[LUconn]

So you guys would rather lose money fielding a team than make money, because we don't have any money. Got it.

[El Scorcho]

The problem is, with growth of enrollment comes the need for more housing, more parking, more buildings. We don't have the money for that now, if we did then the circle would have been replaced years ago.

Right. That's why we've built nearly 40 new dormitories in the last three years. And we certainly haven't had any other new construction on campus lately.

The circle hasn't been torn down because it still functions. Why would you tear it down if you can just add additional housing across the highway? We'll tear it down when we have more housing than students.

[LUconn]

seriously, what are you guys up to, 2 per room now? Gad zooks, cram them in 4 deep like back when we were rolling. You've doubled your capacity.

[ATrain]

seriously, what are you guys up to, 2 per room now? Gad zooks, cram them in 4 deep like back when we were rolling. You've doubled your capacity.

Its 3 per room on the Circle and the Hill right now...only problem is, with more housing you need a larger place (or more places) to have everyone to come eat. The Rot just isn't big enough right now.

[Cider Jim]

Marshall --- I-A now. West Virginia's second most popular school. they seat 38K and averaged over 26K this past year. Not a long road trip -- and great if you like mountains (and I do). The school of Chad Pennington and Randy Moss -- really good football.

Thanks for the reference to my alma mater, Eagle Ed, but you forgot about good ole Byron Leftwitch, the NFL QB, who is also a Marshall grad. Yea, they were DI-AA when I was there in '83'-85, and it has been amazing to watch them grow into a mid-major DIA in football and actually win a few smaller bowl games.

I would love to see LU make a similar transition, but with Lynchburg located only 60-90 minutes away from both UVa and Tech, I don't know if we will ever average the numbers needed to become a DIA football program. I think the required attendance numbers would be harder to achieve than the money to build a larger stadium.

[Sly Fox]

We won't be far from required attendance numbers this fall barring shocking developments. And what we are doing now is without visiting I-A programs that casual fans can relate to. We're not Marshall on many levels. But we can make Liberty into something bigger and that's why we have the people in place now.

[Cider Jim]

What is the required attendance to go DI-A in football? I think you have to have a stadium that seats a minimum of 30,000, but don't you have to average somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000-25,000 in attendance?

[Knucklehead]

We won't be far from required attendance numbers this fall barring shocking developments. And what we are doing now is without visiting I-A programs that casual fans can relate to. We're not Marshall on many levels. But we can make Liberty into something bigger and that's why we have the people in place now.

There you go dropping hints again. So, I guess the 2nd deck is going in before this fall?

[SuperJon]

So you guys would rather lose money fielding a team than make money, because we don't have any money. Got it.

We wouldn't make money at the FBS level. We'd lose even more because we'd have to field more scholarships and travel even further.

[Knucklehead]

So you guys would rather lose money fielding a team than make money, because we don't have any money. Got it.

We wouldn't make money at the FBS level. We'd lose even more because we'd have to field more scholarships and travel even further.

FBS?

[SuperJon]

I-A

[LUconn]

So you guys would rather lose money fielding a team than make money, because we don't have any money. Got it.

We wouldn't make money at the FBS level. We'd lose even more because we'd have to field more scholarships and travel even further.

Well that all depends. Nobody's advocating we just blindly jump. Assuming that we have some sort of plan other than "to play Notre Dame", which would be amazing itself given their tradition based scheduling, we would have a few playing partners set up, some sort of TV contract, a good sized fan base (big enough to fulfill the NCAA attendance reqs). I think you've got a pretty decent shot at making money, or at least losing less money than now.

[ATrain]

Wonder why Medic hasn't been ranting about that on this thread yet?

[SuperJon]

Well that all depends. Nobody's advocating we just blindly jump. Assuming that we have some sort of plan other than "to play Notre Dame", which would be amazing itself given their tradition based scheduling, we would have a few playing partners set up, some sort of TV contract, a good sized fan base (big enough to fulfill the NCAA attendance reqs). I think you've got a pretty decent shot at making money, or at least losing less money than now.

Would those fans show up more for I-A games and a team that's 6-5, 7-4 with no shot of a real post season or would more show up for an 8-9-10 win team in I-AA that makes the playoffs and can play for a national championship?

[El Scorcho]

The Rot just isn't big enough right now.

That's why we're working on something to replace it. I'm pretty sure that's come up on the board before now.




Of course, since we don't have any money and aren't building anything, maybe I shouldn't put such dreams out there.

[LUconn]

Well that all depends. Nobody's advocating we just blindly jump. Assuming that we have some sort of plan other than "to play Notre Dame", which would be amazing itself given their tradition based scheduling, we would have a few playing partners set up, some sort of TV contract, a good sized fan base (big enough to fulfill the NCAA attendance reqs). I think you've got a pretty decent shot at making money, or at least losing less money than now.

Would those fans show up more for I-A games and a team that's 6-5, 7-4 with no shot of a real post season or would more show up for an 8-9-10 win team in I-AA that makes the playoffs and can play for a national championship?

I guess that's up for debate. I equate it to the demise of NFL Europa. It's not that people over there don't like football, they would just rather see it played at the highest level. If we stay out of the bottom 10 of attendance we're averaging 15k+. I wish there was a list of all of the IA progams and their financial status.

[SuperJon]

I just think I-A anytime in the near future is a bad idea. Ten years, maybe. Let's have some success here first. Let's make the playoffs. Let's contend for a conference championship. Those are two things we've never done before. I don't want to become Temple.

[Knucklehead]

I just think I-A anytime in the near future is a bad idea. Ten years, maybe. Let's have some success here first. Let's make the playoffs. Let's contend for a conference championship. Those are two things we've never done before. I don't want to become Temple.

I'm with you SJ. Walk before run is good. I think it could kill the program to try and make the jump without a name, and without the game to back it up. Let's wait a while and then be David killing Goliath. Being David smacked around by Goliath would be bad!

[LUconn]

this the same old beating a dead horse argument that we've always had. You say it makes more sense to succeed here first, then I say that'd be nice but it doesn't have anything to do with succeeding at the next level.

[SuperJon]

I just don't see how you think we can compete on a I-A level without first competing on the I-AA level.

[TDDance234]

Right. That's why we've built nearly 40 new dormitories in the last three years. And we certainly haven't had any other new construction on campus lately.

Which they can't fill because of the price.

[El Scorcho]

Right. That's why we've built nearly 40 new dormitories in the last three years. And we certainly haven't had any other new construction on campus lately.

Which they can't fill because of the price.

What price is that exactly? The room and board fee?

[Stevev]

I agree with others that we should strive to play to a higher level within 1AA meaning competing for a 1AA national championship, getting or competing for playoff consideration year in and year out, and trying to get into a better 1AA conference such as the Colonial or Southern rather than becoming a second rate 1A team like Buffalo or Louisiana Monroe and others. The odds are against us moving up to 1A and those that have are state run institutions that have large enrollments and able to sustain a 1A football budget and bring in fans due to the number of students on campus. I am not aware of any private colleges moving up in the last 20 years and those that are their now are extremely rich (Duke and Wake Forest). The smaller state universities that have moved up such as Troy State, UL Monroe, and Florida Atlantic/International probably totally sold out to football at the expense of other areas like academics and some are taking an aweful beating after some earlier successs because of it.

I would be overjoyed to see us beat the likes of JMU, Delaware, W & M, Youngstown, McNeese and others than to expect LU to do the next to impossible and move to 1A.

[TIMSCAR20]

I have to agree with LUconn on this. Success at 1AA is not a prelude to success at 1A. To me moving up depends on relationships and getting people to play you. SJ you won't lose a ton of money at first because the novelty of being a 1A school would bring out thousands in addition to the core fan base (which will be there obviously to even qualify for 1A status). Secondly, you can go to ND or Penn St for $500,000 which they would pay you for the win and now that you are 1A it won't hurt as badly especially if they are not really competing for a National Championship. Lets be honest in Football in a given year there are only 5-10 teams with a shot at the national championship game based on pre-season rankings and the way college football is. So if you get an SEC team or an ACC team that just wants a win and has deep pockets, you can get 400 or 500 K to go play them. All I am saying is that success at 1AA is not in any of this equation other than fan perception. We are not the 1st school to jump to division 1A from 1AA. Not all of those schools were great at 1AA before moving up. There are other variables that may hold you back but wins and losses at this level has an affect but won't hold you back if you approach it with a plan and with funding. I think it limits what we are capable of achieving if we just say, lets wait 10 years. I say, do the research, find out who will play us and what sort of relationships we can build around the country for scheduling and then continue to build the fan base to qualify for 1A status. If it takes 10 years it does but I think it could happen in less time. Stadium Expansion, which has been hinted at in this thread it seems, is not that far away.

[TDDance234]

Right. That's why we've built nearly 40 new dormitories in the last three years. And we certainly haven't had any other new construction on campus lately.

Which they can't fill because of the price.

What price is that exactly? The room and board fee?

The Campus East housing. You'll understand here in a few weeks just how desperate they are getting to fill these dorms.