Why not EKU? FBS post

[ColonelFan22]

Why has EKU been positioned or should I say we are committed to move for 10 years and we keep being the bridesmaid instead of the bride. I think we understand the Coastal to The SB 10 years ago, but it seems now we are hardly in the discussion. Tarleton who just jumped to FCS is constantly popping up.
Not interested in why others have been tagged (particularly Kenny State we have heard it two dozen times!) WHY do we continue to be an also ran. Opinions? What do we have to change? I think winning would help!

[ekugrad1970]

Hope our opportunity has passed by

[ekugrad1970]

Hope our opportunity has not passed us by

[Sae]

Winning always helps, but while location and population is what conf are looking for, ours works against us. We do not have access to the corporate money other have. WKU had Houschins industries to go to, Marshall is one of only 2 universities in WV and has the businesses of Huntington just as examples. Any of those big money donor's that are needed give that money in Lexington even if it's a Richmond business. It's a hard sell to get these companies to take a million dollar donation and give to us instead of UK. Selling 50 yard line seats for us to play Troy, vs 50 yard line seats to watch UK vs Georgia is tough to convince a businesses owner. I'm not sure what or if there is a solution to this problem unless one of us here wins Powerball. There are many other obstacles to deal with, I've always felt like this was the biggest one holding us back.

[ColonelFan22]

Buckee’s?

I understand what you said. But, I am now hearing UCA mentioned in the CUSA discussion, along with Tarleton (guess the $$$ from the TX AM conglomerate is the impetus there). But I don’t get the Central Arkansas movement whatsoever. Just read and article that mentions the Campbell Camels , Elon , among others I’ve not seen mentioned before, no mention of EKU! That’s a slap in the face.
It’s a darn shame we didn’t move when our old rivals did ( we all know the reasons for that), so here we are years later dealing with issues we can’t change. Makes me think this may never be a reality for EKU. Hope I am wrong.

[martinhall1966]

Good question. I think we went through decades of complacency about athletics and athletic facilities before Benson and Roan. Our football program has paid the biggest price for those eras. Roan seems like a progressive guy who can get things done. I hope so!!!!!! I'm getting long in the tooth! Go Colonels!

[EKU05]

I don't think there's any one reason, but some of it is out of our control. Geography has sometimes worked against us. C-USA already being in Kentucky has worked against us. Market size has worked against us at times. The questions surrounding the long-term viability of RKS may be an issue, and we also don't have an indoor facility plan in place. That would be hard to pull off when we're scrambling just to find the money for the stadium itself.

As we've all mentioned at various times, some of it was in our control, but we were complacent for too long. That's a tough pill to swallow.

[Steve 82]

The one thing that leads me to believe there is something going on is the fact we have not started scheduling OOC games for 2025 outside of UofL.

Never mind. We currently have HCU and WIU on the schedule.

[EKU05]

Hope our opportunity has not passed us by

Can I ask why? The I-AA/FCS of yesteryear is going if not already gone.. It's rapidly turning into a situation where our perceived "peer institutions" are smaller schools. It's not an association that will work in the favor of the university at large.

North Dakota State has nine FCS title alone. If you eliminate that one incredible dynasty, there have been 36 additional I-AA/FCS championships all-time. Exactly 50% of them have been won by schools now in FBS.

And here's the crazy part. I don't really see an easy path back to national relevance for us in FCS. I mean sure, if we get the right coach we can certainly win conference titles, and maybe even creep into the top 10 on occasion, but no one cares. Even if we won a national title it would get less media attention than any FBS Bowl game no matter how small. The TV ratings bear this out.

[EKU05]

The one thing that leads me to believe there is something going on is the fact we have not started scheduling OOC games for 2025 outside of UofL.

Never mind. We currently have HCU and WIU on the schedule.

Even if anything happened, we'd be talking about transitional years. You could easily still play two FCS games in that situation. In fact, it might even be the best strategy because you might get a couple of wins during an otherwise tough transitional period.