FB: Southern Athletic Association

[SW1]

Their cost saving on flights should just be called Southern cost savings rule. Never does it affect any region but this one and that is a fact. If UMHB and Trinity were ranked number 1 and number 2 they would still make them play to save a dollar. Can't remember a year UMHB hasn't had to play a murderer's row to get through the playoffs. East play patsies because they are within driving distance but they always seem to still favor them.

It also affects the SCIAC and NWC teams. And it's not all Southern teams, lots of teams in VA and NC for example have no issues. It's an ISLAND problem. The Deep South and West Coast teams are islands for D3 football, and, generally speaking, islands for most sports. The solution is to have more D3 teams in that area or head to a different division. Unfortunately with 3.18% allotment of funds, money is finite. Double unfortunate is it is likely to get worse, not better, if the P5 decide to take their basketball tournament and do it themselves to keep the money.

Sorry but in Texas we have a lot of D2 and Juco's so more D3's are probably not happening.

[jknezek]

Their cost saving on flights should just be called Southern cost savings rule. Never does it affect any region but this one and that is a fact. If UMHB and Trinity were ranked number 1 and number 2 they would still make them play to save a dollar. Can't remember a year UMHB hasn't had to play a murderer's row to get through the playoffs. East play patsies because they are within driving distance but they always seem to still favor them.

It also affects the SCIAC and NWC teams. And it's not all Southern teams, lots of teams in VA and NC for example have no issues. It's an ISLAND problem. The Deep South and West Coast teams are islands for D3 football, and, generally speaking, islands for most sports. The solution is to have more D3 teams in that area or head to a different division. Unfortunately with 3.18% allotment of funds, money is finite. Double unfortunate is it is likely to get worse, not better, if the P5 decide to take their basketball tournament and do it themselves to keep the money.

Sorry but in Texas we have a lot of D2 and Juco's so more D3's are probably not happening.

And the problem with the Islands probably isn't going to go away either. There isn't a good solution.

[umhb2001]

Looking forward to a great game Saturday. Looks like the common opponent is TLU. Some great comparisons there.

Anyone have any thoughts/early predictions for Saturday?

[SW1]

Looking forward to a great game Saturday. Looks like the common opponent is TLU. Some great comparisons there.

Anyone have any thoughts/early predictions for Saturday?

Should be a really good game because both schools possess a really good defense and good offense. Could come down to the 4th quarter and that is better than a blowout because they do nothing to help prepare for the next opponent.

[umhb2001]

Looking forward to a great game Saturday. Looks like the common opponent is TLU. Some great comparisons there.

Anyone have any thoughts/early predictions for Saturday?

Should be a really good game because both schools possess a really good defense and good offense. Could come down to the 4th quarter and that is better than a blowout because they do nothing to help prepare for the next opponent.

I watched the first half of the TU and BSC. Trinity looks talented. I do wonder how they will respond to team speed across the board. BSC was able to get to the QB but the qb was able to get away because of the lack of speed and wrapping up. UMHB faced that issue with HSU and has really done a better job wrapping up at the point of attack. I believe it could be close early with UMHB pulling away in the second and third. Our CBs are taller and will give the WRs problems. Should be fun.

[D3Navy]

I noted that Trinity started the Rhodes game with a series of pass plays right out of the chute.  Different than I'd seen in previous games.  Knowing that they likely had an advantage on Rhodes, perhaps they were working on countering a stronger pass defense such as UMHB will present.

Line play will be key, but I'll contend as I have previously that the game will hinge on TU's secondary.

Hoped to make the drive up to Belton, but can't quite squeeze it in.  Will be cheering from the couch!

[BSCpanthers]

As we approach BSC hosting their first ever playoff game, I can't help but think of facility improvements.  Krulak currently holds 1600 fans, which we normally fill with games against Huntingdon(in state rival and playoff opponent), LaGrange(long term OOC game), Berry, Suwanee, Rhodes and Millsaps, all within a 4 hour drive of Birmingham.  We don't currently have stands on the visitor side, that would help a ton on easing up the pressure on the home side. 

I'm not looking for a UMHB type stadium, but would like to get over the 2,000 mark.  I'm sure it would only take someone donating the money for construction to begin, but don't even know if the school is working towards improvements or expansion.  If we expanded the stadium we would have room for the band, if they ever decided to restart that as well. 

Honestly, even temporary stands for the bigger, local games would help and might show that we could utilize permanent stands on the visitor side. 

[jknezek]

If I remember right, the visitor sideline space is narrow to the vertical drop off. That might cause problems putting much over there in terms of expense ofconstruction. It's been a few years since I visited, but it seems like enlarging the existing stadium might be a better bet. I remember there being quite a bit of room as the stands don't stretch very far down the sidelines.

I imagine that asking Bill Battle to raise a couple hundred thousand dollars wouldn't take long, but I also wonder how many times B-SC has already gone to that well... There was a period of time not that long ago when B-SC was seemingly gasping to stay alive and the big donors came through. May not want to push that button again for something like expanded seating.

[BSCpanthers]

BSC is in a constant state of fund raising.  Seems like every couple of months there is another campaign going on, which is probably good, keep money flowing in.  BSC housed some athletes during the Atlanta Olympics and used the money they received from that to remodel some dorms.  BSC is also being used for the World Games In Birmingham this summer, not sure what they will receive for that. 

As far as the field is, the ground does drop off on the visitors side, but I don't know how steep it drops off, never actually walked over there, but looking at it from the hill above the field(actually where my tailgate sets up) it doesn't look like it would be terrible to build something over there. 

I don't know how attendance numbers look compared to, say, the last 10 years.  I know they dropped the cost of attendance a few years ago, now if they could lower the cost of housing, I would surely appreciate that(paying for my kid to go there now).  Not sure how the rules completely work, I know they can't give athletic scholarships, but what about an NIL deal where someone comes in and pays for the athletes housing on campus, or or schools paying COA in DI schools, could that somehow trickle down to the DIII level....like I said before, I'm sure it all comes down finding a donor.  Half of everything on campus already Named after Bill Battle, so not sure how much we can pull from him.

[umhb2001]

BSC is in a constant state of fund raising.  Seems like every couple of months there is another campaign going on, which is probably good, keep money flowing in.  BSC housed some athletes during the Atlanta Olympics and used the money they received from that to remodel some dorms.  BSC is also being used for the World Games In Birmingham this summer, not sure what they will receive for that. 

As far as the field is, the ground does drop off on the visitors side, but I don't know how steep it drops off, never actually walked over there, but looking at it from the hill above the field(actually where my tailgate sets up) it doesn't look like it would be terrible to build something over there. 

I don't know how attendance numbers look compared to, say, the last 10 years.  I know they dropped the cost of attendance a few years ago, now if they could lower the cost of housing, I would surely appreciate that(paying for my kid to go there now).  Not sure how the rules completely work, I know they can't give athletic scholarships, but what about an NIL deal where someone comes in and pays for the athletes housing on campus, or or schools paying COA in DI schools, could that somehow trickle down to the DIII level....like I said before, I'm sure it all comes down finding a donor.  Half of everything on campus already Named after Bill Battle, so not sure how much we can pull from him.

I would guess that a good step would be to recognize similar schools who have gone through a massive fundraising stage to see how they did it would be a good start.

UMHB wasn't that grand just 20 years ago. Sure, Drayton McLane is an influential donor, but seeking funds from charitable foundations has also been a step that has paved the way for UMHB. Contacting their director of fundraising couldn't hurt.

I don't know how long the current President has been there, but it has to be someone who has a vision and a plan. Ours had that and saw it through.

[BSCpanthers]

UMHB has an amazing stadium, not sure why you guys are still DIII.  Heck, y'all have the facilities for DI FCS, closer to FBS than SHSU that just accepted an invite to FBS CUSA with a stadium half the size of UMHB. 

Daniel Coleman has been the president since 2018, not sure why, but there has been a lot of turnover at President over the last 10 years. 

I haven't seen a master plan for the college, but would really be interested to find one.

[Toby Taff]

BSC is in a constant state of fund raising.  Seems like every couple of months there is another campaign going on, which is probably good, keep money flowing in.  BSC housed some athletes during the Atlanta Olympics and used the money they received from that to remodel some dorms.  BSC is also being used for the World Games In Birmingham this summer, not sure what they will receive for that. 

As far as the field is, the ground does drop off on the visitors side, but I don't know how steep it drops off, never actually walked over there, but looking at it from the hill above the field(actually where my tailgate sets up) it doesn't look like it would be terrible to build something over there. 

I don't know how attendance numbers look compared to, say, the last 10 years.  I know they dropped the cost of attendance a few years ago, now if they could lower the cost of housing, I would surely appreciate that(paying for my kid to go there now).  Not sure how the rules completely work, I know they can't give athletic scholarships, but what about an NIL deal where someone comes in and pays for the athletes housing on campus, or or schools paying COA in DI schools, could that somehow trickle down to the DIII level....like I said before, I'm sure it all comes down finding a donor.  Half of everything on campus already Named after Bill Battle, so not sure how much we can pull from him.

I would guess that a good step would be to recognize similar schools who have gone through a massive fundraising stage to see how they did it would be a good start.

UMHB wasn't that grand just 20 years ago. Sure, Drayton McLane is an influential donor, but seeking funds from charitable foundations has also been a step that has paved the way for UMHB. Contacting their director of fundraising couldn't hurt.

I don't know how long the current President has been there, but it has to be someone who has a vision and a plan. Ours had that and saw it through.

UMHB has been blessed with great leadership. The last 3 presidents have really moved the school forward in positive directions.

[Ron Boerger]

Athletic fundraising is complicated.  It's often not directly related to most of the fundraising a school does (at least that has been my experience) - the athletic department often does its own thing and it's simply hard to find donors that want to support non-scholarship athletics.  Obviously some schools are very successful, but they are the exception.  And if your school is struggling financially (which was the case for B-SC 10-15 years ago, probably not so much now) it's harder to justify an athletic fundraising campaign.  If a school is having a large-scale campaign you will sometimes see improved athletic facilities as a part of that.  And strong personalities/leaders are a huge part of successful campaigns.

As far as reducing costs for athletes, schools walk a fine line because Division III rules say that you can't grant "aid" to athletes in excess of that available to the general student population.  S-As can do NIL deals, schools can help them line them up, but (so far at least) there haven't been a lot of businesses interested in NIL for D3s.   

Southwestern just announced a deal just yesterday where they are partnering with a firm to create NFTs that are going to be used to raise funds for the athletic department and athletes.   Supposedly it's the first of its type for D3.

[BSCpanthers]

Southwestern will be joining us in the SAA for football soon enough, maybe they can influence some of the other members. 

BSC's difficulty in Birmingham is gaining attention.  We are fourth in this city when it comes to football, UAB-FBS, Samford-FCS, Miles College-DII, then us, all in the BHM metro area, and of course Alabama only 45 minutes down the road.  BSC isn't going to be pulling fans in off the street, it's pretty much, students, parents and friends attending games.  We are getting the smallest of media play right now because of the playoffs, and a local sports radio guy is a BSC alum and played there, so that is getting the name out there a little more. 

Our stadium was built in 2008, It's nice enough, but I don't believe there have been any updates since then, not to the lights, the scoreboard, I think the program has grown over the years, and I'd like to see some reinvestment.  Reward the team for their success over the last couple seasons and especially this one.  Next year we are getting that SAA trophy.

[Ralph Turner]

Southwestern will be joining us in the SAA for football soon enough, maybe they can influence some of the other members. 

BSC's difficulty in Birmingham is gaining attention.  We are fourth in this city when it comes to football, UAB-FBS, Samford-FCS, Miles College-DII, then us, all in the BHM metro area, and of course Alabama only 45 minutes down the road.  BSC isn't going to be pulling fans in off the street, it's pretty much, students, parents and friends attending games.  We are getting the smallest of media play right now because of the playoffs, and a local sports radio guy is a BSC alum and played there, so that is getting the name out there a little more. 

Our stadium was built in 2008, It's nice enough, but I don't believe there have been any updates since then, not to the lights, the scoreboard, I think the program has grown over the years, and I'd like to see some reinvestment.  Reward the team for their success over the last couple seasons and especially this one.  Next year we are getting that SAA trophy.

Respectfully, fourth in the city? I would say probably closer to 8th or 9th...

More likely for interest in the city, Tide, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, UAB, LSU, Samford, Miles, then B-SC, which makes it even harder.

(I sent 2 daughters to Auburn, WAR EAGLE!)