To me these two schools seem like they could support football at the FCS level. UNF even has a stadium on campus that would be suitable. The A-Sun/Big South football alliance gives them a path to do it. Heck, if Stetson and Jacksonville could be convinced to shift dollars around and play scholarship ball the A-Sun would have the Florida schools, UNA, and KSU and could either strike out on their own or simply swap out the name and logo on the FB conference banner for the A-Sun's.

UNF........brah them girls.....

Stetson & Jacksonville are also private schools like Wake Forest or Duke. UNF & UFGC are public schools. Big difference.

David State says they both have the potential to start football right away and be leaders in the Big David State Conference and eventually move to the AAC

If the Jaguars leave, I could see an opportunistic move to elevate JU and UNF to full scholarship FCS football, with the goal of UNF moving to the Sun Belt or C-USA. Jacksonville has minimal on-campus facilities, so they probably couldn't be counted on as a tenant barring an explicit desire to move to FBS. JU would need to substantially increase its enrollment before contemplating a move, as JU's enrollment is about two-thirds the size of Wake Forest's enrollment. UNF has an enrollment similar to what South Alabama had when USA elected to start football.

What will work against them is the Florida/Georgia game. This may also exclude Jacksonville from hosting a P5 championship conference game, in particular the ACC, of North Florida needs to keep that date available. Jacksonville would probably also try to land more marquee neutral-site matchups if the NFL leaves town.

North Florida could find themselves in the Sun Belt if they add football. Would be nice that schools can declare to go FBS without a conference invite.

(09-23-2017 04:45 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  Stetson & Jacksonville are also private schools like Wake Forest or Duke. UNF & UFGC are public schools. Big difference.

Private may mean big endowments but it's also generally means smaller enrollment and fewer alumni. As public schools UNF and UFGC have more students which means more athletic fees they can collect. Branding is key to gaining local support and I think being initialed schools hurts them both. I would rebrand athletics as "North Florida" and "Gulf Coast" to try to drum up more local support. I'd also push to get the Florida private schools to offer scholarships to give A-Sun Football a Florida identity.

If another major shift occurs and these programs play their cards right, they could be Sunbelt schools in 10-15 years.

FGCU already has a scholarship fund set up by Ben Hill Griffin III (son of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field Fame).
http://archive.naplesnews.com/news/educa...0121.html/

The campus is on land donated to the state by the Griffin family company, Alico, Inc.

Back in 2010.it would've cost them $100M, so that's increased
http://archive.naplesnews.com/news/local...09592.html

The school's new president is on record that football is not a priority, but sees it as a possibility within the next 20 years.
http://www.news-press.com/story/news/edu...563102001/

(09-23-2017 06:32 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  North Florida could find themselves in the Sun Belt if they add football. Would be nice that schools can declare to go FBS without a conference invite.

Why don't you wait about 30 years AFTER they start football (if ever) to see if they would be good enough for the Sun Belt. The SBC is not going to take just anyone.

(09-23-2017 08:30 PM)AZcats Wrote:  

(09-23-2017 06:32 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  North Florida could find themselves in the Sun Belt if they add football. Would be nice that schools can declare to go FBS without a conference invite.

Why don't you wait about 30 years AFTER they start football (if ever) to see if they would be good enough for the Sun Belt. The SBC is not going to take just anyone.

Nope. UNF would be a great addition to the Sun Belt now. They should announce this year and start playing as an FCS independent in two with games against Sun Belt members. Then be full FBS during year 5.

Do you mean Florida Gulf Coast University when you refer to "UFGC"?

If so, I think they're a great school on paper to add football: good-sized affluent market (Fort Myers/Naples) with very little in-market college football spectator competition (although the Ft. Myers/Naples market regularly has some of the highest college football TV ratings in the country based on its strong and broad support for Florida, Florida State and Miami) and great access to potential recruits.

FGCU also has an excellent basketball brand that would honestly be more helpful to the finances of any conference that they would join in the future compared to a football team. In fact, I see a lot of similarities between FGCU and Wichita State in the sense that any consideration of a move to FBS football may be more about helping find a better conference for basketball. Granted, one key difference is that the 3-hour drive "radius" (more like a semi-circle due to the school's coastal location) from FGCU is arguably the best football recruiting region in the country, while Wichita State is in no-man's land on that front. Football in and of itself is much more of a viable goal for FGCU, whereas Wichita State's interest in football all seemed to be more couched in getting them out of the MVC for basketball.

(09-25-2017 10:49 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  Do you mean Florida Gulf Coast University when you refer to "UFGC"?

If so, I think they're a great school on paper to add football: good-sized affluent market (Fort Myers/Naples) with very little in-market college football spectator competition (although the Ft. Myers/Naples market regularly has some of the highest college football TV ratings in the country based on its strong and broad support for Florida, Florida State and Miami) and great access to potential recruits.

FGCU also has an excellent basketball brand that would honestly be more helpful to the finances of any conference that they would join in the future compared to a football team. In fact, I see a lot of similarities between FGCU and Wichita State in the sense that any consideration of a move to FBS football may be more about helping find a better conference for basketball. Granted, one key difference is that the 3-hour drive "radius" (more like a semi-circle due to the school's coastal location) from FGCU is arguably the best football recruiting region in the country, while Wichita State is in no-man's land on that front. Football in and of itself is much more of a viable goal for FGCU, whereas Wichita State's interest in football all seemed to be more couched in getting them out of the MVC for basketball.

One difference is that Wichita State had capped out at MVC and considered football to break through (the sans-football invite to the AAC seems to have mitigated that). FGCU should be able to do better than the Atlantic Sun without adding football; it'd be hard for them to do worse, other than the proximity of other Florida member schools. So while they might use football to boost their basketball fortunes, I have to think they'll make at least one move to a better hoops conference before that happens (understanding that any move jacks up their travel budget).

(09-25-2017 10:49 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  Do you mean Florida Gulf Coast University when you refer to "UFGC"?

If so, I think they're a great school on paper to add football: good-sized affluent market (Fort Myers/Naples) with very little in-market college football spectator competition (although the Ft. Myers/Naples market regularly has some of the highest college football TV ratings in the country based on its strong and broad support for Florida, Florida State and Miami) and great access to potential recruits.

FGCU also has an excellent basketball brand that would honestly be more helpful to the finances of any conference that they would join in the future compared to a football team. In fact, I see a lot of similarities between FGCU and Wichita State in the sense that any consideration of a move to FBS football may be more about helping find a better conference for basketball. Granted, one key difference is that the 3-hour drive "radius" (more like a semi-circle due to the school's coastal location) from FGCU is arguably the best football recruiting region in the country, while Wichita State is in no-man's land on that front. Football in and of itself is much more of a viable goal for FGCU, whereas Wichita State's interest in football all seemed to be more couched in getting them out of the MVC for basketball.

Yes, I got my initials backwards. For some reason I was thinking they were part of a University of Florida system.

(09-25-2017 10:49 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  Do you mean Florida Gulf Coast University when you refer to "UFGC"?

I think he means University of Florida, Gator Campus

(09-23-2017 09:31 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  To me these two schools seem like they could support football at the FCS level. UNF even has a stadium on campus that would be suitable. The A-Sun/Big South football alliance gives them a path to do it. Heck, if Stetson and Jacksonville could be convinced to shift dollars around and play scholarship ball the A-Sun would have the Florida schools, UNA, and KSU and could either strike out on their own or simply swap out the name and logo on the FB conference banner for the A-Sun's.

In answer...no

(09-25-2017 04:55 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(09-25-2017 10:49 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  Do you mean Florida Gulf Coast University when you refer to "UFGC"?

If so, I think they're a great school on paper to add football: good-sized affluent market (Fort Myers/Naples) with very little in-market college football spectator competition (although the Ft. Myers/Naples market regularly has some of the highest college football TV ratings in the country based on its strong and broad support for Florida, Florida State and Miami) and great access to potential recruits.

FGCU also has an excellent basketball brand that would honestly be more helpful to the finances of any conference that they would join in the future compared to a football team. In fact, I see a lot of similarities between FGCU and Wichita State in the sense that any consideration of a move to FBS football may be more about helping find a better conference for basketball. Granted, one key difference is that the 3-hour drive "radius" (more like a semi-circle due to the school's coastal location) from FGCU is arguably the best football recruiting region in the country, while Wichita State is in no-man's land on that front. Football in and of itself is much more of a viable goal for FGCU, whereas Wichita State's interest in football all seemed to be more couched in getting them out of the MVC for basketball.

Yes, I got my initials backwards. For some reason I was thinking they were part of a University of Florida system.

They're a part of the state university system of Florida: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Univ...stitutions

(09-23-2017 06:09 PM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  David State says they both have the potential to start football right away and be leaders in the Big David State Conference and eventually move to the AAC

Beat me to it brah

(09-28-2017 03:50 PM)panama Wrote:  

(09-23-2017 09:31 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  To me these two schools seem like they could support football at the FCS level. UNF even has a stadium on campus that would be suitable. The A-Sun/Big South football alliance gives them a path to do it. Heck, if Stetson and Jacksonville could be convinced to shift dollars around and play scholarship ball the A-Sun would have the Florida schools, UNA, and KSU and could either strike out on their own or simply swap out the name and logo on the FB conference banner for the A-Sun's.

In answer...no

In answer...yes