UNCP football
This is what I think UNCP football should do in the new few seasons. They had a great 9-1 record this year in their only second season of football. However the Braves did not have that great of a Strength Of Schedule against D2 football teams. Their opponents were only a combined 16-48 and Wingate had half of those wins with 8. Yes I am very proud of my school, but we need to join a conference soon. Should UNCP stay in the division 2 ranks as an independent and takes it chances of scheduling tough opponents just to qualify for the playoff or should the Braves move up to FCS? The only viable option for the Braves in D2 is the CIAA because SAC teams earlier this year voted down a proposal for UNCP to become a football only member. A few teams did not like the idea, and I am afraid that they were afraid that in a few years the Braves will contend for the title year in and year out because we are a public university and most of our student athletes could afford to come here versus a private institution. The CIAA I believe will not be a good fit for UNCP. First of all we are not an HBCU and they already have plenty of teams, plus we would probably have to be accepted as a full member and not just football only. Our basketball teams would never rise out of the cellar. So I think the best and viable option for the Braves is to play as an INDY for at least 3-4 seasons and then move up to FCS. The Braves can generate enough support to from tuition, private donors, Chancellor Meadors,alumni and Braves Club, who I believe has made UNCP a better place with football. Meadors said that one of the things he wanted to have in the first seven years was a football teams and now after this year it’s a reality and a blessing in disguise. UNCP will take its lumps for a few years, but hey if Coastal Carolina can join FCS and D1 we can too. But lets take a look at what a Big South Conference would look like for the Black and Gold.
Well Imagine this. I think the Big South will expand in a few years and they will drop Stony Brook (geographically they just don’t make sense so that would leave the conference with Liberty, Presbyterian, Coastal, VMI, Gardner Webb, Charleston So. That means that a move by Campbell, North Greenville, UNC-Pembroke, Davidson, Jacksonville and NC Central would creat a great conference with schools that are relatively the same size and not that much travel. Farthest trip might be VMI/JU. That would be cool if that could happen, but once again I am just speculating.
Campbell, Davidson, and JU moves to cut down on travelling as the Pioneer League has opponents all over the country
NCCentral would no longer be an independent and give the conference another public university.
Savanah St. if NCCentral does not join would also benefit because it is also an independent. The pieces are starting to fit and our school could one day say we play D1 football.
NGU would move up with UNCP. The Crusaders already had a few FCS opponents on their schedule this year and just needs to get some more support from their administration and their donors and this could be a very big reality.
You would then create two divisions. I dont have a creative name for the two divisions, but it would break down like this.
Libery, Presbyterian, NGU, Davidson,Campbell, VMI
UNCP, JU,NCCentral,Coastal,Gardner-Webb, Charleston So.
Thats three old member/3 new members for each division. Their would either be a championship game or the NCAA would let each division winner qualify for the playoff, because I think in future years the NCAA will expand the playoffs in FCS to 24 teams, just like D2 and D3.
Down the road…
1. NC Central will join the MEAC.
2. Liberty will leave the Big South.
3. NGU will probably get a SAC invite.
4. Coastal wants into the SoCo and might get in when Appy leaves.
5. Davidson, Campbell and Jax aren’t interested in Scholarship football. They will stay in the Pioneer League even though travel is excessive and expensive.
UNC-P will remain an Independent. Scheduling quality D2 opponents will become difficult the more successful the program is. Schools look for teams they can tune up with, not lose to in their non conference season. Thus success in the won-loss column is a double edged sword in this case. Win too often and no D2 team will want to play you. Your SOS will be weak because you will have to find opponents in higher or lower divisions.
UNC-P fits into the geographic footprint of the SAC but the SAC would never agree to accept UNC-P because it is a public institution. As a public institution it’s tuition and yearly cost is considerably less than private schools. That gives it a huge advantage over private schools which must depend on tuition and donations to keep the school in operation.
In terms of conference membership, there simply isn’t a good answer because the SAC isn’t a good overall fit for UNCP (and the PBC is a much better non-football fit for the Braves), the GSC is too far away, and the CIAA is already, in my opinion, full.
North Greenville would be best served getting into the SAC. I don’t see a move to Division I happening for them at all.
The Big South is the perfect spot for Liberty. They should stay there. Your point about Stony Brook, though, is a good one: as the Northeast Conference starts going from non-scholarship to scholarship football, I could easily see Stony Brook moving there. The Big South would still have at least 6 members for football, though: Liberty, Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, VMI, Presbyterian, and Charleston Southern. That’s a nice conference setup for them.
I don’t see Appalachian State leaving the Southern Conference–there isn’t really a better place for them to go right now.
Campbell, if they are interested in scholarship football, would be a great fit for the Big South. But it’ll take more time to find out what Campbell’s future will be.
The non-scholarship teams of the Pioneer Football Conference, in general, like where they are. Most of them have ties to non-football conferences for their other sports anyways–one big exception is Davidson, who used to play Division III football but Division I in all other sports until the NCAA changed the rules. The PFC is the perfect solution for them–you will never see Davidson being a Southern Conference football team.
UNCP is in a tough position, but I think it can be successful as a D-II independent. It has already been more successful in less time than anyone else really thought possible. You never know what’s going to happen next–the PSAC brought in Mercyhurst and Gannon, two private schools, as well as C.W. Post, a New York school. All three of those are outside their historic position of being for Pennsylvania state supported schools only. So, the SAC could open up in time if it needed to. After all, the CIAA made a historic move just this year in making Chowan an all-sports member. When times get tough, traditions can be broken.