Sad: Jacksonville State drops football

[Coach Bill Lewis]

https://www.news4jax.com/sports/2019/12/...l-program/

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville University will no longer play football and will discontinue its Division I program, effective immediately, the university announced Tuesday.

The university cited “a data-driven analysis” as the reason for the major changes to the athletics program.

“This was a difficult decision,” Athletic Director Alex Ricker-Gilbert said in a release announcing the change. “Our student-athletes and coaches in the football program are talented, tenacious and hard working. We respect them immensely. Reinvesting these resources into our other Division I programs better positions us to enhance the experience for all 450 student-athletes.”

The university will offer full-tuition scholarships to every football student-athlete who chooses to stay at Jacksonville University until graduation and will honor the employment agreements for all football coaches.

 

[SilverEagle]

Never heard of this school. 

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

4 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

Never heard of this school. 

They got hit with an EF3 tornado about a year ago that really tore the school apart. They've been rebuilding ever since. 

[Cr1028]

They will fold the program for a couple years, and then come back with a roster full of 26-27 year old RS juniors.

[El Paso Eagle]

1 minute ago, Cr1028 said:

They will fold the program for a couple years, and then come back with a roster full of 26-27 year old RS juniors.

The UAB model 

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

8 minutes ago, UNT Texas Hooligan said:

They got hit with an EF3 tornado about a year ago that really tore the school apart. They've been rebuilding ever since. 

Yeah and we played them in the CBI 2nd round right after the tornado 

[untbowler]

11 minutes ago, CK4 said:

 

Jacksonville U dropped football

Jacksonville State is in Alabama and has a pretty damn good FCS program.

good catch. Jacksonville, FL is a much different than Gadsden, AL

[DeepGreen]

Jacksonville fielded a very good FB team a couple of years ago; went deep into the FCS football tournament.  In fact, mentioned on this board that we should look at their FB coach at the time McCarney was canned.

[UNTFan23]

1 hour ago, CK4 said:

Jacksonville U dropped football

Jacksonville State is in Alabama and has a pretty damn good FCS program.

I'd like to congratulate you on a productive and meaningful post.

[Big Z]

I remember JSU took Auburn to the very end of the 4th quarter one year. 

[Huff]

Most of our younger fans do not realize it but North Texas came real damned close to doing the same thing about 25 years ago.  Our president ...I believe it was Al Hurley ..... thought we would be just fine playing soccer, basketball, and baseball.  Some influential supporters kept it from happening but it was closer than many people understood.

[FirefightnRick]

48 minutes ago, Huff said:

Most of our younger fans do not realize it but North Texas came real damned close to doing the same thing about 25 years ago.  Our president ...I believe it was Al Hurley ..... thought we would be just fine playing soccer, basketball, and baseball.  Some influential supporters kept it from happening but it was closer than many people understood.

Wasn’t that in 71-72?

 

Rick

[Huff]

Rick, it was later than that. Jitter Nolan was President from 1971 to 1979 and he was very pro athletics.

[DeepGreen]

This is the coach I was referring to.  Looks like he's still going strong.

JSU Coach John Crass

[FirefightnRick]

9 minutes ago, Huff said:

Rick, it was later than that. Jitter Nolan was President from 1971 to 1979 and he was very pro athletics.

There was a vote, I’m not sure by who...Students or BOR to drop football in the 70’s.  I’ve been told this by countless others.

But 25 years ago, I know for sure we were making a successful, unified push to get back to FBS while winning a conference championship and playing in the FCS national playoffs.  

 

Rick

[letsgiveacheer]

3 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

There was a vote, I’m not sure by who...Students or BOR to drop football in the 70’s.  I’ve been told this by countless others.

But 25 years ago, I know for sure we were making a successful, unified push to get back to FBS while winning a conference championship and playing in the FCS national playoffs.  

 

Rick

If I recall correctly, there was a student lead push to drop football following Rod Rust's disastrous 1-10  season in 1972.   Obviously it never went anywhere and Nolen hired Fry and the rest is history.

The football program was held in very low regard that year. I worked the evening shift at the Pizza Inn on Eagle Drive when two varsity players came in to buy some cigarettes out of the vending machine.  Two beautiful co-eds were paying their tab at the same time when the players asked them out. One of the girls said to them, "why would we go out with you".  The response was, "because we are on the football team!" The girls laughed and left.

[vpackrats]

9 hours ago, CK4 said:

 

Jacksonville U dropped football

Jacksonville State is in Alabama and has a pretty damn good FCS program.

So, what you're saying is the headline Sad: Jacksonville State drops football is "fake news"?  Sad!  😋  Thank you for clearing up who really dropped the football program.  

Edited December 4, 2019 by vpackrats

[greenminer]

12 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

They will fold the program for a couple years, and then come back with a roster full of 26-27 year old RS juniors.

Starting to think this is how you get Championships.

[Coffee and TV]

17 hours ago, Huff said:

Most of our younger fans do not realize it but North Texas came real damned close to doing the same thing about 25 years ago.  Our president ...I believe it was Al Hurley ..... thought we would be just fine playing soccer, basketball, and baseball.  Some influential supporters kept it from happening but it was closer than many people understood.

wish we coulda kept soccer tho 

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

1 hour ago, Coffee and TV said:

wish we coulda kept soccer tho 

We are in fertile soccer developing territory. I could see us getting championship after championship on the men's side with the right resources, like the women keep doing. Such a shame because there is so much potential for us to have a successful men's side also

[wardly]

2 hours ago, Coffee and TV said:

wish we coulda kept soccer tho 

Al did good things for the university, but athletics was not one of then. Our choice was to drop to 1aa or drop football.Also if memory serves we had a very good men's soccer program that was basically dropped on Friday and replaced with women's soccer on Monday. Personally I would like to see us add men's soccer instead of a money pit such as baseball.

[El Paso Eagle]

10 minutes ago, wardly said:

Al did good things for the university, but athletics was not one of then. Our choice was to drop to 1aa or drop football.Also if memory serves we had a very good men's soccer program that was basically dropped on Friday and replaced with women's soccer on Monday. Personally I would like to see us add men's soccer instead of a money pit such as baseball.

Not sure with Title 9 if we will actually be adding any men's teams soon. Still not a fans of counting the Football as a a 1-for-1 in this formula. I know it's not popular to say, but in most (not saying all) cases in the effort to be "equal" you are asking men's sports (FB/BB) to foot the bill for everyone else. 

[Coffee and TV]

1 hour ago, UNT Texas Hooligan said:

We are in fertile soccer developing territory. I could see us getting championship after championship on the men's side with the right resources, like the women keep doing. Such a shame because there is so much potential for us to have a successful men's side also

These days college soccer is becoming less and less relevant on the men's side with MLS academies getting into full swing. 

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

40 minutes ago, Coffee and TV said:

These days college soccer is becoming less and less relevant on the men's side with MLS academies getting into full swing. 

Very true, but MLS academies are still unattractive for a lot of players because they don't want to be tied to that club for a huge chunk of their playing years since they make you sign a contract that when you join the academy that you will only play for them, even if you get European interest. A lot of really good players do the same as baseball and go the NAIA/D3 route hoping to bypass MLS, get a degree, then jump to play overseas so there would still be an echelon of really good players we could get to come play for us. Some of the best players I played against went NAIA or DIII hoping to make the jump. We hate them but look at SMU, consistent success at Men's soccer, winning National Championships and getting players drafted or on trial at different European clubs. We are in a hotbed for that and feel we are really missing the boat for more potential athletic success