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Post by unalions on Apr 8, 2022 12:52:49 GMT -6
West FL is either tight-lipped on some great stadium news or really in danger of kids not wanting to play here. The fact that a recent national champ is gonna play football on a practice field this fall is mind-boggling. Certainly can’t host any FCS games that way.
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Post by unafied on Apr 8, 2022 13:07:23 GMT -6
West FL is either tight-lipped on some great stadium news or really in danger of kids not wanting to play here. The fact that a recent national champ is gonna play football on a practice field this fall is mind-boggling. Certainly can’t host any FCS games that way. I guess I haven't kept up. What's the situation there? Why aren't they playing in the Wahoos' stadium? |
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Post by northalaspectator on Apr 8, 2022 14:06:43 GMT -6
I don’t think the ASUN will be a football conference by 2027 maybe not before then.
The turning point was UT-Chattanooga not coming on board and the meeting of those schools in Florence on March 24.
That meeting had to do with realignment in some form.
Will Central Arkansas return to the Southland like Lamar has. Will Austin Peay return to the OVC.
It is not on West Florida timeline to go FCS in the next few years according to Matt Brown.
The SunBelt is going to be adding more schools. Instead of divisions the Conference could split and form another Conference.
NCAA rules are changing not only for athletes but the makeup of conferences and how there are regulated.
If North Alabama has a chance to move up they better make that move now. Not wait like they did back 20 or so years ago. It’s not about W’s & L’s but from an business decision.
In addition Matt Brown said that next week the SunBelt will be adding 4 schools. If this is true CUSA is a dead Conference. The SunBelt will add New Mexico State, Texas El Paso, Louisiana Tech, Florida International and have two divisions of 9 schools each.
I believe that the meeting in Florence was to petition the NCAA to take over the CUSA FBS rights and to get an waiver until all the FCS became fully qualified as FBS schools.
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Post by unalions on Apr 8, 2022 15:56:06 GMT -6
West FL is either tight-lipped on some great stadium news or really in danger of kids not wanting to play here. The fact that a recent national champ is gonna play football on a practice field this fall is mind-boggling. Certainly can’t host any FCS games that way. I guess I haven't kept up. What's the situation there? Why aren't they playing in the Wahoos' stadium? The baseball stadium had turf installed and there were “complications” (re: more expensive) to accommodate football. Also, there have been scheduling issues when the Wahoos are in the playoffs and football starts. So, they have a great turf practice field on campus. They played a game there last year as a novelty or maybe they saw this coming. But, that’s all it is. A practice field. Like UNA’s spring game with a few sets of metal bleachers on one side. |
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Post by unafied on Apr 8, 2022 16:54:27 GMT -6
I guess I haven't kept up. What's the situation there? Why aren't they playing in the Wahoos' stadium? The baseball stadium had turf installed and there were “complications” (re: more expensive) to accommodate football. Also, there have been scheduling issues when the Wahoos are in the playoffs and football starts. So, they have a great turf practice field on campus. They played a game there last year as a novelty or maybe they saw this coming. But, that’s all it is. A practice field. Like UNA’s spring game with a few sets of metal bleachers on one side. Interesting. Strange they didn’t work out a better solution with the baseball team. |
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Post by unalions on Apr 8, 2022 18:38:19 GMT -6
The baseball stadium had turf installed and there were “complications” (re: more expensive) to accommodate football. Also, there have been scheduling issues when the Wahoos are in the playoffs and football starts. So, they have a great turf practice field on campus. They played a game there last year as a novelty or maybe they saw this coming. But, that’s all it is. A practice field. Like UNA’s spring game with a few sets of metal bleachers on one side. Interesting. Strange they didn’t work out a better solution with the baseball team. I was pretty shocked when it was announced a few weeks back. |
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Post by roaringsince96 on Apr 9, 2022 21:25:07 GMT -6
I don’t think the ASUN will be a football conference by 2027 maybe not before then. The turning point was UT-Chattanooga not coming on board and the meeting of those schools in Florence on March 24. That meeting had to do with realignment in some form. Will Central Arkansas return to the Southland like Lamar has. Will Austin Peay return to the OVC. It is not on West Florida timeline to go FCS in the next few years according to Matt Brown. The SunBelt is going to be adding more schools. Instead of divisions the Conference could split and form another Conference. NCAA rules are changing not only for athletes but the makeup of conferences and how there are regulated. If North Alabama has a chance to move up they better make that move now. Not wait like they did back 20 or so years ago. It’s not about W’s & L’s but from an business decision. In addition Matt Brown said that next week the SunBelt will be adding 4 schools. If this is true CUSA is a dead Conference. The SunBelt will add New Mexico State, Texas El Paso, Louisiana Tech, Florida International and have two divisions of 9 schools each. I believe that the meeting in Florence was to petition the NCAA to take over the CUSA FBS rights and to get an waiver until all the FCS became fully qualified as FBS schools. Wow. That’s interesting. The landscape sure has changed a lot since we accepted our bid to Division 1. North Alabama needs to win a majority of our games in all sports next year to be more appealing in the D1 market. Always good to have a plan B. |
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Post by ladigahills on Apr 10, 2022 8:04:42 GMT -6
Ironically, if UNA would have done the right thing in the 90s when OVC extended invite to them, we wouldn’t be in this predicament and barely getting by as D1. I don't recall the OVC extending an invite in the 90s... UNA was offered by TAAC(ASUN) and would’ve joined JSU,Troy and Samford. UNA would’ve played football in Southland Football League with Troy and Jax St, or as Independent like Samford did until joining the OVC in 2003. Back then OVC didnt invite teams until Middle Tennessee went FBS in 2000. |
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Post by unafied on Apr 19, 2022 7:14:10 GMT -6
I don't recall the OVC extending an invite in the 90s... UNA was offered by TAAC(ASUN) and would’ve joined JSU,Troy and Samford. UNA would’ve played football in Southland Football League with Troy and Jax St, or as Independent like Samford did until joining the OVC in 2003. Back then OVC didnt invite teams until Middle Tennessee went FBS in 2000. I've probably said it on here before, but I'd love to know more about WHY we made the decision to remain D2 when Troy and JSU left the Gulf South. Was it as simple as wanting to keep the championship game in Florence? Did we think we'd become the big dog in the GSC and that was preferable to making the move? There had to be some folks who argued that Troy and JSU would grow significantly and we would regret staying behind. Looking back on it now, even though we had great success in D2 and I enjoyed our last couple of decades there, I just find it hard to understand why we allowed our two sister schools to get that jump on us. Complaining about what happened in the past accomplishes nothing, but the last year or so and all of the realignment (and NIL, and the portal...) has really left me disillusioned with the current state of college athletics. |
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Post by unalions on Apr 19, 2022 8:02:22 GMT -6
UNA was offered by TAAC(ASUN) and would’ve joined JSU,Troy and Samford. UNA would’ve played football in Southland Football League with Troy and Jax St, or as Independent like Samford did until joining the OVC in 2003. Back then OVC didnt invite teams until Middle Tennessee went FBS in 2000. I've probably said it on here before, but I'd love to know more about WHY we made the decision to remain D2 when Troy and JSU left the Gulf South. Was it as simple as wanting to keep the championship game in Florence? Did we think we'd become the big dog in the GSC and that was preferable to making the move? There had to be some folks who argued that Troy and JSU would grow significantly and we would regret staying behind. Looking back on it now, even though we had great success in D2 and I enjoyed our last couple of decades there, I just find it hard to understand why we allowed our two sister schools to get that jump on us. Complaining about what happened in the past accomplishes nothing, but the last year or so and all of the realignment (and NIL, and the portal...) has really left me disillusioned with the current state of college athletics. They left and we won three Nattys back to back to back. That’s why. Everyone felt like big dogs until Wallace left and the losing started under Hyde. Should have jumped then with NDSU who had also been struggling their last years of D2. |
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Post by unafied on Apr 19, 2022 8:38:31 GMT -6
I've probably said it on here before, but I'd love to know more about WHY we made the decision to remain D2 when Troy and JSU left the Gulf South. Was it as simple as wanting to keep the championship game in Florence? Did we think we'd become the big dog in the GSC and that was preferable to making the move? There had to be some folks who argued that Troy and JSU would grow significantly and we would regret staying behind. Looking back on it now, even though we had great success in D2 and I enjoyed our last couple of decades there, I just find it hard to understand why we allowed our two sister schools to get that jump on us. Complaining about what happened in the past accomplishes nothing, but the last year or so and all of the realignment (and NIL, and the portal...) has really left me disillusioned with the current state of college athletics. They left and we won three Nattys back to back to back. That’s why. Everyone felt like big dogs until Wallace left and the losing started under Hyde. Should have jumped then with NDSU who had also been struggling their last years of D2. Right. If the people in charge were calculating on a short-term gain due to Troy and JSU leaving, obviously we hit the jackpot. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I just wonder if we had any long-term D1 plans back then. The landscape was a lot different, but there were still plenty of benefits to D1 over remaining behind our peer institutions by staying D2. I hate we missed out on an alternate timeline where we win the three titles, THEN keep Coach Wallace and move to FCS in the late 90s. I suppose he may have left anyway, but I wonder if we could have persuaded him to stick around and help with the transition when he was 20+ years younger. |
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Post by brandon on Apr 19, 2022 9:10:14 GMT -6
There is a reason Wallace left the first time.
We had a few opportunities to move to D1 before, during and immediately after the championship run. Wallace didn't like the fact that we didn't. Kinda funny he came back when we decided to make the move. (If we had taken one of the options, we would have started in D1 ahead of both Troy and JSU on a matter of level, not time).
I don't get too worked up on things though, I look at it year by year, and overall, I think we are okay considering...
Yes we need to improve programs, funds and so on, but that's part of it. I think the majority of us, myself included, get impatient for a few reasons, (1) we are used to be ultra competitive in most all sports, (2) we had been screaming for years we need to go to D1 and now we are a certain age, that we are afraid we will miss it when we finally start winning like we know we can.
Just like the players that pick UNA even though it's not the best situation, the fans need to show up and support as well. It's hard sometimes, but I would rather be there to enjoy the good with the bad and celebrate every step.
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Post by brandon on Apr 25, 2022 9:41:28 GMT -6
I'm hearing Queens University will be joining the ASUN in May...
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Post by unalions on Apr 25, 2022 13:39:13 GMT -6
I'm hearing Queens University will be joining the ASUN in May... They are one of the four D2 schools mentioned in that tweet last September that the ASUN was vetting. I wonder if UWG or VSU will do so? They were also mentioned in that same tweet. Here's from the guy at D1Baseball this morning: |
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Post by brandon on Apr 25, 2022 20:15:53 GMT -6
I'm hearing Queens University will be joining the ASUN in May... They are one of the four D2 schools mentioned in that tweet last September that the ASUN was vetting. I wonder if UWG or VSU will do so? They were also mentioned in that same tweet. Here's from the guy at D1Baseball this morning: I think we get Valdosta... But I think we get Tennessee Tech first. I can live with EKU, APSU, UCA, Tenn Tech, KSU, UNA, and Valdosta State... |
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