Hypothetical situation if football gets cut

[BobWoodshed]

If football were to get cut, what hypothetically would come next?

Would PSU get to stay in the Big Sky? If not, is the Big West or the WAC pretty much our only other D1 options?

Would they add men's sports to fill the scholarship difference or remove women's sports?

What else am I not thinking of?

 

[BroadwayVik]

IF FB were to be dropped, I think it would be tragic.

If JJ sought the HC football position, I think there'd be great cause for real optimism ... at long last. In such case, everything up to this point would have been a grand "setting of the table" for him In that event, NB & staff would have served a purpose of grand design. It would all make sense.

My hope for PSU is that, given such kind of future success, that the university mimic UH and join the MW for FB and the BWC for Olympic sports. Perhaps TC would be the one instrumental in connecting-the-dots in the latter case.

Given that Norm Chow is the HC at UH, I don't see JJ returning there, except as a hero of the Islands on vacations. Given that JJ's family is close to Portland, it would enrich his life to be here at PSU to work the same kind of development he did at UH and SMU. It would enrich the lives of all alums. It could be an attractive situation for NL to also get involved.

Perhaps, then, through this vision, the vision of David Hersh will also be realized, PSU becoming another South Florida. It would all fit together so exquisitely well.

 

[DustRunner]

Given that football seems to be floating a large portion of the AD as it is, losing it could dismantle the entire thing. Maybe not lose all the sports, but a large portion of funding would be lost.

 

[Pounder]

The Big West opened its arms to the Hawaii situation because Hawaii is a higher profile school. Portland State is not, and the Big West (outside Hawaii) is a comfortable cabal of California colleges. They don't want to expand their travel costs. They're not going to get big money for athletics anyway.

I've speculated elsewhere that the Big Sky believes Idaho to be a similarly higher profile school, so Doug Fullerton reeks of desperation by letting them in without football. For all I know, maybe he has to. So I hypothesized that the Big Sky would push out Portland State if football is dropped. I could be wrong. It may- or may not- help if I'm wrong.

What I experienced last year: It costs $400 to RT to Grand Forks or Fargo... FROM MINNEAPOLIS. North Dakota is a budget killer in this conference. Ever try to fly to Montana? It's surprisingly expensive compared to most locations. Try getting to Cedar City (they may fly through Las Vegas for that, though). Cal Poly (football only)... well, I wonder if PSU flies into Santa Barbara.

Whereas...

Cal State Bakersfield (via Burbank or maybe Fresno)
Chicago State (OK, not that cheap)
Grand Canyon (in Phoenix, there's good deals)
Missouri- Kansas City (cheaper than Chicago, sometimes some good deals, but certainly a bit of a haul)
New Mexico State (El Paso is no picnic to reach, but Southwest goes direct to Albuquerque)
Seattle University (Hallejulah!)
Texas-Pan American, about to be renamed to Texas-Rio Grande Valley (connect via Houston or Dallas)
Utah Valley (In Provo's suburb, so via SLC... still a much better haul than Cedar City, almost as good as Ogden)

Recruiting-wise, there's a decent slate of urban areas involved with this conference. Regular trips to Chicago, Kansas City, or the mouth of the Rio Grande? At least none of those are North Dakota.

It's still a value judgment, I suppose.

 

[Pounder]

Given that football seems to be floating a large portion of the AD as it is, losing it could dismantle the entire thing. Maybe not lose all the sports, but a large portion of funding would be lost.

This is incorrect.

I've generally interpreted a continuous turnover in the soccer program as an indication that there aren't enough scholarships in the program. Some donor probably covers those, though they draw better... in Hillsboro... than they did playing games at PGE Park. Damn, that's weird.

Basketball... likely self-sufficient. Volleyball... donor and just enough tickets sold. The others... fair amount of pay-for-play anyway.

"Football funds the other sports" is one of the great myths of our time. Besides, the hullabaloo about the football program in the first place is that it's NOT even Self-sufficient. Most football programs in the NCAA are not self-sufficient, so how can they support other athletics?

 

[BroadwayVik]

The Big West opened its arms to the Hawaii situation because Hawaii is a higher profile school.

That would be the beauty of JJ coming: to transform Portland State into a higher profile school like Hawaii. Of course, they wouldn't take us now as is. How many years did it take JJ to transform Hawaii?

And didn't we beat Hawaii (at Aloha Stadium) during his early years there? Think about it.

 

[Pounder]

The Big West opened its arms to the Hawaii situation because Hawaii is a higher profile school.

That would be the beauty of JJ coming: to transform Portland State into a higher profile school like Hawaii. Of course, they wouldn't take us now as is. How many years did it take JJ to transform Hawaii?

And didn't we beat Hawaii (at Aloha Stadium) during his early years there? Think about it.

Speaking of great myths of our time...

...put it this way: Steve Spurrier at Florida > Steve Spurrier at South Carolina.

Howard Schnellenberger at Miami > Howard Schnellenberger at Louisville.

Jerry Glanville. Enough said.

June Jones makes for an interesting angle from the "former player" standpoint, and maybe that does something. Maybe that doesn't. Otherwise, does June Jones have a higher profile than Jerry Glanville?

 

[bigskyconf]

Other schools where the idea of dropping football has been discussed as recently as last week...

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2014/11/07/doyel-indiana-state-facing-a-football-free-future/18283525/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.alabamas13.com/story/27335162/birmingham-mayor-reaffirms-citys-commit-to-uabs-football-program" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If football is cut, we have to hope all the revenue is generated by basketball. Both Indiana State and UAB have had success in mens basketball and both play in strong basketball conferences. The Big Sky may not be considered a basketball conference, but it is much more of a basketball conference than the WAC. Also, the Big Sky is much more stable than the current WAC setup. The schools that play in the WAC currently are all biding their time until they can leave for better pastures. Can we really expect to have a strong presence in basketball by playing in the WAC, enough to generate a sizeable revenue stream?

It would help as well if the city of Portland would get behind us, similar to what Birmingham is doing. While this city likes to think they are a Pac-12 city, without PSU football means that the only college football played in the city would be played at DIII Lewis and Clark. Not much different from Billings, Montana who likes to think they are a Big Sky conference city, yet the only college football played in the city is at NAIA Rocky Mountain College.

 

[BroadwayVik]

What is your point, Pounder? Need something to pound? A call to outright pessimism, perhaps? Geez, stop being such a narcissistic negative Nancy, willya? Do you really think you're helping matters?

What is the point of your examples? Some coaches go where they fit better? Jerry Glanville was an experiment that we had to try out but did not work out as expected. But didn't Jordan Senn and Adam Hayward make it to the NFL on his watch? He is still Mouse Davis' friend, and those two can act as reliable NFL savvy advisors for PSU.

Do you just prefer we drop football? What are you trying to say?

 

[Pounder]

What is your point, Pounder? Need something to pound? A call to outright pessimism, perhaps? Geez, stop being such a narcissistic negative Nancy, willya? Do you really think you're helping matters?

What is the point of your examples? Some coaches go where they fit better? Jerry Glanville was an experiment that we had to try out but did not work out as expected. But didn't Jordan Senn and Adam Hayward make it to the NFL on his watch? He is still Mouse Davis' friend, and those two can act as reliable NFL savvy advisors for PSU.

Do you just prefer we drop football? What are you trying to say?

Program > Coach. The status of the program can be adjusted to some degrees higher or lower by a coach, but the real indicator of whether the program has really gone up or down is how the NEXT coach handles it. (There are no more 20-year coaches in D-1.)

We're going to have to drop football or go D-3. (maybe D-2, but how are THOSE scholarships affected by what will have to be paid to players?) The money is bad enough, the expenses only get worse from here. If you want to call that pessimism, that's your prerogative, but there's a difference between optimism and dreaming based on the past.

 

[BroadwayVik]

I agree with you about the quality of the program being dependent upon the coaching staff. I don't see a retreat from FCS, however. This is an opportunity crisis afoot. I don't know what the master plan is among the insiders, but I believe in seeking ways to create value at every turn. I believe your outlook is too extreme, though. Dropping football is an option as it was for wrestling. But things still look like they're building up, and not necessarily getting ready for a crash down. Hey, we lost to MSU by only 7. There's quality out there.

Time will soon tell. I believe 2016 is the target year date.