[Cider Jim]

July 2--they announce they will start a college football program
August 1--first practice is scheduled
September 3--first game

VUL to field first football team since 1954 this fall
Historically black college expects about 800 students next semester
By Liz Barry
Published: July 01, 2011
Virginia University of Lynchburg plans to launch a football program this fall, more than a half-century after disbanding the team in 1954.

The team will begin practice on Aug. 1 and play its first game against North Carolina A&T State University on Sept. 3.

The revival of the football program is part of a large-scale effort to bring back sports to Lynchburg’s only historically black college. This year, VUL will launch a total of 13 men’s and women’s sports teams...

The football team plans to play home games at City Stadium and Liberty University. As for practices, VUL is clearing a field on the edge of campus. It won’t be 100 yards long, but it will do, Bailey said...The football team plans to play home games at City Stadium and Liberty University. As for practices, VUL is clearing a field on the edge of campus. It won’t be 100 yards long, but it will do, Bailey said.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2011/j ... r-1146887/

[Sly Fox]

Wow, they start from scratch and play a traditional FCS powerhouse just weeks after launching? This could get ugly.

I do think it is cool that we are letting them use Williams Stadium for some of their games.

[Cider Jim]

I told BJ that he should be applying for every job over there. When you are starting a program from the ground up, there has to be plenty of openings, I would think.

[Sly Fox]

Yeah, it sounds like if you own a whistle you are probably a viable candidate for all their startups. I can't imagine how this complies with Title IX much less a ledger sheet.

[BJWilliams]

I wouldnt exactly call NC A&T a "powerhouse" at this juncture Sly...they went 1-10 last year and 4-7 the year before...Im emailing the AD at VUL this weekend about the play by play thing...Theyd need a radio partner though that would be willing to carry them

[Sly Fox]

I did say "traditional" in my statement, BJ. Yes, they are down. But they are regular fixture in the FCS/IAA Top 25.

[lynchburgwildcats]

USCAA only has three VA schools, and Southern VA is leaving for D3, three NC schools, one MD school, two TN schools, and one KY school. Good luck filling a full schedule for all your sports, many schools won't even bother with playing a school outside their division or playing a non-conference game once the conference schedule starts in full force. That's going to be a lot of long bus rides unless they are able to consistently convince the D3 and D2 VA and NC schools to play them. That is one of the major reasons why Southern VA is bolting for D3.

I don't see how they expect to even be as good as a below average team if they don't have facilities to accommodate their teams. Seems to be a rushed decision to field teams without recognizing the crippling ramifications of getting beat soundly nearly each and every game. If you can't be a competitive team (note not a winning team, but at least compete with teams) in your first year or two, good luck being competitive anytime soon. Very few quality players are going to want to come in to a program that has established that sort of tradition unless you get coaches that are masterful recruiters. I can count on one hand the number of new teams that have started up in the past 5-8 years at non-d1 small schools with an established athletics program who have been successful while being entirely uncompetitive in their first year.

I'd be calling over there for a full-time job in athletics if it wasn't for the fact that all their teams are more than likely guaranteed to suck for quite a long time and the fact that I'd be one of the few white guys on campus, that would be rather awkward for me.

[Cider Jim]

I don't see how they expect to even be as good as a below average team if they don't have facilities to accommodate their teams. Seems to be a rushed decision...

With all due respect, I wonder if a similar agument was made in 1973 when a certain college football team was started over in the residential neighborhood of Thomas Road (I don't recall seeing a regulation football field over there either).

In fact, future NFL players Freddie Banks and Eric Green signed with their college when all their home games were played at the same City Stadium where VUL will be playing this fall.

[lynchburgwildcats]

I don't see how they expect to even be as good as a below average team if they don't have facilities to accommodate their teams. Seems to be a rushed decision...

With all due respect, I wonder if a similar agument was made in 1973 when a certain college football team was started over in the residential neighborhood of Thomas Road (I don't recall seeing a regulation football field over there either).

In fact, future NFL players Freddie Banks and Eric Green signed with their college when all their home games were played at the same City Stadium where VUL will be playing this fall.

Wasn't LU an NAIA and D2 school in those days and able to hand out scholarship money? Giving a player money can make a big difference. VUL won't be able to hand out athletic scholarships unless they managed to get into D1 USCAA. With VUL wanting to be an NCAA school, I also wouldn't image they would want to hurt the process by scheduling a bunch of prep schools, junior colleges, JV teams, and deaf schools like LU used to do in its formative years.

Not having the football field on campus isn't that big of a deal. Plenty of D1s have their fields off-campus and I know of several schools at other levels that have fields off campus as well. However, having a practice facility that even the coach says will "just do" isn't going to attract any recruits. Lord knows what tick poor facilities the rest of the teams are going to have on-campus if they even have anything at all considering the AD sights "lack of practice and competition venues at VUL" as a logistical concern. Many quality players don't to want to go to a school where they have to go practice and play games off campus at YMCAs, other colleges, high schools, etc. six days a week.

Many D3s and D2s have outstanding facilities (at this point even having a game and practice field would make them have better facilities than VUL), better teams, and wider range of academic offerings. VUL apparently has no facilities for their teams other than a partial football practice field that just "will do", I seriously doubt any of their teams are going to be anything close to competitive unless they schedule the creamiest of cream puffs, and VUL only has four undergraduate bachelor degree programs. That's not exactly a recipe to attract quality athletes in any sport to their school, and when a person who isn't African-American sees "historically black college", that is going to drastically limit their recruiting base if the facilities, team quality, and academics didn't do so already.

[jbock13]

Nice to see. Maybe someday in years to come it could be a nice clean rival game to have.

By what I mean by "nice clean rival game" is the relationship we have with them already.

[LUnpretty11]

Actually, High School deaf teams have a tendency to have some unbelievable talent and tend to be very successful.

[lynchburgwildcats]

Actually, High School deaf teams have a tendency to have some unbelievable talent and tend to be very successful.

Not D3 college ones though, like Gallaudet.

[SuperJon]

I love having shuk back. No one knows point D3 trivia better than him.

[flowserve]

http://applyvul.com/2011_football_schedule

[Cider Jim]

George Mason and Longwood have FOOTBALL teams?

WV Tech is a team Liberty has played in the past.

[jbock13]

Edward Waters will be another challenging game for them.

However, the only way you can get better is playing against better teams. Almost every school takes their lumps, but it helps to build the team.

[BJWilliams]

They have club teams. Cider..

[Cider Jim]

Darrell Laurant has a great article about the new football team and draws parallels between VUL's president and our own founder, Jerry Falwell, Sr:

Awakening the dragon at VUL
Darrell Laurant
Published: July 6, 2011
On the Facebook page for the Virginia University of Lynchburg football team, a question is posed in bold type: “Dare you awake VUL, the sleeping dragon?”

Apparently, that’s what school president Ralph Reavis has in mind.

At one point, the former Virginia Seminary & College was beyond sleeping — it was comatose. A former president had been indicted and convicted of collecting financial aid for non-existent students. The infrastructure was crumbling, and out-of-state enrollment at the once-proud black college shrunk in the late 1980s to one, a kid from Brooklyn who lived in the same converted motel as the then-president...

When you think about it, this could be Liberty redux. At the time they started their athletic programs, both schools had dynamic presidents, were in the process of moving beyond core religious courses to broaden the student body, and saw sports as something with which to connect to the wider community.

I remember when LU, then Liberty Baptist College, played opponents like Ferrum and the Newport News Apprentice School.

“Your reach should always exceed your grasp,” Reavis says on the Facebook page. That could have been a quote from Jerry Falwell.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2011/j ... r-1156323/

[ATrain]

George Mason and Longwood have FOOTBALL teams?

WV Tech is a team Liberty has played in the past.

I've known Mason has had a club football team for some time, first I've ever heard of a Longwood club team though, do they still field a rugby team as well?

As for WV Tech, last time we played them was Karcher's last winning season at LU. That year, we went 6-5.

[BJWilliams]

We also gave them the worst beating in LU history if Im not mistaken...West Virginia Tech that is

[Cider Jim]

Give us a SCORE, BJ...

[Sly Fox]

I think Radford might have just dumped their club team like a year ago.

[lynchburgwildcats]

The English skills are borderline illiterate for the people posting on the Facebook page mentioned in that article. I'm even having a hard time trying to understand what some of the comments are supposed to be saying.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Virginia- ... 1468574865

That applyuvl website is hilarious. Looks like it was designed by a 40 year old guy in his spare time while living with his parents basement in the 90s when animated gifs were all the rage

[BJWilliams]

Give us a SCORE, BJ...

September 2 1995

Liberty 76
West Virginia Tech 6

School records for points scored, margin of victory, total touchdowns, consecutive extra points, points scored kicking (later tied by Matt Bevins), extra points made, fewest rushing yards allowed (1) all set that day

[NG33]