http://www.underdogdynasty.com/2015/8/2/...a-sun-belt

So would Coastal just be a non-FB member, since their stadium doesn't meet the minimum requirement for attendance?

Or they could, you know, make the stadium meet the minimum requirement for attendance.

Or they could be added as a non-FB member at first, and make the FBS transition when they have a stadium expansion in place.

(08-02-2015 09:26 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  Or they could be added as a non-FB member at first, and make the FBS transition when they have a stadium expansion in place.

This ^^^

Possible olympic sports add for 2016 & FBS-ready around 2018

(08-02-2015 08:23 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  So would Coastal just be a non-FB member, since their stadium doesn't meet the minimum requirement for attendance?

Or just add temporary seating..not like half the MAC teams meet that minimum req.

I could see a 3rd tiered college bowl game at Coastal by 2020. Another option is Charleston.

I wasn't sure I was a believer in CCU's candidacy. It's one thing to pursue the subject, and maybe get a mention, but the site visit and the financials, even without the venue components in place, wow.

I'm one who thinks Coastal wouldn't even be in play if SoCon or CAA would get over themselves. Those were the doors Coastal kept knocking the last few years.

Just as an FYI, the SB visited EKU on 20 - 22 July.

http://www.richmondregister.com/sports/e...aca2a.html

(08-02-2015 09:34 PM)chantzilla Wrote:  

(08-02-2015 09:26 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  Or they could be added as a non-FB member at first, and make the FBS transition when they have a stadium expansion in place.

This ^^^

Possible olympic sports add for 2016 & FBS-ready around 2018

OK, that's what I was thinking.

How does the admin and alumni feel about moving to FBS? They've had it pretty good in FCS lately (other than the trips to Fargo ).

Was FBS ever in the plans or is this just a sudden opportunity that might be "too good to pass us"?


Good luck to Coastal!

(08-03-2015 08:32 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  I wasn't sure I was a believer in CCU's candidacy. It's one thing to pursue the subject, and maybe get a mention, but the site visit and the financials, even without the venue components in place, wow.

I'm one who thinks Coastal wouldn't even be in play if SoCon or CAA would get over themselves. Those were the doors Coastal kept knocking the last few years.

I wouldn't have thought so either, because of how new the school is and the size of the stadium.

If they can get the money in place, then they'll prove they're serious about moving up.

(08-03-2015 08:46 AM)EKUSteve Wrote:  Just as an FYI, the SB visited EKU on 20 - 22 July.

http://www.richmondregister.com/sports/e...aca2a.html

EKU I would think is a more likely addition for full member, given their stadium size.

(08-02-2015 11:12 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  I could see a 3rd tiered college bowl game at Coastal by 2020. Another option is Charleston.

For a bowl? Or for Coastal to play in during the season? That's a 2 hour drive each way from campus.

(08-02-2015 08:27 PM)AppinVA Wrote:  Or they could, you know, make the stadium meet the minimum requirement for attendance.

(08-02-2015 11:08 PM)RustonCAT Wrote:  Or just add temporary seating..not like half the MAC teams meet that minimum req.

Add 6k seats in one year?

That means aluminum, high school style bleachers. That will look cheap, and crappy. And even then, it still might be a couple million to do it (depending on the site). Seems like a wasted investment if it's just going to be torn down in a few years to replace with an actual expansion of the stadium.

(08-03-2015 08:47 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  Was FBS ever in the plans or is this just a sudden opportunity that might be "too good to pass us"?

From the article, it seems that before their FCS FB success of the last three years, it wouldn't have been taken seriously as an option.

It seems like they could probably get to a 20,000 capacity stadium by adding an upper deck above the sightlines of their current boxes, and a new press box on the home side and rebuilding the away side with preparation for adding a deck on that side as well. Much bigger and they might need to rebuild the home side.

More of an issue is what kind of turn-out they can get ... there's some schools in the Sunbelt that might attract a bigger crowd than their current conference will, but to be sustainable most of the crowd has to be coming to see the home school.

(08-03-2015 10:41 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(08-03-2015 08:47 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  Was FBS ever in the plans or is this just a sudden opportunity that might be "too good to pass us"?

From the article, it seems that before their FCS FB success of the last three years, it wouldn't have been taken seriously as an option.

They got some press for their head coach being a former CEO of a large company.

I agree that they've been a good FCS team recently.

But there have been other good FCS programs, that have stadiums with the capacity to go FBS and whose schools have been around for a long time and have decently sized endowments.

Like Furman, for example.

(08-03-2015 10:50 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  But there have been other good FCS programs, that have stadiums with the capacity to go FBS and whose schools have been around for a long time and have decently sized endowments.

I can't work out why people are so fixated on endowments ... unless the endowment is directly tied to the athletic department, like an endowed sports scholarship. Most of what a University does is not about the athletic department, and a large part of the income from an endowment is already spoken for.

For CCU, it seems that the transition to FBS football ~ including facilities ~ is the only real lift. For many schools, they have to increase their athletic budget, coaching salaries, number of scholarships, number of female sports and a number of other elements in order meet FBS requirements, but while CCU does not have a budget like JMU, it looks like it already fits with the existing Sunbelt conference schools in every respect other than FB scholarships and stadium size & attendance.

(08-03-2015 11:02 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(08-03-2015 10:50 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  But there have been other good FCS programs, that have stadiums with the capacity to go FBS and whose schools have been around for a long time and have decently sized endowments.

I can't work out why people are so fixated on endowments ... unless the endowment is directly tied to the athletic department, like an endowed sports scholarship.

For CCU, it seems that the transition to FBS football ~ including facilities ~ is the only real lift. For many schools, they have to increase their athletic budget, coaching salaries, number of scholarships, number of female sports and a number of other elements in order meet FBS requirements, but while CCU does not have a budget like JMU, it looks like it already fits with the existing Sunbelt conference schools in every respect other than FB scholarships and stadium size & attendance.

... which is exactly the point of FBS. It's a sub-division entirely focused on football, for teams that want to make the highest investment in scholarships and generally have the highest interest and fan support to that funds such investments.

Endowment is just a general measure of how much donors give to a school. So schools that have large donor support usually have large endowments.


Coastal was founded as a junior college in the 50's. It only became an autonomous 4-year school in the early 90's, with 4,000 students.

They've obviously grow a lot in 20 years, but their endowment is only $25 million.


I'm guessing they need at least $10 million in facilities upgrades. No idea how far they're behind on operating budget, both for athletics department as a whole and for football.

How much does their head coach make, relative to other Sun Belt schools? What about men's basketball and baseball (a sport I know that Sun Belt cares about)? Etc.

(08-03-2015 08:52 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(08-02-2015 08:27 PM)AppinVA Wrote:  Or they could, you know, make the stadium meet the minimum requirement for attendance.

(08-02-2015 11:08 PM)RustonCAT Wrote:  Or just add temporary seating..not like half the MAC teams meet that minimum req.

Add 6k seats in one year?

That means aluminum, high school style bleachers. That will look cheap, and crappy. And even then, it still might be a couple million to do it (depending on the site). Seems like a wasted investment if it's just going to be torn down in a few years to replace with an actual expansion of the stadium.

No one will care about crappy looks if that is the temporary solution. In addition, the I am would think as long as they have the seats in by full membership time, there will be no issue. Remember Coastal will still have to play a transitional year prior to becoming a full Sunbelt year. In addition, from what I recall, Coastal Stadium was designed to future seats could be easily added. I think this is just beginning of seeing FBS grow by about 10-25 teams in the next 10 years. It will be interesting to see if any rule changes occur about how to become FBS in the August meetings. Now would be the time to start to get in on the next CFP contract. For the playoff to go to 8, they will need to create a pool of more bowl teams and that is only done by bringing in more FBS teams. Looking at it, the FBS is the NCAA BBALL Tournament and the Bowls are now the NIT, CBI & CIT.

M belief is the Heritage Bowl is a first step into creating a conference that is mostly comprised of Traditional HBU as a FBS Conference. This will go along with some Independents to go with UMASS & ARMY such as a Liberty, Citadel, Incarnate Word, Abilene Christian etc. It would be hard for any conference to argue against this plan without looking bad.

According to USA Today's database, Coastal spent $23.8 million on athletics in 2013-14. Only four of the current SBC schools had a larger budget for that year.

So, it's likely that their salaries, facility expenditures, etc. are already very competitive with SBC schools, other than in football.