[RagingTireFire]

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 1575.shtml

Bell wants JU to play the best
By Michael DiRocco, The Times-Union

TAMPA - Kerwin Bell said people called him crazy for scheduling Appalachian State, which has won back-to-back NCAA Football Championship Subdivision titles, but the Jacksonville University football coach instantly liked the idea when Dolphins athletic director Alan Verlander approached him with it.

Bell's vision for his non-scholarship FCS program is to reach the same level as Appalachian State, and the only way to get there is to play teams like the Mountaineers, who made headlines last year by upsetting Michigan.

"It's going to be great for our recruiting, it's going to be great for the guys in our program, it's going to be a game that we can get excited about," Bell said Friday at the Florida Sports Writers Association College Football Media Days. "It's going to be a wake-up call, that's for sure. We want to see what it's going to take for our program, [to see] where our program has to go to be able to compete with those kind of people."

JU will visit Appalachian State on Sept. 6, one week after the Dolphins open the season at home against Savannah State.

Bell has made no secret of his desire for JU to eventually become a scholarship program, and he said Friday that plans for a new on-campus stadium are continuing. He hopes it will be completed in time for the 2009 season.

The Dolphins are 40-60 since their inaugural season in 1998 and have posted just one winning campaign (6-5 in 2001). Steve Gilbert, the first coach in school history, was fired in 2006 after a 4-6 season

As I recall, there was some noise a while back about JU hoping to join the Big South but with scholarships and facilities being sticking points. Looks like those areas might be being addressed.

[Sly Fox]

Scholies start looking affordable in comparison to travel costs in the Pioneer.

This would be an interesting development.