Division I Add/Drop Football Speculation

[Burmy]

Just to stir the pot, I thought up two questions:

1. Which Division I teams which have NOT already announced the addition of football (so ETSU or Kennesaw State don't count) do you think will be next to add it? (either on the FBS or FCS level)

2. Which FBS or FCS teams do you feel are most likely to drop football?

Give some good reasoning for your theories...I (and the university president) agrees that it's only a matter of time before football comes to High Point...Winthrop also seems on solid enough footing to start one up soon (and the Big South could use some stability as a football conference).

As for dropping football, FCS-wise, I could see Davidson, Valparaiso, Campbell or Morehead State making the move (their teams haven't been contenders in about a decade and they seem to have difficulty scheduling opponents-Morehead State's loss to Pikeville seals the embarrassment). FBS-wise, the twin vagabonds in Idaho and New Mexico State I could see just deciding they're tired of the whole mess.

[Seadragon76]

To answer your questions...

1. I'd love to see Nebraska-Omaha return to the football field, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon (largely because UNL is petty)

2. Can't really see anyone drop the sport at the time. Your choices are all schools that are very happy in the Pioneer League, which is basically a D-III league with FCS schools. No way those schools would give up the scholarship free route just to drop it.

[LAWeaver]

If anything, I could see Idaho and/or Mexico State drop to FCS. They may actually win some games then

[rams80]

Yeah, the PFL schools' incompetence is by choice. Back in the early 1990s the NCAA passed legislation dictating that if a school was primarily in Division I, all of its sports had to play at the Division I level. (A.K.A. the "Georgetown Rule".) As a result, you had a general push among Division I schools that had been playing D-III football and for which just dropping football would piss off the alumni to set up I-AA football leagues that allowed them to maintain the D-III scholarship model. So yeah, they aren't dropping football.

There were rumors a few years back that Evansville was kicking the tires on football.

[buzzcut]

1. Since it seems everyone in the Atlantic Sun is adding football, why not Florida Gulf Coast? There's plenty of top-flight talent around Fort Myers, it'd be a mistake not to add it. Also look out for someone like Grand Canyon to consider adding it.

2. I don't see many schools dropping football, so this question is moot to me.

[dfwabel]

FGCU published a feasibility study regarding football in 2011.

Then it was estimated that it would cost between $81-140M for them to start a FCS football program. They would also have to increase women's sports by at least two sports.

[Burkell007]

As for dropping football, FCS-wise, I could see Davidson, Valparaiso, Campbell or Morehead State making the move (their teams haven't been contenders in about a decade and they seem to have difficulty scheduling opponents-Morehead State's loss to Pikeville seals the embarrassment). FBS-wise, the twin vagabonds in Idaho and New Mexico State I could see just deciding they're tired of the whole mess.

No way Campbell drops football seeing as they just launched it 3 years ago??

[sc49erfan15]

No way Davidson or Campbell are dropping.

High Point's new president has been pouring $ into the campus, it's changed drastically since I saw my first game there in 2007. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make an announcement within the next few years.

Winthrop just got a new president this year, and word behind the scenes is that she wants football. There have been a few closed-door meetings that have reportedly been about bringing football to WU. I don't know the ins and outs with Title IX, but WU just added women's lacrosse last year, so that's theoretically one less sport to add. I wouldn't be surprised to see Winthrop announce football in the next 5 years or so either.

[dfwabel]

No way Davidson or Campbell are dropping.

High Point's new president has been pouring $ into the campus, it's changed drastically since I saw my first game there in 2007. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make an announcement within the next few years.

Winthrop just got a new president this year, and word behind the scenes is that she wants football. There have been a few closed-door meetings that have reportedly been about bringing football to WU. I don't know the ins and outs with Title IX, but WU just added women's lacrosse last year, so that's theoretically one less sport to add. I wouldn't be surprised to see Winthrop announce football in the next 5 years or so either.

To quickly summarize, there is a three prong test for compliance but the first prong, Participation, is what is looked at the most by media. To meet the Participation prong, a school must meet one of the following three requirements:

1- Proportionality*: By showing that the number of female athletes is in proportion to overall female enrollment.

2- History and Continuing Practice: By demonstrating a history of expanding opportunities for women. (What a school did 20-25 years ago does not meet a "continuing practice")

3- Effectively Accommodating Interests and Abilities: By proving that they are meeting the athletic interests and abilities of their female students.

*-This can even be met by using male student-athletes who practice against women, because as a women's sport, the men "count" as females. Most of the WBB programs practice against guys for this reason.

When it comes to college sports, the most simple Title IX explanation comes from the Womens Sports Foundation

[illwauk]

As for dropping football, FCS-wise, I could see Davidson, Valparaiso, Campbell or Morehead State making the move (their teams haven't been contenders in about a decade and they seem to have difficulty scheduling opponents-Morehead State's loss to Pikeville seals the embarrassment). FBS-wise, the twin vagabonds in Idaho and New Mexico State I could see just deciding they're tired of the whole mess.

So basically, the teams that play non-scholarship football.

[Seadragon76]

As for dropping football, FCS-wise, I could see Davidson, Valparaiso, Campbell or Morehead State making the move (their teams haven't been contenders in about a decade and they seem to have difficulty scheduling opponents-Morehead State's loss to Pikeville seals the embarrassment). FBS-wise, the twin vagabonds in Idaho and New Mexico State I could see just deciding they're tired of the whole mess.

So basically, the teams that play non-scholarship football.

Yep. In fact, the entire Pioneer League is non-scholarship. That was the end result of the 'Georgetown Rule' rams mentioned earlier.

[illwauk]

To answer your questions...

1. I'd love to see Nebraska-Omaha return to the football field, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon (largely because UNL is petty)

UWM doesn't have football for the same reason... UW-Madison knows the strides "little brother" has made academically, they know what a draw Milwaukee's Eastside is for young people (Why settle for State Street when you can have Brady Street, North Avenue, and all there is in the rest of a city three times Madison's size?), and they know one of the few true advantages they have left is the ability to offer the All-American college football gameday experience.

[Burkell007]

so why dont all the club teams play in the pioneer conference???

[rams80]

so why dont all the club teams play in the pioneer conference???

Because club teams aren't paid for by the athletic department.