Non-football DII Schools that should add football

[purduefan11]

I was wondering if there are other schools around DII that would be a good candidate to create a football program. I have a few candidates.

1. Southern Indiana - really solid DII program in all their other sports, would fit really well in the GLVC, solid funding and support. Problem is the are a "basketball" school and would have to build a field.
2. Purdue - Northwest - similar to USI, but not as solid overall program, initial costs and the competitveness of starting a program fresh in the gauntlet that is the GLIAC would be tough.
3. BYU-Idaho - They would have to start all sports from scratch, but the school has good enrollment, a really good intramural program, but alreadyhave most of the facilities including a football field. Also well funded, but not likely since the parent body (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) already pulled the plug on sports at BYU-Hawaii.

I also have a number of schools that would be great to move over from NAIA/FCS (Marian (IN), Saint Francis (IN), and most of the FCS Pioneer League)

Thoughts on mine? Your submissions?

[CALUPA69]

I was wondering if there are other schools around DII that would be a good candidate to create a football program. I have a few candidates.

1. Southern Indiana - really solid DII program in all their other sports, would fit really well in the GLVC, solid funding and support. Problem is the are a "basketball" school and would have to build a field.
2. Purdue - Northwest - similar to USI, but not as solid overall program, initial costs and the competitveness of starting a program fresh in the gauntlet that is the GLIAC would be tough.
3. BYU-Idaho - They would have to start all sports from scratch, but the school has good enrollment, a really good intramural program, but alreadyhave most of the facilities including a football field. Also well funded, but not likely since the parent body (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) already pulled the plug on sports at BYU-Hawaii.

I also have a number of schools that would be great to move over from NAIA/FCS (Marian (IN), Saint Francis (IN), and most of the FCS Pioneer League)

Thoughts on mine? Your submissions?

Established NAIA programs should absolutely consider switching to D2 if the rest of their athletic programs match up as well.
As far as starting a new program, I would highly recommend putting the time and funding into already established sports and raising them as far as possible rather than being distracted by football.
Sorry to hear that BYU-HAWAII has dropped sports. Their Women's tennis team was a powerhouse playing in 12 NC matches and winning 6 titles since 2000.

[Rational Observer]

Columbus State in GA would be a natural fit in the Gulf South. It would have easy road trips to VSU, UWG, UWA, and UWF, and it's student body has lobbied the administration to add football in the past. It's currently a D-II school playing in the Peach Belt Conference. Their web page lists their enrollment at 8200 citing fall of 2015 numbers.

[Feedoggie]

Pitt-Johnstown

[Tech Boys]

I'm going to sound like a broken record here. Concordia-Portland, Montana State-Billings, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington. Schools in California. We can only hope.

[purduefan11]

I'm going to sound like a broken record here. Concordia-Portland, Montana State-Billings, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington. Schools in California. We can only hope.

I understand, the GNAC is in dire need of some football schools

[purduefan11]

Established NAIA programs should absolutely consider switching to D2 if the rest of their athletic programs match up as well.
As far as starting a new program, I would highly recommend putting the time and funding into already established sports and raising them as far as possible rather than being distracted by football.
Sorry to hear that BYU-HAWAII has dropped sports. Their Women's tennis team was a powerhouse playing in 12 NC matches and winning 6 titles since 2000.

Schools need to find a balance, adding football should not mean taking away from other sports

[Brandon]

Columbus State in GA would be a natural fit in the Gulf South. It would have easy road trips to VSU, UWG, UWA, and UWF, and it's student body has lobbied the administration to add football in the past. It's currently a D-II school playing in the Peach Belt Conference. Their web page lists their enrollment at 8200 citing fall of 2015 numbers.

What about North Georgia?

[Brandon]

Schools need to find a balance, adding football should not mean taking away from other sports

Your statement shouldn't be so definitive. Some schools would greatly benefit from adding football to the detriment of other sports.

[SW_Mustang]

CSU and UC are really big university systems, yet AP is the only school in California to have football. Why is that? I get that a lot of them are D1 non-football, but still?

What happened to that school in Mexico that was trying to get into D2?

I don't know anything about Tampa, but I hear their program pop up every now and again, what about them?

[Brandon]

I'm going to sound like a broken record here. Concordia-Portland, Montana State-Billings, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington. Schools in California. We can only hope.

Chico State..Sonoma State...SF State....Humboldt State...Western Washington.....

Would be a great start.

[Nick - Shep '05]

Chico State..Sonoma State...SF State....Humboldt State...Western Washington.....

Would be a great start.

When did Humboldt drop football?

[CALUPA69]

Your statement shouldn't be so definitive. Some schools would greatly benefit from adding football to the detriment of other sports.

??? In a broad sense how does a school "greatly benefit from adding football to the detriment of other sports"? This is not D1 where significant dollars are in play. Nor are many, if any, of these players going to play at the next level. How did the members of the WHEELING UNIVERSITY wrestling team that finished second to ST CLOUD at the NC benefit from having their sport dropped in favor of football ?

[Tech Boys]

Chico State..Sonoma State...SF State....Humboldt State...Western Washington.....

Would be a great start.

Some PacWest schools too. Might help increase enrollment. That was a reason Limestone added football and it didn't hurt other sports; their men's lacrosse is still one of the best in the nation.

[zimmy21]

What about Wisconsin-Parkside?