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Post by uscg2012 on Oct 23, 2018 19:17:39 GMT -6
Is this realistic? Thoughts?
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Post by gbbrl97 on Oct 24, 2018 10:49:38 GMT -6
Until an exploratory committee is formed to formally look into this, I won't believe this will happen. With the comments made by Charles Guthrie (who's off to a good start so far), it looks like a trail balloon to see what kind of community response he would get. However, if this pipe dream were to happen, I would have some questions:
1. Do we have historical data on the correlation of forming a D1 football program (FCS and or FBS) and increasing student enrollments? I know the comments were regarding a non-scholarship FCS program (see Drake, Butler, and Valpo), but if this the intent of UWGB administrators to use football to bring attention to the university, then it would have to be more than Charles Guthrie leading this charge. 2. How much startup $$ would it cost to start an FCS NS program? GB would need at the very least to create a practice facility and buildings to house equipment and coaches's/support offices on top of purchasing equipment. 3. Where would GB initially play it's games? I don't see Lambeau Field as an option.....Would they play at SNC's Schneider Family Stadium? Or as a part of startup costs, would GB build a stadium/practice facility at the same site? Would the soccer stadium be expanded to include a football field? 4. Although the idea would be a NS program, recruiting would still need to happen. WI is not exactly a D1 football talent-rich state, and most of them would go to UW or would at least walk-on at UW. There would be a lot of competition between MAC schools (NIU being one of them), scholarship D2 programs (especially in MN), and the FCS programs in the region (NDSU, SDSU, UNI, Ill St to name a few). 5. We would need a lot more corporate sponsorship $$ (remember these would be the same pool of sponsors presumably used by the men's and women's BB programs) coming into athletics to support a NS program. How would we get the additional $$'s coming in? 6. Who would be a good candidate for coach? My pick would be Craig Leopold at Buffalo (formerly of UW-Whitewater). We need someone with ties to the area and would be in this for the long hall.
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Post by thetulsawarrior on Oct 24, 2018 12:05:38 GMT -6
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Post by Panther on Oct 24, 2018 17:36:56 GMT -6
Think the interviewer was pushing the issue and not the AD. Not sure of why though. He kept asking the same thing in a different way and the AD was just being cordial in my opinion.
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Post by phearthephoenix on Oct 25, 2018 9:48:34 GMT -6
I think non-scholarship football at UWGB is worth exploring. It would be a good way to boost the overall profile of the athletic department. Obviously it all comes down to cost, especially for an already cash strapped athletic department. I think adding a hockey program might actually be a better idea from a competitive standpoint but then you'd probably have to boot the Gamblers out of town. Plus then you're overlapping seasons with basketball which is the #1 program for GB athletics. So maybe both are non-starters but I think it is worth it to start a formal evaluation of adding either hockey or football (or both) and see if it is feasible. The university is trying to grow its profile by adding programs (nursing, engineering, ect), why not look into doing the same with athletics?
If a non-scholarship football program were added we'd need to keep the expectations realistic. The kind of football program we'd have would be comparable to Morehead State or Valpo, especially at the beginning. Valpo is usually one of the worst - if not THE worst - Division I football program in the country. They lost to something called Truman State this season, a Division II team that is 5-3 this year. It would be fun to have a football "rivalry" with Butler and Valparaiso though.
Most players that would come to GB to play in the Pioneer League are not going to pass on a scholarship offer to play scholarship FCS or Division II football. Instead we'd probably be recruiting the same football players as most of the WIAC schools except we'd be offer the ability to play Division I football. The WIAC is best Division III football conference in the country so there could be an opportunity to poach some of those players to play at UWGB and build a decent Pioneer League football program. But keep in mind the Pioneer League is way, way, way below the quality of play of other Division I FCS football conferences.
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Post by yayphoenixyay on Oct 25, 2018 19:45:50 GMT -6
I don’t know if hockey would be the greatest idea since it does conflict with basketball, not to mention SNC is already in town. I wouldn’t mind football, but I would wonder about adding baseball, since we could just join the Horizon...the future seems bright no matter what, but I think adding these two would be a very solid foundation.
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Post by phoenixphan87 on Oct 26, 2018 7:19:03 GMT -6
Morehead State is one of the only (maybe only) public schools in the Pioneer League. Would be interesting to take a look at their financials to see how much it cost them to run their football program. I agree that it is an innovative way to increase enrollment. We would be competing with schools like Whitewater and Oshkosh for players and could attract some out of state kids who really want to play D1.
Playing on campus would be the only feasible long term option. It wouldn't take a whole lot to convert the soccer field into a dual use facility.
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Post by gbbrl97 on Oct 26, 2018 11:47:39 GMT -6
Morehead State is one of the only (maybe only) public schools in the Pioneer League. Would be interesting to take a look at their financials to see how much it cost them to run their football program. I agree that it is an innovative way to increase enrollment. We would be competing with schools like Whitewater and Oshkosh for players and could attract some out of state kids who really want to play D1. Playing on campus would be the only feasible long term option. It wouldn't take a whole lot to convert the soccer field into a dual use facility. Morehead State would be an interesting case study on how to potentially grow the University. They have 10000+ students, and are a smaller, public university that is not in a large metro area. But Morehead State football has been around a lot longer than GB has been a university. Their endowment (35 mil) is not that much larger than GB's (28-29 mil) and they have been around since 1887 (versus GB who has been around since 1969). GB should have the infrastructure to play games on campus if this were to come to fruition.
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Post by lurkingdog on Oct 30, 2018 18:53:24 GMT -6
Hi- I'm a Drake fan, and I moderate a Pioneer Football League board at pflfan.proboards.com/You are invited.
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