I-AA Non-Scholarship Football is Growing by Leaps and Bounds!!

[DetroitFlyer]

http://www.campbell.edu/football/CUFootballRelease.pdf

The PFL has already lined up a replacement for Austin Peay!

[*****]

not so fast, nothing has been decided yet! :)

[rokamortis]

not so fast, nothing has been decided yet! :)

The quote from their AD pretty much said that they didn't want to pay for scholarships and wanted in the PFL. Do you know something contrary to this? I would rather that the Camels get some schollies and play in the Big South.

[*****]

The quote from their AD pretty much said that they didn't want to pay for scholarships and wanted in the PFL. Do you know something contrary to this? I would rather that the Camels get some schollies and play in the Big South.They want in the PFL is what I meant but no official invite has been publicized yet. They are definetly going non-schollie.

[nlwwln]

they should really think about changing that nickname, im pretty open minded but the camels?

[Doo Cane 4 ever]

Duquesne should jump ship from the MAAC and get into the Pioneer League. It makes sense geographically, no need to add scholarships, facilities will be acceptable and it would make a welcome change from playing Iona, St. Peters, & LaSalle which is glorified high school football at its best.

[carney2]

they should really think about changing that nickname, im pretty open minded but the camels?

Correction: it's the Fighting Camels don't ya know. I guess if you put "Fightin'" in front of anything it is a legit mascot name. The Fightin' Eggplants, the Fightin' Toads, etc.

[*****]

Duquesne should jump ship from the MAAC and get into the Pioneer League. It makes sense geographically, no need to add scholarships, facilities will be acceptable and it would make a welcome change from playing Iona, St. Peters, & LaSalle which is glorified high school football at its best.Wow! Smacking on the MAAC pretty hard aren't you? That talk belongs on the smack board, not here. What makes you think the PFL wants to expand?

[DetroitFlyer]

The Pioneer Football League, ( PFL ), was named as such with a purpose. That purpose? To promote 1-AA non-scholarship football in the void created by the NCAA via the "Dayton rule". Hence the term "pioneer" as the first 1-AA non-scholarship league.... As such, I think the PFL is ALWAYS open to expansion. Since there has not been a new, 1-AA non-scholarship program since 1998 when Jacksonville joined the PFL, suffice it to say that expansion has been a bit slow. Although Ralph is technically right in that the PFL has not publically invited Campbell to join, I seriously doubt that Campbell would be mentioning the PFL in their press releases if the formal invite was anything more than a formality! I hope Campbell's move encourages other schools that have been sitting on the fence to get in the game by bringing back football or starting football.

[*****]

http://media.libsyn.com/media/iaawaves/20060328show.mp3 is where the Viverito interview is from less than two weeks ago... I have a feeling that the PFL is not doling out invites to any new non-schollie. It's a process either way, not just a formality. She did say the landscape changes quickly so you never know, an "evolving creature" is how the commissioner describes the PFL.

[dbackjon]

Congrats to Campbell - always good to see more I-AA in the South, even at the non-schollie level.

[*****]

Maybe we'll get another conference out of this?

[wannabegaucho]

Then where would San Diego go?

[*****]

USD stays in the PFL or goes schollie/grant and forms a western conference with NAU/Sac St/UCD/etc. :)

[Lehigh Football Nation]

San Diego --> Great West

[Stang Fever]

San Diego needs to come on over to the GWFC...i mean its a perfect fit

[Go...gate]

I still have to think Duquesne will end up in the Pioneer, if the MAAC keps disintegrating.

[HensRock]

...Pioneer League. It makes sense geographically...

Does Not Compute. PFL is the poster child for "geographically challenged" conferences.

[gophoenix]

Camels get some schollies and play in the Big South

Not sure that the Big South would even take them as an affiliate member. They kind of burned their bridge when they left to go to the TAAC in the mid-90s.

Also, Campbell is a school heavy on females (ratio is higher than Elon, Davidson, Furman and Wofford) and runs in price between Elon and Furman without some of the big donors despite the law and pharmacy school. To fund a full scholarship football programs would require adding some women's sports and cutting some men's sports to keep their financial and title ix balance.

[Sly Fox]

I'll bet the Big South would take them as an affiliate member in football. Playing on Sundays would not be an issue. Frankly, when you look at the travel costs in the PFL, competing in the Big South even with a small number of scholies should loom attractive to Campbell in the short term while they decide how serious they are about football.

[gophoenix]

competing in the Big South even with a small number of scholies should loom attractive to Campbell in the short term while they decide how serious they are about football

And would the Big South take them??? I mean, do you want another Charleston Southern type program for years to come. It only took them 15 years to get their act together, but before that, it was a joke that made the league look bad.

I was close to the Campbell athletic department 5 years ago when they first were investigating this and there is next to no way that they will be playing at a scholarship level remotely close to what the rest of us do. That athletic department is not funded well and to be honest (look at how bad they've been in most sports the past 10 years) and plus they are 1 hour from Fayetteville, 1 hour from Raleigh, 2 hours from Greensboro..... and if you've ever been to Buies Creek, then you'd know that where Gardner-Webb is seems like a metropolis.....

So what happens when High Point announces their non-scholarship program too? That rumor is running wild around High Point, especially with them tearing down the old football turned soccer stadium and building a new athletic complex with good field house. Plus people I know inside the school say non-scholarship football is supposed to be annouced at some point soon.

Does the Big South want 2 non-scholarship schools to dilute the SoS even more? Or would you rather try to lure in Delaware St, Hampton, NC A&T, SC State, Florida A&M or some other schools like that who are fed up with the MEAC.

[faxjusfax]

So what happens when High Point announces their non-scholarship program too? That rumor is running wild around High Point,

Another non-scholly on the horizon? Wow, the Pioneer league has a bright future, all of a sudden. We now have to bolster the MAAC. Seton Hall, where are you?

[*****]

As for the topic, the PFL lost APSU this year so D-I non-scholly is -1 for 2006.

[gophoenix]

Why don't the MAAC schools just merge into the Pioneer or NEC? With Stony Brook and Albany leaving, the NEC will be hurting and the MAAC is already below 6.

Or hey, they should all just start scholarship ball, man up, and face the facts of playing the rest of us.

Nothing would make schools want to step up worse than getting creamed by lots of schools for a few years straight.

[*****]

... Nothing would make schools want to step up worse than getting creamed by lots of schools for a few years straight.MAAC and PFL, as the only non-scholly conferences keep football on campus. Getting creamed for a few years straight just might kill it.

[Thumper250]

Word on the streets is that Lipscom in Nashville will add non scholarship football too in the near future. Kennsaw State from that same conference (TAAC) apparently has IA football plans as well in the future. I guess they would look to the Sun Belt if they go IA out of the gate

[dbackjon]

Word on the streets is that Lipscom in Nashville will add non scholarship football too in the near future. Kennsaw State from that same conference (TAAC) apparently has IA football plans as well in the future. I guess they would look to the Sun Belt if they go IA out of the gate

What street are you getting the Lipscomb info? Personally, I think it would be a perfect fit for Lipscomb - the associated HS has an excellent football program, and a field that could be relatively cheaply upgraded to miniminal collegiate standards. This would also allow Lipscomb to stand out a little from it's rival, Belmont.

[gophoenix]

Are you sure it is Lipscomb, I heard Belmont.... but who I heard it from may have just been mistaken.

[DFW HOYA]

Or hey, they should all just start scholarship ball, man up, and face the facts of playing the rest of us.


Easy when a year (in state) at Austin Peay costs approx. $5,500 per athlete. Not so easy when a year at Georgetown will cost $48,000. Multiply that by 63, double it for Title IX, and therein lies the disparity.

[gophoenix]

Easy when a year (in state) at Austin Peay costs approx. $5,500 per athlete. Not so easy when a year at Georgetown will cost $48,000. Multiply that by 63, double it for Title IX, and therein lies the disparity.


Yes, but Georgetown has a lot more money than some of the other school who can manage.

Elon at $30k
Wofford at $32k
Furman at $34k
Samford at $25k
Hofstra at $33k
Richmond at $41k
Hampton at $22k

But.....
Davidson at $37k
Georgetown at $44k

I just don't see the argument to be honest. How can the others afford it, but Georgetown, having a big basketball program and money coming in from that, can't? And now, I see even less of Davidson's argument....

Those first 7 schools listed all have big time tuition bills to match with Title IX and still have to compete head to head against much cheaper schools...

[DFW HOYA]

I just don't see the argument to be honest. How can the others afford it, but Georgetown, having a big basketball program and money coming in from that, can't?

With very high rents for off-campus facilities, Georgetown is the only school in a BCS-level conference that actually loses money on basketball (see below). Basketball is not floating the bill for football.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/15/commentary/column_sportsbiz/sportsbiz/?cnn=yes