There are three NCAA Division I universities in Western North Carolina — Appalachian State, UNC Asheville and Western Carolina.
During the past decade, all three athletic programs had nice storylines, especially the Appalachian State men's track and field and cross country teams
The Mountaineers men dominated the Southern Conference during the first decade of the 21st century, winning the SoCon indoor championship seven times and the outdoor meet six times.
The cross-country team won nine conference championships.
While that's impressive, what the Mountaineers football team accomplished during the past five years was enough to be named the Citizen-Times Division I program of the decade.
Coach Jerry Moore's team won or shared the last five SoCon titles of the decade. During the middle of that run, the Mountaineers won three straight NCAA Football Championship Subdivision titles from 2005-07.
“It’s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying hobo in a sandwich board, shaved him, shot him full of Zoloft and gave him a show.” - The Buffalo Beast commenting on Glenn Beck
“It’s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying hobo in a sandwich board, shaved him, shot him full of Zoloft and gave him a show.” - The Buffalo Beast commenting on Glenn Beck
They are the team of the decade for our division for sure. I would put them at the top for all Div. 1 too unless someone could tell me why they shouldn't be there.
“It’s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying hobo in a sandwich board, shaved him, shot him full of Zoloft and gave him a show.” - The Buffalo Beast commenting on Glenn Beck
You can't sense sarcasm? Duke sucks. Someone asked why App State was the best in Western North Carolina and not named the top college program of the whole state. Apparently there was someone better than App State. I picked the least likely school to have anyone argue that they are better than App State. 3 consecutive NCs, and 5 straight SoCon titles vs. 19 wins over 10 years.