Future of UAlbany Football

[uofalbany]

First off, most of you know that the maximum number of full scholarship allowed per team in the FCS is 63.

 

I would like to get confirmation that the minimum scholarships needed by an FCS program to play a game with a FBS team is 57. Money games would be huge for our AD and the university.

 

Scholarships and money is important in our future. A stadium is important in our future.

If you were in control, what would you do with our football program, NOW and in the future?

 

Is it important to get to 57 or 63 scholarships NOW?

Woud you leave the NEC NOW?

 

Question: If UAlbany left the NEC and went Independent, would we be FREE to go FULL (63)scholarships immediately?

With full scholarships, we'd have a decent chance of making and succeeding in the playoffs, even without an autoq.

 

One of the only advantages of the NEC is that in two years, the conference gets an autoqualifier. At the same time, we will be at 40 scholarships. Dr. McElroy had written to me in the spring stating that within two years, we'd be at 40 scholarships. Therefore, it is my opinion that in the next 5 or more years, we'll still be at 40 rides. Therefore, the auto qualifier is nice and dandy, but will we be where we should be........ with 40 scholarships?

 

The stadium hopefully gets funded next spring, which will help in recruiting. But, if you are only able to give 40 rides, then are we progressing as much as we could and should?

[danefan]

First off, most of you know that the maximum number of full scholarship allowed per team in the FCS is 63.

 

I would like to get confirmation that the minimum scholarships needed by an FCS program to play a game with a FBS team is 57. Money games would be huge for our AD and the university.

Any team can play an FBS team (see CCSU v. Western Mich. last year). However, FBS teams are much less likely to do so because a win against an FCS team that is considered a "non-counter" will not count towards the required wins for bowl eligibility. I'm 99.9% sure that for a team to be considered a "counter" they must average at least 57.5 equivalencies (scholarships) over the prior two years.

 

Scholarships and money is important in our future. A stadium is important in our future.

If you were in control, what would you do with our football program, NOW and in the future?

If I was in control I'd sit tight right now but I'd be working behind the scenes to secure CAA North membership or I'd be pushing the AEast to get their butts in gear for football. We need supporters for this and the most important two being UNH and UMass. If we can get them on our side we'll be all set.

 

Is it important to get to 57 or 63 scholarships NOW?

No. But within 5 years.

Woud you leave the NEC NOW?

No. Independent scheduling is tough. If the NEC auto had been shot down I would have said yes. The auto at least gives us playoff access.

 

Question: If UAlbany left the NEC and went Independent, would we be FREE to go FULL (63)scholarships immediately?

With full scholarships, we'd have a decent chance of making and succeeding in the playoffs, even without an autoq.

If UA left and went indy you could ramp up to 63 rides immediatley. However, you'd have to counter with Title IX, and that right now would take at least a few years. My understanding is that UA would essentially have to add another women's sport, e.g. crew.

 

One of the only advantages of the NEC is that in two years, the conference gets an autoqualifier. At the same time, we will be at 40 scholarships. Dr. McElroy had written to me in the spring stating that within two years, we'd be at 40 scholarships. Therefore, it is my opinion that in the next 5 or more years, we'll still be at 40 rides. Therefore, the auto qualifier is nice and dandy, but will we be where we should be........ with 40 scholarships?

We will not be at 40 scholarships in 2010. we will only be at 36. only two per year until 40. That rule went into effect after you spoke to Dr. M. NEC teams won't be allowed to be at 40 until 2012.

 

The stadium hopefully gets funded next spring, which will help in recruiting. But, if you are only able to give 40 rides, then are we progressing as much as we could and should?

The stadium is key. If we get a stadium then independent scheduling may be easier. If we can put 10,000 butts in the seats we're more likely to home and homes with CAA teams and Big South, MEAC, etc..... Once the stadium is built I think a reevaluation of the program will happen.

 

I will say this. If the bottom feeders of the NEC (St. Francis to an extent, Sacred Heart and apparently Wagner now) keep scheduling only sub DI and PFL out of conference games (and lose them) UA needs to seriously consider moving on. We'll never get the respect needed to be ranked high and recruit well if we're forced to play 3 schools every year that have little committment to moving up in FCS.

[uofalbany]

Thanks for the perspective.

 

Question: If UAlbany left the NEC and went Independent, would we be FREE to go FULL (63)scholarships immediately?

Answer: If UA left and went indy you could ramp up to 63 rides immediatley. However, you'd have to counter with Title IX, and that right now would take at least a few years.

 

Therefore, we could go Independent immediately, but adding the women's program would take a few years?

[danes05]

Good points danefan. My first thought is that we need to get out of the NEC right now. None of the schools in the conference fit our profile. With that said, it will take time. There needs to be some new conference structure. Obviously, much of that focus is on a breakup of the CAA or establishment of some northeast football conference of state schools i.e UNH,UM,UMASS,UAlbany etc.. I would like this to happen quick but have no idea how things will shake out, if they do at all. Ideally I would like us to move up over time to the point where we have FBS aspirations, but that is a long time off, if ever. At the very least, I would like to have a new stadium and a brand new conference of our peers.

[danes05]

Why would it take a few years to add a womens sport? Could it not be done quicker? or is there a myriad of paperwork etc.. that must be done?

[UAalum72]

I'm 99.9% sure that for a team to be considered a "counter" they must average at least 57.5 equivalencies (scholarships) over the prior two years.

Actually it's 56.7 (90% of the 63 maximum, just like FBS schools must average 76.5, 90% of the 85 maximum). Without them, the only FBS teams we'd be likely to schedule would be those so bad they have no hope of getting to a bowl anyway, or so good that they're not worried about getting six wins, or about their strength of schedule.

 

Otherwise I pretty much agree with you.

[UAalum72]

Why would it take a few years to add a womens sport? Could it not be done quicker? or is there a myriad of paperwork etc.. that must be done?

Figure whatever year you decide to start it, then you have to hire a coach and give her at least a year to recruit , unless you've got a VERY strong club program to base the team on. Also time to organize a schedule, if it's a fall sport.

[danefan]

I'm 99.9% sure that for a team to be considered a "counter" they must average at least 57.5 equivalencies (scholarships) over the prior two years.

Actually it's 56.7 (90% of the 63 maximum, just like FBS schools must average 76.5, 90% of the 85 maximum). Without them, the only FBS teams we'd be likely to schedule would be those so bad they have no hope of getting to a bowl anyway, or so good that they're not worried about getting six wins, or about their strength of schedule.

 

Otherwise I pretty much agree with you.

 

That's right. I always forget. We must average 90% of 63 rides over the prior two years.

[danefan]

Most Title IX balancing acts are done with women's crew.

 

This would be easy for UA as we have already have a club team. But it still takes time.

[jalidanefan]

Correction on the "balancing act". It usually comes at the expense of other mens programs or at the very least a combination. It's not about the time to build another womens program but the expense of adding more FB scholarships AND adding to womens. Thus the negative impact around the country on mens wrestling, track, swimming, ... as schools try to build football programs. Not a judgement on this situation but a fact underlying all the excitement that will be very hard to avoid here at UA.

[uofalbany]

If UAlbany has the ability to go independent and shoot up to 63 rides immediately, I certainly don't mind the fact that adding a women's program would take a few years. Unless we couldn't start being independent and go to the 63 rides UNTIL the women's program is up and running.... but that's not what I think is being implied here.

 

By having 63 rides, we are able to play in the 'BIG MONEY' games with FBS schools. That alone will significantly help fund the additional scholarships.

 

I don't think it would make any difference being independent, and still scheduling teams like UMass, Delaware, Hofstra, Montana, etc... and throwing in 5 or 6 games from the mid level FCS teams.

 

My concern about waiting is.... the CAA may never split, or maybe in 10 years from now. Also, the chances of the America East Conference adding football is probably slim at best. Look at all the schools in the AE that don't have any football now. Would NH and Maine want to leave a good football conference anyways? Would SB want a change now? Probably not. And if the AE started football, would they automatically go to 63 rides? Lots of things would need to fall in place for any of these things to happen. We are probably one of the only schools looking to shake things up so dramatically.

 

As for NEC teams and their schools, I think they are content with mediocre football. I don't see them scheduling any differently, or getting better. They certainly don't favor going to 63 rides, now or ever.

 

I think the two most important things to get into contention every year for Championships in the FCS are increasing the rides to 63, and getting the stadium. One of these things is mandatory, and that is having the 63 rides. I think UAlbany could win championships with the 63 rides alone, even without having a stadium.

 

Waiting and putting off what is certainly a HUGE step in the right direction (going independent and getting the 63 rides NOW) is a BIG mistake. My buddy made a very good point. We have fallen behind other suny centers and it puts us in a vulnerable spot. Other suny football programs have made huge strides lately, and we can't afford not to make the same progress, especially in improving our AD and its programs. We don't have 5 or 10 years. Anyone notice that SB will be playing Rutgers in the near future? I wonder how much cash will be put in their pocket every year with money games?

 

With that said, I also think we need a stadium, in order to play the top dogs like UMass and Montana at home, which will draw alot of attention from around the upstate NY region. I believe we will get the 12k seat stadium in the funding this year, or have alternative plans for financing it. We can wait the rest of this fiscal year until the budget for funding answers, but not a single minute afterwards. If funding fails, we need to implement a LOAN plan immediately from some source.

[danefan]

Correction on the "balancing act". It usually comes at the expense of other mens programs or at the very least a combination. It's not about the time to build another womens program but the expense of adding more FB scholarships AND adding to womens. Thus the negative impact around the country on mens wrestling, track, swimming, ... as schools try to build football programs. Not a judgement on this situation but a fact underlying all the excitement that will be very hard to avoid here at UA.

 

Correct in general. But at UA most of the reduction has already been done to the Men's programs. See wrestling and swimming.

 

It is my understanding that UA would only need to add women's sports to increase to 63 rides and would not have to reduce men's spending anymore.

[UA_MA_2000]

I don't know anywhere nearly as much as the foregoing posters do about UAlbany football and our competitors, but it would seem that our university, given its profile and location, can absolutely compete on a yearly basis with the top teams in what was formerly called Division I-AA football.

 

Obviously, things must happen before that can happen, as the posters here have recognized ad nauseum. Examples of changes needed to be an elite team at our level are allowing and funding the maximum level of scholarships, building a stadium, and so on.

 

As I drove out to UMASS two weeks ago to see our game against UMASS, I couldn't help but be amazed at how a school with about the same profile as ours, drew about 16,000 fans to a football game in Amherst, MA, which in my view is in the middle of nowhere, or at a minimum, in a less populated area than the greater Albany area.

 

Accordingly, I am thrilled with the future prospects of UAlbany football generally and hope that Coach Ford will be able to help lead us into the exciting and forthcoming era of UA football. Also, I very much hope that the new stadium, when it is built -- and it will be built IMHO in the next several years (as long as we have Dr. M. on our side) -- seats AT LEAST the same number of persons as the UMASS stadium.

 

With 63 scholarships, a legendary coach like Coach Ford, aggressive marketing, and a competitive program (like we are and will be), I absolutely envision UAlbany football games pulling in over 20,000 very quickly. It would not suprise me to see us pull in over 30,000 for big games or playoff games down the road. To paraphrase Dr. M, if you build this stadium, the people of the Albany metro area and upstate NY WILL come and they will come in force. There is simply no where around here to enjoy big-time college football (tailgating, cheerleaders, marching bands, students, and the like).

 

For the skeptics out there that think UAlbany will never draw more than 12-15K fans a game, I point to the story of Fielding Yost, the former AD of the University of Michigan, who was laughed at for wanting to build Michigan Stadium with an capacity of 72,000. Yost had vision, and I urge our officials to employ the same vision. If we want to compete with Montana and Delaware and App. State (our inferiors already as far as academics go), build a stadium that can seat 25,000, provide 63 scholarships, and make it happen. The fans WILL follow.

 

Just for fun:

 

"Michigan Stadium was designed with footings to allow the stadium's capacity to be expanded beyond 100,000. According to the University of Michigan Library's and Athletics Department's history of the stadium, then-athletic director Fielding Yost envisioned a day where 150,000 seats would be needed. To keep construction costs low at the time, the decision was made to build a smaller stadium than Yost envisioned but include the footings for future expansion." Michigan Stadium (Wikipedia)

 

World's largest stadiums: Capacity of 40,000 or more puts us in top 400 world-wide.

[uofalbany]

Unfortunately, word is that the study has been complete, and the size and location has been determined.

I don't think the person at the facilities office would have told me, if he wanted to keep it under wraps. Therefore, I'll pass it along.

 

10-12k seats is the 'preferred' size.

Location on/near the soccer field/sefcu parking area.

 

I'm not sure who the hell 'prefers' 10-12k seats.

Maybe with the financial situation in NY, people are getting nervous about requesting substantial amounts of money.

 

I can live with a 12k seat stadium, as long as it will be expandable. It would be the very minimum that would even make all of this worth it. At least we would have a stadium. But, haven't we been collecting cash to supplement the funding from the state? I would think that combining several different funding/financing options, we could pull off a 15-20k seat stadium. But who the hell am I, anyways.

 

WHAT REALLY RUSTLES MY WEASLE IS THE FACT THAT IT WILL ONLY HAVE EXPANSION CAPABILITIES TO 25K SEATS. NOW, THAT'S A LACK OF VISION.......... Proves that FBS isn't in anyone's thinking when considering the future.

 

But, again, 63 scholarships is an absolute MUST and very very soon. The stadium at 12k seats will bring Montana, UMass, Delaware and the rest of the FCS to the UAlbany campus.

[sarge965]

Not to be a downer on this but I am very concerned about State funding for this next fiscal year. Patterson and Silver will still be 2 of the 3 men in a room. Depending on how the election goes, the state senate appears up for grabs. So the 3rd man becomes the player to be named later. It does not seem like anyone is talking about a fiscal climate in state government where approval for UA's football stadium seems likely, no matter how much of a priority the school makes it. Gov Patterson has compared this crisis with the Great Depression - speking to the national Press club in DC.

As far as increasing the number of scholarships - where does the money come from. If you cut current men's sports you then have money and no title 9 offset problem. But what teams do you cut. We have already lost a mens' wrestling team that would have been competitive at the national level. If we are talking about more scholarships then - where does the money come from? the athletic dept is still run on a shoestring compared to most D1 schools. The students athletic fees are out of sight. I haven't heard of any tremendous increase in donations to the programs.

All that being said - I look forward to tailgating at the home opener and continue to hope for the best.