SFA Jack Fanatic said:

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Pilotgirl said:

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https://sfajacks.com/news/2024/7/18/general-jessica-dorsey-named-senior-associate-ad-for-external-affairs

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Looks like she's well qualified.

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I thought so too! Very excited to see where she can take us/what plans she has!

Not sure if this gossip belongs in the Athletic Department thread of if it deserves its own thread.

SFA to Conference USA?


https://footballscoop.com/news/utep-joins-mountain-west-other-dominoes-likely-and-possibly-to-fall-conference-realignment

Just say NO

Besides that doesn't fit the profile of keeping everything within the radius where 80% of alumni are located.
The one they made all the coaches do a video about.

Agreed!

Ignastradamus said:

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Not sure if this gossip belongs in the Athletic Department thread of if it deserves its own thread.

SFA to Conference USA?


https://footballscoop.com/news/utep-joins-mountain-west-other-dominoes-likely-and-possibly-to-fall-conference-realignment

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A couple of years ago I think that would've been the dream move for the administration, but we absolutely weren't there yet.

Now, if the call came I think the decision would be much harder than some people would think.

Pros:
-Obvious increase in revenue in football with the tv money and exposure and reigniting our biggest rivalry with Sam Houston would be great.

-Increase in competition across the board. Let's face it, the SLC is much worse than the WAC in any sport not called football. We will go back to dominating a bad conference in all sports sure, but what does that get us?

-Possible increase in student/casual fan support with more recognizable named opponents. A home game against La Tech, Tx State, or UTEP would draw a much bigger crowd than a home game against Northern Colorado or Lamar.

-We get to be in a video game again, which shouldn't be underestimated as a recruiting tool not just for football but for the student body as a whole.

Cons:
-Obviously we would not be ready for the FBS in a number of ways. Fortunately I do think Homer Bryce Stadium is still slightly better than Bowers, but we'd still have a bottom 5 stadium in the FBS. Competitively we'd likely be very bad for several years at least, and the novelty of hosting recognizable FBS names would wear off until we could put together a good season. Plus with how fast Sam Houston became decent at the FBS level, we might have to wait a little while before the Battle of the Piney Woods becomes competitive again.

-The travel issue that hurt us in the WAC would be back. We would need to hope the possible increased revenue we make could make up for it.

-With how saturated the FBS is getting, the chances of the FBS being split is becoming greater, meaning in the near future we may end up seeing 3 D1 subdivision of football, making the move much, much less likely.

Basically the only way the C-USA move would make sense is to benefit football. Sam Houston went all in on football and it kind of paid off for them, at least for now. We are trying to build a complete athletic department that wins in all sports. It does hold back Football a little bit, but that's when you ask what's more important, moving conferences for football exposure and revenue, or doing what's best for the entire athletic department regardless of revenue.

Ignastradamus said:

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Not sure if this gossip belongs in the Athletic Department thread of if it deserves its own thread.

SFA to Conference USA?


https://footballscoop.com/news/utep-joins-mountain-west-other-dominoes-likely-and-possibly-to-fall-conference-realignment

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That article made for a couple of minutes of interesting reading but lacked any substance. As you said, it was a gossip article, nothing more.

SFA Jack Fanatic said:

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Ignastradamus said:

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Not sure if this gossip belongs in the Athletic Department thread of if it deserves its own thread.

SFA to Conference USA?


https://footballscoop.com/news/utep-joins-mountain-west-other-dominoes-likely-and-possibly-to-fall-conference-realignment

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That article made for a couple of minutes of interesting reading but lacked any substance. As you said, it was a gossip article, nothing more.

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Saying that CUSA should go after Houston Christian is the laugh I needed.

Sam to Sunbelt makes sense if Texas St leaves. As much as I hate to admit it.

If CUSA is suddenly looking for 3 teams bc it lost UTEP(and NMSU/Sam), I could see it looking at SFA, Tarleton, & ACU as expansion candidates.

But I'm not sure that's a great deal for us.

TallTexan said:

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SFA Jack Fanatic said:

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Ignastradamus said:

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Not sure if this gossip belongs in the Athletic Department thread of if it deserves its own thread.

SFA to Conference USA?


https://footballscoop.com/news/utep-joins-mountain-west-other-dominoes-likely-and-possibly-to-fall-conference-realignment

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That article made for a couple of minutes of interesting reading but lacked any substance. As you said, it was a gossip article, nothing more.

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Saying that CUSA should go after Houston Christian is the laugh I needed.

Sam to Sunbelt makes sense if Texas St leaves. As much as I hate to admit it.

If CUSA is suddenly looking for 3 teams bc it lost UTEP(and NMSU/Sam), I could see it looking at SFA, Tarleton, & ACU as expansion candidates.

But I'm not sure that's a great deal for us.

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We would need to get serious about facilities and NIL rather quickly. I think the facilities rehabilitation needs to happen regardless of what direction we go.

Agree. Improving our Facilities will be help recruiting for decades.
Once the Facilities are built, we can then increase our focus on NIL.

Check out what Texas State is doing; perhaps we can something similar, obviously at a smaller scale.
I wouldn't mind dishing out $25k for meeting room naming opportunity.
Maybe even a $100k donation for a Recruiting Lounge in about five years when my portfolio has grown.

https://txstfootballcenter.com/

The purpose of moving to the WAC Conference was to try to become and FBS school, correct?
Getting an invite to Conference USA makes that goal happen, improving the SFA brand.
Sam Houston is leaving us behind as they continue to succeed.
But I do understand how remaining in a regional conference is easier for Alumni to show up to support our teams. Especially since we are not near a big city.

Ignastradamus said:

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Agree. Improving our Facilities will be help recruiting for decades.
Once the Facilities are built, we can then increase our focus on NIL.

Check out what Texas State is doing; perhaps we can something similar, obviously at a smaller scale.
I wouldn't mind dishing out $25k for meeting room naming opportunity.
Maybe even a $100k donation for a Recruiting Lounge in about five years when my portfolio has grown.

https://txstfootballcenter.com/

The purpose of moving to the WAC Conference was to try to become and FBS school, correct?
Getting an invite to Conference USA makes that goal happen, improving the SFA brand.
Sam Houston is leaving us behind as they continue to succeed.
But I do understand how remaining in a regional conference is easier for Alumni to show up to support our teams. Especially since we are not near a big city.

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We (most of college football) need to understand how "revenue sharing" is going to work at this level. Sam has had a nice start on this journey. Good for them.

Once we get the sense of how professional college sports is going to work, we can make a more informed conference affiliation decision. It seems to me that the Southland was not the "best fit" but the "convenient fit". Enrollment metrics need to improve a little more before we are positioned look at FBS.

We currently don't have the Alumni base to follow in our former rivals footsteps.


https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/41952379/sam-houston-beats-florida-international-become-bowl-eligible-following-transition-fbs

It's not so much the alumni base, it's the leadership from the admin. They had a clear defined goal set a long time ago and stuck to it. It worked out for them. They're one of the sweethearts of the 2024 college football season and getting an insane amount of national attention.

Gotta hope we finally figured it out up top so we can finally move forward.

SFASawmillGuy said:

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It's not so much the alumni base, it's the leadership from the admin. They had a clear defined goal set a long time ago and stuck to it. It worked out for them. They're one of the sweethearts of the 2024 college football season and getting an insane amount of national attention.

Gotta hope we finally figured it out up top so we can finally move forward.

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Facilities….. we need an overhaul of our stadium and field house. Before we can look into FBS we've got to have better facilities.

Hats off to Sam and all they have accomplished in the last 14 years!! They have an outstanding Athletic Director, Bobby Williams who had the vision to do huge things. Williams hired the right coaches at the right times in Willie Fritz and KC Keeler. The former President, Dana (Gibson) Hoyt and the Faculty Senate created a master plan to grow the brand using Football success that was executed very well! Now Tarleton is executing a very similar plan and is already seeing the results! SFA could have done something verysimilar but have been way too conservative in the past which has set us back many years. Hopefully now with the UT System, our new AD, and President, we can achieve similar success as SH and Tarleton!

SFASawmillGuy said:

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It's not so much the alumni base, it's the leadership from the admin. They had a clear defined goal set a long time ago and stuck to it. It worked out for them. They're one of the sweethearts of the 2024 college football season and getting an insane amount of national attention.

Gotta hope we finally figured it out up top so we can finally move forward.

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I watched much of the Prison Tech - Florida International game last night, and if that's what a "sweetheart" football team looks like then the bottom tier conferences of the FCS are in bad shape. Conference USA is one sad sack of a football conference. It's no mystery about how they've won six games.

SFA Jack Fanatic said:

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SFASawmillGuy said:

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It's not so much the alumni base, it's the leadership from the admin. They had a clear defined goal set a long time ago and stuck to it. It worked out for them. They're one of the sweethearts of the 2024 college football season and getting an insane amount of national attention.

Gotta hope we finally figured it out up top so we can finally move forward.

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I watched much of the Prison Tech - Florida International game last night, and if that's what a "sweetheart" football team looks like then the bottom tier conferences of the FCS are in bad shape. Conference USA is one sad sack of a football conference. It's no mystery about how they've won six games.

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Sam was playing with there backup QB. The starter is very good.

SFA Jack Fanatic said:

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SFASawmillGuy said:

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It's not so much the alumni base, it's the leadership from the admin. They had a clear defined goal set a long time ago and stuck to it. It worked out for them. They're one of the sweethearts of the 2024 college football season and getting an insane amount of national attention.

Gotta hope we finally figured it out up top so we can finally move forward.

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I watched much of the Prison Tech - Florida International game last night, and if that's what a "sweetheart" football team looks like then the bottom tier conferences of the FCS are in bad shape. Conference USA is one sad sack of a football conference. It's no mystery about how they've won six games.

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No doubt their incredibly easy schedule and awful conference is the reason they're bowl eligible, but they've gained quite a bit of a following as the underdog who had fast "success" after moving up. Even if part of that following comes from everyone wanting to rebuild them in College Football 25 because they're the worst team with the worst stadium.

That being said I would venture to guess we would be somewhat competitive with their schedule as well. Maybe not as many wins right now, but competitive to say the least.

I'm not mad we didn't follow them, but they certainly are reaping more rewards from moving up than I ever thought they'd be capable of so early.

Curious what "rewards" Sam has reaped from moving up.

SFAJack_76 said:

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Curious what "rewards" Sam has reaped from moving up.

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Exposure mostly. Multiple nationally televised home games(awful time slots, but still) and more regionally televised games against more recognizable names, thus expanding reach further. And like I said, they've garnered fans who otherwise probably wouldn't have believed it was a real college based on their status as an underdog and their fast success(albeit against weak opponents).

Don't mistake what I'm saying as me saying I think what they did was smart or that we should have followed when we had the chance. I still firmly believe neither them or us were ready financially or facility wise for the FBS, and I don't believe their success will be something they'll be able to consistently achieve at that level. I also believe the rest of their programs will see the benefits. In every other sport C-USA is comparable to the Southland or WAC in terms of talent and exposure.

But I can't ignore that this season, the exposure they've gotten has been noticeable and a lot more than probably a national championship caliber FCS team would get throughout a full season.

Give them a few seasons of mediocrity and the benefits won't be there. But they sit at 6-2 right now and clinched a bowl bid. They've definitely overachieved in terms of football success in a very short amount of time.

SFASawmillGuy said:

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SFAJack_76 said:

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Curious what "rewards" Sam has reaped from moving up.

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Exposure mostly. Multiple nationally televised home games(awful time slots, but still) and more regionally televised games against more recognizable names, thus expanding reach further. And like I said, they've garnered fans who otherwise probably wouldn't have believed it was a real college based on their status as an underdog and their fast success(albeit against weak opponents).

Don't mistake what I'm saying as me saying I think what they did was smart or that we should have followed when we had the chance. I still firmly believe neither them or us were ready financially or facility wise for the FBS, and I don't believe their success will be something they'll be able to consistently achieve at that level. I also believe the rest of their programs will see the benefits. In every other sport C-USA is comparable to the Southland or WAC in terms of talent and exposure.

But I can't ignore that this season, the exposure they've gotten has been noticeable and a lot more than probably a national championship caliber FCS team would get throughout a full season.

Give them a few seasons of mediocrity and the benefits won't be there. But they sit at 6-2 right now and clinched a bowl bid. They've definitely overachieved in terms of football success in a very short amount of time.

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Having lived in Huntsville, and having a dad as a Prof at Sam, and an active member of faculty senate, I think you are significantly underestimating the future success of Sam.

Sam has achieved every goal, and more than doubled enrollment in roughly 10 years because of FOOTBALL success. We have not come close to achieving what they have because of poor planning and poor leadership.

Hopefully our new President and new AD will create a master plan and execute it quickly. It will take at least 14 years to get us there with the right staff if we start today. We need to head up North and pull a coach from a multiple year championship program like SDSU, NDSU, etc. Keeler came from Delaware...

Soccer, Volleyball and Women's Tennis have all had some significant success to start the fall Commissioners Cup race. Soccer will secure solo first with a tie/win vs NWST.
Volleyball can grab a tie for first with a run through SELA. Deep in the season. And women's doubles tennis finished 2nd in the SLC individual tournament.

Good chance we have a nice cushion after the first 3-4 event's of the commissioner's cup. . Axe 'Em Jacks.

BigJack85 said:

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Soccer, Volleyball and Women's Tennis have all had some significant success to start the fall Commissioners Cup race. Soccer will secure solo first with a tie/win vs NWST.
Volleyball can grab a tie for first with a run through SELA. Deep in the season. And women's doubles tennis finished 2nd in the SLC individual tournament.

Good chance we have a nice cushion after the first 3-4 event's of the commissioner's cup. . Axe 'Em Jacks.

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The first SLC championships of the year take place on Friday at UNO. SFA men have a chance of finishing first. The very young women's team is most likely middle of the pack.

Exciting news! 🤩 SFA is proud to be the first in the Southland Conference to partner with @FanWord. Together, we’re leading the way in showcasing the stories that matter. 💜🪓 #AxeEm

🗞️ https://t.co/fahgDx8cwi pic.twitter.com/7h5InRQ0MG

— SFA Athletics (@SFA_Athletics) December 6, 2024

nacluth said:

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This post reminded me that my daughter wanted a Dominguez shirt. When I went to the Athlete's Thread store to get her one, all the shirts say "Domingue". Someone forgot the z.

Who do you think handles that? I did write the website, but we'll see if they'll correct it.

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I don't know, but Jessica Dorsey perhaps. Send her an email.

https://sfajacks.com/staff-directory