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Post by tsusupporter on Aug 7, 2023 16:52:28 GMT -5
Yeah Funkie, this makes no sense to me. How can this cat be loyal and focus on the success of the OVC while being president of another conference. Absurd.
Because this is a possible sign of the Pioneer League being absorbed into the OVC/Big South.
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Post by roknows50 on Aug 7, 2023 17:13:26 GMT -5
Yeah Funkie, this makes no sense to me. How can this cat be loyal and focus on the success of the OVC while being president of another conference. Absurd.
Because this is a possible sign of the Pioneer League being absorbed into the OVC/Big South.
Yes. Say the quiet part out loud. All those schools can easily afford the 65 scholarship minimum. .
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Post by tsusupporter on Aug 7, 2023 17:22:01 GMT -5
I've been telling everyone on this board for 4+ years, that Conference USA should've been the target. And look what has happened to that conference in the past 2 years. By 2024, it's basically going to be a glorified FCS conference with Kennesaw St, Sam Houston St, and Jacksonville St joining that conference and maybe more, if other schools leave.
Jax St, KSU, MTSU, and WKU fit right within our geographical footprint, much more than the "other conference".
If the American Athletic Conference gets raided by the PAC, those schools may be scrambling to add members too.
If TSU is content to stay in the OVC, then make the best of it and don't talk about anything else.
But if they're not content, let's hear a comprehensive 3 - 5 year plan for the future, to see Tennessee State athletics go to the next level.
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Post by tsusupporter on Aug 7, 2023 18:08:13 GMT -5
Because this is a possible sign of the Pioneer League being absorbed into the OVC/Big South.
Yes. Say the quiet part out loud. All those schools can easily afford the 65 scholarship minimum. .
It's not a 65 scholarship minimum. It's a 65 scholarship maximum.
Pioneer participates in the FCS playoffs.
The Big South/OVC won't take all of those schools, if they decide to absorb some of those members.
You'll see a situation just like you're seeing in the FBS, with only a select few schools being added to the OVC/Big South. They'll specifically target the Pioneer schools in KY, IN, OH, which are
- Morehead State
- Butler
- Dayton
- Valpo
The conference is firmly centered around Evansville, instead of Nashville, like the OVC was.
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Post by tsucrat on Aug 7, 2023 18:39:24 GMT -5
Yeah Funkie, this makes no sense to me. How can this cat be loyal and focus on the success of the OVC while being president of another conference. Absurd.
Because this is a possible sign of the Pioneer League being absorbed into the OVC/Big South.
Is that really in talks, or just speculation?
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Post by tsucrat on Aug 7, 2023 18:43:06 GMT -5
Yes. Say the quiet part out loud. All those schools can easily afford the 65 scholarship minimum. .
It's not a 65 scholarship minimum. It's a 65 scholarship maximum.
Pioneer participates in the FCS playoffs.
The Big South/OVC won't take all of those schools, if they decide to absorb some of those members.
You'll see a situation just like you're seeing in the FBS, with only a select few schools being added to the OVC/Big South. They'll specifically target the Pioneer schools in KY, IN, OH, which are
- Morehead State
- Butler
- Dayton
- Valpo
The conference is firmly centered around Evansville, instead of Nashville, like the OVC was.
I selfishly wouldn't mind Butler. I know bball wouldn't move back down but TSU has a nice size alumni in Indy and surrounding.
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Post by funkiejunkie on Aug 7, 2023 18:58:04 GMT -5
LOL I'm just saying... At least we used to be able to use the "travel" excuse when we were in the same conference as MTSU, Murray, EKU, Jax St., Austin Peay, etc. Now, we're 5:28 away from Gardner-Webb, 8:05 away from Charleston Southern, and 5:03 and 4:35 away respectively from UALR and SIU-E, neither of whom play football. That's not even counting the 6:47 away from Eastern Illinois that we've been travelling for years. Western Illinois will be joining the OVC in 2024, so that's another 6:57 drive. If we have to go that far for games, why not just... Never mind.
Because there's still only 3 schools within a 5:30 drive. The rest of "that conference" is 7+ hours away. And those schools won't bring their bands to Nashville, because they will use the "travel excuse".
I agree that TSU needs to get out of the OVC asap. Mikki needs to lay out a comprehensive plan for their exit, instead of throwing out hints. If he wants to go to "that conference", then make plans to do so.
But if he wants to move up, like he said in 2022, alumni and supporters need to see what it will take to get there. We know about the so-called NCAA requirements, but we need to know more about the monetary requirements.
At minimum, TSU needs to be at 18 million in athletic expenses, preferably 20 million. In 2021, they were at 11.2 million.
For a comparison, Austin Peay was at 17.6 million last season. They're preparing to possibly move to FBS via the ASUN/WAC merger.
Here are the top sources both schools got their money from:
Austin Peay (2022) Tennessee State (2021) Difference
Institutional/Govt support 9.7M 7.0M -2.7M Student Fees 3.4M 2.6M -0.8M Media Rights 1.4M 1.0M -0.4M Donar Contributions 1.1M 0.2M -0.8M Competition Guarantees 0.9M 0.3M -0.6M Other 1.1M 0.1M -1.0M
We all know that 2021 was a horrible year from a ticket sales standpoint, with the bad weather severely impacting games. But there are other gaps TSU can shore up. The institutional/government support is the biggest gap. But there are other gaps that TSU can do much better.
If the financial goals of the university were properly laid out, they could lay the foundation to a financially stable athletic program, instead of crying poor all the time.
I need to see the 2022 TSU financial report. Why hasn't that been released yet? It normally comes out at the end of June. It's now going into the 2nd week in August. Has that been released and it just hasn't been posted online yet? Kind of curious why that's not available yet.
I honestly don't disagree with anything you've said. The "other conference(s)" definitely don't offer easy travel; difference is at least our fans may be excited to play some of them as opposed to the EIUs that we know based on years of evidence that no one is coming to see. You asked a great question regarding the Financials. It could be that there are some things that maybe we aren't supposed to see that would be called into question if released. Transparency has never been a great attribute of our administration. Lastly, you said "'he' needs to say it". I agree, but as I've said for at least the last year, at this point he seems more like a rubber stamp than anything. GG clearly is calling the shots here.
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Post by roknows50 on Aug 7, 2023 19:40:28 GMT -5
U of Indy is coming next year too. New President is there.
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Post by roknows50 on Aug 7, 2023 19:44:44 GMT -5
Yes. Say the quiet part out loud. All those schools can easily afford the 65 scholarship minimum. .
It's not a 65 scholarship minimum. It's a 65 scholarship maximum.
Pioneer participates in the FCS playoffs.
The Big South/OVC won't take all of those schools, if they decide to absorb some of those members.
You'll see a situation just like you're seeing in the FBS, with only a select few schools being added to the OVC/Big South. They'll specifically target the Pioneer schools in KY, IN, OH, which are
- Morehead State
- Butler
- Dayton
- Valpo
The conference is firmly centered around Evansville, instead of Nashville, like the OVC was.
Interesting point here. I was listening to last week's HBCU Nightly. They thought that the HBCUs not in an HBCU conference shouldn't be in that new HBCU band competition during the Celebration bowl. One criteria is to be judged 4 times. Many felt that it should be 4 head to head band competitions. NCAT, Hampton, nor TSU plays 4 hbcus. Then they finally admitted that many of the teams in the MEAC and SWAC won't compete 4 times against other bands, and started to list out bands that don't travel....
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Post by tsusupporter on Aug 7, 2023 20:59:12 GMT -5
Because this is a possible sign of the Pioneer League being absorbed into the OVC/Big South.
Is that really in talks, or just speculation?
Pure speculation on my part. Like the others have said, it's strange as hell to have one of the higher execs in one conference, actually be the head man in another conference. Something has to be up.
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Post by tsucrat on Aug 7, 2023 21:45:41 GMT -5
U of Indy is coming next year too. New President is there. 👀 I selfishly want to see that too. Local alumni would turn out big just because. And that's without AOB
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tsumadness
TSU Alum
NCAA (D1): 93, 94 (D2): 63, 67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75 | CIT: 12, 13, 16 | NAIA Champs: 57, 58, 59
Posts: 5,648
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Post by tsumadness on Aug 7, 2023 22:39:36 GMT -5
Yeah Funkie, this makes no sense to me. How can this cat be loyal and focus on the success of the OVC while being president of another conference. Absurd.
Because this is a possible sign of the Pioneer League being absorbed into the OVC/Big South.
I don’t think merging with the Pioneer League is that simple. The Pioneer is different than other FCS conferences in regards to football. I can’t quite remember what it is, but I think it has something with the amount of scholarships or budget limitations.
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Post by funkiejunkie on Aug 8, 2023 9:59:34 GMT -5
Because this is a possible sign of the Pioneer League being absorbed into the OVC/Big South.
I don’t think merging with the Pioneer League is that simple. The Pioneer is different than other FCS conferences in regards to football. I can’t quite remember what it is, but I think it has something with the amount of scholarships or budget limitations. The Pioneer League is either non-scholarship or limited scholarship. If I recall correctly, it's why Morehead opted to leave the OVC in football and join the Pioneer, because they either couldn't or wouldn't keep up with the other OVC programs in scholarship funding. I also remember some trying to discredit TSU's playoff win vs Butler because "Butler is a non-scholarship program, TSU is supposed to beat them". Sheesh. www.pioneer-football.org/pfl/default/The 2023 season marks the 31st year for the Pioneer Football League – the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference.
The Pioneer Football League is a truly national conference with members on each coast and throughout the nation’s heartland. Butler University, the University of Dayton, Drake University, and Valparaiso University were among the league’s founding members in 1993, with Davidson College, Marist College, Morehead State University, Presbyterian College, the University of San Diego, the University of St. Thomas, and Stetson University joining to form the current 11-team league.
The league has expanded in all directions since its founding. The league added Davidson College and Morehead State University in 2001 from the FCS’ independent ranks. Marist College joined before the 2009 season and extended the league’s footprint into the northeast. Stetson University revived its long-dormant football program and selected the PFL as its conference home in 2013. Presbyterian College and the University of St. Thomas joined the league in 2021, adding to the league’s membership in both the Southeast and Midwest.
In January 1991, the NCAA passed legislation to require Division I institutions to sponsor all intercollegiate sports at the Division I level. The five charter members (Evansville was a founding member before dropping football in 1997), each dedicated to intercollegiate football’s enhancement and sound management as an integral part of the student-athlete collegiate experience, joined to form the Pioneer Football League. From the league’s inception, it was a proponent of creating a non-scholarship football classification within Division I. It adopted the moniker of Pioneer based on the intent to become the first league in that new division. The PFL’s original membership comprised those NCAA Division I universities that previously sponsored intercollegiate football at other NCAA Divisional levels.
The PFL began play in 1993, with Dayton winning the league’s first regular-season title. In the PFL’s first 30 seasons, nine programs have won a regular-season championship, with Dayton and San Diego each claiming 12 titles.
As part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship’s expansion to 24 teams in 2013, the PFL gained an automatic bid. San Diego capitalized on the opportunity in the 2016 and 2017 postseasons by winning first-round road games each season.
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Post by roknows50 on Aug 10, 2023 20:11:43 GMT -5
These conferences are going to become really large and then try to add teams to make them more regional.
It is just a tough spot because fcs just doesn't get the same tv contracts to help cover costs.
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Post by tsusupporter on Aug 12, 2023 10:56:59 GMT -5
These conferences are going to become really large and then try to add teams to make them more regional. It is just a tough spot because fcs just doesn't get the same tv contracts to help cover costs.
The NCAA may try to block more FCS schools to move up, by requiring them to pay 5 million up front for the transition, instead of the current 5K. That would all but kill TSU's chances to move up, unless they're able to raise some serious money via donars.
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