For the immediate future the leaders at State will hold the party line in favor of FCS in the CAA. Once we are off and running, I feel success and the fans will dictate how soon we move up, if ever. Winning ways bring fans and if we can start off averaging 15K to 20K for home games then, yeah, we'll eventually move up. The move alone almost guarantees another 10K (at least I think it would in this state). This is not to bash the FCS, we will have our handsfull keeping up with the CAA at first, but if GSU hopes to grow it's image and base, it has to strive very quickly to prove we are better than the rest. We gotta have BIG FISH mentality from day one!
Irregardless, I doubt State moves up unitl there is a conference opening for us. I doubt it's the Big East, C-USA, or SunBelt as we currently know them. More than likely, in 8 to 10 years when State has 40,000 students on campus, there will be a new hybrid conference ala the old Metro that we will fit nicely in.
I know it's lofty, and there is a LONG road ahead but if I was a betting man I'd say Georgia State eventually falls into a confernece with Charlotte, UAB, UCF and other large southern public universities. I honestly wish the Owls the best of luck. Lucky for us we have a leg up on you at the moment. Gettting your stadium built will be your biggest, costliest, and most difficult hurdle to clear.
Time will tell.

State has their own challenges as well though. It's not fair to leave them off. The way I see it, you're only a few months ahead of us without a contract for the dome or another stadium. The dome itself is a problem. Love you guys, hell I work downtown off 14th, but your head start is not a mile, it's a quarter mile head start in a marathon.

We will see! I really don't think the students will get in the way of a football team at KSU. Whenever I bring it up people often say it is about time. GSU and KSU could become a big rival lol.

http://www.ksusentinel.com/index.php?opt...&Itemid=57

I have a meeting with the Waples (AD) tomorrow. I'm going to ask him about the Big East stuff because he does say it in pretty much every interview. Any other questions from around the league?

At this point, I just hope football at KSU gets past the students. There's already some quacks saying anti-football on the school newspaper's site.


This sounds familiar....
Hope it works out better for you than it did us.

Maybe if nothing happens realignment wise for another seven to twelve years, Conference USA can split-much like the alleged forthcoming Big East split where everyone keeps their basketball tournament credits-and the eastern remnant can add some new schools, i.e.:

Alabama-Birmingham
Central Florida
East Carolina
Marshall
Southern Mississippi
Tulane
(2 to 6 of the following: Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, MTSU, Western Kentucky, Charlotte, Troy, South Alabama, FAU, FIU, etc.)

KSU's going to a vote Nov. 1-9th. Yes or No, if Yes how much... $35 non-scholly, $70 D-IAA, $105 D-IA after 2 year probationary period where we'd have to play D-IAA. Those were his thought, I don't know who he's talked to about making a D-IA jump or where the 2 years comes from because the NCAA sounds like it's cracking down to me. Marketing starts immediately, they have an event on the 30th and a bunch of apparel.

Talked to the AD. Said he mentions the Big East as a down-the-road goal. Doesn't think the Big East will look the same in a few years and is a lot about the money which all the conferences are. His rational was that if you put the bar too low, there's a lower chance of getting to where you really want to be.

He believes Georgia is becoming the new Florida, following the ranks of FAU, UCF, USF, FIU. Schools in the area are definately exploding with growth rates similar to the Florida schools mentioned.

Said faculty doesn't have a vote in the initial vote but will be considered should it pass the students. I think those answered pretty much the questions on here.

Thanks for the update, Nick, and good luck with the vote. I like seeing new programs come into existence.

As for the NCAA Division I-FBS, formerly Division I-A, thing ... there is currently a moratorium ... no school can move up until 2011. In the meantime, behind the scenes, you can be sure criteria are being developed to make it even harder for anyone to move up.

The other thing is, no school can move up after just two years, there is a transition period that has to take place under the watch of the NCAA. It took USF, FAU, and FIU four years. That is also what it would take Kennesaw State, or any other move-up, as well.

I guess it can be announced after two years but you would still end up playing four years at the FCS level.

I'm not really worried about it. The goal is going to be to get a yes vote and then it's going to be getting a solid program up and running. I just hope funding isn't what's holding us back in four years.

Technically speaking, the transition period is five years, but a school counts as a FBS (I-A) opponent starting with the third year. For Western Kentucky, 2007-2011 will be transitional seasons, and 2009 is the first year the school will count as a FBS opponent. The Sun Belt is admitting WKU for football that year also.

To early to tell, but based on early voting available through ksuowls.com, anyone can vote pretty much, not vote more than once from the same computer. That leaves open a lot of possibilities. It's also being administered by the Student Government, not athletic department.

Votes are in

Question 1: Do you want football?
Yes 77.6%
No 22.5%
Over 6000 Votes

Question 2: How much?
$0 per semester 16.8%
$35 per semester 29.3%
$70 per semester 18.0%
$105 per semester 35.9%
Over 4500 Votes

Great job! Looks like we're past our first hurdle!

77.6 percent is good news! 35.9 % for 105 bucks is great as well.

A few points to make:

1) Either the KSU athletic director or the prez mentioned that Kennesaw had two great needs: student housing and football. They need to take care of housing, first. It's hard to build a football program at a commuter school.

2) Talk about Div. 1A and the Big East is highly unrealistic. You can't start a 1A program from scratch, anymore. You have to build a competitive 1AA program, first. And you have to prove you can put seats in the stands before any of the 1A conferences will take a look at you. USF got an invite to the Big East because they had a very competitive program, they drew good crowds and they were from a market that the Big East wanted to keep a presence in.

3. With or without the cooperation of the school's student body, Georgia State already has a leg-up on Kennesaw. The Panthers have fielded a club football team the past few years that has helped build interest in the program, and they already belong to a conference that sponsors 1AA football. Those club players with college eligibility left can help form the nucleus of a true varsity program.

4. Even with the CAA membership, it is not likely that State would start off playing as a full-fledged conference member in football. They will probably have to spend at least a couple of years as a football independent or an affiliate of the Big South before the Colonial could figure out what to do with their alignment. The same would hold true for Old Dominion.

The CAA would have to decide whether or not to become a 14-member football league, or to cut loose the six associate members and keep only the full-time members for football, or to just pick a few of the associate members to continue with the full-time members.

5. The CAA is highly unlikely to move up to 1A as a league. Willam & Mary, Richmond and Villanova have all been major college programs in the past, and Villanova is probably the only one of those three that might want to take a shot at it again. Massachusets has shown an interest in moving up, Hofstra may have an interest, but Delaware may be the only one with the proper infrastructure and connections to be able to pull it off on short notice, and I'm not sure the Blue Hens are interested in moving in that direction.

6. I have no reason to believe that Western Illinois would be looking to abandon the Gateway Conference and join the OVC. However, that doesn't mean the OVC might not be a feasability for KSU if they should start a football program. Samford will be leaving the OVC for the Southern Conference next year, so that leaves a possible opening, and Kennesaw is close enough to be a fit.

7. The SoCon would not be a possibility for KSU. With Samford joining, they will have 9 football playing members & 12 basketball members, and they won't be looking to add any additional teams.

8. The Owls best bet would probably be to play 2 or 3 years at the 1AA non-scholarship level, then move up to 1AA scholly ball and affiliate with the Big South for football while playing the rest of their sports in the A-Sun.

-KSU has had on campus housing since fall 2002 and is currently building more.
-Talk about Big East and D-I has been found to be a marketing tool and no real substance. Support shown through student survey means there could be some sort of scholarship football in the near future. D-I level, AA (FCS) definately. DI-A (FBS) level would only be attainable down the road.
-GSU and KSU are running their programs separately. As I put it before, GSU has left the station but not necessarily on a faster train. It's going to be fun to watch the two programs grow. There are separate and different hurdles each will have to jump.
-Conference alignment will shape itself once teams are formed. I haven't found anyone without a home except for North Dakota State/SDSU which I see as a secluded problem. Location being their problem. There are plenty of conferences that would take an Atlanta team.

Housing and athletics are mutually exclusive.
Housing is normally financed with bonds (repaid with rental) and football with student fees and donations.
Housing doesn't have to be done before football, they can both be done at the same time.

Just being from the Atlanta area doesn't automatically make a team attractive. A lot of factors play into whether a team is attractive to a conference and vice-versa. Some of those factors include:

Academic mission and quality;
Competitiveness of athletics;
Support of faculty, students, alumni & community through attendance & financial pledges;
Academic & athletic integrity;
Travel costs and existing rivalries with current member institutions;
Attractiveness of a market area; and,
Stay-ability.

Personally, I hope Kennesaw State and Georgia State are both able to pull this off. With the newness of their programs and their proximity to one another, I think they would make great football rivals.