Interesting the timing of lack of funding article and now the FBS potential move? I know the Times Daily had something in there today about the move but I do not have access. I imagine they tied it back to funding.
Just five years after making the jump from Division II to Division 1 FCS, North Alabama appears ready to move again.
This time to the FBS.
According to a report by ESPN on Friday, the remaining football members of the ASUN and WAC have agreed to form a 10-member football-only conference. The intention would be to become the 11th conference in college football’s highest division. The schools have already signed a "multi-party term sheet agreement" to commit to the new league, the news outlet also reported.
UNA, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky and Austin Peay are the ASUN members that have signed on, according to ESPN. Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian, Utah Tech, Southern Utah and Tarleton State would be the WAC schools.
UT Rio Grande Valley, which recently announced it would be fielding a team for the first time in 2025, would be the league's 10th member.
Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State, which both competed in the ASUN this past season, are set to move to Conference USA, which would drop the ASUN below the six teams necessary for an automatic playoff bid. Jacksonville State will join C-USA next year, with Kennesaw State following in 2024
According to ESPN, the goal of the ASUN-WAC conference is to start playing in 2024 with nine members. The conferences previously worked together for an FCS partnership in 2021 and 2022 for an automatic playoff spot. It went to Eastern Kentucky this past season.
UNA athletic director Josh Looney in a statement did not confirm or deny the report, nor addressed any of the changes UNA would have to make.
"Competing in the ASUN Conference continues to be a priority for each of our NCAA Division I sports programs," Looney said in his statement. "Solidifying our football affiliation, while aligning our ambitious university with other like-minded institutions, is of high importance during a time of significant NCAA transformation.”
UNA president Ken Kitts, as well as the ASUN and WAC, did not immediately return messages left for comment. But Will Trapp, the president of the board of trustees, said nothing has been presented to the group.
Although there have been "around the water cooler conversations about it," said Steve Pierce, who chairs the athletic committee for the board.
"If you were going to make a major move, there would be major financial implications for that," Trapp said. "We haven't reviewed that. None of that has been presented to us. All of those kinds of things would be required if we were going to make a move.
"I think (the ESPN story) is maybe a little early. But I'm glad they're talking. I'm glad our AD and our president are talking to the other member schools of the ASUN and trying to stay as close to them as we can. That's been a really, really good conference fit for us."
According to ESPN, the reasoning for the new league is for "greater certainty in scheduling and recruiting." The schools also expect it to increase revenue, an area UNA has struggled to keep pace with some of its contemporaries.
UNA spent a little over $9.9 million on athletics in 2021 according to collegefactual.com, which was the lowest of the ASUN-WAC schools. The other five ASUN schools spent a combined average of $15.7 million on athletics that same year, with Kennesaw State the high at $18.9 million and Central Arkansas the low at nearly $13 million. Eastern Kentucky would be the highest if Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State were taken out due to their eventual move to C-USA at $15.9 million.
The five WAC institutions averaged $15.3 million in athletic expenditure in 2021. Abilene Christian was the highest spender at nearly $20 million and Stephen F. Austin not far behind at $18.2 million. The low was Tarleton State at $11.3 million.
The Texans beat the Lions in football 43-28 this past season. The two teams are set to play in Texas in 2023.
UNA has not provided either an athletic or school budget for 2022.
But the school currently caps its athletic budget at 6.25% of the whole university's, although that number has not yet been reached, Kitts has said. It was only at 6% during the Division II era.
But like UNA had to go through when it moved to the FCS, the schools will need to go through another formal transition process. During their five seasons as an FCS school, the Lions are just 15-32, including 1-11 in 2022. They're 16-41 in program history against FCS opponents and 2-6 against FBS schools.
That would also require several upgrades on UNA's part, involving facilities, scheduling, scholarships and within the department.
“I think it’s definitely a smart thing to look at (a move to the FBS) and see what it is. But it’s just like anything else — you have to commit," said Pierce, who also believes the university in heading the right direction in that regard.
"If we’re going to stay in the FCS or move, we have to increase what we’re doing now for athletics, especially for the football team. I do know game guarantees for an FBS school are much higher than they would be for an FCS school.”
UNA received $325,000 for losing to Memphis in 2022, according to the agreement signed in 2017. To compare, Texas A&M paid App State $1.5 million this past season to come to College Station.
Facilities wise, the NCAA requires FBS members to average at least 15,000 for home football games over a two-year rolling period. This can be either actual or paid attendance. Braly Stadium currently has a listed capacity of 14,215.
According to the NCAA, UNA has only averaged more than 10,000 fans at home twice since 2005 — 2006 (10,091) and 2010 (10,133). The Lions were still in Division II for both years, and their final decade-plus at that level normally finished between fourth and fifth in average attendance.
Since moving to the FCS, UNA has only averaged more than 9,000 home fans once, according to school box scores and the NCAA. It's second year in 2018 at 9,548. The other four years: 6,755 (2018), 4,632 (2020), 7,173 (2021) and 8,190 (2022). There was only one home game in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Who FBS teams play against differs from FCS schedules as well. FBS teams must schedule at least 60% of its games against other FBS schools and must host five FBS teams each season.
FCS schools are only required to schedule at least 50% of its games against Division I teams from either subdivision. There's no limit on home games.
UNA would need to increase its scholarship allotment, too. The FCS has a cap of 63 scholarships, one of the few benchmarks the Lions have said they hit during their transition from Division II. FBS teams can play with a maximum of 85 scholarship players.
The funding for UNA's athletic scholarships across all sports currently comes out of the athletic budget.
There's also the number of sports an FBS school needs to offer. The minimum is 16, with at least six being men's sports and at least eight must be women's sports. FCS schools are only required to field 14, which UNA currently does. So, two new sports would need to be fielded, which would impact an already tight budget.
"It opens up some revenue streams that aren't available to us now," Trapp said. "If it can be financially justified, I think there's a lot of things we can look at and we do (as a board). I would put this on a list."
