interresting article.

Again, the football question

Quote:When I asked whether a Division III football program could be pursued by a school competing in Division I for basketball, Underwood said it could.

I don't think so.....

In order to be Division I in everything else, we'd have to go Division I-AA non-scholarship, like Georgetown or JU is.

You can't pick and choose what division you are in each sport (there are some exceptions, like golf and hockey).

Let's do it!!! BUT, no dropping below D1 !! Just give us the weakest non-scholarship d1 we can get. There was always students saying they would play if it started (former high school players), so I know it would work. And really, what's $1 Million after just building the UC? It's a drop in the bucket.

[quote="SouthGAEagle"]

Quote:In order to be Division I in everything else, we'd have to go Division I-AA non-scholarship, like Georgetown or JU is.

You wouldn't have to go nonscholarship, but if you want to be in JU's league, you can't have scholarships. And if you can't afford $2 million per year for a fully funded team, why fund enough aid to discourage the nonscholarships from playing you, but not enough to get a playoff bid? I think that's the rationale behind the PFL and behind Campbell starting a nonscholarship program in 2008.

Georgetown, by the way, offers a few scholarships--just not as many as the rest of the schools in the Patriot League.

Interesting. Would MU play at Henderson Field?

Well it's a pretty outdated article now... but I doubt football will be at Mercer in the next 20 years. We did have football in the past, so maybe that will drive them to bring it back some day. I'd take a quality basketball/baseball duo over adding football anyday though.

I mean really, there's only one way to add football -- if you're going to try to win -- which means lots of money. So you either do it big or you don't do it.

Give that extra money to basketball and baseball budgets.

i've always wondered what conference u'd be in today if you didnt eliminate football cuz of the war. you think you woulda been 1A?

Owlzfan84 Wrote:i've always wondered what conference u'd be in today if you didnt eliminate football cuz of the war. you think you woulda been 1A?

That's an interesting question. Only whoever was in charge in the 70's and 80's would know. I'd guess I-AA, but who knows. I doubt those guys would have pushed football.

Mercer fan....Do you feel that you're program suffered from having football dropped back in whenever you dropped it?

Goldfinger Wrote:Mercer fan....Do you feel that you're program suffered from having football dropped back in whenever you dropped it?

They dropped it back during WWII.

I would argue that it had a devastating long term effect, and not much of a short term effect. The team was actually good back then too.

I can't see that any good has come from ETSU dropping their program I can tell you that.

I get the feeling there have been some new developments here. Anyone with a tale to tell?

Our new president seems much more serious about sports (including football) than our previous long term president was. The concept is still being evaluated, and it would start as non-scholarship. However, I don't think we should start it unless we're really serious about building a successful scholarship 1-AA program (like Furman's for example). Otherwise, it would just be a long term money drain and students would continue to drive to Athens on fall Saturdays.

A little Mercer football history for you folks out there:
Mercer played UGA in the first football game in the deep south with UGA winning.
Mercer played Georgia Tech in Tech's first football game with Mercer winning.
Mercer has 6 victories against Florida, a fact I like to point out to Gator fans.
UGA coaching legend Wally Butts was a defensive end at Mercer.

I imagine that had Mercer not quit football we probably would have ended up in the So Con. We're just too small to have continued to compete with 1-A schools, and geographically the So Con would have been the most likely fit.

I don't know that quitting football hurt other sports as much as President Godsey's total focus on academics (with virtually no focus on sports) over the last 25 years. It's not that I completely dislike that. Godsey was great for Mercer, and my degree is worth much more as a result. But, being a former athlete myself, I think there's a balance between the two.

I really hope Mercer adds football and joins JU and Campbell in the PFL.

Is there room on campus for a fb stadium?

Mercer didn't actually tear down their football stadium until 1995. They've since built a hotel on the old stadium site, but I think there's still room on that side of campus (beyond the outfield wall of the baseball field) for a football stadium.

Nice info Toby... that would be cool if they built one next to the baseball field... especially since stadium drive apartments used to be there.

Mercer would be a key part of this...
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BREAKING NEWS: An ETSU Football Recovery Could Be In New Conference

Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008 - 12:15 AM

BY Brian T Smith

The return of football to East Tennessee State University may be on the horizon.

But if football eventually does make a comeback at ETSU, it could look much different than it did when the Buccaneers’ now-dormant program played its final game, a last-second 16-14 win over The Citadel on Nov. 22, 2003, at Memorial Center.

A proposal to create an independent conference for non-scholarship football teams composed of Atlantic Sun member schools is now in the beginning stages.

"The question of football in our conference has come up multiple times throughout our history," Atlantic Sun Commissioner Ted Gumbart said. "It makes sense to be a topic of discussion. ... It’s certainly something that we will continue to monitor, as far as the needs of our membership."

Gumbart said ETSU, Campbell, Jacksonville, Mercer and Kennesaw State are among the schools that would be considered if such a conference was formed.

"It’s something that we have on our radar screen," Gumbart said. "We will continue to monitor the number of schools that are interested in or are currently participating in non-scholarship football. So, I think it’s fair to say that we’ll continue to be sensitive to that and try to be able to act when and if the circumstances dictate that we could help meet our memberships’ needs with a new sport."

He said a previously scheduled meeting between university presidents, set for June 3-5 in Daytona Beach, Fla., would be the first realistic opportunity to discuss the proposal.

"What we’ll try to find out with our [member university] presidents as we move along is ... we’ll see what their preference is," Gumbart said. "Whether there’s real interest, or whether there’s passing interest. ... I think our presidents will have the input on that."

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/sp...-0008.html