[Sly Fox]

What they said was it wasn't financially responsible at that juncture. And that probably is the case for them. But that was based on current conditions based on massive travel costs with no low level I-A league to join. My assertion is that won't nedcessarily be the case in the next couple of years. The feasibility is based strictly on equivalencies. That would just leave the decision up to the NC leg.

And yes, LU & Appy use different money. We use private funds and Appy primarily taps the state.

[SuperJon]

Most state schools can move up better than privates. If the state school can't, no clue how we can.

[LUconn]

Most state schools can move up better than privates. If the state school can't, no clue how we can.

I'll give you a few clues

1. God
2. Whole Life Insurance
3. Left Behind books

In that order.

[TDDance234]

with a HUGE asterik next to "Left Behind Series."

[4everfsu]

Luconn, you are right about what I thought could have happened while studying at TRBC. It was a prayer and dream just to get a college campus anywhere much less then a mtn and God gave us that. I believe we will get to 1-A division one day. BTW ASU is on a mtn in Boone, mtn going straight up and with no room for expansion out like Lynchburg. Most residents of Boone dont want to expand the roads around that area nor can they. So yes we have a better chance of going 1-A I believe. I see LU one day having a college of engineering, a medical school. Another thing trying to get up to Boone during winter storms is no picnic.

[Stevev]

I think that LU should pattern their 1A plans around how schools like SMU, TCU, Rice, Baylor, Vandy, Wake, and Duke since they rely on private funding and not ASU which relies on state funding. Not too sure how we stack up with the some of the ultra-rich private schools.

[SuperJon]

We don't charge $40,000 a year like Dook and Wake.

[Stevev]

If we did that then no one would come.

[SuperJon]

Exactly.

[A.G.]

Those are seven real powerhouses out there. Given the past 5 years, we already ARE patterning our football program like those schools.

[Sly Fox]

The more expensive the tuition, the more more money it requires in equivalencies. That's why Davidson and some other uber-rich schools doesn't have football. Having a lower tuition actually makes football more affordable as weird as it may sound.

[A.G.]

Come-on Sly. You must know Davidson is 1-AAA, as opposed to 1-AA--the Widlcats play the non-scholly variety.






(Just yanking your chain, there, SuperJon, on the 1-AAA, I know full well it is I-AAA)

[SuperJon]

I actually didn't notice til you pointed out. I call I-AAA schools "school that I can't believe anyone even goes to because college football is the greatest thing on the face of the planet as a fan" schools.

[Sly Fox]

I-AAA are Division I schools without football. Davidson is a non-scholie I-AA. The reason they (and Campbell for that matter) don't have scholies is the total cost of the equivalencies based on that sky high tuition.

[Purple Haize]

As it stands now it would be absolutely insane to move to the current Division 1 level. It is NOT a lack of vision, but a GOOD sense of vision. For instance, we have no financail base to upgrade facilities and budgets to the level it would take to be decent let alone competitive. Fundraising is gonna take a nice hit when the Big Fella meets the BIGGEST FELLA. Someone mentioned travel expense that ASU would face. What about us? Do we know what conference we would be angling for?
Also, what purpose would that move serve? Is it more about a legacy or a legitimate goal? Feel free to throw out all the "Then and Now" statements about OTHER parts of LU, but that is NOT the discussion. The discussion is NCAA D1 football. Does anyone here know how much low level D1's budget for football? How much do non BCS schools make in their bowl games, or how much do they loose? What is an acceptable annual budget shortfall for football and ergo athletics? Is there anything wrong or anti Biblical about setting your sights to be successful where we are at? Other then JF's statement sooo many years ago, there are really no good arguments, that I have heard, to move up to big time D1 now or in the future (assuming the current format stays the same)

[Sly Fox]

(assuming the current format stays the same)

That's my basis for optimism. I honestly believe the landscape is about to change in a way that will make all of this feasible from a financial perspective.

[Purple Haize]

Well then you could argue, not that it ever happens here, that we are not "really" D1. Especially if the Power Conferences/Teams do their own thing, which is a real possibility. Then we would still be in the same boat but could at least call ourselves D1A or AA or B or whatever

[SuperJon]

As it stands now, I don't see how we can go I-A in the next ten years unless things change greatly in the next two years.

[4everfsu]

Money is not the biggest obstacle to LU going to 1-A. It is winning and winning consistently, for no conference will take a loser. I can see us going 1-A in ten years, if we win and if JF is still alive. JF is a man of vision and a fund raiser.

[SuperJon]

People on this board don't think that winning at the I-AA level is important to going I-A.

[Libertine]

Money is not the biggest obstacle to LU going to 1-A. It is winning and winning consistently, for no conference will take a loser.

The Sun Belt snapped up FIU after their only two seasons to date were losing records. How many years did it take the Big East to get rid of Temple -- and not because of losing but because of unbelievably poor attendance? Instead they brought in UCF, a program only slightly removed from an 0-fer. I see your point and that's probably the way it should be, but it doesn't necessarily hold up in real life. With all the shake-ups, rumored or real, more and more conferences are using other factors besides on-field success to make their decisions.

[SuperJon]

But how many of those conferences like Jerry?

[Libertine]

But how many of those conferences like Jerry?

By the time we go I-A, it'll be Jerry Jr.

Was that a little cold? I think I just gave myself frostbite.

[ATrain]

Libertine...UCF went to C-USA...the Big East took USF. and FYI-UNF just stepped up its entire athletic program and joined the ASUN

[BJWilliams]

Not to mention UCF had one of the top turnarounds in the nation this year and went to a bowl game