USF mentioned in article at UNCG

[80mins]

I opened up the campus newspaper where I currently work and was pleased to see my alma mater mentioned.

Against the Gridiron: Why there's no football at UNCG

By: Craig Veltri

Posted: 4/28/09

It is beyond obvious the receiver is going to run a fade route. The ball is on the seven yard line, he is no less than three yards from the near sideline and the opposing defense has been in a blitzing mood most of the evening. He jukes inside, cuts outside and catches the ball just as it was beginning its descent.

That was how the game ended, as the teams removed the belts that held their flags in place.

If one was looking to play or watch football on the campus of UNCG, intramural flag football is the only organized football league to be found, even at the clubs sports level.

The most prevalent rumor on campus as to why the sounds of helmets colliding are found on television or down the block at Greensboro College, at first glance, seems plausible.

Since UNCG became co-ed in 1963, several alumni have stopped attempts to form a football team of any kind by threatening to pull donations and grants amounting in several millions of dollars, or so the tale goes.

"That's the worst Greek myth that's out there," said Nelson Bobb, the Athletic Director of UNCG. "First of all, the alumni's of this university are not that rich. They graduated as teachers, they graduated as home economists, and they graduated in music…don't misconstrue that there's an abundance of wealth that holds it back."

Now that this rumor has been buried, this still begs the question "then why is there no tackle football?" Be it varsity or club.

The most recent inception of a tackle football club began on October 23, 2001 when the SGA allocated $4,400, approximately 60 percent of the SGA's discretionary fund, toward equipment.

It would be four years before The Carolinian would mention club football again. According to the article dated Sept. 13, 2005, the team seemed to be trucking along quite well. They had practice jerseys, a coaching staff and began playing home games on campus the year before. "The year before last we had to play at the High Point Athletic Field," said Jordan Brown, team president and offensive coach, to The Carolinian, "because the school didn't want a contact sport on campus."

From a statistical standpoint, it would seem that a club football team is a difficult thing to keep alive. According to Wikipedia, there are currently 18 club football teams operating today including UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke and Clemson. That same page lists 34 teams that are now defunct including N.C. State, Appalachian and, of course, UNCG.

In fact, Nelson Bobb was quite surprised to hear that there was no longer a tackle football club on campus. In his office were two items from that first team that hit the field in 2002: a football signed by all of its members and their player's handbook.

"They gave (the handbook) to me because they knew I supported a club…they asked me, actually, if I would coach them," said Bobb. As he continued, his tone would turn to one of somber discord. "And I said, 'no that would be a conflict, unfortunately. Good luck, guys.'"

In fact, before coming to UNCG as Athletic Director back in 1983, Bobb was an offensive guard at Kent State and was a three year letter winner, earning All-Academic recognition from the Mid-American Conference as a junior and was named All-Conference his senior year.

He had played football with current Alabama head coach Nick Saban and would go on to coach the freshman team which fielded current Missouri head coach, Gary Pinkel and NFL Hall of Famer, Jack Lambert. After that, for nine years, he was an assistant football coach at Cornell University, along with being an assistant athletic director there for five years.

"Football is a huge beast," said Bobb. "I've played it, I've coached it, I administrated it, I love it. I got my degree because I played football. I got my master's degree because I played football."

Many people who were adamant dissenters toward a varsity football team feared that Bobb might be the man to bring football to UNCG. While he did not bring football to UNCG, stating that the right time to do so would have been when UNCG became co-ed in 1963, he certainly grew the athletic department exponentially.

In 1987, UNCG had moved from NCAA Division III to Division I. In 1989, Fleming Gymnasium and the HHP Building were built. In 1991, Campus Field was converted into the UNCG Soccer Stadium. In 1999, the baseball stadium was built, along with the renovations for the tennis courts. In 2006, the softball stadium opened. A dramatic difference from 26 years ago when Nelson Bobb's office was once located in a log cabin where the Student Recreation Center stands today.

In spite of his background and clear willingness to expand, football remains a non-venture. Surprisingly, Bobb has said in the past that football at UNCG would not happen on his watch.

"Physically, financially, Title IX federal implications, the addition of women's sports," explained Bobb, "all are such that UNCG is not positioned yet to field a football team."

In the last few years, the usual argument used to justify the need for a football team is the success story of the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Formed in 1997 as a Division 1-AA team, they became a 1-A Independent in 2001. In 2003, they joined Conference USA, one of the "mid-majors." Two years later, they joined fellow C-USA schools Louisville and Cincinnati in the Big East, a Bowl Championship Series conference.

Then in October of 2007, the USF Bulls football team found themselves ranked as the number two team in the BCS standings.

So one has to wonder, is the meteoric success of USF at all tempting for someone like Nelson Bobb? While he respects the model to which they followed, Bobb brings this rare case in perspective.

"South Florida," he said, "is one of the largest campuses in the nation. It has three campuses and it's got almost 50 some thousand students. It's almost like Big Ten schools.

"Tampa University, the Division II School there, had been very successful in football, never enough to go to Division I," he further explained. "So they had the stadium available, they had the space available-large space available-and they had primary recruiting. They don't have to go to California. They recruit Florida, they recruit Alabama, they recruit Georgia, Louisiana and those kids stay. So logically that was good."

"Now, if you carry that same logic over," he continued, "Central Florida should get good, Florida Atlantic should get good, Florida International should get good, but they have not."

To further his point, Bobb brought up the University of Alabama-Birmingham's fledgling program. "Their football program," said Bobb, "is about $7 to 8 million dollars in the hole and the trustees have said 'get it out of the hole or stop the program.' So, not all is successful."

Football, according to many of Bobb's fellow athletic directors is very time consuming. For that reason, as Bobb put it, "you'd better be 100 percent committed to it because in the 10 years Greensboro College has had a football program, they don't have a winning season yet and the thing about that is it gives you five or six weekends for that alumni base. They only support winners."

And therein lays the main reason why Nelson Bobb, his athletic department and the administrative bodies of UNCG do not see the good in fielding a full-fledged football team, to quote Bobb, "just for the sake of having a football team."

The current spatial, monetary and legal constraints, in Bobb's and many other administrator's analyses, are too big of a risk. Not to mention the programs that would have to be created (women's crew, women's swimming, etc.) and the programs that would need be cut (wrestling, men's tennis, etc.)

But, there are still those that claim that the minute a UNCG logo appears on a football helmet, so will disappear UNCG's "suitcase school" image and a flood of school spirit would wash over the campus, guaranteeing that no sporting event would ever see an empty seat.

Not only does Nelson Bobb believe that, in a technical sense, that all colleges are suitcase schools, he clearly believes that school spirit is not contingent on the presence of a football team.

How is that?

He was at the Davidson game this past January at the Greensboro Coliseum.

"We've already proven via the Davidson game," said Bobb, "we can have tremendous school spirit and not play football."

In fact, it is a possibility that basketball could bring football to UNCG. Chancellor Linda Brady, according to Bobb, said that she would examine UNCG basketball's performance on the court and their attendance for their games to determine the possibility of a football team in about five or six years.

But, until that happens or when interest in club football reaches the level it did back in 2001, the sight of flags waving off of the waists of backyard warriors will have to suffice at UNCG. © Copyright 2009 Carolinian

Source: http://media.www.carolinianonline.com/media/storage/paper301/news/2009/04/28/Sports/Against.The.Gridiron.Why.Theres.No.Football.At.Uncg-3730874.shtml

It's mostly correct. And clearly our athletic director knows the difference between the haves and have-nots of Florida football.

[NormalBull]

And the beat goes on in Greensboro, NC.  The writer says that UNCG students can go down the street to see Greensboro College play football, but conveniently left out a pretty good I-AA program in town called North Carolin A & T.  I guess because it is a historic black college UNCG students should not acknowledge its existence.  And the beat goes on in Greensboro, NC. 

[80mins]

And the beat goes on in Greensboro, NC.  The writer says that UNCG students can go down the street to see Greensboro College play football, but conveniently left out a pretty good I-AA program in town called North Carolin A & T.  I guess because it is a historic black college UNCG students should not acknowledge its existence.  And the beat goes on in Greensboro, NC.   

I'm not sure I'd call A&T "pretty good"--before last year they were 0-for-the last couple seasons. I don't know the writer's intentions, but on campus the argument is more likely to be "look, itty-bitty Greensboro College (and Guilford, for that matter) has football and we don't!" moreso than A&T's team.

[Guest hm101]

If I were in charge of things up there at UNCG, id focus on many other things than a football team, much like the current AD. namely building an involved and intelligent student body, fostering success in current intercollegiate sports, then years down the road think about it.

one problem i can think of though is that theres only so much room at the top (ie. nationally recognized FBS teams). the truth is not even every BCS program has national recognition right now, let alone all the mid-major, FCS, and future football programs aspiring to national prominence.

[achiever1911]

Classic quote from article:

"Now, if you carry that same logic over," he continued, "Central Florida should get good, Florida Atlantic should get good, Florida International should get good, but they have not."

[MikeG]

Classic quote from article:

"Now, if you carry that same logic over," he continued, "Central Florida should get good, Florida Atlantic should get good, Florida International should get good, but they have not."

I kind of find that part of what he was saying to be lacking a bit of knowledge personally

Not that those teams are keeping pace BUT a few of them have won their conferences or a had some/won some big games or built stadiums--- done things that they can be proud of all around. I think they will eventually all have a certain degree of success. Maybe not BCS level but certainly worthy of some tiny school in NC to aspire to if they ever get a program going.

Anyway-- it is interesting how much impact reaching that #2 spot two years ago has had-- I rarely ever see someone fail to mention it in broad pieces like this.

Wonder how things are progressing for the new USA team (South Bama)

[Guest]

Wonder how things are progressing for the new USA team (South Bama)

And Charlotte University (Formerly UNCC)... and University of Texas @ San Antonio... and Georgia State University...

At least four schools will be starting football programs in the next few years... all of them mentioned USF as a model.

[80mins]

Wonder how things are progressing for the new USA team (South Bama)

And Charlotte University (Formerly UNCC)... and University of Texas @ San Antonio... and Georgia State University...

At least four schools will be starting football programs in the next few years... all of them mentioned USF as a model.

And Old Dominion University.

And UNCC is still UNCC. Athletically they go simply by "Charlotte", and there was a groundswell this past year about the possibility of changing their name to the "University of Charlotte," but it did not take hold.

[LunchTimeBully]

Classic quote from article:

"Now, if you carry that same logic over," he continued, "Central Florida should get good, Florida Atlantic should get good, Florida International should get good, but they have not."

In terms of national exposure these teams haven't come close to what USF has had. I'll take a few weeks in the top 25 any day over winning a championship in a terrible conference. It's still an accomplishment but very few think it means much of anything.

[smazza]

Classic quote from article:

"Now, if you carry that same logic over," he continued, "Central Florida should get good, Florida Atlantic should get good, Florida International should get good, but they have not."

In terms of national exposure these teams haven't come close to what USF has had. I'll take a few weeks in the top 25 any day over winning a championship in a terrible conference. It's still an accomplishment but very few think it means much of anything.

i would rather win a conference championship