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Post by epx on Jul 27, 2023 9:15:19 GMT -5
The point is there WON’T be an FCS in a few years. It’s dying. If you think Elon is fine with where we are at, you will be watching us play Newberry and Carson-Newman in a couple of seasons. Athletics are the front porch of any university, we would be wise to remember that. HPU certainly knows that. Campbell certainly knows that. They have aspirations I’m sure beyond the CAA. Why don’t we?? Maybe, but there are very few current FCS teams that have the where-with-all to make a move to the FBS, certainly over the next 10 years. We should definitely keep our eyes open both for new opportunities and to identify a sinking FCS ship. I just don't see things changing that apocalyptically over the next decade, with regard to FCS football programs jumping to the FBS.
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Post by epx on Jul 27, 2023 9:45:03 GMT -5
One issue our new AD will have to address quickly is NIL. This issue has been a carpet bomb to our level of sports. I originally thought only a few athletes would be affected. I was very wrong. I did not expect NIL to be divided among all players, even those that won't have more than their families buying jerseys with their names. Even these players are garnering $50k a season. With this and the transfer portal allowing anyone to transfer any time they want, every level of college sports teams will have many one-and-dones. We will have to participate. The question is, will we be leaders or followers?
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Post by euphoenix99 on Jul 27, 2023 9:47:13 GMT -5
The point is there WON’T be an FCS in a few years. It’s dying. If you think Elon is fine with where we are at, you will be watching us play Newberry and Carson-Newman in a couple of seasons. Athletics are the front porch of any university, we would be wise to remember that. HPU certainly knows that. Campbell certainly knows that. They have aspirations I’m sure beyond the CAA. Why don’t we?? I agree that FCS is changing and what that tier of football looks like is changing, but I don't buy into it dying. There are too many schools like Richmond, Villanova and smaller state schools that don't have the resources or desire to compete at the FBS level. They aren't all going to move to D2 because of football. Looking at the past 10-15 years of FCS, the most successful programs have been public schools. It's a struggle for private schools to compete at the FCS level. That's going to be even harder at the FBS level. Since 2010, Villanova, Richmond and UIW (last year) are the only private schools to make the semis in the FCS playoffs. Two of those schools are propped up by basketball money. We need to know who our peers are in football and align with their missions. I think those schools right now are W&M, Richmond, Villanova, Campbell and Towson. I like Delaware and A&T in the conference, but could see them on a different football path longer term. I'm good with the New England CAA schools too, but what they do shouldn't drive Elon's mission. I also don't get all the High Point love. What are they doing that's so great other than improving facilities like Elon is? They don't have football, they've had little to no basketball success. Baseball is bad. I think they've had a couple of tourney appearances in volleyball and lacrosse, but those aren't moving the needle. I'm sure they have a mission and goals to do more, but I feel like Elon is and has been in a better spot since we left the Big South. Not sure there's anything to emulate there other than marketing. It's going to be interesting to see how it all evolves, but I do think that Elon has a lot of things that make the school appealing to peer schools and conferences. Build a winning hoops program and continue to compete and make noise in FCS and we'll be in a good spot for whatever comes in the next 10 years. Go Phoenix!
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Post by epx on Jul 27, 2023 16:27:20 GMT -5
euphoenix99 said: I also don't get all the High Point love. What are they doing that's so great other than improving facilities like Elon is? They don't have football, they've had little to no basketball success. Baseball is bad. I think they've had a couple of tourney appearances in volleyball and lacrosse, but those aren't moving the needle. I'm sure they have a mission and goals to do more, but I feel like Elon is and has been in a better spot since we left the Big South. Not sure there's anything to emulate there other than marketing.
Exactly. The thing I respect most is HPU's effort to market to their local and regional community. Elon has done the opposite. Elon Admin likes to say they love the Burlington/Alamance County community, but other that sending a few athletes to elementary schools once or twice a year, they do nothing. In fact, except for the athletes' school visits, Elon does more to offend the greater Alamance County Community than engender support.
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eu96
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Post by eu96 on Jul 27, 2023 17:47:02 GMT -5
Everyone seems to forget that once the Power 5 eliminates the playing of FCS teams, a huge revenue stream goes away. FCS is 9 teams smaller than they were just 8 years ago. That’s 1 a year (mostly) transitioning to FBS. We can argue conference alignments and such, but there is no arguing that FCS is on a death spiral, albeit slow. Forget about what did or didn’t constitute an FBS program 10 or 15 years ago. That’s all in the past. The game has changed. Wake up Elon!!
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Post by fearthephoenix on Jul 27, 2023 18:27:47 GMT -5
The point is there WON’T be an FCS in a few years. It’s dying. If you think Elon is fine with where we are at, you will be watching us play Newberry and Carson-Newman in a couple of seasons. Athletics are the front porch of any university, we would be wise to remember that. HPU certainly knows that. Campbell certainly knows that. They have aspirations I’m sure beyond the CAA. Why don’t we?? Please take a look at the the conversations regarding what it will cost to make the move to the FBS. It is going from $5,000 to FIVE MILLION DOLLARS. Who at Elon is coughing that up? High Point doesn’t have a football team nor do they have football expenses, so that is completely irrelevant to this conversation. Campbell, from the university to boosters to alumni, have fully committed to expanding their athletic department. However, it took a comprehensive effort. AD Strawley has a lot on her plate as soon as she gets here and I do not believe that an unrealistic move to FBS should even be a conversation at the table right now. We have outstanding facilities, but lack support from the community and the University as a whole. How does that possibly equal a move to the FBS for you?
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eu96
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Post by eu96 on Jul 27, 2023 18:42:10 GMT -5
Well, Coastal Carolina is only 10,000 students, started playing in a glorified high school stadium and has a measly 54 million dollar endowment. The fact they are a state school is irrelevant; they are a glorified community college. The one thing they did have is vision. They hired the right people, and built something from scratch. They built their fan base from a market smaller than Elon’s. The result? Multiple National TV games, bowl games, and oh yeah, a college baseball National Championship. This is not as impossible as you are making it out to be.
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Post by fearthephoenix on Jul 27, 2023 18:52:25 GMT -5
Well, Coastal Carolina is only 10,000 students, started playing in a glorified high school stadium and has a measly 54 million dollar endowment. The fact they are a state school is irrelevant; they are a glorified community college. The one thing they did have is vision. They hired the right people, and built something from scratch. They built their fan base from a market smaller than Elon’s. The result? Multiple National TV games, bowl games, and oh yeah, a college baseball National Championship. This is not as impossible as you are making it out to be. No one said it’s impossible. However, it is not realistic right now and once the fee increases, it’s gonna be a journey to getting to that point. Can we focus on winning CAA championships and keeping our own student athletes here first?
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Post by euphoenix99 on Jul 27, 2023 20:27:57 GMT -5
Well, Coastal Carolina is only 10,000 students, started playing in a glorified high school stadium and has a measly 54 million dollar endowment. The fact they are a state school is irrelevant; they are a glorified community college. The one thing they did have is vision. They hired the right people, and built something from scratch. They built their fan base from a market smaller than Elon’s. The result? Multiple National TV games, bowl games, and oh yeah, a college baseball National Championship. This is not as impossible as you are making it out to be. Outside of Liberty, what private FCS school has moved to FBS recently? Agree with FTP, nothing is impossible, but there is a reason Villanova, Richmond, Butler, Dayton, etc. are not moving to FBS and they have a lot more resources than we do. Even if we did somehow end up FBS, we'd probably be playing a lot of the same schools we have over the past 10-15 years and spending a lot more. I think we're all in agreement that how Elon athletics is marketed has a lot of room for improvement. Good news is we have a new AD and we'll what she can do. Go Phoenix! .
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