Post by Sly Fox on Jul 3, 2005 22:39:12 GMT -5
The plot thickens:
[glow=red,2,300]Georgia State mulls football issues[/glow]
By D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/02/05
Georgia State, with its new athletics director and a move to a new conference complete, plans to make a decision on adding Division I-AA football by 2007.
GSU will look at raising money, finding a venue and gender-equity issues.
"I think you'll be seeing that we'll be looking at really starting the process in the next few months," said Tom Lewis, GSU's vice president for external affairs/athletics operations.
The Colonial Athletic Association will begin playing football in 2007.
"But I don't want to leave the impression that we would be in football by '07," Lewis said. "Hopefully, we'll have our decision made. If we decide to go that route, it will be sometime after that."
Mary McElroy was introduced as GSU's new athletics director on Thursday and will direct the process.
"I think we are probably going to have to look at hiring an outside consultant to look at that fully," McElroy said. "We'll have to consider all of the aspects that go into making that decision."
While Morris Brown's 15,000-seat Herndon Stadium is sitting empty, the first major decision would be where the Panthers would play football.
"I can't think of any place," McElroy said. "We have Panthersville in Decatur, but I don't know if that would be where we could look to play."
GSU president Carl V. Patton, who's been president of the downtown university since July 1, 1992, has long been viewed to be against adding a football program.
"Alumni have always been interested in football, at least from the first day that I came here," Patton said. "When they asked me that question, I stood at the podium and said 'No!' They've been asking me that question ever since."
When it begins play in 2007, the CAA should be a strong football conference. It will have three of the last seven Division I-AA football national champions in Delaware, James Madison and Massachusetts. All previously played football in different conferences. The pedigree of the conference has softened Patton's stance.
"The agreement that we have with the Colonial is that if we ever decided to play football we would be guaranteed to be able to play football in the Colonial," Patton said. "Up to this point, we really couldn't even discuss football since we were in a conference that did not play football."
In addition to finding a place to play, Patton wants to know how best to fund a football endeavor and how it would affect gender equity under Title IX.
Patton said GSU has an 85,000-member alumni base in the metro Atlanta area and 160,000 alumni overall.
"Our alumni that are interested in football are going to have show us the (money)," Patton said. "Football costs a lot of money. It's not something that we are going to take on and cause the peril of other sports."
GSU has a few recent models to follow. Coastal Carolina and Southeastern Louisiana have added football in recent years. Old Dominion, a member of the CAA, will add football in 2009.
Southeastern Louisiana raised $5 million to restart its program, which it shut down in 1985. Old Dominion, which hasn't played football since 1940, plans to raise $9 million to bring back the sport.
"When you start from scratch there are a lot of things," Coastal Carolina athletics director Warren Koegel said. "There are three main areas: scholarships; salaries for coaches, support staff, video coordinator and strength coach; and the operating budget."
Old Dominion addressed the gender-equity issue by also phasing in women's crew, softball and volleyball.
www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/0705/02gastate.html
[glow=red,2,300]Georgia State mulls football issues[/glow]
By D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/02/05
Georgia State, with its new athletics director and a move to a new conference complete, plans to make a decision on adding Division I-AA football by 2007.
GSU will look at raising money, finding a venue and gender-equity issues.
"I think you'll be seeing that we'll be looking at really starting the process in the next few months," said Tom Lewis, GSU's vice president for external affairs/athletics operations.
The Colonial Athletic Association will begin playing football in 2007.
"But I don't want to leave the impression that we would be in football by '07," Lewis said. "Hopefully, we'll have our decision made. If we decide to go that route, it will be sometime after that."
Mary McElroy was introduced as GSU's new athletics director on Thursday and will direct the process.
"I think we are probably going to have to look at hiring an outside consultant to look at that fully," McElroy said. "We'll have to consider all of the aspects that go into making that decision."
While Morris Brown's 15,000-seat Herndon Stadium is sitting empty, the first major decision would be where the Panthers would play football.
"I can't think of any place," McElroy said. "We have Panthersville in Decatur, but I don't know if that would be where we could look to play."
GSU president Carl V. Patton, who's been president of the downtown university since July 1, 1992, has long been viewed to be against adding a football program.
"Alumni have always been interested in football, at least from the first day that I came here," Patton said. "When they asked me that question, I stood at the podium and said 'No!' They've been asking me that question ever since."
When it begins play in 2007, the CAA should be a strong football conference. It will have three of the last seven Division I-AA football national champions in Delaware, James Madison and Massachusetts. All previously played football in different conferences. The pedigree of the conference has softened Patton's stance.
"The agreement that we have with the Colonial is that if we ever decided to play football we would be guaranteed to be able to play football in the Colonial," Patton said. "Up to this point, we really couldn't even discuss football since we were in a conference that did not play football."
In addition to finding a place to play, Patton wants to know how best to fund a football endeavor and how it would affect gender equity under Title IX.
Patton said GSU has an 85,000-member alumni base in the metro Atlanta area and 160,000 alumni overall.
"Our alumni that are interested in football are going to have show us the (money)," Patton said. "Football costs a lot of money. It's not something that we are going to take on and cause the peril of other sports."
GSU has a few recent models to follow. Coastal Carolina and Southeastern Louisiana have added football in recent years. Old Dominion, a member of the CAA, will add football in 2009.
Southeastern Louisiana raised $5 million to restart its program, which it shut down in 1985. Old Dominion, which hasn't played football since 1940, plans to raise $9 million to bring back the sport.
"When you start from scratch there are a lot of things," Coastal Carolina athletics director Warren Koegel said. "There are three main areas: scholarships; salaries for coaches, support staff, video coordinator and strength coach; and the operating budget."
Old Dominion addressed the gender-equity issue by also phasing in women's crew, softball and volleyball.
www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/0705/02gastate.html
