LatahCounty
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RE: Should NMSU join the Southland?
(02-05-2017 11:41 PM)NuMexAg Wrote: I think NMSU is more likely to drop football than join the Southland. Not only is the conference a bad match academically and perception wise, but NMSU recruits heavily in Texas now, and basically only has the FBS label as advantage over schools like Sam Houston and SFAustin. As an FCS member that advantage would disappear. We get a few hidden gem players each year now ,but as an FCS team in a Texas centric league even that would end.
The Big Sky is a tough match geographically because of the distances and smaller cities, but I think because the Western location would put NMSU on more or less the same recruiting situation within the conference, and it is a better match academically and school mission wise, it is a more likely destination than the Southland.
Not to say NMSU wouldn't drop football instead of any FCS, but if we go FCS, I think it is Big Sky.
Don't join the Big Sky. I don't even want Idaho to join the Big Sky, and at least in our case it makes geographic sense. People complain about the cost of FBS football, but the finances of scholarship FCS are terrible.
Idaho is going to take about a 50% hit to the non-subsidized part of our athletic budget as donor money dries up and revenue from guarantee games and CFP gets slashed. The taxpayers will end up paying for about 75% of our athletic department (it's about 48% now). This is a very typical subsidy-to-revenue ratio for FCS schools that aren't located in Montana.
I haven't looked into NMSU and you guys have better basketball than we do, so maybe the numbers aren't quite as bad in your case but I'm sure a drop would still be a financial hit plus you guys would have far worse travel in any FCS conference than we do in the Big Sky. Idaho and New Mexico are not rich states. In our case I have to believe our Republican-dominated state government will eventually ask why it's pumping so much money into something that isn't delivering much of a return. I don't know what will happen at that point but it won't be good.
And all of this isn't even taking into account the biggest reason not to join the Big Sky -- It's FCS. Who the hell cares?
You guys are doing the right thing in an awful situation. Joining the Big Sky or any other FCS conference is a great way to lose a lot of money and also take a big in-state PR hit. Good luck out there.
(This post was last modified: 02-06-2017 01:53 AM by LatahCounty.)
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02-06-2017 01:38 AM |
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