I'm just thinking that with Cali being is such deep financial trouble, do you think the California State Universities there might be forced to drop the money-losing venture that is college athletics?

San José State and Fresno State are really dfeeling the pinch. What if they're forced to temporarily drop to Division II or III so they don't have to award athletic scholarships? What would happen to the WAC if it suddenly only had 7 members? Would they re-join the MWC wholly or partially?

San Diego State could cause the same problem in the MWC.

USC is a private school and actually makes money for athletics overall, so they're safe. Stanford is private so they're not affected. UCLA is public, but not a member of the CSU system so I don't know about them.

Would you see an exodus of transfers from these schools if it came to this? This is a very real possibility given just how bad it has become in that state.

I could see SJSU having to drop if things got bad. Fans stink along with that lackluster stadium.

Fresno is packing them in at 40,000 a game. Annual BCS buster contender ever since the BCS was formed, by no means are they going to slide to FCS. They'll fire Pat Hill and bring in a 300k HC if they need to meet the budget before they'd consider dropping. Hill is making 1.2 million a year as it stands now.

you would think the Pac-10 schools would be fine.
I could see NCAA giving waiver to Cali schools & let them drop non-revenue sports,
much like NCAA gave waiver to Lousiana schools when Katrina hit

No, because Obama and Pelosi will bailout that state before any hard rational decisions have to be made at the local level. LA is paying folks to say home from work and watch their own kids because the city can't pay state/city employees to watch those kids on the government's dime anymore. That fact that they shouldn't be paying people to watch their own kids in the first place is a concept liberal politicans in Cali haven't grasped yet. Free everything while the middle class and small business pay out the nose until they leave the state for good.

(07-09-2009 11:46 PM)OUBOBCATJOHN Wrote:  No, because Obama and Pelosi will bailout that state before any hard rational decisions have to be made at the local level. LA is paying folks to say home from work and watch their own kids because the city can't pay state/city employees to watch those kids on the government's dime anymore. That fact that they shouldn't be paying people to watch their own kids in the first place is a concept liberal politicans in Cali haven't grasped yet. Free everything while the middle class and small business pay out the nose until they leave the state for good.

..not too sure about that right now, believe that could sink the Dems........ if this keeps up Pelosi will lose her job as Speaker of the House, a title she has worked so hard for....

The only way Fresno drops down is if the valley blows away because there is not enough water to ship to LA.

(07-09-2009 11:46 PM)OUBOBCATJOHN Wrote:  No, because Obama and Pelosi will bailout that state before any hard rational decisions have to be made at the local level. LA is paying folks to say home from work and watch their own kids because the city can't pay state/city employees to watch those kids on the government's dime anymore. That fact that they shouldn't be paying people to watch their own kids in the first place is a concept liberal politicans in Cali haven't grasped yet. Free everything while the middle class and small business pay out the nose until they leave the state for good.

Pure paranoid ignorance. This has no basis in reality and is contrary to all public statements made by both of them. Moreover California is not losing population and taxes have been cut for small business and the middle class. Tea party on though John don't let reality get in the way.

Actually, over the next 5-10 years I expect the opposite to be true: as Pat Hill mentioned a few months back, UC Davis and Cal Poly will likely move up to FBS status. California has systematic cost-side problems, but maintains many revenue side economic and demographic advantages (it’s not like Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the ports in LA / Oakland, and tourism- not to mention CA is the largest agriculture and one of the largest military support State(s) in the Union- are going away). Michigan on the other hand suffers from deficiencies on both sides of the equation. Perhaps you should substitute MI for CA and ask the same question? It's going to remain ugly in CA for the next couple of years at least; however, the light at the end of the tunnel for MI appears even beyond reasonable conception at this time.

Things might be bad now but at least our state isn't in danger of falling into the ocean, catching on fire, or hosting bizzare funerals for famous pedophiles. Plus we have been funding our MAC football programs on a shoestring budget for years even when times were good.

lol.............. so there. We already suck.

I agree with Blitz. Pat Hill also mentioned Sacramento State so that is three potential California programs that might eventually move up to the WAC. The money they now spend on travel in FCS would be converted to scholarships in FBS if things balance out right. What the WAC needs to do is get the ball rolling by inviting one of them, Sacramento State is the easiest logistically, to join for everything except football. They can move their football program from the Big Sky to the Great West while waiting for the right time to upgrade to the WAC.

John Madden is also pushing Cal Poly to expand its stadium when the economy recovers and his influence should be able to get some big name donors on board if he keeps up the presure. They would probably make the most sense for the WAC to add as soon as Louisiana Tech leaves or if Boise State is taken by the MWC. By the time the second of those events happens, UC Davis should be in a position to move up, which would get California out of the scholarship FCS business. The WAC would be centered in California with five members there.

Should a worst case scenario happen, though, Fresno State would weather the storm. It is unknown if San Jose State, San Diego State, and Sacramento State would be able to amble along unharmed. Assuming those three drop football and join the Big West, the MWC might respond by grabbing Boise State and Nevada, boosting them to 10 teams and dropping the WAC to 6 programs. They would have to offer Cal Poly and UC Davis immediately and still prepare for the eventual departure of Louisiana Tech. Maybe they look to Portland State next?

At some point in the future, UC Merced will add athletics as well, once the student body reaches the requisite size. There is no telling how far away that move will be but their campus would certainly want to be with UC Davis, if they sponsor football, and it would make sense for the WAC should the budget crisis devastate its current membership. I did make the assumption above that football survives at Cal Poly and UC Davis even if San Jose State, San Diego State, and Sacramento State are forced to drop the sport. Hopefully they all make it.

(07-09-2009 09:43 PM)Airport KC Wrote:  I could see SJSU having to drop if things got bad. Fans stink along with that lackluster stadium.

Fresno is packing them in at 40,000 a game. Annual BCS buster contender ever since the BCS was formed, by no means are they going to slide to FCS. They'll fire Pat Hill and bring in a 300k HC if they need to meet the budget before they'd consider dropping. Hill is making 1.2 million a year as it stands now.

Have you been to San Jose's stadium? I have... it isn't bad... plus you can booze while watching the game.

No way large Cal State System programs drop down from D-1. Minuscule, private, Deep South schools Centenary and the University of New Orleans found a way to fund D-1 athletics after serious funding crises. If they could find a way, any school can, save a Katrina-scale disaster (and UNO and Tulane's programs got through Katrina, though things were scary for them for a while).

This ESPN article lays it all out. It's a massively changing landscape.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/s...id=4314195

I remember when WMU cut men's track and synchronized skating and what an uproar that created. I could not imagine cutting 8 sports like MIT.

(07-11-2009 04:17 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  No way large Cal State System programs drop down from D-1. Minuscule, private, Deep South schools Centenary and the University of New Orleans found a way to fund D-1 athletics after serious funding crises. If they could find a way, any school can, save a Katrina-scale disaster (and UNO and Tulane's programs got through Katrina, though things were scary for them for a while).

Between 1991 and 2003 there were ten California colleges that dropped football, eight of them were public colleges and three played I-A.

Two of the I-A schools that dropped football were in the Cal State system. Between 23 schools in the Cal State system there's not a lot of football.

(07-13-2009 02:44 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(07-11-2009 04:17 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  No way large Cal State System programs drop down from D-1. Minuscule, private, Deep South schools Centenary and the University of New Orleans found a way to fund D-1 athletics after serious funding crises. If they could find a way, any school can, save a Katrina-scale disaster (and UNO and Tulane's programs got through Katrina, though things were scary for them for a while).

Between 1991 and 2003 there were ten California colleges that dropped football, eight of them were public colleges and three played I-A.

Two of the I-A schools that dropped football were in the Cal State system. Between 23 schools in the Cal State system there's not a lot of football.

Several of those schools were part of the Big West/PCAA but really were not keeping up. Once Fresno left, it really threw the conference for a loop.

CSU-Fullerton dropped football after playing one season as an indy after leaving the Big West as a football member. Same with Long Beach St. Pacific dropped FB outright while still a member. Northridge was playing football, I think, during this time too and dropped the sport.

Santa Clara was D-II when they dropped out, possibly because of the "Dayton rule" where schools had to move all their sports to D-I if they sponsored FB or MBK as a D-I sport. St. Mary's played at the I-AA level for about 10 years and was supposed to be part of the Great West FB Conference before disbanding the program.

As for SJSU, I thought they did a feasibility study on football and other athletics programs a couple years ago, right before they hired Dick Tomey. I think the decision was made to keep the team around. Meanwhile, their coach, Dr. Fitz Hill, was fired/resigned to take a job as a professor at UCF before becoming president of Arkansas Baptist University.

(07-13-2009 02:44 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(07-11-2009 04:17 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  No way large Cal State System programs drop down from D-1. Minuscule, private, Deep South schools Centenary and the University of New Orleans found a way to fund D-1 athletics after serious funding crises. If they could find a way, any school can, save a Katrina-scale disaster (and UNO and Tulane's programs got through Katrina, though things were scary for them for a while).

Between 1991 and 2003 there were ten California colleges that dropped football, eight of them were public colleges and three played I-A.

Two of the I-A schools that dropped football were in the Cal State system. Between 23 schools in the Cal State system there's not a lot of football.

Yes, I expect cuts in sports within these schools. The idea brought up in the thread about dropping below D-1 overall was my point. No way will any Cal. State school go that far.

Off hand, Cal St LA, Houston Baptist, Hardin-Simmons, Abiline Christian, Trinity (TX), Morris Brown, and Birmingham Southern are the only schools I think of that have dropped to out of Division I in modern times. Centenary will drop out as soon as they finish their committment to the Summit.

(07-14-2009 08:00 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  Off hand, Cal St LA, Houston Baptist, Hardin-Simmons, Abiline Christian, Trinity (TX), Morris Brown, and Birmingham Southern are the only schools I think of that have dropped to out of Division I in modern times. Centenary will drop out as soon as they finish their committment to the Summit.

Houston Baptist, along with Seattle U., are re-entering the D-I classification.

(07-14-2009 08:00 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  Off hand, Cal St LA, Houston Baptist, Hardin-Simmons, Abiline Christian, Trinity (TX), Morris Brown, and Birmingham Southern are the only schools I think of that have dropped to out of Division I in modern times. Centenary will drop out as soon as they finish their committment to the Summit.

NYU (1981), West Chester (1982), Brooklyn College (1992), and Northeastern Illinois (1994) dropped out, too. I don't expect Cal. State schools to drop down, considering other schools in the system are moving up. Cal. State-Bakersfield is transitioning to D-1, and Cal. State-San Marcos applied for but was denied admittance to D-2 this month.

I haven't read anything of Centenary dropping down in the future. Is there inside info of their plans or do you, like me, think dropping down is what Centenary should do now that they are leaving the Summit?