Azusa to drop football

[Brandon]

Must be the Fresno Bulldog we had on here a few years ago, he had the whole freaking world going D1 and when I challenged that, he wasn't happy. I started calling them D1annabes and he really didn't like that!

That guy had no grasp on reality when it comes to classification. People like him just enjoy movement.

[Brandon]

The problem with the GNAC is not enough teams play football. St. Martin's and NNU have 1,200 students each, no football. Alaska schools no football, but that would be near-impossible; WWU and Humboldt cut it. NNU is a half-mile or less from a nice prep football stadium, needs a better turf but NNU could do that and make it nice and add football. They've never had it, so they won't add it. Nampa is the 9th-fastest growing city in America; Meridian, which borders Nampa, is the No. 1 fastest-growing city in America. NNU still won't add it. St. Martin's sits in a good prep football area, they won't add it. You either want it or you don't. Humboldt had one of the best game-day atmospheres in college football any division and some clown president can come in, cut it, and leave town. Just crazy.

Football is a great way to add 150 students.

[IronOre]

David doesn't know anything, there's no prayer for WOU and I think SFU to go D1. I don't think CWU could jump being in Ellensburg and not near money bases in a nearby city. But no way could WOU go D1 and I don't think SFU could either. People should know the schools before making crazy comments. It would be nice if someone jumped up like SOU and C of I. A decent indy schedule can be put together with 2 LSC road games, 2 LSC home games, round robin in GNAC, that's 8, and two non-leagues, at least one FCS if not two. People always tell me that going to Texas twice is impossible ... they did it last year; and the LSC sent two teams to Monmouth. I like the agreement. Two FCS games would pay for a lot of that travel, IMO. I'm not the A.D., but I think it would pay some bills ... all of that is better than not having football.

You can patch together a schedule doing that, but it's not sustainable over the long term. It's more a pushing off oblivion plan. I still like the idea of joining the Frontier Conference for football only.

[tsull]

You can patch together a schedule doing that, but it's not sustainable over the long term. It's more a pushing off oblivion plan. I still like the idea of joining the Frontier Conference for football only.

I don't mind the Frontier, but it is NAIA, not D2, that's sort of a problem after all this freaking branding by GNAC schools to go D2. Trust me, I was skeptical of the move up and even wrote a column about it in a newspaper. The reason I was against it at the time was that WOU had no fund raising mechanism in place and for some reason didn't put that in the transition plan or have a designated person at the time to raise scholarship funds. Whacky stuff. They were playing nearly the first decade of football with under 5 scholarships and hoops with 3 and so forth. Had they done the College of Idaho thing -- 24 scholarships right out of the gate -- I would've been more on board. I became a D2 convert later when they upped their scholarship amounts, they're still far, far away in football from 36 scholarships.

They need to come up with something more creative and purposeful than cowardly cutting the sport. The LSC threw us a nice lifeline and have been a good partner, let's play that for awhile.

* Yes, as Brandon said, a good way to add 150 students, if not more. NNU could really make hay if they wanted to. They averaged 1,000 a game in hoops two years ago without lifting a finger for marketing and promoting.

[IronOre]

I don't mind the Frontier, but it is NAIA, not D2, that's sort of a problem after all this freaking branding by GNAC schools to go D2. Trust me, I was skeptical of the move up and even wrote a column about it in a newspaper. The reason I was against it at the time was that WOU had no fund raising mechanism in place and for some reason didn't put that in the transition plan or have a designated person at the time to raise scholarship funds. Whacky stuff. They were playing nearly the first decade of football with under 5 scholarships and hoops with 3 and so forth. Had they done the College of Idaho thing -- 24 scholarships right out of the gate -- I would've been more on board. I became a D2 convert later when they upped their scholarship amounts, they're still far, far away in football from 36 scholarships.

They need to come up with something more creative and purposeful than cowardly cutting the sport. The LSC threw us a nice lifeline and have been a good partner, let's play that for awhile.

* Yes, as Brandon said, a good way to add 150 students, if not more. NNU could really make hay if they wanted to. They averaged 1,000 a game in hoops two years ago without lifting a finger for marketing and promoting.

How long can they keep paying for plane flights? Even for a travel squad, that's a lot of money. The advantage to the Frontier is that it'd be all bus rides for conference play. Part of what made APU drop was the travel costs, they said so in their release. So far the GNAC hasn't been able to get the Frontier schools to come to D2, so I don't see the issue for just football joining them (provided they're even open to the idea).

[tsull]

How long can they keep paying for plane flights? Even for a travel squad, that's a lot of money. The advantage to the Frontier is that it'd be all bus rides for conference play. Part of what made APU drop was the travel costs, they said so in their release. So far the GNAC hasn't been able to get the Frontier schools to come to D2, so I don't see the issue for just football joining them (provided they're even open to the idea).

Two flights per year. If they play Montana, EWU, PSU, or Sac State, one or two FCS a year, those are driving games; also bus games to SFU and CWU. There would be two flights per year to the Lone Star, expensive yes, that's why you play FCS games.

Not sure 15-hour one-way bus rides are a great way to recruit students. No way would I go to WOU, CWU, or SFU, if my road trips are all cramped 30-hour round trip rides. I'd rather play in the Canadian conference or another league with less travel. Two flights per year -- two.

[IronOre]

Two flights per year. If they play Montana, EWU, PSU, or Sac State, one or two FCS a year, those are driving games; also bus games to SFU and CWU. There would be two flights per year to the Lone Star, expensive yes, that's why you play FCS games.

Not sure 15-hour one-way bus rides are a great way to recruit students. No way would I go to WOU, CWU, or SFU, if my road trips are all cramped 30-hour round trip rides. I'd rather play in the Canadian conference or another league with less travel. Two flights per year -- two.

I wonder if recruits actually consider the transportation method for away games...

[SINGLE MALT]

Not sure 15-hour one-way bus rides are a great way to recruit students. No way would I go to WOU, CWU, or SFU, if my road trips are all cramped 30-hour round trip rides. I'd rather play in the Canadian conference or another league with less travel. Two flights per year -- two.
When SFU played in the Canadian league, we had to fly to games in Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg!! That is five games across Canada!! Add in hotel and meal costs for a football travelling squad of over 50 people and it is very expensive!! One of the reasons SFU has always wanted to play in the NAIA and NCAA was due to the fact that it was easy to find great competition within a bus ride south than it is to fly over the Rockies to play on the Canadian Prairies!! Now with the dollar difference and the increasing need to fly to games, it is as expensive as it was playing in Canada if not more so!

[tsull]

Not sure 15-hour one-way bus rides are a great way to recruit students. No way would I go to WOU, CWU, or SFU, if my road trips are all cramped 30-hour round trip rides. I'd rather play in the Canadian conference or another league with less travel. Two flights per year -- two.
When SFU played in the Canadian league, we had to fly to games in Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg!! That is five games across Canada!! Add in hotel and meal costs for a football travelling squad of over 50 people and it is very expensive!! One of the reasons SFU has always wanted to play in the NAIA and NCAA was due to the fact that it was easy to find great competition within a bus ride south than it is to fly over the Rockies to play on the Canadian Prairies!! Now with the dollar difference and the increasing need to fly to games, it is as expensive as it was playing in Canada if not more so!

Well, if none of the schools can afford to make 2 flights per year, NAIA or dropping football is the only option, which I'd hate to see. Seems like WOU's foray into D2 -- which I've enjoyed for the most part -- was short-sighted as the Cali schools were all cutting it. How they didn't do their due diligence on that is rather remarkable, same as not raising money for scholarships early on. Not sure what they thought what happen in both instances. Best to be ahead of the game, not behind it.

Everyone had a better world when all the small colleges in the Northwest were in the Columbia Football Association, IMO. Now we can't even get a league together. I love the west coast, would not live anywhere else after being all across the country ... but it does suck sometimes, like anywhere else.