FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[OxyBob]

Here's another article about the rally to save CC football, courtesy of the Colorado Springs Independent:

End Zone: Trying to save a piece of CC's history

Hey OxyBob, if you were a hawk, your right wing would be showing.

Never a hawk, only a mockingbird.

OxyBob

[Ralph Turner]

We hear that CC's canceling the 2009 season impacted 3 Homecoming games for SCAC foes!

[hasanova]

We hear that CC's canceling the 2009 season impacted 3 Homecoming games for SCAC foes!

Yeah, their late decision really did put a lot of schools in a bind.  Homecoming activities are planned so far in advance ... hotels, caterers, bands, etc.   CC hasn't made a lot of friends with this one.

[crufootball]

I think it is great that the student body and alumni are coming together to try and save the football team. However my question is, where was all the support when they were actually playing football. According to their stats they average around 550 people per game.

[Ron Boerger]

I think it is great that the student body and alumni are coming together to try and save the football team. However my question is, where was all the support when they were actually playing football. According to their stats they average around 550 people per game.

SCAC football is a whole different beast.  No admission, so crowd size is pretty irrelevant from a financial perspective, plus CoCo's location means you're never going to see more than 50-100 visiting fans. 

It's similar to Trinity; a school located in a sizable metro area which largely ignores the school.  The lack of success over the years no doubt contributes to the lack of attendance.   The school is small (1866 undergrads according to D3hoops).  The Air Force Academy draws the casual fan and the outdoors are where a lot of others head on a fall weekend.   "The Springs" is a beautiful place to visit and the mountains are literally right next door. 

[Ralph Turner]

I think it is great that the student body and alumni are coming together to try and save the football team. However my question is, where was all the support when they were actually playing football. According to their stats they average around 550 people per game.

SCAC football is a whole different beast.  No admission, so crowd size is pretty irrelevant from a financial perspective, plus CoCo's location means you're never going to see more than 50-100 visiting fans. 

It's similar to Trinity; a school located in a sizable metro area which largely ignores the school.  The lack of success over the years no doubt contributes to the lack of attendance.   The school is small (1866 undergrads according to D3hoops).  The Air Force Academy draws the casual fan and the outdoors are where a lot of others head on a fall weekend.   "The Springs" is a beautiful place to visit and the mountains are literally right next door. 

Yeah, you sit on the top row of the east stands of Tiger (Belton ISD) Stadium and can see 9 municipal water towers on the western horizon.

You sit on the top row of (the east stands and only stands unless they have added new ones) at Washburn Field (oldest football field west of the Mississippi River) and you look at Pikes Peak. 

[crufootball]

I really was not thinking about the financial impact of low attendance at the games, as I know that ticket sales is not the goal of division III football. However I keep seeing that the students and alumni are mad that the administration did not talk to them about this decison.

Frankly with such low attendance they probably assumed the students would not care.

My heart does go out though to the players and coaches, I have no doubt that they gave it their all every Saturday and for the rug to be pulled out from them at this point is not fair.

[Gray Fox]

Colorado College - "Where the Air is Rare" - must have killed too many of their brain cells.

[etg]

(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity Tiger 2009 Football Schedule)

Trinity University has added a home game against Azusa Pacific University on October 31, 2009 to replace the removal of Colorado College from the schedule on that date. The game will be played at 1:30 P.M. San Antonio time; Azusa Pacific is well known in California and the NAIA (scholarship) as a powerhouse program. The Tigers last played Azusa Pacific in the 2004 season (a 14-35 loss also in San Antonio).

                                                                         

[DPU3619]

I really was not thinking about the financial impact of low attendance at the games, as I know that ticket sales is not the goal of division III football. However I keep seeing that the students and alumni are mad that the administration did not talk to them about this decison.

Frankly with such low attendance they probably assumed the students would not care.

Frankly if they would have put a good product on the field, they may have drawn more than 550 a game.  They're 17-50 since 2001.  Of course the students aren't going to show up in large numbers. 

When the numbers are like that, what's the difference between 550 and 1000?  It's really all the same at that point, isn't it?

[crufootball]

Wes, when you say "if they put a good product on the field" are you referring to the players, coaches or the administration?

[DPU3619]

All of them.

Don't get me wrong here - I'm not condoning the way the administration handled this situation - but I'm certainly not going to buy into the argument that the student body and local community are both under some unwritten responsibility to support this football team or else they're going to lose it.  "Nobody cares so we're taking it way."  That's a bunch of crap.  Somebody would care if you'd win something. 

EDIT: Even D3 alums grow weary of their programs having a chronic case of losing-itis.  That's why nobody supports them.  They haven't fielded a winner since 1993.

[Ron Boerger]

(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity Tiger 2009 Football Schedule)

Trinity University has added a home game against Azusa Pacific University on October 31, 2009 to replace the removal of Colorado College from the schedule on that date. The game will be played at 1:30 P.M. San Antonio time; Azusa Pacific is well known in California and the NAIA (scholarship) as a powerhouse program. The Tigers last played Azusa Pacific in the 2004 season (a 14-35 loss also in San Antonio).

                                                                         

With TU badly needing a fourth home game to replace CC, and with the limited number of D3 teams with openings on Trinity's open dates, it would not surprise me if APU was the only school willing/able to put a trip to SA on the schedule at this late date.   

[Carl Menist]

Millsaps has added Huntingdon to the 2009 schedule at game #6 to be played on October 10 in Montgomery.

The Majors will be well tested through the first 6 games with Mississippi College in Clinton, NAIA Belhaven at Home, an improving Austin College in Sherman, then DePauw in Greencastle, Trinity in Jackson and then Huntingdon.

Spring practice is wrapping up this week. The group seems very focused and workmanlike as they prepare to defend their run of three straight SCAC titles.

These first six games will be a real measuring stick. If the team moves through this gauntlet unblemished or with only a single loss, another bid to the NCAA playoffs may be in the works?

The league is ever improving and this year may be as balanced as it has been in recent years. Possibly this is a year for two teams to go to the NCAAs and /or a chance to see the SCAC representative go deeper in the playoffs.

http://depauw.edu/news/?id=23280

You guys sure don't like Wabash ... 

Huntingdon and LaGrange colleges may have to replace four games each now that the SLIAC has decided to drop football THIS year. They are waiting to see which teams are still going to honor their commitment to play this season.

Link to this, please?  I saw nothing on the SLIAC, Huntingdon, or LaGrange athletic sites, and a google news search on "SLIAC football" returned only a story on Huntingdon's 2009 schedule.    

Or was this a very late April Fools joke, in which case you got me hook, line, & sinker?

[crufootball]

So Wes would you have been ok with CC losing football if they did it earlier in the year?