SFA_03 said:

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Only chance a Clint Dempsey led SFAsquad generates any kind of attention at all is if we immediately dominate. Like immediate top 25.
Outside of that( college soccer is at the d-1 level is much worse than FCS football. It's worse than women's basketball.

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Nah, you don't even have to be good. You just got to have Coach Dempsey scoring zingers from the top of the hills are Homer Bryce. That'd be enough to get on sports center.

To be clear, I don't think any sport should be dropped. We want SFA to continue to grow. We want to keep taking steps forward not backward.
Football, basketball, and baseball, no matter how good you are make you an attractive school when other conferences are looking to expand. It's good that we already have the expensive ones. Now if we ever needed to add any more it would be much cheaper than building $75,000,000 worth of football facilities.

SFA_03 said:

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Still. Lumberjack ice hockey. Come on guys. I can't be the only one.

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I'd love to see a Lumberjack ice hockey team. Heck, our mascot always looks he's ready to drop gloves at any moment.

A couple winning FB seasons would cure a lot of ails. Wonder how many mid majors out there that don't offer football?

TallTexan said:

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SFA_03 said:

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Still. Lumberjack ice hockey. Come on guys. I can't be the only one.

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I'd love to see a Lumberjack ice hockey team. Heck, our mascot always looks he's ready to drop gloves at any moment.

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Nope. Too expensive. I say let's field a curling team... (Uh, ice a curling team??) Identify four of the professors who encouraged their ignorant students to vote against the athletics fee and whose offices are located side-by-side, knock out a few walls, flood the area, turn the A/C on high, and we'd be good! Co-ed, too. Who could possibly be opposed to that?

Now Ed's making me consider going back to get another degree!

nacluth said:

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Now Ed's making me consider going back to get another degree!

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I'm confused, Ryan... Are you saying that my brilliant idea has inspired you, or are you saying that I've dumbed you down to the point that rehabilitation is required?

edstile said:

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nacluth said:

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Now Ed's making me consider going back to get another degree!

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I'm confused, Ryan... Are you saying that my brilliant idea has inspired you, or are you saying that I've dumbed you down to the point that rehabilitation is required?

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Why not both?

I'm just saying if you want to get rid of me, set up a curling rink and let me slide stones all day long. Plus I was a movie theater janitor for a while, so I'm a good sweeper.

I'm convinced that Curling is the only sport where you could decide to play for the first time between Olympic games & still have a decent chance to win a gold medal at the next Olympics.

nacluth said:

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I'm just saying if you want to get rid of me, set up a curling rink and let me slide stones all day long. Plus I was a movie theater janitor for a while, so I'm a good sweeper.

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A movie theater janitor? The truth finally comes out. Nacluth actually matriculated at Prison Tech and not SFA.

TallTexan said:

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SFA_03 said:

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Still. Lumberjack ice hockey. Come on guys. I can't be the only one.

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I'd love to see a Lumberjack ice hockey team. Heck, our mascot always looks he's ready to drop gloves at any moment.

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Who cares if it's viable or not, "Lumberjack Hockey" sounds so cool and would make for a great looking jersey...mascot would have a hockey stick instead of an axe....

Txjack said:

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TallTexan said:

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SFA_03 said:

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Still. Lumberjack ice hockey. Come on guys. I can't be the only one.

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I'd love to see a Lumberjack ice hockey team. Heck, our mascot always looks he's ready to drop gloves at any moment.

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Who cares if it's viable or not, "Lumberjack Hockey" sounds so cool and would make for a great looking jersey...mascot would have a hockey stick instead of an axe....

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This is probably our best chance to get a Hockey Team.

Nowata Possums

But I'd totally buy a Lumberjack's hockey jersey.

Sully said:

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I assume that those of us on here and among those who care the most, but the reality is that few others do. Football attendance tells you that, even when we are (were) good.

It's a lot easier to hire a good basketball coach and recruit 12 good players than it is to hire a good football coach and recruit 63 good players.

It's also a lot easier to fill a basketball arena 10-15 times per year with a NCAA March Mandess tournament-bound team than it is to fill a football arena 6-7 times no matter how good an FCS team is.

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We do not profit from football Sully. It creates a huge shortfall in athletic funding. Football costs SFA many millions yearly. You should study the SFA athletic budget. The best reason to keep football is to display our wonderful marching band. Football sucks at SFA! http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/article202356619.html

Gazette1 said:

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Football sucks at SFA!

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We could win the FCS championship and this would still be one of the most commonly said phrases on campus.

We did not average 11,000 for football attendance. It was more like 7,000.

We should drop baseball.

Gazette1 said:

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We did not average 11,000 for football attendance. It was more like 7,000.

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http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2017.pdf
Hate to disappoint you. But as much of a disappointed as this season was our attendance was phenomenal. It was way above average.

SFA_03 said:

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Gazette1 said:

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We did not average 11,000 for football attendance. It was more like 7,000.

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http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2017.pdf
Hate to disappoint you. But as much of a disappointed as this season was our attendance was phenomenal. It was way above average.

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Those darned statistics keep getting in the way of a good narrative, don't they?

Here's the real problem. The population of Texas has tripled since Ralph Steen's tenure at SFA but SFA's enrollment numbers have not increased. It's the leadership at the top that is the problem.

Sully said:

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SFAXE93 said:

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No attendance ain't the best, but we do better than most in the FCS.

FCS Attendance Rankings (Lead the SLC the last two seasons) 124 FCS programs

2017 #21 (11,376) SFA

2016 #29 (9,848) SFA

I also think in today's world (technology) we just don't have the attention span to sit through a football game. Look at football stadiums around the country.

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Fair and true points, but the team is still losing a ton of money.

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Sully, that attendance number is inflated by adding the Sam Houston game as a home game. If you look at our attendance at Homer Bryce it is much lower than that.

Take away the tailgaters and the Sam Houston game that was not at Homer Bryce and our attendance would be more like 7000. Many tailgaters never stay or attend the games. Just facts. We are taking up less than half of the 17,000 seats at the games. Many of the people who show up have very little interest in the games. Quite a few just come for the band. If it weren't for the band SFA football games would have very little interest. I will assure that we don't have 11,000 people in attendance at our football games. One more thing, SFA gives away a lot of free tickets. It is not forthcoming on the real paid attendance numbers. Maybe you should look that one up. I have inside information on this issue.I rest my case.

Gazette1 said:

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Take away the tailgaters and the Sam Houston game that was not at Homer Bryce and our attendance would be more like 7000. Many tailgaters never stay or attend the games. Just facts. We are taking up less than half of the 17,000 seats at the games. Many of the people who show up have very little interest in the games. Quite a few just come for the band. If it weren't for the band SFA football games would have very little interest. I will assure that we don't have 11,000 people in attendance at our football games. One more thing, SFA gives away a lot of free tickets. It is not forthcoming on the real paid attendance numbers. Maybe you should look that one up. I have inside information on this issue.I rest my case.

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Gazette,

Everything is relative.... every been to a Sam Houston home game. They list the attendance at 8000 and there's probably 800 at the game. I'm sure you get my point. We may list 11,000 when the actual live attendance is 65% of that. That goes for EVERY school in the SLC. The fact is, if we were just a little bit better (7-4) (8-3) WE WOULD get 12,000 - 13,000 to more than just homecoming and parents weekend.

TallTexan said:

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So the topic of which sports SFA can/should sponsor has come up on individual threads & twitter lately, so I wanted to pose it to the community as a thread.

Here are our current sports:
Men's:

• Football (63)
• Baseball (11.7)
• Basketball (13)
• Cross Country (12.6 between CC & Track)
• Track & Field(see above)
• Golf (4.5)
• Total Scholarships(104.8)

Women's:

• Basketball (15)
• Bowling (5)
• Cross Country (18 including track & field)
• Golf (6)
• Tennis (8)
• Soccer (14)
• Softball (12)
• Track & Field (See cross country)
• Volleyball (12)
• Total (90)

Now for some parameters to guide the discussion. Because of NCAA Title IX rules, you have to have as many women's scholarships as men's. I show us at 104.8 scholarships on the men's side vs 90 on the women's. I think there are some proportional participation rules at play here, but I'm far from a Title IX expert. Let's assume that for the sake of the experiment that you can have no more than 104 scholarships each for men's or Women's sports.


If you want to know what the per sport scholarship limit for each sport is, check out this link:
http://www.scholarshipstats.com/ncaalimits.html

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Gazette1 said:

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TallTexan said:

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So the topic of which sports SFA can/should sponsor has come up on individual threads & twitter lately, so I wanted to pose it to the community as a thread.

Here are our current sports:
Men's:

• Football (63)
• Baseball (11.7)
• Basketball (13)
• Cross Country (12.6 between CC & Track)
• Track & Field(see above)
• Golf (4.5)
• Total Scholarships(104.8)

Women's:

• Basketball (15)
• Bowling (5)
• Cross Country (18 including track & field)
• Golf (6)
• Tennis (8)
• Soccer (14)
• Softball (12)
• Track & Field (See cross country)
• Volleyball (12)
• Total (90)

Now for some parameters to guide the discussion. Because of NCAA Title IX rules, you have to have as many women's scholarships as men's. I show us at 104.8 scholarships on the men's side vs 90 on the women's. I think there are some proportional participation rules at play here, but I'm far from a Title IX expert. Let's assume that for the sake of the experiment that you can have no more than 104 scholarships each for men's or Women's sports.


If you want to know what the per sport scholarship limit for each sport is, check out this link:
http://www.scholarshipstats.com/ncaalimits.html

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Don't forget that SFA has a lot more female students than male. SFA should drop baseball. You can't win baseball championships with eleven scholarships. We are wasting our time and money on baseball. There is not very much interest. Cut it at the end of this season.

I think baseball would be the easiest to justify cutting, but still don't think any sport SHOULD be cut.
That being said, an athletic fee is a must if we want to continue to perform at a high level in athletics and if we want to eventually move to a new conference. Which we should still want to do.

Quote:

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Quote:

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Quote:

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NSo the topic of which sports SFA can/should sponsor has come up on individual threads & twitter lately, so I wanted to pose it to the community as a thread.

Here are our current sports:
Men's:

• Football (63)
• Baseball (11.7)
• Basketball (13)
• Cross Country (12.6 between CC & Track)
• Track & Field(see above)
• Golf (4.5)
• Total Scholarships(104.8)

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Don't forget that SFA has a lot more female students than male. SFA should drop baseball. You can't win baseball championships with eleven scholarships. We are wasting our time and money on baseball. There is not very much interest. Cut it at the end of this season.

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I don't understand the highlighted. All D1 NCAA baseball teams get the same 11.7 scholarships.

Your arguments for dropping baseball have some validity, but this is not one. I want to see SFA commit to baseball or let it go. As I have said before, my preference is that they commit to supporting the sport.

I've gone the same direction. Years ago I was adamant about us dropping baseball. My reasoning was weak. I felt it was a road to nowhere. I took a complete 180. I think it's a sport that like basketball, properly supported (facilities) would be very successful. It would also give us a sport that we could support at the exact same level as Texas and A$M We can win the FCS but will never be competitive with FBS schools due to the scholarship limit of 62. FBS = 85

On campus softball and baseball complex at Angelina College in Lufkin. Compare this to SFA D1 facilities.

Has anyone heard what SFAs spring enrollment numbers are?

BigJack85 said:

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I've gone the same direction. Years ago I was adamant about us dropping baseball. My reasoning was weak. I felt it was a road to nowhere. I took a complete 180. I think it's a sport that like basketball, properly supported (facilities) would be very successful. It would also give us a sport that we could support at the exact same level as Texas and A$M We can win the FCS but will never be competitive with FBS schools due to the scholarship limit of 62. FBS = 85

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I think if we keep it off campus, there's no point. But I think an on campus baseball field adds to both University and Nac's atmosphere. Families could come watch baseball during the school year, we could get some high school baseball playoff games. See if we can host an independent league team for a series or two during the summer.

I can't stand watching baseball on TV, but in a nice looking stadium with friends? It'd be a fun event and great for families.

Gazette1 said:

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Sully said:

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SFAXE93 said:

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No attendance ain't the best, but we do better than most in the FCS.

FCS Attendance Rankings (Lead the SLC the last two seasons) 124 FCS programs

2017 #21 (11,376) SFA

2016 #29 (9,848) SFA

I also think in today's world (technology) we just don't have the attention span to sit through a football game. Look at football stadiums around the country.

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Fair and true points, but the team is still losing a ton of money.

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Sully, that attendance number is inflated by adding the Sam Houston game as a home game. If you look at our attendance at Homer Bryce it is much lower than that.

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Actually, if you did your research you would find that the Sam Houston game is not part of the annual attendance data and it hasn't been since the game was moved to NRG Stadium. Feel free to look at the data before spewing incorrect information. Five home games with a total attendance of over 56,000. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2017.pdf

You can throw all the hypothetical out there that you want but football is the biggest contributor to the athletic budget deficit. I know that they make it appear that our football attendance was an average of 11,000 a game but that is inflated big time. The Sam Houston game wasn't at Homer Bryce but was included in those stats. Many of the people who come to our games just come there to tailgate and don't watch the games. Many just come there to watch the band and leave at halftime. In reality there are only about 7,000 people in the stands at any point. I am not suggesting cutting football but I am suggesting that we cut baseball. Baseball does nothing to help the university. We are not competitive and never will be with only 11 baseball scholarships. Baseball is an embarrassment. Our coach has no chance to compete with those numbers.