D1A

[ATL_DANE]

Why can't UAlbany be D1A? Why is that so crazy?

 

1) We have the student population size. We're bigger than ND, Army, Stanford and Duke. We are at least the same size population as a Boise State or Kent State. That's an off the cuff sampling without having done any research.

 

2) We are a state school. I would guess 90% of states have a D1A school. Why not New York? Why is our bench mark comparison just the northeast. If I had only compared myself to my family then I would not have gone to college and then grad school. I was the first in my family to go to college because I asked myself 'why not me?' So what if I'm the first. Why compare myself to my family history. To tie it back to Albany, why compare New York to small New England states? Why not compare us to Penn or Ohio, they're just as close.

 

3) We're a university center based in the state capitol like Wisconsin, Texas, and Boise etc.

 

4) It doesn't take decades to make the move. Buffalo and UAB went D1A in a few years. Central Florida didn't take very long.

 

5) The competition isn't just the SEC power house schools. There are a lot of schools that we would be able to compete with: Army, Kent State, Duke, SUNY Buffalo etc. The MAC isn't such a tough conference.

 

6) Albany students, alumni and professors have a history of pessimism. Ten years ago people would have laughed if I said we could make it to 1AA football or make it to the NCAA basketball playoffs.

 

7) D1A would improve selectivity and therefore academic standards. It's simple supply and demand. Kids are attracted to big name schools. Who doesn't want to go to the school you saw on tv as a kid? D1A means more interest, which means more applications, which means more selectivity, which means higher academic ratings. Its not rocket science people!. Don't believe me? Compare our academic rating to those 'back water' southern schools like Georgia, Florida and Virginia. I hate to admit it but they kill us.

 

Think big. Be a winner. That's how you get ahead in life. Do you think Donald Trump says that project is too big? D1A may be a few years out but it doesn't have to be decades or be a phase 'never'.

 

Think big.

[danefan]

Why can't UAlbany be D1A? Why is that so crazy?

 

1) We have the student population size. We're bigger than ND, Army, Stanford and Duke. We are at least the same size population as a Boise State or Kent State. That's an off the cuff sampling without having done any research.

 

2) We are a state school. I would guess 90% of states have a D1A school. Why not New York? Why is our bench mark comparison just the northeast. If I had only compared myself to my family then I would not have gone to college and then grad school. I was the first in my family to go to college because I asked myself 'why not me?' So what if I'm the first. Why compare myself to my family history. To tie it back to Albany, why compare New York to small New England states? Why not compare us to Penn or Ohio, they're just as close.

 

3) We're a university center based in the state capitol like Wisconsin, Texas, and Boise etc.

 

4) It doesn't take decades to make the move. Buffalo and UAB went D1A in a few years. Central Florida didn't take very long.

 

5) The competition isn't just the SEC power house schools. There are a lot of schools that we would be able to compete with: Army, Kent State, Duke, SUNY Buffalo etc. The MAC isn't such a tough conference.

 

6) Albany students, alumni and professors have a history of pessimism. Ten years ago people would have laughed if I said we could make it to 1AA football or make it to the NCAA basketball playoffs.

 

7) D1A would improve selectivity and therefore academic standards. It's simple supply and demand. Kids are attracted to big name schools. Who doesn't want to go to the school you saw on tv as a kid? D1A means more interest, which means more applications, which means more selectivity, which means higher academic ratings. Its not rocket science people!. Don't believe me? Compare our academic rating to those 'back water' southern schools like Georgia, Florida and Virginia. I hate to admit it but they kill us.

 

Think big. Be a winner. That's how you get ahead in life. Do you think Donald Trump says that project is too big? D1A may be a few years out but it doesn't have to be decades or be a phase 'never'.

 

Think big.

16534[/snapback]

 

 

I think UA can be a IA team. I just wouldn't want to do it the Buffalo way. The school should be focused on doing it the Marshall way if they plan on doing it at all.

 

Lets win some IAA national championships (which I see possible in 4-5 years) and then talk about IA.

 

Shoot I'd love to see a IA Albany team. My two championship rings will sparkle a lot more in my office...but I sure as heck don't want to look like Buffalo.

[ATL_DANE]

I'm fine with that. It's our decision to make or not make a move and if so, how to make that move. I mean ours (students, staff, alumni, professors, community). If we choose not to do so, fine. If we choose to wait a few years, fine. It just really burns me when I here people say 'can't' or 'won't'. On paper there is little difference between SUNY and UC, UGA, UF, etc except that SUNY draws blank stares from anyone outside the northeast. A real shame if you ask me.

 

Working in a coprporate environement has tought me a few things. First and foremost is that a losers lose. I work at CNN. You think CNN management says, 'oh Fox is just so great, we can't compete'. We can compete and we will compete. If UA is fine with where we are then that's their decision but I hate hearing the word 'can't' or 'never happen'. I hear that a lot in Albany and when talking to Albany alumni. It kills me every time.

[UAlbany09]

I'm fine with that.  It's our decision to make or not make a move and if so, how to make that move.  I mean ours (students, staff, alumni, professors, community).  If we choose not to do so, fine.  If we choose to wait a few years, fine.  It just really burns me when I here people say 'can't' or 'won't'.  On paper there is little difference between SUNY and UC, UGA, UF, etc except that SUNY draws blank stares from anyone outside the northeast.  A real shame if you ask me.

 

Working in a coprporate environement has tought me a few things.  First and foremost is that a losers lose.  I work at CNN.  You think CNN management says, 'oh Fox is just so great, we can't compete'.  We can compete and we will compete.  If UA is fine with where we are then that's their decision but I hate hearing the word 'can't' or 'never happen'.  I hear that a lot in Albany and when talking to Albany alumni.  It kills me every time.

16539[/snapback]

 

 

You work at CNN? Can you get rid of all that sensationalist tabloid crap that you and every other major news outlet pawn off as news? I don't want to watch a 20 minute breaking news segment of a killer Ostirich running loose on a school playground, and I certainly don't care about some young rich good-looking blonde haired, blue-eyed girl that went missing while on a drinking fest in some resort town.

 

Anyway, my rant about the mass media is over. I do agree with you though, UAlbany should go Division 1-A. Thinking big is one of my main philosophies as well. You've seen what Coach Ford can do with limited incentives to give to recruits. Imagine what he'd be able to do with a 1-A schedule, full scholarships to give out, and top-notch facilities. It's a shame that at the rate we're going, he's not going to be around to utilize those things.

[Ruler]

1) Very good point about Fordie. With a 1A job comes hot coaching prospects. With top end coaching prospects comes top end $alaries, a top 1A staff has about 15 guys all making 6 figures (a good friend of mine is on the staff at Purdue) and that does not include the 500K-1,000,000 the HC makes.. Unfortunatly Albany is cheap. They would not pay big $ to a top end guy and that would lead us down a Buffalo path....we need to be careful with this eventual transition. A top end guy (and I don't mean Chuck Priore....sorry Chuck) will be needed for recruits etc.

 

2) But as far as student body, location, and local community I think a mid tier 1A team would be a great draw and would do well and more importantly it would be MUCH bigger then Siena hoops. Obviously games with Penn State(Think of that crowd), Syracuse, Army, Rutgers, UCONN, and Buffalo.

[JonUA97]

1) Very good point about Fordie. With a 1A job comes hot coaching prospects. With top end coaching prospects comes top end $alaries, a top 1A staff has about 15 guys all making 6 figures (a good friend of mine is on the staff at Purdue) and that  does not include the 500K-1,000,000 the HC makes.. Unfortunatly Albany is cheap. They would not pay big $ to a top end guy and that would lead us down a Buffalo path....we need to be careful with this eventual transition. A top end guy (and I don't mean Chuck Priore....sorry Chuck) will be needed for recruits etc.

 

2) But as far as student body, location,  and local community I think a mid tier 1A team would be a great draw and would do well and more importantly it would  be MUCH bigger then Siena hoops. Obviously games with Penn State(Think of that crowd), Syracuse, Army, Rutgers, UCONN, and Buffalo.

16546[/snapback]

 

Small steps toward a greater goal. We need a respectable facility first.

 

That should be goal number one.

 

The draw for a Penn State, SU, Rutgers game would be great but how many people want to sit on a hill?

 

SSS

[Ruler]

LOL,

 

I am assuming with this pipe dream we now have a 40,000 seat stadium on campus. if we are having trouble getting a 12K stadium how tough would it be for a 40K.

[B9j2j6s]

I hate to point out this fact, currently we don't have community and student support to justify a move to DI-A. Don't get me wrong we draw well for our confrence I believe we are near 4k for the year but in order to start truly thinking about a move to I-A status in football we need to show that we can fill a stadium that we would like to build which will be around 10-15k, and we should try to fill it reguraly (ex. Delaware).

 

One nice thing that we have is a firm control of the college Football market in Albany because the neariest IA or IAA is around 2 hours away. I doubt RPI or Union draw as well as we do. If we can build a modern facility on campus I think that will bring alot of support from the community and intrest from the students.

Edited September 26, 2006 by B9j2j6s

[UAalum72]

Whenever I-A is brought up, someone says "we could compete against Army, Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt". Those could play 40 games a year against schools looking to move up.

 

When people think I-A they mean the BCS leagues. Those teams don't play road games any more than Syracuse basketball does. For a new program, the only home games are against the leavings. Do people know where The Bowling Green State University is? or Northern Illinois?

 

I tried to look up all the teams that have moved to I-A since the Great Realignment of 1983.

 

Successes:

UConn - already in the Big East, state built new stadium

UAB - city already had a stadium

Central Florida - city alread had stadium, booming economy

South Florida - another booming FL market

Marshall - drew 30K even as I-AA multiple champion

 

The rest:

Buffalo - MAC, often used as the example of one of the worst I-A programs. Many of the MAC programs are in trouble if the NCAA ever enforces the attendance requirements.

 

Boise St. - WAC

Idaho - WAC

LaTech - WAC

Nevada - WAC

 

Arkansas St. - Sun Belt, widely-derided worst I-A conference, weaker than some I-AAs

Florida Atlantic - Sun Belt, hemorraghing money

Florida International - Sun Belt

LaMonroe - Sun Belt

Middle Tenn. - Sun Belt

North Texas - Sun Belt

Troy - Sun Belt

 

Just shows what the odds are against moving up. If we got an invitation to the Big East or ACC, sure. Otherwise I don't see a lot of benefit.

 

And Donald Trump? He got his seed money and business the old-fashioned way - he inherited it.

[Dane96]

Read my reply under the Friday Poll Thread. It should prove to be informative in this misguided desire to move up.

 

The landscape is VERY VERY much in flux.

[UAalum72]

So You Want To Go To I-A?

 

Kent Schmidt is a I-AA writer and has his biases, but he summarizes much of what I wrote above.