Post by elon_phan on Jul 25, 2007 21:22:05 GMT -5
Future of Elon / Towson series remains unresolved
Bob Sutton / Times-News
July 23
ELON — Elon University is trying to find an agreeable date in a few years to play Towson in football after canceling its 2007 football game at Towson, athletics director Dave Blank said last week.
Elon pulled out of the back-end of the home-and-home contract, with Towson scrambling to fill a vacancy on its schedule.
Softer tones have replaced a trail of bitter feelings after the game was scrapped.
“It was not amicable at all,” Dan O’Connell of Towson’s athletics media relations department said in the spring. “We were not pleased about it at all. There’s a lot of hard feelings.”
Later in the spring, Towson athletics director Mike Hermann said the schools were looking to find a playing date for a future season.
Blank said the Phoenix made the decision to cancel this year’s game when it added the Sept. 1 opener at South Florida, marking Elon’s first game against a Division I-A opponent. Elon would have played the next week at Towson.
Blank said Elon didn’t want to open the season with trips to Tampa, Fla., and Baltimore.
With an open date Sept. 15, Elon’s home opener wouldn’t have come until Sept. 22 against Liberty followed the next week by a visit from two-time defending national champion Appalachian State.
By ditching Towson, Elon added a home game against Division II West Virginia Wesleyan for Sept. 8. The Phoenix has six home games in 2007.
Blank said if Elon and Towson schedule a game it would be at least three years away. Hermann said it’s unlikely it would come before 2012. Neither of the athletics directors was at his school when the two-year series was agreed upon.
Initially, Blank said Elon offered to reschedule the Towson game for another year, but Towson chose the payout. Since then, Hermann said Towson has leaned toward playing the game.
If the teams don’t reach an agreement on a playing date, then Elon would pay Towson for breaking the contract. That amount hasn’t been disclosed.
O’Connell said Towson officials learned that Elon wouldn’t visit in 2007 shortly before last year’s Sept. 9 game at Elon.
“We were told last year they were not going to return the game,” O’Connell said. “We tried … They just said, ‘We’re not going to do it.’
“We weren’t really concerned about the payout. We needed the game. … We needed a home game. They hung us out to dry here.”
Towson replaced the Elon game with a home game against Central Connecticut State. In order to accommodate schedules, that game is scheduled for a different date than had been set for Elon’s visit. Towson will play five home games this year.
Elon and Towson also played a home-and-home set in 2003 and 2004. Those were part of a separate contract from the scheduled 2006 and 2007 meetings, O’Connell said. Towson won all three games against Elon.
“We had started the series expecting a home-and-away agreement,” Hermann said. “We certainly found it to be unexpected.”
Meanwhile, Blank said Elon is dealing with additional scheduling issues, in part because of Samford’s admission to the Southern Conference starting in 2008. That means Elon will have room for only three non-conference games on its schedule.
Blank said a 2009 game at Wake Forest is in limbo because it was set for the last Saturday in August, but that’s not an eligible date for a game, according to the NCAA’s calendar.
“In the midst of that, in comes Samford,” he said.
There’s a chance a game against Wake Forest will be pushed back to next decade, Blank said. At one point, Elon and Wake Forest were to play this year but the schools mutually agreed to push back the meeting.
Blank said the Southern Conference has approved a 2008 schedule that includes Samford, but some schools will have to move games to accommodate non-league contracts.
Bob Sutton / Times-News
July 23
ELON — Elon University is trying to find an agreeable date in a few years to play Towson in football after canceling its 2007 football game at Towson, athletics director Dave Blank said last week.
Elon pulled out of the back-end of the home-and-home contract, with Towson scrambling to fill a vacancy on its schedule.
Softer tones have replaced a trail of bitter feelings after the game was scrapped.
“It was not amicable at all,” Dan O’Connell of Towson’s athletics media relations department said in the spring. “We were not pleased about it at all. There’s a lot of hard feelings.”
Later in the spring, Towson athletics director Mike Hermann said the schools were looking to find a playing date for a future season.
Blank said the Phoenix made the decision to cancel this year’s game when it added the Sept. 1 opener at South Florida, marking Elon’s first game against a Division I-A opponent. Elon would have played the next week at Towson.
Blank said Elon didn’t want to open the season with trips to Tampa, Fla., and Baltimore.
With an open date Sept. 15, Elon’s home opener wouldn’t have come until Sept. 22 against Liberty followed the next week by a visit from two-time defending national champion Appalachian State.
By ditching Towson, Elon added a home game against Division II West Virginia Wesleyan for Sept. 8. The Phoenix has six home games in 2007.
Blank said if Elon and Towson schedule a game it would be at least three years away. Hermann said it’s unlikely it would come before 2012. Neither of the athletics directors was at his school when the two-year series was agreed upon.
Initially, Blank said Elon offered to reschedule the Towson game for another year, but Towson chose the payout. Since then, Hermann said Towson has leaned toward playing the game.
If the teams don’t reach an agreement on a playing date, then Elon would pay Towson for breaking the contract. That amount hasn’t been disclosed.
O’Connell said Towson officials learned that Elon wouldn’t visit in 2007 shortly before last year’s Sept. 9 game at Elon.
“We were told last year they were not going to return the game,” O’Connell said. “We tried … They just said, ‘We’re not going to do it.’
“We weren’t really concerned about the payout. We needed the game. … We needed a home game. They hung us out to dry here.”
Towson replaced the Elon game with a home game against Central Connecticut State. In order to accommodate schedules, that game is scheduled for a different date than had been set for Elon’s visit. Towson will play five home games this year.
Elon and Towson also played a home-and-home set in 2003 and 2004. Those were part of a separate contract from the scheduled 2006 and 2007 meetings, O’Connell said. Towson won all three games against Elon.
“We had started the series expecting a home-and-away agreement,” Hermann said. “We certainly found it to be unexpected.”
Meanwhile, Blank said Elon is dealing with additional scheduling issues, in part because of Samford’s admission to the Southern Conference starting in 2008. That means Elon will have room for only three non-conference games on its schedule.
Blank said a 2009 game at Wake Forest is in limbo because it was set for the last Saturday in August, but that’s not an eligible date for a game, according to the NCAA’s calendar.
“In the midst of that, in comes Samford,” he said.
There’s a chance a game against Wake Forest will be pushed back to next decade, Blank said. At one point, Elon and Wake Forest were to play this year but the schools mutually agreed to push back the meeting.
Blank said the Southern Conference has approved a 2008 schedule that includes Samford, but some schools will have to move games to accommodate non-league contracts.