You ask how this affects SIU? Well, what's not mentioned in this tweet is that the Mountain West is looking to replace the 4 teams with FCS powers Montana, Montana St., No. Dakota St. and So. Dakota St.
https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1834098490818924716
Hot take: those 4 teams leaving FCS would benefit SIU as long as the MVC stays untouched. SIU would instantly become a top FCS championship contender every year.
Hot take: those 4 teams leaving FCS would benefit SIU as long as the MVC stays untouched. SIU would instantly become a top FCS championship contender every year.
I kinda had the same thought in the back of my head. 😀
Hot take: those 4 teams leaving FCS would benefit SIU as long as the MVC stays untouched. SIU would instantly become a top FCS championship contender every year.
I agree. I’m tired of the Dakota schools. Every major influential conference game is against a Dakota. I’d rather it be against Northern Iowa, Illinois State, and so on. I just can’t get as excited about matchups vs the Dakotas as I do our actual name brands in our conference, no matter how good they are.
SIU should look at moving up or dropping the sport. Or see if the MVC could move up as a group. Or drop the sport altogether.
The appeal of FCS football is nonexistent. It's championship game draws fewer viewers than the least popular bowl game.
SIU should look at moving up or dropping the sport. Or see if the MVC could move up as a group. Or drop the sport altogether.
The appeal of FCS football is nonexistent. It's championship game draws fewer viewers than the least popular bowl game.
This take - yikes.
I'm not sure what's yikes about it. FCS football is not viable.
It doesn't draw fans either on TV or in the stands. It is a massive financial drain on the university with no benefit.
I know people on this board hate to hear it but people don't care about FCS football. But it is a reality whether you want to accept it or not.
This is not the first time this has been approached. I think in the early 70’s the decision was to keep football and then renovate McAndrew. There were some serious feelings that the athletic department would be better off with no football. The feeling was that the money could be better spent on improving other sports and funding the new sports for women.
This is not the first time this has been approached. I think in the early 70’s the decision was to keep football and then renovate McAndrew. There were some serious feelings that the athletic department would be better off with no football. The feeling was that the money could be better spent on improving other sports and funding the new sports for women.
The talk of moving to Division II or lower came up right before Jerry Kill was hired.
There are approximately 858 football colleges spanning five different division levels. There's plenty of people who enjoy FCS football along with D-2-3, NAIA etc. Especially the people who play and coach it. And there are plenty of fans too. Is it a Power 5 draw? Of course not. So what? And it is certainly viable.
A college campus without football in the autumn is a ghost town. Some folks like football and some like to tailgate, but it's always about the football. Americans (and colleges) love football. I'm one of them.
Go Dawgs!
March on triumphantly!
The stadium wasn't even half full for the home opener. It was like 2/3 full for homecoming.
That's still a ghost town.
The stadium wasn't even half full for the home opener. It was like 2/3 full for homecoming.
That's still a ghost town.
2/3 full (10,000 people) is not a ghost town. Not to mention the people outside tailgating. Hey at least we aren’t playing a D2 school 😉
The fact remains you have all the costs with zero benefits.
SIU cannot market its football program to prospective students like other schools do because the vast majority have no clue they have one. And when they learn it's an FCS program they simply wouldn't care. They are going to get to campus and just watch the teams they already liked on Saturdays.
SIU could win 10 straight FCS national championships and still have 1/1000 the national notoriety of Northern Illinois going into South Bend and beating Notre Dame 10 years later.
People still talk about Appalachian State beating Michigan. No one even knows who won the FCS title that year(and yes I realizd Appalachian State was FCS when that happened but they used that to market and raise funds to move up).
I realize people here are fine with and OK with FCS football. Buy you are a small and to be blunt pretty insignificant minority.
The school basically has a program to have a program. It wastes funds to have something no one cares about and even if they reach the highest level, no one will know or care.
There is only a $5 million gap between running an FCS v FBS(average of $17 v 22 million). I guarantee you if you reached out to alumni who have never donated to Athletics that SIU needed help to move up that those same would help bridge that gap.
I'm actually with Spike on this one. SIU needs to be able to be agile here and be prepared to move to the MAC, especially if ISU and/or UNI is going too. FCS football is not feasible long term and if anything, we want to be able to be on the same footing as NIU and ISU instead of Eastern and Indiana St
The stadium wasn't even half full for the home opener. It was like 2/3 full for homecoming.
That's still a ghost town.
Ridiculous.
