coachacola

[quote name="TexasTerror" post="828525" timestamp="1282406360"] [quote author=AggiesAreWe link=topic=71883.msg828521#msg828521 date=1282405660]Since when is a legacy counted only in 6 years? ::) Maybe it should read "Recent History". Legacy kind of sends the wrong message. [/quote] MidMajority.com has only been around for the length of their analysis. The term "mid-major" is actually very new and does not have a true lengthy "legacy" to it. Any idea when that term came into being? [/quote] According to Wikepedia: [quote]Mid-major is a term used in American Division I  college sports. While many believe the term "mid-major" was originally coined by the sports media in order to distinguish between BCS  and non-BCS conference teams, it was actually coined in 1977 (more than two decades before the development of the BCS) by Jack Kvancz, head coach of Catholic University's mens basketball team.[/quote] [Hidden Content]

[quote name="NorthoftheBorder" post="830689" timestamp="1282763741"] I remember that I either read or heard that it was going to be the 3rd largest college scoreboard in Texas.  Does anyone else remember that? [/quote] I think UT, A&M, SMU and UNT's new stadium will have larger scoreboards, but Lamar's is still very impressive: [img][Hidden Content]]

I was digging around the LU website and saw some preliminary numbers from a month ago that said that credit hours are up 6% for the fall and up 16% from fall 2008.  It didn't break the number down between campus and online enrollment.  I think Lamar is shooting for about 2% enrollment growth a year on campus along with increasing the retention rate.

I'm not saying Lamar should turn down an invite to a FBS conference.  In fact, I'd be disappointed if they did turn down an invite and stayed in the SLC.  I think we have to set our expectations appropriately if Lamar does go FBS.  But if they don't start winning soon and keep winning a lot of games it won't really matter what level they end up at.

There are a few drawbacks going FBS that cannot be taken lightly: 1.  The Sunbelt, MAC and WAC conferences have TV games on Thursday and Friday nights.  That sucks and I would hate for Lamar to have to play games on those nights.  It kills attendance and when I see Sunbelt teams play on those nights they don't look like FBS teams.  College football was not meant for weeknights! 2.  Lamar could do quite well playing games against top-notch FCS schools such as Appy State and Montana.  McNeese has scheduled a home game against Appy State, and if Lamar did the same it would probably be a sellout.  If they do the scheduling right and don't bring a lot of no-name D2 or NAIA teams to the stadium then I can see great crowds every Saturday. 3.  Lamar's athletic budget has to been driven by donations and ticket sales, not student fees like UTSA, Texas State, North Texas and others.  Keep Lamar affordable with a great athletic program along with ever improving academics (another engineering PhD program is on it's way) and Lamar will keep growing with a reasonable student fee for athletics.  (Texas Sate will soon be charging $20 per semester hour for athletics.  I don't want to see Lamar going FBS this way.) 4.  Lamar is picking up a lot of FBS transfers because they want to play at home and don't have to sit out a year.  Once Lamar goes FBS they'll be recruiting against the big boys and will lose most of those battles.  And when some of these players want to transfer out, they may not pick Lamar but go to McNeese or SFA instead because they won't have to see out a year. What are the advantages of going FBS that outweigh these drawbacks?

[quote name="sleepy" post="830035" timestamp="1282678038"] Does anyone remember how we got POUNDED in basketball in the Sunbelt?  We were a Southland power.........moved to the Sunbelt and look at where we are today.  Let's try to master the worst conference in all of college sports and then try to move from there.  You know...........crawl before we walk. [/quote] The basketball team started going downhill before Lamar was in the Sunbelt.  Also, back then the Sunbelt consisted of a bunch of ex-Southland teams so that analogy really doesn't work.

There's always the chance that no FBS conference is interested in Lamar right now. But the college football landscape is always changing so there's no telling what will happen in the future.

[quote name="kingkat99" post="829455" timestamp="1282582512"] [quote author=UNLV link=topic=71805.msg829425#msg829425 date=1282578796] [quote author=WOS95 link=topic=71805.msg829414#msg829414 date=1282577055] imo if we move to FBS and are terrible...u can forget about ppl coming to the games..and u can say bye bye to football once again...by the same token if we are terrible in FCS u can also forget about ppl coming to the games....point being just win baby!!! no matter who we play!! [/quote]We need to win. However winning at the FCS will not pack the house especially playing SFA, SHSU, Abilene Christian, Delta st, etc etc... At the FBS level even if we are having a 2-6 season, bringing in Alabama, Texas Tech, Boise st will pack the house. [/quote] Id say Mcneese's house stays pretty packed and so do the likes of Appalachan State and Montana and most other programs with a winning tradition.  And having a home and home with the likes of Tech and Alabama would not ne a regular occurence by any means especially if you cant be competitive and you cant play in a bigger stadium than provost umphrey... [/quote] McNeese averaged 12,948 last year, not much more than my local high school not far down the road from Lamar's stadium.  I think they could average 20K+ if they were FBS and were scheduling home games against the likes of La Tech and ULL.  Most schools in this part of the country are FBS so that makes it even harder to schedule good opponents since FBS schools won't come to FCS stadiums.

Lamar doesn't have to start competing at the FBS level right away if they join the WAC.  A WAC invite would probably mean they would join the conference in 2012 at the earliest, maybe even in 2013.  After two years in FCS they'll have two years to transition to FBS.  Woodard has already scheduled one FBS team year for the money, wouldn't it be nice to get some FBS teams into Beaumont?  They won't come if Lamar stays FCS.  The McNeese, SFA, and Sam Houston games will probably be the "big" home games each year, is that the fans want?  Baylor came to Beaumont a long time ago before Lamar went 1-AA, it won't ever happen again if Lamar doesn't go back to FBS. And how stable is the SLC?  UTSA is leaving, Texas State is probably leaving.  Nicholls State is hanging by a thread financially.  Five years from now will people be excited about Lamar football when the SLC invites a D2 school to join the conference? And let's not forget Lamar basketball.  I want to see Lamar compete against better competition, even if it means they struggle at first.  The Montagne Center and Lamar's attendance would be right at home in the WAC.  Check out last year's attendance: Utah State 9,792 Hawaii 5,667 NMSU 5,659 [b]Lamar 2,971[/b] La Tech 2,438 San Jose 1,854 Idaho 1,640 Sure there's a risk if Lamar goes to the WAC, but I think the powers that be at Lamar have been crunching the numbers for a while to see what it would take to go FBS.  Maybe Dr. Simmons has already decided not to pursue FBS at this time.  I guess only time will tell.

Looks like they moved the webcam to midfield so we can watch the scrimmage live. [url=[Hidden Content]] [img][Hidden Content]]

[quote name="TexasTerror" post="827894" timestamp="1282320154"] [quote author=coachacola link=topic=71805.msg827867#msg827867 date=1282317837]Lamar's budget for '08-'09 was $8.2, before the athletic fee kicked in.  For the current year ending now I bet the budget was around $11 million.  This coming year with ticket sales and other football related income I bet the budget will be over $12 million.  In 3 or 4 years if they are in the WAC the budget should top $15 million, probably just enough to get by.[/quote] La Tech's budget was $16M and they did not do so hot. Most of the other schools are in the upper 20s and could conceivably cut sports while not losing much of their budget, just making them stronger... [quote author=coachacola link=topic=71805.msg827867#msg827867 date=1282317837]The WAC only makes sense for Lamar if there's 4 or 5 eastern based teams, like La Tech, NMSU, UTSA and Texas State.  Long term you could see the WAC turn into a southwestern-based conference if schools like Hawaii and SJSU leave.  It will also be a nice step up as far as basketball goes which would probably help attendance with the likes of La Tech, NMSU and Utah State on the schedule every year. [/quote] I think the WAC goes back to its Western roots. Whether that future plan includes schools like Cal Poly, Sacramento State, UC-Davis, Montana, etc. remains to be seen. It just seems the more viable option with schools like Utah State, San Jose State and Hawaii still around... [/quote] I think La Tech's decline is due mostly to the all the traveling their teams must do.  What Tech does is related to the direction that the WAC takes.  If the WAC tries to stay a western conference then it makes no sense for Lamar to join and La Tech will probably try to find a home in the CUSA.  I've read the UNT wants no part of the WAC due to all the travel and middle of the night flights back to Denton.  I think we're all in agreement that the WAC only makes sense if they invite a group of Texas schools.

I think Nevada and Fresno won't leave until after the 2011 season so that gives Lamar some time to ramp up for FBS football.  Lamar has to play two years at the FCS level anyways before transitioning to FBS so they wouldn't join the WAC for two more years.  Lamar's budget for '08-'09 was $8.2, before the athletic fee kicked in.  For the current year ending now I bet the budget was around $11 million.  This coming year with ticket sales and other football related income I bet the budget will be over $12 million.  In 3 or 4 years if they are in the WAC the budget should top $15 million, probably just enough to get by. The WAC only makes sense for Lamar if there's 4 or 5 eastern based teams, like La Tech, NMSU, UTSA and Texas State.  Long term you could see the WAC turn into a southwestern-based conference if schools like Hawaii and SJSU leave.  It will also be a nice step up as far as basketball goes which would probably help attendance with the likes of La Tech, NMSU and Utah State on the schedule every year.

I'm still around but felt like it was time to take a break so I deleted my account so I wouldn't be tempted to post.  This is still a great site and I'll probably start posting here a little but not near as much as before.  With all the great things happening at Lamar I figured nobody would miss my posts too much.  :D