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bluehenbillk wrote:http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2 ... A+football

Seems to me that when the ability to move up returns a conference of the largest FCS schools on the east coast maybe looking like a possibility.

One logical step: Div. I-A football

Bernard Muir had heard all the code words when he was interviewing for the athletic director position at the University of Delaware.

He had heard how the program was described as "a sleeping giant," that there is a "vision for the future" and that the athletic program needs "to build upon the foundation already in place."

In many ways, that is all a euphemism for moving the football program up to Division I-A.

Why else would UD hire Muir as athletic director Monday, knowing that it needs to undertake a massive fundraising effort to build new facilities, improve the current ones, all while keeping athletics competitive?

"Our aspirations are pretty clear," Delaware president Patrick Harker said. "We want to be viewed as one of the very impactful public institutions in America. And athletics is a part of that. We want to attract the best in everything we do, including athletics."

So to move up in football, you hire an AD from a school that is non-schollie, and has a crappy program??

dbackjon wrote:So to move up in football, you hire an AD from a school that is non-schollie, and has a crappy program??

I was wondering about that myself.

I don't see FBS football in Delaware's future. For one thing, the size of the stadium would have to jump to, say, Rutgers-size. The market is just too small for FBS. And I agree that Muir didn't exactly sparkle at football in his last job. Count me as a skeptic on this one.

Ivytalk wrote:I don't see FBS football in Delaware's future. For one thing, the size of the stadium would have to jump to, say, Rutgers-size. The market is just too small for FBS. And I agree that Muir didn't exactly sparkle at football in his last job. Count me as a skeptic on this one.

Bummer, I was hoping the next time Furman beat Delaware they would be FBS


I have heard rumors of a new 30,000 seat stadium. Just rumors?

OL FU wrote:

Ivytalk wrote:I don't see FBS football in Delaware's future. For one thing, the size of the stadium would have to jump to, say, Rutgers-size. The market is just too small for FBS. And I agree that Muir didn't exactly sparkle at football in his last job. Count me as a skeptic on this one.

Bummer, I was hoping the next time Furman beat Delaware they would be FBS


I have heard rumors of a new 30,000 seat stadium. Just rumors?

Whatever the size, it is unlikely Furman will ever see it.

UD hasn't been specific to my knowledge on what a future football facility will be. They've said there would be more studies done on the need to renovate Delaware Stadium and at the same point in time they've laid out a conceptual plan with a new Delaware Stadium, never mentioning specific size.

There is no reason why UD couldn't move up to FBS, just really the availability of a BCS league is the roadblock. No one would want to move up to be a non-player which is what non-BCS equals.

bluehenbillk wrote:
There is no reason why UD couldn't move up to FBS, just really the availability of a BCS league is the roadblock. No one would want to move up to be a non-player which is what non-BCS equals.

And the only way that would happen is if there was a major shakeup in the Big East.

Non-BCS, should UD choose that route, the options are even more limited - MAC/C-USA/SunBelt are not really in UD's area.

dbackjon wrote:

bluehenbillk wrote:
There is no reason why UD couldn't move up to FBS, just really the availability of a BCS league is the roadblock. No one would want to move up to be a non-player which is what non-BCS equals.

And the only way that would happen is if there was a major shakeup in the Big East.

Non-BCS, should UD choose that route, the options are even more limited - MAC/C-USA/SunBelt are not really in UD's area.

Yes, but the problem becomes everyone seems to be waiting for this imminent shake-up. What if it doesn't happen? JMU's AD Jeff Bourne has said that any non-BCS IA conference is a no-go for us:

travel would be a nightmare, assuming the Dukes joined one of the two non-BCS leagues in its general vicinity: Conference USA or the Mid-American Conference. Bourne was blunt when asked if either would hold any attraction for Madison.

“There would not be for me,” Bourne said.

He noted Conference USA’s vast geography — it spreads from Greenville, N.C., to El Paso, Texas — as a big minus. The MAC also would be a stretch for JMU geographically. The Sun Belt? Forget it.

http://www.dnronline.com/details.php?AID=14655&CHID=3

If those conferences are too far for us, then how can they work for Delaware? What if the Big East/ACC call doesn't come? In my opinion, the best of both worlds would be to move up together - JMU, UD, UMass, ODU, App State, both GSUs, and maybe poach the CUSA for a couple teams. Of course, Bourne and King have both said:

James Madison's $52 million plan to renovate Bridgeforth Stadium does not mean the school is considering a move to Division I-A football, university officials said Monday.

"Absolutely not," JMU vice president Charlie King said. "We wanted to have, if not the best, one of the best I-AA football facilities in America."

"I think there's a lot of speculation out there and, there has been for some time, that when the stadium was increased in size, we would immediately try to move to I-A football," Bourne said. "We're very comfortable where we are right now. We certainly enjoy competing at this level."

http://www.dnronline.com/details.php?AID=14406&CHID=3

With this current administration, no matter what our stadium situation, JMU will stay at this level. Then seeing as how everyone projects us to the next level, what happens then? Does a IAA power conference become that much less appealing? Does Delaware look for another conference?

I honestly don't know, but I am afraid we will be left behind when the dust has settled.

To me, the meat of that article is here:

"I can't give that assessment, this being Day 1," Muir said about I-A football. "But I certainly know, boy, 22,000 [fans] strong on Saturday afternoons, that's such a great forum from which to build from.

"The focus right now is let's improve what we have, let's keep our focus on the task at hand, and if other opportunities present themselves, we'll be in a position to make decisions."

Delaware is going to fundraise, fundraise, fundraise, then start building. The football stadium is not going to happen for probably 10-15 years while the athletic performance center is built and all the infrastructure is put in place on south campus. Another wildcard is the vast former Chrysler Assembly property across the street from Delaware Stadium. Once all the dough and support facilities are in place and future affiliations have been decided, UD will know how big to build the stadium and will move forward.

Exciting stuff!

dbackjon wrote:

bluehenbillk wrote:
There is no reason why UD couldn't move up to FBS, just really the availability of a BCS league is the roadblock. No one would want to move up to be a non-player which is what non-BCS equals.

And the only way that would happen is if there was a major shakeup in the Big East.

Non-BCS, should UD choose that route, the options are even more limited - MAC/C-USA/SunBelt are not really in UD's area.

I think there will eventually be a shake up of the Big East. Conferences need 12 members if they want to have a conference championship game (which brings in $). This is the reason the ACC raided the Big East of 3 teams so that they could get to 12 members.

The Big East also needs to be on the defensive against the Big 10 stealing a team so that they could reach 12 members. I think the Big 10 is hoping the Notre Dame fills the 12th spot, but right now Notre Dame has no interest in joining any conference for football. Eventually the Big 10 may get tired of waiting and look elsewhere.

I'm not sure how any of this affects the Hens. I wouldn't want UD to move to FBS unless they are in the BCS mix. I have never heard them mentioned as a possible Big East candidate.

If the BCS ever dissolves and a playoff system put in place, it does make plenty of sense for Delaware, UMass, JMU, App St and others to upgrade. The key would be if the NCAA basketball tournament also expanded and allowed an autobid.

One thing that could be interesting would be somewhat of a first: what if 6 FCS schools who have been playing FCs school in the same conference, upgrade to FBS to form a new conference? The existing rules allow a possible waiver for basketball is 6 schools are playing together. But what about mixed-conference schools with schools who have been together for football for years? Fast forward a decade in the CAA and ODU and Georgia St. will have been members for some time...

UMass
Delaware
JMU
Richmond
ODU
Georgia St.


Then perhaps an all-sports FBS conference:
Buffalo
UMass
Temple
Delaware
JMU
Richmond
ODU
Charlotte
App St.
Georgia St.


Whole lotta what-ifs. But by then, I figure we'll have made contact with aliens, there will be peace in the Middle East, and cancer will be cured with a simple pill...so I fully expect all these football things to happen right after that.

collegesportsinfo wrote:If the BCS ever dissolves and a playoff system put in place, it does make plenty of sense for Delaware, UMass, JMU, App St and others to upgrade. The key would be if the NCAA basketball tournament also expanded and allowed an autobid.

One thing that could be interesting would be somewhat of a first: what if 6 FCS schools who have been playing FCs school in the same conference, upgrade to FBS to form a new conference? The existing rules allow a possible waiver for basketball is 6 schools are playing together. But what about mixed-conference schools with schools who have been together for football for years? Fast forward a decade in the CAA and ODU and Georgia St. will have been members for some time...

UMass
Delaware
JMU
Richmond
ODU
Georgia St.


Then perhaps an all-sports FBS conference:
Buffalo
UMass
Temple
Delaware
JMU
Richmond
ODU
Charlotte
App St.
Georgia St.


Whole lotta what-ifs. But by then, I figure we'll have made contact with aliens, there will be peace in the Middle East, and cancer will be cured with a simple pill...so I fully expect all these football things to happen right after that.

Throw Georgia Southern and Furmaned in just for kicks.

Pretty interesting stuff CSI. Nice work.

collegesportsinfo wrote:If the BCS ever dissolves and a playoff system put in place, it does make plenty of sense for Delaware, UMass, JMU, App St and others to upgrade...

I agree, but only if they get into a conference that has a playoff autobid.

dbackjon wrote:So to move up in football, you hire an AD from a school that is non-schollie, and has a crappy program??

The guy was the asst. AD in charge of football in the past at Notre Dame.

Delaware could get into the MAC as a football only maybe all sports.

Quinn's new FBS conf. could work too. You need a lot of schools on the same page at the same time to do it.

New Conf.
UMass
Delaware
JMU
Richmond
ODU
Georgia St.
Georgia Southern
Appalachian St.
Temple
Charlotte

Problem is you don't have 6 from a conf.(4 CAA, 2 SOCON, 4 A-10) so it would take 5 years for a b-ball auto-bid

Franks Tanks wrote:

dbackjon wrote:So to move up in football, you hire an AD from a school that is non-schollie, and has a crappy program??

The guy was the asst. AD in charge of football in the past at Notre Dame.

Yes. And he came to UD from Georgetown - a Big East school. If UD wanted to move up into the Big East (a big if, I have no idea if that is the goal), this might be the guy for the job.