Source: Idaho to drop to FCS

[eaglesfootball]

Check out their boards. The fans are pretty ticked about the thought of playing in the Big Sky. Apparently Big Sky football is just unwatchable.

I took a look at the site. I think a lot of the people that post on there are Johnny come lately's who never followed Idaho when they played in the Big Sky. What's funny is that Idaho had some GREAT teams back in the 80's and 90's and they produced some really great players as well. Those teams were a lot better than what they've fielded the past 10-15 years, in my opinion.

I also think there's some anecdotal evidence to suggest that success in athletics, or lack thereof, can have either a very positive or very negative overall effect on an institution. There are obviously a lot of other factors that come to play, but consider UI's current enrollment of ~11,000 students. That's around the same enrollment they had in 1996, when they left the Big Sky Conference - maybe a little more. We had a little over 8,000 students at that time. We're now close to 14,000 students, and I think athletics has played a part in that, even if we're playing FCS football.

I really think that being more competitive in football will increase student and alumni involvement. When you're winning, people come. Judging from their forum, this seems lost on most of their online fans.

does Idaho have an enrollment cap? We used to have one that was tied to state funding, but since they did away with it our enrollment has soared. Success in athletics has no doubt played a big part but so has eliminating that enrollment cap and keeping tuition lower than the other state universities.

 

[Hambone]

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[Hambone]

I can understand why many of their fans would be emotional about this decision, but I think most people assumed it would happen after the WAC dissolved several years ago. Their administration probably tried to make the most out of a bad situation but in the end ran out of options. Should they choose to embrace it, I think they have a real opportunity to change the change the culture of their football program and how it is perceived regionally. Winning goes a long way towards that. No, they won't be playing in a mid-major bowl game, but that was never going to happen anyway with no conference and marginal levels of funding.

 

[KJEagle]

Talk about living in a bubble. Their President did the right thing.

 

[kalm]

This will be a good move for Idaho and for the Big Sky...will probably have to separate the Big Sky into divisions now, but its a good move.

This will probably change who Eastern's two guaranteed Big Sky games are...My guess is we will gain Idaho and lose PSU, Hopefully we don't gain Idaho and lose the Griz...

As far as Idaho's fans being pissed...well...they sucked in the FBS, right now they wouldn't finish top 5 or 6 in the Big Sky, it is what it is.

Unfortunately, we are almost assured to lose the Griz. The Griz will without hesitation advocate to bump us out in favor of the Vandals. They will want to rekindle that rivalry, the Vandals are closer, and the Vandals have more seating capacity.

I agree, which is part of the reason we should hope for some sort of restructuring for football. If the conference gets split like I hope it will, the "two guaranteed games" thing won't matter because we'll be playing them every year anyway. In an 11 game season, we'd play 6 guaranteed divisional games, 3 (or more) inter-divisional, and 1 or 2 completely OOC (payday) games.

Another good thing about Idaho moving to the Big Sky is that the days of scheduling Division II games to fill out the schedule are likely over, as we will almost certainly play them every year regardless of how these Divisions pan out.

Especially this. Although cue Dopa about the importance of having at least one patsy on the OOC schedule. :mrgreen:

Ursus on CS.com mentioned that they currently only fund 70-75 schollies so the attrition will only take a class or two. He also mentioned that transfer rules would still apply and require a kid to sit out a year so I'm not sure they would be losing their star players.

In general, this strengthens the Big Sky and helps us. We already compete with them in recruiting but now they lose the FBS selling point. As mentioned earlier, it's a close rival and we'll be replacing a charter flight with a bus trip so it helps with the budget (hey...why don't they sock that savings away for some new East Grandstand bleachers!). The games will also attract more media attention and raise FCS awareness on the local level. Imagine a scenario where EWU vs Idaho is for the Big Sky Championship and possible #1 seed in the playoffs. :nod:

 

[Obzerver]

Substitute Idaho for nuggets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KTSE8gmqOI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3iysadPoM