THE IUP Football Thread

[Tdobson]

I think that the PSAC should sue lock haven for pretending to have a football team. Lol

In all seriousness, I’ll bet lock haven was sued by the football team.

[iupgroundhog]

Good PS question. I did some wiki research and it seems as there are 3 tests for Title IX. One is increased participation as a % of male vs female population. Probably why we added women's soccer. Would also bet we offer more female schollys in track and cross country. We are a track and field powerhouse.

A school can be in non-compliance for Title IX until they get sued. Major lawsuits have occurred at 3 PSAC schools that I recall; IUP, Slippery Rock, and Lock Haven. Just sayin'.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I know it's not IUP related but this is by far the most active PSAC thread. Chiefs sign Slippery Rock WR Kyle Sheets

For better or worse, this is one of the most active threads on the whole site (historically).

Nation started a new one a year or so ago. The previous IUP thread was crazy.

[Wallst]

I know it's not IUP related but this is by far the most active PSAC thread. Chiefs sign Slippery Rock WR Kyle Sheets

[Fightingscot82]

It's not like moving up to the bush leagues of D1 is going to bring Mercyhust any great publicity.

You know firsthand in Pittsburgh that Robert Morris and Duquesne barely get any coverage. St. Francis might as well be on Pluto.

There's people in Indiana who follow IUP adamantly and they have no idea St. Francis (a half hour away) is a D1 school. Most think it's D3.

Will the local media in Erie (which pays less and less attention to D2) all the sudden pump the coverage of Mercyhurst? I doubt it. We'll see.

End of the day the Lake Show isn't joining the BIG. They are leaving their biggest rival behind.

It's not like they are some Grand Valley State powerhouse football program. That was -- at best -- a below average D2 team (on a good year).

Say there are 2,000 fans of Gannon and Mercyhurst in Erie. I'd guess 1,400 of them are Gannon fans. Will any of them suddenly have an interest in the 'D1' team in town? I sure as hell don't think so.

I do think they can grow to at least be competitive in the other sports. But, football is going to be painful (even in that awful league).

A year ago if you had told me one of the Erie schools was jumping up ... I'd have never guessed it would have been Mercyhurst.

I did see that Mercyhurst (along with RMU) negotiated some TV time for hockey on whatever the Pittsburgh sports network is now called. Its my understanding that when there is an opportunity to show a Mercyhurst hockey game in the absence of a Pens game, they'll get some time. But now with a gazillion channels and another gazillion streaming opportunities, their viewership may still not top what football got on the PSAC stream.

[Fightingscot82]

Good PS question. I did some wiki research and it seems as there are 3 tests for Title IX. One is increased participation as a % of male vs female population. Probably why we added women's soccer. Would also bet we offer more female schollys in track and cross country. We are a track and field powerhouse.

Coming soon to FBS - when schools start allocating a portion of gross revenue directly to students, it must also comply with Title IX.

[Bart]

Good PS question. I did some wiki research and it seems as there are 3 tests for Title IX. One is increased participation as a % of male vs female population. Probably why we added women's soccer. Would also bet we offer more female schollys in track and cross country. We are a track and field powerhouse.

"Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information." Michael Scott

Couldn't resist.

[Wallst]

Your analysis is not a valid comparison at all. First of all, Pitt State is in Kansas. I could stop right there. Your D1 schools are Kansas, Kansas State, and Wichita State.

While some kids and their parents look at small college football as an opportunity to continue playing football, I think most decisions are made on the student/athlete experience. PA has so many high quality old, traditional private schools with football teams. There might be more of those rich old liberal arts schools in Massachusetts and/or New York, I ain't counting them, but as far as that caliber of school that also plays football I don't think any state matches PA. The list goes on and on, whether it's Albright, Delaware Valley, F&M. Moravian, Lycoming, Juniata, King's, Wilkes, Ursinus, Lebanon Valley, Dickinson, the less renowned schools in western PA, or maybe leave the state for a high quality HBCU, or maybe they get a chance to go to D1's Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, Penn (or other Ivies), U of Delaware a few miles out of state, etc., etc, etc. The list goes on and on. Combine that with the scholarship situation and it's two different worlds.

I checked to see what D3 schools there are in Kansas. There aren't any. A bunch of NAIA schools that nobody ever heard of and for good reason.

Not to mention, Pitt State sponsors 12 intercollegiate sports. 12!!! Is that even NCAA legit?

I really don't get all this chest pumping ( I realize you're a gorilla). My perception of Pitt State is as a big football wannabe in a D2 world.

P.S. How do you comply with Title IX when you have 6 women's sports and 6 men's sports and one of them is football? The internet says the school is 49% female and 51 % male.

Good PS question. I did some wiki research and it seems as there are 3 tests for Title IX. One is increased participation as a % of male vs female population. Probably why we added women's soccer. Would also bet we offer more female schollys in track and cross country. We are a track and field powerhouse.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Its going to be a long process, especially since their performance isn't what got them the invite. Open secret is that Hurst sees this as a way to fix their financial and enrollment challenges. I don't see playing Bryant instead of Slippery Rock fixing that. Met a current Hurst athlete over the weekend who isn't very happy about the changes, especially now that they're going to be playing D1 opponents on D2 scholarships. She's considering transferring to Rock or IUP if this year is the mess she worries it will be.

Being a truly regional school in this region is difficult. NWPA is a fraction of what it once was and your only options are to pull from other struggling areas in NEOH, WNY, and SWPA. Not everyone can do private, wants the Hurst student experience, or is okay with going to a Catholic school.

It's not like moving up to the bush leagues of D1 is going to bring Mercyhust any great publicity.

You know firsthand in Pittsburgh that Robert Morris and Duquesne barely get any coverage. St. Francis might as well be on Pluto.

There's people in Indiana who follow IUP adamantly and they have no idea St. Francis (a half hour away) is a D1 school. Most think it's D3.

Will the local media in Erie (which pays less and less attention to D2) all the sudden pump the coverage of Mercyhurst? I doubt it. We'll see.

End of the day the Lake Show isn't joining the BIG. They are leaving their biggest rival behind.

It's not like they are some Grand Valley State powerhouse football program. That was -- at best -- a below average D2 team (on a good year).

Say there are 2,000 fans of Gannon and Mercyhurst in Erie. I'd guess 1,400 of them are Gannon fans. Will any of them suddenly have an interest in the 'D1' team in town? I sure as hell don't think so.

I do think they can grow to at least be competitive in the other sports. But, football is going to be painful (even in that awful league).

A year ago if you had told me one of the Erie schools was jumping up ... I'd have never guessed it would have been Mercyhurst.

[Fightingscot82]

It’s going to be funny to see how bad the hurst does. I wonder if they end up staying there, or beg to rejoin the PSAC?

Its going to be a long process, especially since their performance isn't what got them the invite. Open secret is that Hurst sees this as a way to fix their financial and enrollment challenges. I don't see playing Bryant instead of Slippery Rock fixing that. Met a current Hurst athlete over the weekend who isn't very happy about the changes, especially now that they're going to be playing D1 opponents on D2 scholarships. She's considering transferring to Rock or IUP if this year is the mess she worries it will be.

Being a truly regional school in this region is difficult. NWPA is a fraction of what it once was and your only options are to pull from other struggling areas in NEOH, WNY, and SWPA. Not everyone can do private, wants the Hurst student experience, or is okay with going to a Catholic school.

[Tdobson]

It’s going to be funny to see how bad the hurst does. I wonder if they end up staying there, or beg to rejoin the PSAC?

[EastStroud13]

I really don't get all this chest pumping ( I realize you're a gorilla). My perception of Pitt State is as a big football wannabe in a D2 world.

I would say this is apt. Both FCS and D2, for whatever reason, seem to have a backlog in that north central part of the country, because that's the area that lacks a G5 conference. So, the best teams in FCS (NDSU, SDSU, the Montanas) are stuck in FCS. The best teams in D2 aren't really able to compete with those teams, so they stay in D2 to beat up on the minnows in the small pond.

It's not really fair to compare them to SR1, because anyone who shows a pulse in SR1 gets an invite to FCS. Even if you don't have a pulse, they might invite you anyway (Mercyhurst).

[iupgroundhog]

So, it's then absolutely about population. You can't or shouldn't have one without the other. I proved with information and math that per person there are less D2 opportunities in SR3 than there is in SR1 and its not even close.

Now go lick your wounds and enjoy your Sunday.

Your analysis is not a valid comparison at all. First of all, Pitt State is in Kansas. I could stop right there. Your D1 schools are Kansas, Kansas State, and Wichita State.

While some kids and their parents look at small college football as an opportunity to continue playing football, I think most decisions are made on the student/athlete experience. PA has so many high quality old, traditional private schools with football teams. There might be more of those rich old liberal arts schools in Massachusetts and/or New York, I ain't counting them, but as far as that caliber of school that also plays football I don't think any state matches PA. The list goes on and on, whether it's Albright, Delaware Valley, F&M. Moravian, Lycoming, Juniata, King's, Wilkes, Ursinus, Lebanon Valley, Dickinson, the less renowned schools in western PA, or maybe leave the state for a high quality HBCU, or maybe they get a chance to go to D1's Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, Penn (or other Ivies), U of Delaware a few miles out of state, etc., etc, etc. The list goes on and on. Combine that with the scholarship situation and it's two different worlds.

I checked to see what D3 schools there are in Kansas. There aren't any. A bunch of NAIA schools that nobody ever heard of and for good reason.

Not to mention, Pitt State sponsors 12 intercollegiate sports. 12!!! Is that even NCAA legit?

I really don't get all this chest pumping ( I realize you're a gorilla). My perception of Pitt State is as a big football wannabe in a D2 world.

P.S. How do you comply with Title IX when you have 6 women's sports and 6 men's sports and one of them is football? The internet says the school is 49% female and 51 % male.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The time has been announced for IUP's second game of the season (at Lock Haven). Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

You'd have to live in the area to understand. Football is not nearly as important in the NE as it is in other areas of the country. The talent pool in general, coupled with the sheer # of football playing universities dilutes the pool of recruitable players. Universities in this area typically offer more sports in their athletic department than schools in other areas of the country. Helps with enrollment, hurts the quality of product by spreading the scholarships thin amongst too many sports.

There might be 2 or 3 schools in the entire region that are fully funded or even at 30 total equivalencies for football. Kid's generally are taking the best financial package regardless if its D2 or D3, as they should.

Consider D3 Mount Union (Ohio) would smoke about 80-90% of the teams in D2 SR1.