MSU to Conference USA?

[DUBulldog]

How is Drakes football received by Drake fans?

Very little interest, even among the students. 5000 is considered a good crowd. I think it's that way at all the non-scholarship FCS schools.

[mecha_bulldog]

As to the bolded part above, I don't think that is accurate. Yes, all state schools are in a tough situation because states don't have the money to meet their own operating budgets, let alone supply state colleges with the same amount of funding that they have supplied previously. I do think that a lot of private schools, who don't rely on state funds, are thriving right now.

They may be doing better than state schools, but I'd be surprised if many private schools are "thriving" right now. Private schools rely on endowments for cash, and it's tough to make a lot of money off investments right now. Privates also rely on donations, and I'm guessing those are way down too.

[DoubleJayAlum]

MSU's football program runs 1.4 million in the red each year?

That's double what UNI's runs.


Tell me how UNI is worse off

I remember UNI threatening to drop to D2 last summer because of concerns over finances if the state cut funding any more. I know that one of the "resolutions" was to have UNI's FB bend over and take another game against a BCS power just to get a big check. That doesn't sound like a resolution to me, but just a temporary band-aid.

I don't understand the financial model of FCS football. Everyone acknowledges it is a huge financial drain, yet some can't just say no.

The fact that some MSU fans (especially you Casey) thought that MSU was in position to make the jump to CUSA seems to be even more of a joke after reading that article. On top of losing $1.4 million a year, the team is picked to finish last in the conference too? Who wants a last place school?

That is not accurate. D2 was never a realistic possibility. You spend almost as much on scholarships, coaches, facilities, and travel and it would bring in far less money. In the end, the Board of Regents agreed that UNI needs a strong D-1 athletic department, even if it loses money.

Just imagine if Iowa State loses BCS status. The money UNI loses will pale in comparison to what the Cyclones will lose if they don't have the Big XII TV contract.

Well, I may be misremembering and they were threatening to drop to D3 instead of D2, but I am 100% certain that there were newspaper stories about UNI needing to back down if the spigot of government support was curtailed. I'm not sure that dropping to D3 makes the situation sound any better, but okay....

[Khan4Cats]

Well, I may be misremembering and they were threatening to drop to D3 instead of D2, but I am 100% certain that there were newspaper stories about UNI needing to back down if the spigot of government support was curtailed. I'm not sure that dropping to D3 makes the situation sound any better, but okay....

You are misremembering, or more likely, remembering how you wish to remember it.

The scenario was put forth to UNI (and Iowa State also) on how to lower the amount of money used from the general fund to support athletics. This came about because the University of Iowa had suddenly been able to get away from using general fund moneys and the Board of Regents felt that the other two should be able to as well. The fact that they were able to do so only because of the influx of funds from the Big Ten Network completely escaped the Board of Regents. UNI then conducted a study of what would happen under different scenarios: moving to FBS, staying at FCS and playing additional 'money games', staying at FCS and reducing sports (ie wrestling), going non-scholarship FCS, or dropping to D-2.

A lot of people on VT or maybe it was here jumped on the D-2 thought as though it were a foregone conclusion, but of the options-it was the LEAST likely option and was backed up by the report. The report showed how UNI took less in term of students fees than pretty much all of the MVC (maybe MVFC) schools in student fees and noted that the option of continuing to try and contain costs, playing an extra money game, and looking at a future increase in student fees to even the conference average would be the best for the long-term for UNI. The cost increases associated from moving to FBS or the projected loss in revenue, athletic club support, and most important-enrollment, associated with dropping down or going non-scholarship made those options unviable.

So yes, there was a discussion of D-2, but it was quickly dismissed as any kind of likely option.

[TNMSUFAN]

UNI's football program is in the best shape of any MVFC team. Albeit they still lose $$ but they are having the least amount of troubles I'd say. Also dropping the program to a lower level would certainly hurt UNI's program even more. They'd spend less money...but would make less proportionately to the original costs.

Best shape depends on how you look at it but you did lose the lowest amount of money. Here are the numbers from the NCAA Financial Reports Database for UNI and MSU.

http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial ... _stat/show

UNI lost $281,298 in football
MSU lost $581,385 in football

UNI had $351,781 in student fees for football
MSU had $0 in student fees

UNI had $617,265 in direct institutional support for football
MSU had $573,950 in direct institutional support

[DoubleJayAlum]

You are misremembering, or more likely, remembering how you wish to remember it.

Yeah, because I've got some sort of secret agenda to convince everyone that UNI should be D2.

Spin it any way that you want, but the UNI AD was quoted in several newspapers last year about the potential of having to drop down a division if the state of Iowa withdrew some of the funding that was being speculated at the time. You can call it the final option or least likely option or whatever you want to call (spin?) it, but it was definitely a legitimate possibility if the state of Iowa would have moved forward as threatened. Pretend it is no big deal (or, to quote you, "remember it the way you wish to remember it"), but it isn't often that you hear ADs threaten such actions, so there must have been some very serious concern. Also, in case you can't recall, UNI's athletic department had to drop baseball because it was so cash poor. Since Iowa, like most states, continue to have a great deal of financial struggles, it wouldn't be unthinkable that the funding issue at UNI will rear its ugly head again in the future.

I also don't see the relevance in comparing UNI to Iowa State either. Your comment, "could you imagine ISU's woes if not for the Big 12 money" is irrelevant because ISU does have that Big 12 money (at least right now).

[unipanther99]

I really can't find any newspaper articles where Troy Dannon was quoted to say UNI would have to drop down a division if X happened. I think the board and others wanted to hear about the option, but everytime it was discussed our AD easily explained why it wouldn't save any money, and would in fact cost more.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I really can't find any newspaper articles where Troy Dannon was quoted to say UNI would have to drop down a division if X happened. I think the board and others wanted to hear about the option, but everytime it was discussed our AD easily explained why it wouldn't save any money, and would in fact cost more.

There were some posted at the old ValleyTalk, but they seem to be gone now.

Here's one where eliminating all sports at UNI is discussed: http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/afte ... able/26914

[uniftw]

I really can't find any newspaper articles where Troy Dannon was quoted to say UNI would have to drop down a division if X happened. I think the board and others wanted to hear about the option, but everytime it was discussed our AD easily explained why it wouldn't save any money, and would in fact cost more.

There were some posted at the old ValleyTalk, but they seem to be gone now.

Here's one where eliminating all sports at UNI is discussed: http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/afte ... able/26914

You are the one spinning it.

Dropping to D2 was never an option. It was included as part of the study, along with about 6 other options...including moving UP.

Hell, if you want to use quotes over the summer Farley was asked about the posibility of moving FBS and he said something along the lines of "Any coach who doesn't think about the possibility isn't doing his job"....using that quote we could spin that too "Farley see's FBS move for UNI". That quote on the FBS is about as close as Dannen ever got to saying a D2 move would be made.

[mecha_bulldog]

I really can't find any newspaper articles where Troy Dannon was quoted to say UNI would have to drop down a division if X happened. I think the board and others wanted to hear about the option, but everytime it was discussed our AD easily explained why it wouldn't save any money, and would in fact cost more.

I remember hearing something about that. This is the closest I can find about it:

Athletic Director Troy Dannen said it would be impossible to maintain a Division I athletic program without support from the university.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/regents-approve-modest-cut-to-uni-athletics/article_973e55a6-c1d6-11df-a795-001cc4c002e0.html