as well, though they're not in as good a position as UNA, and everybody I've talked to in "Okraland" is quite content to stay D-II...though that was before the GSC landscape began to shift.

[UAalum72]

I love how every D-II moveup fan points the finger and says, not me basically.

So who of this group should have been stopped or prevented? These are all the moveups I could find (not startups) since



Of course those are just the football schools, and many here have suggested Savannah State should never have made the move or should drop back (four wins vs. Division I teams in the last eight years, never mind the new race-in-scholarship-awards thread above).

The point was that too many small schools move up for a piece of the hoops pie - in the northeast New Jersey Tech is often used as an example.

[JSU02]

Back in the day they were a D2 football powerhouse. It seemed like they were playing for national title after national title. D1 would be a good fit for them.

A major contributing factor in that was that Jax State had moved up and was no longer there to kick them out of the playoffs. Had JSU not been in there way before 1993 they could have had a couple more.

[kperk014]

A major contributing factor in that was that Jax State had moved up and was no longer there to kick them out of the playoffs. Had JSU not been in there way before 1993 they could have had a couple more.

When you won the championship, JSU beat a freshman-laden UNA team by 2 points because our kicker missed an easy field goal and 2 xtra points so it was almost 4 in a row. 2 years later, that UNA team went up to play Youngstown State who was on their way to back to back D1AA championships and lost 17-14 on a late fieldgoal. Of course UNA came over and put it on a playoff-bound JSU team in '03. From 1980 to 1986, UNA was THE team in the GSC including an appearance in the NC game. Troy and JSU were close behind us of course.

[gophoenix]

Of course those are just the football schools, and many here have suggested Savannah State should never have made the move or should drop back (four wins vs. Division I teams in the last eight years, never mind the new race-in-scholarship-awards thread above).

The point was that too many small schools move up for a piece of the hoops pie - in the northeast New Jersey Tech is often used as an example.

And, at least to me, the football schools are not the problem. Though fans at schools like App seem to think football moveups hurt their image to BCS fans.


FYI, I'll point my finger and say "not us" because we really have no alternative. The GSC will only have 5 football-playing schools after this year. Unlike in the past, there are no replacements for the Arkansas 6 so it's move or quit. I've always been an advocate of moving up since the mid-80s to keep our rivalries going, not to get a piece of your pie.

It's not my pie. Ham I could really care less about the pie. But I am really addressing the people with the complaints about the small school moveups. So, I listed all the football moveups. And I am simply saying, which ones don't belong. As far is it goes, Savannah State and Morris Brown seem like the only ones that have had real issues.

[gophoenix]

Well, how about starting at the new requirements? Could all of these schools say that they could've come up with a $1 million dollars cash for the application and already had an invitation to an established DI conference?

I know for NDSU, we did not get invited to the Mid-Continent/Summit League until a few years of being independent first. So we would've failed that criteria and who knows if that requirement would've been in place would things have been any different?

So, then the list would be narrowed by removing.... Savannah State, Morris Brown, NC Central, Winston-Salem State, UC Davis, NDSU, SDSU, UCA as far as conference affiliation. And looking at money, probably means that only the HBCUs fall off. That doesn't narrow the list down that much.

[Saint3333]

GP continues to bring ASU into the conversation for no reason at all...

[MplsBison]

So, then the list would be narrowed by removing.... Savannah State, Morris Brown, NC Central, Winston-Salem State, UC Davis, NDSU, SDSU, UCA as far as conference affiliation. And looking at money, probably means that only the HBCUs fall off. That doesn't narrow the list down that much.

Did you read my post where I said the new requirements were not aimed at keeping top DII football schools from moving to FCS?

It's about keeping the New Jersey Tech's, with their high school bball arenas, out of DI bball and getting money from the DI MBB tournament.

[darell1976]

Did you read my post where I said the new requirements were not aimed at keeping top DII football schools from moving to FCS?

It's about keeping the New Jersey Tech's, with their high school bball arenas, out of DI bball and getting money from the DI MBB tournament.

Maybe the NCAA should have attendance regulations in basketball too. Anything under X and you cannot compete at the D1 level.

[RabidRabbit]

xbandwagonx
Maybe the NCAA should have attendance regulations in basketball too. Anything under X and you cannot compete at the D1 level.xbandwagonx

Would really like to see small schools with no support not be in D-I. Centenary was/never will be competitive with Duke/Texas. If the school plays to a crowd of under 1500 consistently, then maybe they should not be D-I.

[darell1976]

xbandwagonxxbandwagonx

Would really like to see small schools with no support not be in D-I. Centenary was/never will be competitive with Duke/Texas. If the school plays to a crowd of under 1500 consistently, then maybe they should not be D-I.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/8753820042742b01b8b6be967b4a3893/Awide_Mbkbattlists.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=8753820042742b01b8b6be967b4a3893

Under that theory in 2009-2010 season for men's basketball only...83 schools did not average 1500, and 29 didn't average 1000. The lowest attendance school was 328 Nicholls St, 422 NJIT, and 477 New Orleans. BTW Kentucky lead the country with 24,111 over Syracuse with 22,152. The conferences that didn't average 1500 was the Big South, Southland, Northeast, and the Independent (which has only 6 teams not including the teams still under reclassification like the current Great West Conference).

[MplsBison]

It shouldn't apply to schools with *scholarship* football programs. If they're spending big bucks to have a proper DI football program, then ok they get a pass for have a sub-standard DI bball program.


But these tiny schools with no football or non-scholarship football that only average, maybe 1k fans per game, should be booted from DI.

[darell1976]

It shouldn't apply to schools with *scholarship* football programs. If they're spending big bucks to have a proper DI football program, then ok they get a pass for have a sub-standard DI bball program.


But these tiny schools with no football or non-scholarship football that only average, maybe 1k fans per game, should be booted from DI.

How about a I-AA basketball division?

[kperk014]

North Alabama averages about 10 to 11,000 for football even though there isn't a lot of interest in watching us play Harding, Henderson etc. Before Jax St, Troy, UT-Martin, SE Louisiana and Nichols State left the conference, we averaged close to 3,000 in basketball. With the return of higher profile names, I think attendance here will rise significantly in both sports.

I think the biggest reason UNA didn't move up several years ago was because of the National Championship game. The Shoals area and UNA like having ESPN here every year and the national exposure it brought. But staying in D2 has caused an erosion in atmosphere at UNA games. The move up would re-energize the fan base and make it fun again. When I was younger, it was exciting, walking into the stadium talking about if we can just stop this guy or get the running game going, we gotta shot. Now there's little doubt who's going to win the game (with the exception of VSU and DSU), just whether it will be over by the end of the 1st quarter. We should've made the move before this entry fee was introduced but now that is something that will be a factor.

[MplsBison]

kperk, there are plenty of schools in FCS that have poor bball programs and bball facilities. Every FCS conference has them. I don't think those schools should get kicked out of DI because they're spending big money on a proper DI football team (with close to 63 scholarships).

Again, it's these tiny schools that just play bball and get almost nothing for attendance that need to leave DI.

[MplsBison]

How about a I-AA basketball division?

If you're going to do that, then just get rid of FCS and have 4 divisions in the NCAA. FBS would be DI (with only FBS schools in DI bball), FCS/non-scholarship/no football team would be DII (with only those schools in DII bball), DII becomes DIII and DIII becomes DIV.

Before Georgetown, Villanova, etc. start screaming, I've already thought of that. If a DI conference invites a DII team, then that DII team can play up to that conference in the sports of that conference only. So if the Big East invited Georgetown, Villanova, etc. up from DII, then those schools could play in DI.

[PantherRob82]

How about a I-AA basketball division?

No way. Some of us like competing.

[darell1976]

No way. Some of us like competing.

With UNI's attendance avg over 5600 I wouldn't put your school in that category. I was thinking if you cannot average 1000 people they should be in a separate division.

[lionsrking2]

No way. Some of us like competing.

I agree, but I wouldn't mind seeing some sort of mid-major tournament come to pass...not sure how you would make it work, or if financially it would be feasible, but there are plenty of low to mid-major schools who have good seasons, but fail to win their conference tournament and don't receive an NIT bid...I realize this is getting way off topic and should file under the "other sports" board, but your post made me think about it.

[lionsrking2]

xbandwagonxxbandwagonx

Would really like to see small schools with no support not be in D-I. Centenary was/never will be competitive with Duke/Texas. If the school plays to a crowd of under 1500 consistently, then maybe they should not be D-I.

I disagree with that...if a school is willing and capable of funding a D-I program, then so be it. Besides, using attendance as a barometer is pretty iffy at best, especially when some schools pad their numbers, while others are better about counting actual butts in the seats.

[PantherRob82]

With UNI's attendance avg over 5600 I wouldn't put your school in that category. I was thinking if you cannot average 1000 people they should be in a separate division.

OK, fair enough.

[UNAPride]

UNA actually did the study two years ago and put things on hold until closer to the lift of the moratorium. Now it appears they are ready to decide and announce. I'm actually the fan that wrote the response strongly against this move that is posted here from the D2 Football site. Some of us aren't ready for this change, but it looks inevitable.

http://www.franklincountytimes.com/2010/07/21/bowden-move-to-division-i-likely/

“I believe 100 percent it is going to happen,” Bowden said.

[wr70beh]

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/8753820042742b01b8b6be967b4a3893/Awide_Mbkbattlists.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=8753820042742b01b8b6be967b4a3893

Under that theory in 2009-2010 season for men's basketball only...83 schools did not average 1500, and 29 didn't average 1000. The lowest attendance school was 328 Nicholls St, 422 NJIT, and 477 New Orleans. BTW Kentucky lead the country with 24,111 over Syracuse with 22,152. The conferences that didn't average 1500 was the Big South, Southland, Northeast, and the Independent (which has only 6 teams not including the teams still under reclassification like the current Great West Conference).

Some northeastern Division I basketball schools have small arenas. They've been playing Division I for a while.

For example, the NEC has no arena bigger than 5000 capacity, and most are in the 2000-3000 range. St. Francis (NY) has an arena that seats 1200!

The Big South has a few small arenas. Coastal Carolina plays in a 1000 seat arena, and Charleston Southern has an arena that seats 790, which is smaller than a lot of high school gyms!

[JaxSinfonian]

I'm actually the fan that wrote the response strongly against this move that is posted here from the D2 Football site. Some of us aren't ready for this change, but it looks inevitable.

Welcome to AGS, Pride. I understand your reluctance and that of some other fans. Though I admittedly don't know much about the UNA community, what I do know tells me this is probably a good move for the Lions, especially considering the demise of the GSC. UNA can benefit from the extra attention that comes from playing on a bigger stage. If a move is inevitable, the best thing skeptics like you can do is to press your administration to make sure they have a good plan in place. Jax State wandered in the wilderness for a decade or so after missing some steps and failing to convince many supporters.

You'll want to make sure UNA does more than add some scholarships and a couple of sports to meet conference and DI minimums. Facilities will need constant attention and improvement, especially those for sports other than football. Make sure administrators invest in good coaches for non-football sports, and in football assistants. Extra attention will need to be paid to marketing the program, as well.

You're well situated geographically for the OVC, and Jax State fans will be thrilled to have a familiar name on the schedule (for as long as we're here ...). I think the Lions will be a contender for the football title very quickly (Think UCA in the Southland). Invest as much as you can in basketball; the heavyweights in this league will eat you alive. With the right moves, baseball & softball can be the most cost-effective way to get attention for on-the-field success.

I don't mean to tell you what's right for UNA, only what's possible. Best of luck, whatever the board decides.

[darell1976]

Some northeastern Division I basketball schools have small arenas. They've been playing Division I for a while.

For example, the NEC has no arena bigger than 5000 capacity, and most are in the 2000-3000 range. St. Francis (NY) has an arena that seats 1200!

The Big South has a few small arenas. Coastal Carolina plays in a 1000 seat arena, and Charleston Southern has an arena that seats 790, which is smaller than a lot of high school gyms!

UND's Betty Engelstad Arena is only 3300 but if you can't have an arena that holds at least a 1000-2000 people then you should not be in D1 basketball...IMO!

[MplsBison]

UND's Betty Engelstad Arena is only 3300 but if you can't have an arena that holds at least a 1000-2000 people then you should not be in D1 basketball...IMO!

How much money is Charleston Southern spending on football? If they're non-scholarship, I agree they should not be DI with that type of non-existent bball program.

[UNAPride]

Welcome to AGS, Pride. I understand your reluctance and that of some other fans. Though I admittedly don't know much about the UNA community, what I do know tells me this is probably a good move for the Lions, especially considering the demise of the GSC. UNA can benefit from the extra attention that comes from playing on a bigger stage. If a move is inevitable, the best thing skeptics like you can do is to press your administration to make sure they have a good plan in place. Jax State wandered in the wilderness for a decade or so after missing some steps and failing to convince many supporters.

You'll want to make sure UNA does more than add some scholarships and a couple of sports to meet conference and DI minimums. Facilities will need constant attention and improvement, especially those for sports other than football. Make sure administrators invest in good coaches for non-football sports, and in football assistants. Extra attention will need to be paid to marketing the program, as well.

You're well situated geographically for the OVC, and Jax State fans will be thrilled to have a familiar name on the schedule (for as long as we're here ...). I think the Lions will be a contender for the football title very quickly (Think UCA in the Southland). Invest as much as you can in basketball; the heavyweights in this league will eat you alive. With the right moves, baseball & softball can be the most cost-effective way to get attention for on-the-field success.

I don't mean to tell you what's right for UNA, only what's possible. Best of luck, whatever the board decides.


Wow. Aren't we supposed to be bitter rivals?!? lol. And here you are acting all hospitable and offering what seems to be excellent advise. I appreciate it. It's this type of interaction that has me such a fan of D2 and our community.

My first question to you is when is the likely 'move on up' for JSU? To be quit honest, I'd prefer to be playing in FBS if we're leaving D2. That's NOTHING against the FCS or the OVC, Southland, etc. But if we're leaving our beloved (and I truly mean this) GSC behind, then I'd prefer our conference-mates be JSU, Troy, USA, UAB, MTSU, etc. And before some of you think that's snobby, I'm mainly going off of geographic proximity, name recognition in the Florence area from past rivalries or shared TV markets.

Because, overall, it's not football I'm 'worried' about. I think that's the one area at UNA where talent and tradition can overcome fiscal deficits to be successful. It's all of the other sports teams that are being thrown into the deep end with floaties that concerns me. The decision is being made for football at the expense of our other teams. We have done very well in men's basketball, volleyball, men's golf and last year had a break-out season for women's soccer. Yet, I don't see making any type of post-season runs in DI without major overhauls and heavy recruiting. I hope our admin. takes a path similar to what you suggest with focusing on the supports of the system.

[JaxSinfonian]

Wow. Aren't we supposed to be bitter rivals?!?

Hey, I respect anyone who is as loyal to his alma mater as I am to mine. Except for Troy. Those people can go $%#&@ a #@$% in the $@#! Seriously, though, we're so starved for a bitter rival down here in Jacksonville we're talking smack to people in Charleston, Ill. The closest it got in a long while was Samford, and that wasn't very close. They eventually decided they'd rather be a middle-of-the-pack SoCon team than get walloped by the Gamecocks every year and sit in the OVC's basement (All in good fun, Bulldogs fans, I assure you.) Now they won't play us anymore. Trust me, if UNA winds up in the OVC, you'll be greeted here as liberators.


My first question to you is when is the likely 'move on up' for JSU?

Good question. Our trustees probably got ahead of themselves with the Sun Belt talk a couple of years ago. The SBC's not really in need of new members, and we're probably not the most attractive candidate available anyway. We likely have several non-football facilities upgrades to make before we're near the top of their list. I've seen small steps making some of those improvements, but I think we're at least five years away from them thinking about making us an offer, and they're the only conference that's realistically going to consider us.


To be quit honest, I'd prefer to be playing in FBS if we're leaving D2. That's NOTHING against the FCS or the OVC, Southland, etc. But if we're leaving our beloved (and I truly mean this) GSC behind, then I'd prefer our conference-mates be JSU, Troy, USA, UAB, MTSU, etc. And before some of you think that's snobby, I'm mainly going off of geographic proximity, name recognition in the Florence area from past rivalries or shared TV markets.

Nothing wrong with that. Dream-conference building is one of AGS's favorite pastimes.


Because, overall, it's not football I'm 'worried' about. I think that's the one area at UNA where talent and tradition can overcome fiscal deficits to be successful. It's all of the other sports teams that are being thrown into the deep end with floaties that concerns me.

Bingo. If your administration doesn't take care of these things, they'll need good, constructive criticism from real supporters to re-direct their attention. No one likes to be yelled at by angry people, so it's probably more effective to be seen as loyal but concerned (and willing to help). Don't think, however, that allowing football to fend for itself is the right thing to do, either. There'll be lots of development needed there to make UNA a regular national contender. Or so I assume; we're not there yet, ourselves.

[Redbirdz]

Not to disagree with Sinfonian but I would expect a move by JVST to FBS at the earliest opportunity after the moratorium is lifted next year. Just as soon as some of the current Sunbelt teams move elsewhere, i.e. North Texas State, look for it. Those talks are more serious than you may know.

[TexasTerror]

Report...

http://media.al.com/live/other/unadivision1.pdf

[kperk014]

Report...

http://media.al.com/live/other/unadivision1.pdf

The nay-sayers around the Shoals area keep complaining about the costs of which we are all aware but I keep thinking about what Johnny Williams said a few weeks back. Williams is a former Lion who as AD at Troy, guided them to where they are now. He said "you're either green and growing or you are ripe and rotting." While I don't think UNA has reached a rotting stage, we've been stagnant athletically since the late '90s.

Even when the GSC included Troy, Jax State, UT-M, SE Louisiana and Nichols State, we were one of the dominant programs in D2 beginning in the late '70s with our first national championship in basketball, through the '80s we constantly made deep runs in the NCAA tourney until we won it all again in '91. Our football program made the playoffs consistantly in the '80s, reaching the Championship Game in '85 and in the '90s, won 3 in a row. The baseball team was always at or near the top of the GSC.

Since the late '90s, I feel like we've been spinning our wheels and slipping in all sports because of the lack of enthusiasm and excitement in the shrinking D2 presence in the South. Personally, there's rarely a football game where I'm worrying about "stopping so and so" or "can we do this or that" to win the game. That's not exciting. To me these victories are hollow and it's reflected in crowd support. Even though we draw from 9,000 to 12,000 for these boring games, it's as quiet as an empty library. I'm not naive. I know that wins will be tougher to come by if we move up but I see it this way: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.