2026 in the WAC!

Starting to believe we're serious about this. The salary budgets quoted in the article are impressive by Valley standards.

(11-15-2022 10:23 AM)edinburger Wrote:  Starting to believe we're serious about this. The salary budgets quoted in the article are impressive by Valley standards.

Impressive by WAC and national standards.

Happy for you guys and a little envious

Good job UTRGV. Glad to hear some news regarding their FB program.

Liked the unis.

So they're gonna have athletes on campus in 2024 who won't play a game for 2 years?

That feels like a tougher sell than just getting kicked around the first two seasons.

There are several inaccurate things about the article and these are the two that stood out... WAC Football for UTRGV starts in 2025 and NOT 2026; plus the negotiations with H-E-B Park are more advanced than what it states.

This is big news for the WAC in particular, gives you guys enough FCS Football schools to have a full Conference meaning yall will get an AQ bid every year.

Still feel personally the Big Sky should encourage Cal Poly and UC-Davis to move their Football to yall, or even UNC in all sports would ensure 2 solid out west FCS Conferences.

(11-16-2022 05:04 PM)Utgrizfan Wrote:  This is big news for the WAC in particular, gives you guys enough FCS Football schools to have a full Conference meaning yall will get an AQ bid every year.

Still feel personally the Big Sky should encourage Cal Poly and UC-Davis to move their Football to yall, or even UNC in all sports would ensure 2 solid out west FCS Conferences.

Yeah, 4 seasons from now! The WAC might be the Utah schools and anyone who couldn’t find a lifeboat by then.

I hope Seattle will find a lifeboat, but we'll miss you!

Some more clarity

(11-18-2022 12:57 PM)TexasTerror Wrote:  Some more clarity

I know this isn’t correct, but when I first read the tweet, I thought the swim coach and football coach would be the same person.

So, I don't know anything about usual practice for starting a football team.

- Is it common to have 2.5 years between hiring a coach and the first real game?

Also, it says two recruiting classes. Assuming that means one class to start Fall 24 and then more to start Fall 25.

- Are recruits good enough to be in FCS football going to be willing to do that?
- Is the whole team redshirt for 24-25 for scholarship purposes, and not burning up eligibility?

Sorry for asking newbie questions.

(11-18-2022 05:42 PM)edinburger Wrote:  So, I don't know anything about usual practice for starting a football team.

- Is it common to have 2.5 years between hiring a coach and the first real game?

Also, it says two recruiting classes. Assuming that means one class to start Fall 24 and then more to start Fall 25.

- Are recruits good enough to be in FCS football going to be willing to do that?
- Is the whole team redshirt for 24-25 for scholarship purposes, and not burning up eligibility?

Sorry for asking newbie questions.

Those are good questions. As I recall, UTSA had a similar timetable and used lots of redshirting to get the most out of that first recruiting class. They also had a ton of walk-ons that helped them pretty quickly round out a team that was able to play a couple of exhibition games the second year. As at Lamar, Southeast Louisiana and USA, it is a multi-year process that seems long at the front end. The time zips by very quickly as they transition from exhibitions to NAIA to D-III to D-II and FCS contests. The main thing is to build up fan and institutional momentum. Unfortunately, as a UTA fan, I have had far too long to think about these things.

(11-18-2022 05:42 PM)edinburger Wrote:  So, I don't know anything about usual practice for starting a football team.

- Is it common to have 2.5 years between hiring a coach and the first real game?

Also, it says two recruiting classes. Assuming that means one class to start Fall 24 and then more to start Fall 25.

- Are recruits good enough to be in FCS football going to be willing to do that?
- Is the whole team redshirt for 24-25 for scholarship purposes, and not burning up eligibility?

Sorry for asking newbie questions.

Yes, NCAA rules limit the amount of new scholarships to be in a year. They’ll run practices, scrimmages and “secret” games that first year. Then, when 50+ scholarships are on campus, filled in by walk-ons, they’ll play an official schedule. Usually, it’s consists of llow-level teams from a lower classification, with an occasional higher level team or conference foe. Then the third year they’ll play a normal schedule.

However, given the needs of the WAC, they’ll likely buck that trend.

Wewere, ForUTA, thanks for the informative responses.

Rooting for you guys. Many of the reasons said over the years why UTA can’t start a team was said for y’all as well. Go out and prove em wrong.

UTA has had some recent stirrings of football interest. Some of our undergrads have introduced a resolution in the student government to sponsor a student referendum. This would allow students to vote on whether or not they would be willing to increase student athletic fees to fund football. I'm not sure what happens next, but this is a hopeful sign. With the numbers they are suggesting, UTA could potentially increase Athletics funding by over $20.4 million per year. Another interesting bit of information was the student opinion polls cited which indicate strong interest in moving forward and a willingness to pay for the program.

It's interesting to note the references to "American football." This is a bit of a nod to the large number of foreign students that are enrolled at UTA.

https://www.theshorthorn.com/news/studen...c3ccf.html

(11-26-2022 03:59 PM)wewererebels Wrote:  UTA has had some recent stirrings of football interest. Some of our undergrads have introduced a resolution in the student government to sponsor a student referendum. This would allow students to vote on whether or not they would be willing to increase student athletic fees to fund football. I'm not sure what happens next, but this is a hopeful sign. With the numbers they are suggesting, UTA could potentially increase Athletics funding by over $20.4 million per year. Another interesting bit of information was the student opinion polls cited which indicate strong interest in moving forward and a willingness to pay for the program.

It's interesting to note the references to "American football." This is a bit of a nod to the large number of foreign students that are enrolled at UTA.

https://www.theshorthorn.com/news/studen...c3ccf.html

I think there are over 4,000 foreign students at UTA. If we had soccer, I bet they would all show up.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Al...s_football

This article tells how South Alabama got started. They announced in December 2007 and hired a coach in February 2008. Began play in 2009 against a bunch of prep schools.

They were headed to FBS so it might not be apples to apples for UTRGV but it gives you an idea of how it works.

Even without an actual team, a coach can recruit and be the face of the program by going around promoting the program, giving speeches, raising money, etc.