Action10 wrote:TBS_20 wrote:I don't get that. You can't just expect to be a ceo right out of college. A decent fcs team is not going to the sec. Doesn't work like that
Not trying to throw cold water on what you are saying because it makes sense, but who was the last former FCS / 1-AA team to make it all of the way to the current Power 5? I can't think of one off of the top of my head. That is the biggest problem.....
There is 1 but it actually reinforces your point. The 1 exception is a school with 72k students in a top-25 MSA with only 1 major sports team (Magic) as direct market competition — and it came after 3 NY6 bowls.
(1970) Florida Tech Citronauts -> Florida Tech Knights
(1978) Florida Tech Knights -> UCF Knights
(1979) UCF Knights football starts as DIII program
(1982) Moves up to DII
(1990) Moves up to DI-AA
(1996) Moves up to DI-A
(2002) FB-only member of MAC
(2005) Joins CUSA
(2013) Joins AAC — Wins Fiesta Bowl
(2017) Wins Peach Bowl
(2018) Loses Fiesta Bowl
(2023) Joins Big XII — ascending from DIII to P5 in 44 years, and DI-AA to P5 in 28 years
UCF is the only one of 69 P5 programs to climb the ladder from DI-AA, and it took a confluence of extraordinary intrinsic factors (72k enrollment, top-25 MSA with sports dollar void) in conjunction with catching lightning in a bottle (3 NY6 bowls).