Nugget's Ghostbuster wrote:Everything considered I do believe we will be dropping to FCS within 3-4 years when Hops contract expires. School will blame attendance and lack of support. Alumni will blame poor leadership. The economy should be unstable by then since we are well past it’s time for an adjustment(usually every 10 years). You will see attendance below 10K by the UTSA game.
If it does come to that, I hope it's a UAB-style wake up call that will provoke people to step up and save the program. And "people" has to include students.
We're unfortunately closer to what you describe than ever. I realized our budget was small, but the latest figures have us second-to-last in FBS. One list I saw had us right above Idaho, and they are indeed dropping down to FCS.
How this happened really bewilders me. In terms of real fan support (ticket sales, attendance, donations...) USM has been near the top of CUSA. A competent administration ought to serve as a sort of "force multiplier" that translates decent fan/donor money into a decent budget.
Personally I'd rather drop football than go FCS. I'm on the fence on playing in the same conference as FIU versus dropping football. I guess I can deal with it when the team's winning.
Bring back Reed V. "Pie" TurkPalmer Eustachy.