Arkansas produced about 30 FBS signees this year. Mississippi produced about 110. Obviously, you can recruit in places like Idaho and Arkansas but you have to work harder.

(02-06-2015 02:47 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  Little Rock is 2 hours from Jonesboro and 3 hours from Fayetteville. That is not the problem. The problem is that the city of LR does not produce very many academically eligible FBS quality athletes. There are some but not enough. SE AR produces the most per capita in the state but the population is low in that area.

I was including UCA, which frequently produces competitive football teams. Google says that's a 30 minute drive, so that's an uphill battle to start a program so close to an established one.

Yeah, they would be competing with UCA if they played FCS and to some extent even if they played FBS. ULM and La. Tech make it work I suppose. The results would probably be similar with UCA playing the role of La. Tech.

(02-06-2015 02:56 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 02:47 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  Little Rock is 2 hours from Jonesboro and 3 hours from Fayetteville. That is not the problem. The problem is that the city of LR does not produce very many academically eligible FBS quality athletes. There are some but not enough. SE AR produces the most per capita in the state but the population is low in that area.

I was including UCA, which frequently produces competitive football teams. Google says that's a 30 minute drive, so that's an uphill battle to start a program so close to an established one.

UCA Has always been good at picking up the scraps in the state after Arkansas and ASU have had their pick. The other thing they are very good at is getting FBS transfers out of both schools. Arkansas has taken to blocking kids from transferring to UCA to keep it from happening too often.

If they were serious they would do a study and they haven't.

And if they did do a study it had best be a real one by a neutral. Because this idea is full of peril.

(02-06-2015 03:17 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 02:56 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 02:47 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  Little Rock is 2 hours from Jonesboro and 3 hours from Fayetteville. That is not the problem. The problem is that the city of LR does not produce very many academically eligible FBS quality athletes. There are some but not enough. SE AR produces the most per capita in the state but the population is low in that area.

I was including UCA, which frequently produces competitive football teams. Google says that's a 30 minute drive, so that's an uphill battle to start a program so close to an established one.

UCA Has always been good at picking up the scraps in the state after Arkansas and ASU have had their pick. The other thing they are very good at is getting FBS transfers out of both schools. Arkansas has taken to blocking kids from transferring to UCA to keep it from happening too often.

Right and FCS transfers are about to be more difficult if teams like UCA do not provide stipends or even if they provide it pro rata based on their scholarships.

(02-06-2015 02:40 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Other than their turf, what's wrong with Central Arkansas? Is there room for two Division 1 teams that close to each other??

Reason one is finances.

UCA has gotten in hot water twice over their athletic budget practices first diverting too much restricted money to athletics, second was signing a contract with an ad firm with the understanding that the ad firm would then buy ads on the coach's show (coach got paid for the show out of ads), this was ruled to be a sham transaction where the school washed the money to pay the coach out of funds that couldn't be used for athletics.

They are just starting to rebuild their enrollment after taking a big hit. Enrollment fell after the state busted their practices in awarding scholarships and shut down things like telling academic recruiters to find the most popular kid in school and give them a full ride. Having consecutive presidents convicted of felonies didn't help their perception either. Funny part is the first president was super popular and could do no wrong. Then he complained too many Conway businesses were red rather than purple on Saturday. About month later some of his memos regarding self-dealing emerged and he was soon in the Federal courthouse.

Reason two is their stadium.

It only seats 8500. The east side is small and cannot be expanded without demolition of a dormitory. Similar situation in the south end zone though there is some growth room there. Growing north means shutting down a major campus road unless like the south end zone you do something small there.

That leaves the west stands and demolition of the newest part of the stadium that was built fairly recently and starting over.

(02-06-2015 03:41 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 02:40 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Other than their turf, what's wrong with Central Arkansas? Is there room for two Division 1 teams that close to each other??

Having consecutive presidents convicted of felonies didn't help their perception either. Funny part is the first president was super popular and could do no wrong. Then he complained too many Conway businesses were red rather than purple on Saturday. About month later some of his memos regarding self-dealing emerged and he was soon in the Federal courthouse.

And the top administrator trading the campus master key to a student to facilitate stealing tests in exchange for....favors.

UCA had some bad news cycles for a few years.

(02-06-2015 02:53 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  Arkansas produced about 30 FBS signees this year. Mississippi produced about 110. Obviously, you can recruit in places like Idaho and Arkansas but you have to work harder.

What is wrong with Arkansas, the population between Mississippi and Arkansas is non-existent, yet the gap is that large.....why??? Something wrong with coaching, diet, teachers, what's the excuse???

lol this thread title is unbelievably misleading. never gonna happen. the amount of money we don't have is staggering. have to do so much to add a football in terms of staffing people alone. then build facilities for the team to house them all. then add female scholarships and create more female teams for title nine balancing. so much more than just slapping a uniform on 80 kids and putting them in war memorial.

(02-06-2015 04:10 PM)UaLrRuLeS Wrote:  lol this thread title is unbelievably misleading. never gonna happen. the amount of money we don't have is staggering. have to do so much to add a football in terms of staffing people alone. then build facilities for the team to house them all. then add female scholarships and create more female teams for title nine balancing. so much more than just slapping a uniform on 80 kids and putting them in war memorial.

I think that was GaSt's method.

(02-06-2015 04:13 PM)Usajags Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 04:10 PM)UaLrRuLeS Wrote:  lol this thread title is unbelievably misleading. never gonna happen. the amount of money we don't have is staggering. have to do so much to add a football in terms of staffing people alone. then build facilities for the team to house them all. then add female scholarships and create more female teams for title nine balancing. so much more than just slapping a uniform on 80 kids and putting them in war memorial.

I think that was GaSt's method.

No where in that post did I see have your AD sleep with Benson.

I wish you could move War Memorial Stadium to Springfield.

(02-06-2015 04:09 PM)Usajags Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 02:53 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  Arkansas produced about 30 FBS signees this year. Mississippi produced about 110. Obviously, you can recruit in places like Idaho and Arkansas but you have to work harder.

What is wrong with Arkansas, the population between Mississippi and Arkansas is non-existent, yet the gap is that large.....why??? Something wrong with coaching, diet, teachers, what's the excuse???

It was not as bad as I stated. I forgot to exclude Jucos. It was 53 from MS and 30 from AR.

(02-06-2015 01:11 AM)gostAte870 Wrote:  Looks like the Belt is getting that 12th team soon
UALR Football Returning After 50 Years

As much as this old Sun Belt fan would like to see it happen, I am not very optimistic it will happen anytime soon.

(02-06-2015 05:35 PM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 01:11 AM)gostAte870 Wrote:  Looks like the Belt is getting that 12th team soon
UALR Football Returning After 50 Years

As much as this old Sun Belt fan would like to see it happen, I am not very optimistic it will happen anytime soon.

As a UALR fan of 33 years, I've always said there is no way it could happen. Our fan support, media coverage, and support from the city is pitiful. No way we have the financial resources to start and support football.

While I still believe the above, I'm no longer 100% certain it will never happen. Maybe just 95% certain. With the pigs moving games out of Little Rock for good, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that some rich business folks in the city might put their resources behind UALR football. Jack Stephens got mad about the hogs moving games out of LR and gave UALR 23 million dollars to build a new basketball arena. Maybe there are some other pissed off rich folks who might be willing to do something similar. Anger and revenge are strong motivators. While I don't see it happening, I do know that they, at least, discussed the start-up costs with folks from South Alabama. I don't think they were encouraged by what they were told. But, I guess talking about it is the first step.

(02-06-2015 04:02 PM)ark30inf Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 03:41 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 02:40 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Other than their turf, what's wrong with Central Arkansas? Is there room for two Division 1 teams that close to each other??

Having consecutive presidents convicted of felonies didn't help their perception either. Funny part is the first president was super popular and could do no wrong. Then he complained too many Conway businesses were red rather than purple on Saturday. About month later some of his memos regarding self-dealing emerged and he was soon in the Federal courthouse.

And the top administrator trading the campus master key to a student to facilitate stealing tests in exchange for....favors.

UCA had some bad news cycles for a few years.

And Sodexo getting a no bid contract extension supposedly as quid pro quo for donating to the fund to remodel the president's residence. We don't know that is what happened because the relevant emails and letters were destroyed in violation of the Arkansas Records Law. Of course the email directing their destruction survived. Another criminal charge.

(02-06-2015 03:41 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 02:40 PM)bullitt_60 Wrote:  Other than their turf, what's wrong with Central Arkansas? Is there room for two Division 1 teams that close to each other??

Reason one is finances.

UCA has gotten in hot water twice over their athletic budget practices first diverting too much restricted money to athletics, second was signing a contract with an ad firm with the understanding that the ad firm would then buy ads on the coach's show (coach got paid for the show out of ads), this was ruled to be a sham transaction where the school washed the money to pay the coach out of funds that couldn't be used for athletics.

They are just starting to rebuild their enrollment after taking a big hit. Enrollment fell after the state busted their practices in awarding scholarships and shut down things like telling academic recruiters to find the most popular kid in school and give them a full ride. Having consecutive presidents convicted of felonies didn't help their perception either. Funny part is the first president was super popular and could do no wrong. Then he complained too many Conway businesses were red rather than purple on Saturday. About month later some of his memos regarding self-dealing emerged and he was soon in the Federal courthouse.

Reason two is their stadium.

It only seats 8500. The east side is small and cannot be expanded without demolition of a dormitory. Similar situation in the south end zone though there is some growth room there. Growing north means shutting down a major campus road unless like the south end zone you do something small there.

That leaves the west stands and demolition of the newest part of the stadium that was built fairly recently and starting over.

Sorry for my confusing turn of phrase, but I was not trying to insinuate UCA was a candidate for FBS but that having competition so close would make things difficult for UALR to start a program. However, these stories have me interested and I think I will do a little googling...

(02-06-2015 09:38 AM)ark30inf Wrote:  UA is even attempting to destroy their distance learning program so one only imagines what they would think of a football program.

UALR isn't exactly rolling in cash. Hard to see where they come up with that sort of ongoing budget.

My crystal ball also shows attendance problems. LR is a Hog city, not a sports city.

Seems SoBama is suffering from that same problem being a Bama city.


I'm not a Troy fan because of wins and losses.

(02-06-2015 07:44 PM)Hemi Man Wrote:  

(02-06-2015 09:38 AM)ark30inf Wrote:  UA is even attempting to destroy their distance learning program so one only imagines what they would think of a football program.

UALR isn't exactly rolling in cash. Hard to see where they come up with that sort of ongoing budget.

My crystal ball also shows attendance problems. LR is a Hog city, not a sports city.

Seems SoBama is suffering from that same problem being a Bama city.


I'm not a Troy fan because of wins and losses.

We don't suffer from these problems, we are not part of UAT. Granted, every other program in this state has to deal with Bama and Barn fans. The trick is to not think we have to compete with their support, but share the support.