Idaho dropping down to FCS

Greenrex · May 10, 2016

8 minutes ago, Arkstfan said:

NCAA Convention the year before Lacewell said he and Bear got blasted in the hotel bar and before the night was over had agreed to a game against Bama in Birmingham. Next day Bear called and said Larry did I agree to a game? Yes. Well are you at Arkansas State or South Arkansas now? Arkansas State. OK I was afraid you were NAIA and I was going to have to cancel.

When Bama and USC signed their famous series, Charlie Thorton said Bear walked in and said I need you to go on a trip with me. They drove to Birmingham and Charlie had no idea where they were going. They got on a plane in Birmingham and flew to LAX. Sat in a bar at the airport drinking and soon John McKay came in. Bear explained he wanted a home and home and why he wanted it. McKay pulled out a notebook and suggested dates. Bear told Charlie to write them down. Bear and McKay shook hands and went got on a plane back to Birmingham.

Good stories of good times. Thanks
To make that same agreement now, teams of lawyers would meet on the 54th floor of a Manhattan suite of offices owned by ESPN.

southsideguy · May 18, 2016

i was in New Mexico last week and NMSU is really hurting, down to 17K students and declining. down grading football is the topic of the day.

Aquila_Viridis · May 18, 2016

Good. These places are in the middle of %^&#@! nowhere. They are so irrelevant to anything that NT is or ever should have been. I will take the GA States, MTs, UABs, Charlottes, ODUs and F_Us of the world over these any day. We need to affiliate more closely with peer public institutions in large metro areas.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · May 18, 2016

NMSU needs to drop football and just concentrate on basketball. They have some history of being competitive there.

Then, pick up the other futbol for men with the scholarship difference between the men and women, for Title IX's sake.

untjim1995 · May 20, 2016

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 11:43 PM, Aquila_Viridis said:

Good. These places are in the middle of %^&#@! nowhere. They are so irrelevant to anything that NT is or ever should have been. I will take the GA States, MTs, UABs, Charlottes, ODUs and F_Us of the world over these any day. We need to affiliate more closely with peer public institutions in large metro areas.

That's pretty much what we have done now. Charlotte, FAU, FIU, MUTS, UAB, UTSA, and UTEP are our peer group for athletics. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

DallasGreen · May 20, 2016

Very sad that University of Idaho is dropping to FCS. I was there this time last year and they have a large campus and are only a few miles from Washington State. May be small market but they have great fans and were greatly competitive for us in the Big West and the Sun Belt. Our attitude of refusing to provide a student athletic fee comparable to our competition will one day force us into this same move or worse?? Apogee can then be a big concert venue as many faculty and students now hope for

NTXCoog · May 20, 2016

37 minutes ago, DallasGreen said:

Very sad that University of Idaho is dropping to FCS. I was there this time last year and they have a large campus and are only a few miles from Washington State. May be small market but they have great fans and were greatly competitive for us in the Big West and the Sun Belt. Our attitude of refusing to provide a student athletic fee comparable to our competition will one day force us into this same move or worse?? Apogee can then be a big concert venue as many faculty and students now hope for

They may have great fans, but they just don't have enough of them. Reported 11.6k last year. I do have sympathy for them though.

UNTLifer · May 20, 2016

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 11:43 PM, Aquila_Viridis said:

Good. These places are in the middle of %^&#@! nowhere. They are so irrelevant to anything that NT is or ever should have been. I will take the GA States, MTs, UABs, Charlottes, ODUs and F_Us of the world over these any day. We need to affiliate more closely with peer public institutions in large metro areas.

Because Tuscaloosa, Fayetteville, Auburn, Starkville, Pullman, etc... are population meccas.

untjim1995 · May 21, 2016

7 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Because Tuscaloosa, Fayetteville, Auburn, Starkville, Pullman, etc... are population meccas.

P5 towns are different and you know it. Fans of that school, as well as fans of other teams playing there will flock to the College Stations and Stillwaters of the world. They won't do that to Moscow, Idaho, Monroe, Louisiana or Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Aquila_Viridis · May 21, 2016

3 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

P5 towns are different and you know it. Fans of that school, as well as fans of other teams playing there will flock to the College Stations and Stillwaters of the world. They won't do that to Moscow, Idaho, Monroe, Louisiana or Las Cruces, New Mexico.

It is a good point. It would take generations for any schools in the other BF places to develop the kind of following that let's say the Mississippi States and VTs etc. have for example. That latter group got a following because there is nothing else going on in the areas and they were in the big conferences when the big conferences grew into what they are. Big East was a legit conference when VT left. I'm not saying there is nothing the 'little' schools in tiny towns can do, but I am saying it has nothing to do with what NT should do.

Yes I agree we have several good conference members for the future but some are in the other division. I would like for those to consolidate so we can stop playing the others, and also maybe bring in some schools. Under present circumstances*, I would like for a somewhat similarly situated set of schools with a similar spending mindset to say 'we're going to stick together and stop the madness'.

Unfortunately the pickins are slim in the southeast US and about 0 in near mid/west. And I have to leave out OLD DU cause they already went mad. I don't think they're gonna be in our neighborhood for long.

Here would be my preferred annual opponents from what is realistically available and not too far away from the others: SA, Charlotte, MT, FAU, UAB, GA State (and maybe Salabama).

Obviously more are needed. Maybe if that core could get together we could get some others to come up or down. I don't want to include TX State or FIU; need other areas. EP just does not fit.

*All that said, with proper fundraising we would not have to do something like this. There is plenty of money in the region. I think Danny Thomas (for St. Jude) said he would rather have one dollar each from a million people, than a million dollars from one person. NT's fundamental problem is it does not follow that idea.