(04-12-2023 06:46 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(04-11-2023 10:30 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(04-06-2023 09:46 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  In my opinion the best comparison to what we would've been is probably Georgia Southern. I wouldn't say they and App State were much more prepared if at all, they just took the jump in to a less than ideal scenario that we wouldn't take. GS started off strong, then whiffed on their next coaching hire, then their next was ok for a bit but didn't work out either. Now they seem to be on the right track to get back to where they want to be.

I think we might've started off pretty well, but Mickey wouldn't have been able to stick around. From there maybe we nail the next hire and maybe we don't, but if we don't then I certainly don't think we'd stay down forever. If we did nail the next hire then yeah maybe we have been to an NY6 by now. If not, maybe we're more where GS is and trying to get back to where we want to be.

I agree that Ga Southern is the closest example, but even with them, there are some key differences, one of which really ticks me off.

GSU played their first transition year, 2013, against all FCS teams, except their last game against Florida. They had a pretty nasty year for a team transitioning to FBS, going 4-4 in conference (SoCon), losing to the likes of Samford, Wofford, App, and Furman. The following year, they played a solid FBS schedule in the Sun Belt and knocked it out of the park, going 8-0 in-conference (9-3 overall) and being awarded the Sun Belt championship (unlike JMU).

I don't believe there has ever been a team more ready than we were to make the jump to FBS. Also, I believe that with four or five solid FBS recruiting seasons behind us, and the trajectory we are on continuing, we could be ready for P5 in five years.

There's a huge difference between being ready and actually becoming a P5.
Unfortunately a lot of things are going to have to happen out of our control if we ever want to get that chance.
We may be ready competitively in 5 years, but the financial part of being ready is going to take much longer than that. There are schools that have been good for decades that never got a P5 invite or just got one in recent history.
Some things need to happen first:
-Bridgeforth needs to be finished (or at the absolute least the lower bowl- that is at least 5 years down the road)
-More money
-MBB still needs to be better. We are going in the right direction, but if we even want a remote chance, MBB needs to not only dominate the conference, but be more than a 1 and done in the NCAA Tournament.

Good points, all. I was calculating a finished Bridgeforth, but I thought our budget was already sufficient. I reckon it depends on which database you're reading. Some say that our budget is at the top of G5 and the middle of P5. Others say we are nowhere close, like the one at the link below, which ranks us 110th in projected 2023 football revenue, in the middle of the pack of the Sun Belt's East Division. Certainly adding 10,000 to 15,000 seats will improve that quite a bit, but I still thought we were way higher than that. Ga State is higher?

Can anyone clarify the hocus pocus numbers and explain why there is so much difference from one database to another?

2023 Projected Football Revenue