App press conference Monday to announce desire to move FBS:

[CID1990]

Said the slave boy to Julius Caesar: "Thou art mortal."

[alvin kayak]

Yeah. Marshall once had Randy Moss & Byron Leftwich. Now, they have....

[slycat]

So? Still FCS vs FBS. FBS gives more national exposure period. ASU will make the most of it and probably make a jump to CUSA down the road. Texas St is going to the lowly WAC yet it is still much more intersting then the Southland Confernce. I'm excited that I will get to see home games against Texas Tech, Wyoming, and Navy.

To each their own and I respect your opinion on the matter but there are pros to going to a FBS confernce no matter how "small".

Do you really....I mean really....believe schools like San Jose State, New Mexico State, any of the Sun Belt schools, Idaho, Louisiana-Monroe, etc... get more national respect from the BCS crowd than an FCS team? I'd bet the average SEC/B12/B10 fan couldn't tell you what teams were in the Sun Belt, most of the CUSA and WAC.

No because they live a bubble. But I know that before I attended Texas St I didn't know squat about FCS. I followed CFB to the extent that I watched a few games avery Saturday. I couldn't name every team from Sunbelt, WAC, or MWC (CUSA yes because they have plenty of Texas schools) but I can't do that now for half the FCS conferences and I've followed it very closely for 6-7 years.

But in Texas schools like UNT, SMU, Houston, Rice, and UTEP get more respect and can be talked about in an average converstaion much easier then Texas St or Sam Houston.

[clenz]

Thats because SHSU and TSUSM both suck. Put a decent team on the field and there would be respect

[aceinthehole]

Here's a complete list of reclassifications to I-A (FBS) since 1992:

Arkansas State (1992) – Big West to Sun Belt
Nevada (1992) – Big West to WAC
Louisiana-Monroe (1994) – Independent to Sun Belt
North Texas (1995) – Big West to Sun Belt
Boise State (1996) – Big West to WAC to Mountain West
Central Florida (1996) – Independent to MAC to C-USA
Alabama-Birmingham (1997) – Independent to C-USA
Idaho (1997) – Big West to Sun Belt to WAC
Marshall (1998) – MAC to C-USA
Buffalo (1999) – MAC
Middle Tennessee State (1999) – Independent to Sun Belt
South Florida (2001) – Independent to C-USA to Big East
Connecticut (2002) – Independent to Big East
Troy (2002) – Independent to Sun Belt
Florida Atlantic (2006) – Sun Belt
Florida International (2006) – Sun Belt
Western Kentucky (2007) – Sun Belt
Massachusetts (2012) – MAC
South Alabama (2012) – Sun Belt
Texas-San Antonio (2012) – WAC
Texas State (2012) – WAC

[Aho Old Guy]

That's a nice list but I think you have to 'asterisk' UConn and South Florida.

If I remember correctly, when the Big East started playing football the 'rule' or stipulation for UConn was that when they went I-A they have a slot. Not sure if other non-football members have such arrangements.

South Florida was simply a replacement for the "U" when they bolted to the ACC along with BC, and with difficulty, VPI (I think the ACC's preference was Syracuse). That was also when Temple got pushed out.

[slycat]

Thats because SHSU and TSUSM both suck. Put a decent team on the field and there would be respect

Texas St gained respect in since 2005 but its different in Texas then Iowa. Y'all have just a fraction of the football teams this state has and zero professional sport teams. Its comparing apples to oranges. TXST could play like App St and they would still struggle for respect. Of course even playing mid major FBS ball will still ganer little respect but it'll be nice to gain coverage.

[ASUMountaineer]

I don't know, but according to AD Charlie Cobb the feedback he's received from fans has been very much so in support of a move. If I had to guess, I'd put the the percentage at 70% in favor, 20% against, and 10% indifferent.

This is the kind of BS that moves the debate nowhere. Along with this ...

“I think, frankly, you could take eight to 10 FCS schools right now, even minus 23 scholarships, and you could compete with a good majority of the FBS programs,” Cobb said.

Uh, Charlie? Quit drinkin' the Kool-Aid and cherry-pickin' from Wonderland. That 5% FCS winning percentage against the FBS seems to conflict with your cherry-pickin'

Tell us how you plan to pay for 46 scholarships and the increased operational costs of FBS football. Try something better than 'corporate sponsors' and increased ticket prices.

Here's an idea: Raise the money. $250 million or so should make a nice dent in the operational, capital and scholarship needs of Div-I men's and women's NCAA sports at Appalachian.

Let the Yosef Club fully fund men's and women's scholarships, operational costs and capital expenses, and freeze student fees at their current level. The interest on $250 million should cover that - too bad it would take the Yosef club 180 years or so to raise that much money.

Of the NCAA sports at Appalachian, how many men's and women's activities compete without scholarships, Charlie?

Instead of barking like PT Barnum, Charlie, let's see a comparison of men's and women's athletic facilities at Appalachian, and the projected operational and capital costs necessary now, and in the future, on top of the costs associated with FBS football.

Where's the transparency, Charlie? Show us the numbers.

OR ... is the plan for Chancellor Cheerleader to make his recommendation to the Board without public consideration of the costs?

Supposedly the financial analysis will be released soon. I'll be interested to see what's in the analysis. Hopefully it won't be filled with all the emotional crap that many seem to be incapable of suppressing.

[rebla 49er]

How much will the taxpayers owe now?

[ASUMountaineer]

How much will the taxpayers owe now?

Not that much, it's illegal to use tax dollars for college athletics.

[clenz]

How much will the taxpayers owe now?

Not that much, it's illegal to use tax dollars for college athletics.

Yep....but the school will take the general fund money that went to other parts of the school and put that towards athletics, then use tax money to replace that money.


It won't be going to athletics directly, but don't kid yourself.

[ASUMountaineer]

Not that much, it's illegal to use tax dollars for college athletics.

Yep....but the school will take the general fund money that went to other parts of the school and put that towards athletics, then use tax money to replace that money.


It won't be going to athletics directly, but don't kid yourself.

I'm sure you're up on finances in the University of North Carolina system. Why are you so passionately against ASU making this move? For the time being, I'll trust Charlie Cobb's statement that the school will not use tax dollars to fund the move.

[Skjellyfetti]

Appalachian State University trustees voted today to follow a feasibility study committee's recommendation and seek to move the university's football team to the Football Bowl Subdivision, a university spokeswoman said.

The vote was 9-1, with board member Bradley Adcock casting the "no" vote. Three board members were absent.

The board adopted a resolution thanking the committee and asking the university's Executive Committee to work with Chancellor Ken Peacock and other administrators to evaluate opportunities to move to the Football Bowl Subdivision and bring a recommendation for action to the trustees.

Last month, the feasibility study committee recommended the move.

The board of trustees' meeting was held in Washington, D.C., where trustees toured ASU's entry in the Solar Decathlon.

The board is traveling back to North Carolina by bus. Adcock could not be immediately reached.

All of the Mountaineers' sports teams are at the Division I level, but the football program competes in the Football Championship Subdivision of Division I, which offers fewer scholarships than the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The football team has won three national championships over the past six years. G.A. Sywassink, who was both chairman of the study committee and a trustee who voted for the move, said the committee is convinced the football program can remain competitive if it goes to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/se ... r-1425826/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[alvin kayak]

Here's the problem....

What does REMAIN competitive mean????

App State beat Michigan a few years ago. Then it lost to LSU. Now it just got thumped by Va Tech.

Is that really where you want to be? Fighting for .500 or lower tier below games. C'mon guys, you aren't Boise State. That's more rare than beating Michigan in the big house

[Skjellyfetti]

The only thing that seems certain about college football's changing landscape is that nothing is certain.

And that certainly applies to Appalachian State, which has expressed interest in a possible move to the NCAA's bowl subdivision. ASU officials are waiting to see what happens as top-tier BCS conferences scramble for security with expansion, a process that has and will trigger openings.

For Appalachian State to move to the FBS — which a study committee has recommended — it needs a place to move. Where that might be is anybody's guess and most likely will depend on what happens elsewhere.

"I think it's realistic to say we can't really drive conversations (about where to move)," said Charlie Cobb, ASU's athletics director. "We're not in that position. I don't think Appalachian and a number of schools are at the stage where we can control that conversation."

Cobb said he is being "actively patient" in the process.

"I still think it's early," he said. "The BCS schools are still trying to figure it out. That has to play out, and then the trickle-down that comes from it is where other schools are going to land.

"We feel good that we've done our homework. The athletic world is changing, and we feel we are in position to be able to react to that in a strategic way."

The most recent shifts are the moves of Pittsburgh and Syracuse from the Big East to the ACC. The Big East could lose more teams and turn to other conferences to fill vacancies, and East Carolina applied Wednesday.

Cobb has said that ASU needs historical and geographical rivals in any conference to which it might move, and ECU and Marshall fit the bill. But it's possible that at least one of those schools could be part of a conference that ASU wouldn't be invited to.

Cobb said that ASU hasn't formally applied to any conferences but added, "We're having conversations. Some weeks you have multiple conversations, and some weeks you may have one."

Future conversations will depend largely on what happens next.

"Will there still be existing FBS conferences and FBS schools that are looking to create more of a regional alignment?" Cobb said. "For us in that next flight of schools, we've said from Day 1 that we've got to base any kind of repositioning on geography, to make sure kids don't miss class time and to make sure that fans can get to games that they want to watch."

The possibility has long been posed of a new alignment of regional schools in a conference that could include some existing FBS programs, perhaps from C-USA — possibly ECU if it doesn't get into the Big East — or the MAC or Sun Belt. Other schools that have at least expressed interest in going to the bowl subdivision include ASU, Delaware, James Madison and the new program at UNC Charlotte.

"There are several schools — from the standpoint of having the potential to create strong rivalries, to create games of interest not only in football but basketball and other sports — that I think lend to some tremendous opportunities," Cobb said.

"We have to let the dust settle … and see if there is a grouping of schools that are better off together than we are trying to go our separate ways."

http://www2.journalnow.com/sports/2011/ ... r-1421640/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GrizFan5]

Jim O'Day can't hide now! A school that Montana views as its equal is going to make the jump!

O'Day knew last fall that schools like App St, UMass, Villanova and JMU were considering moving up. This is no surprise to O'Day or the UM administration. He had a copy of App St's study last fall, and had been taking to Cobb.

[Skjellyfetti]

He had a copy of App St's study last fall

Uh. No he didn't. They just finished their study a month ago and haven't released the report yet.