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Are we EVER Going There ?

mthoopsfan said:
I don't necessarily agree with the watered-down argument. A lot of teams have improved and come into FCS too. Yes, the top several losses were probably irreplaceable, but where was SDS when App and Geo. So. left? The MV is now a much stronger conference than it was, and the Big Sky is very strong in recent years. I don't think FCS football "suffered" in any respect last season.

Moving up for UM is more unlikely now than in the past. NIL actually makes it doubly expensive to move up. UM would need to fund the move up, and have large NIL money. That just isn't going to fall out of the sky.
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mthoopsfan said:
UM will never move up to FBS, as we know it now. And not to anything similar.

How has D-I football changed in the last 40 years? Has the NCAA caused and created any of the changes?

Conferences have changed and re-aligned. Very significant changes. Those were caused by the schools, conferences and tv money. Some FCS teams have moved up. The FCS playoffs have expanded. The FBS playoffs were created and are expanding. The Portal came and no-sit rule adopted (NCAA was involved in that). NIL was created. What else? Women's basketball has grown significantly.

The supposed third middle division has been discussed, but never even proposed by anyone of authority, to my knowledge. It has become harder to get into FBS. Top conferences have maximized and consolidated their tv money.

As good of a program as UM is, and as successful of a team that it is, it's not set up, geographically, tv market wise, financially, or otherwise, to be FCS.

Changes are mostly being driven by money and tv contracts, not by competition. Sometimes not even by geography anymore. I can't imagine that the lower level FBS teams in the region would even want UM and MSU to join them, unless those FBS teams were left by themselves by the big boys of FCS and just needed to have a slightly larger conference.
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Your 5th paragraph is telling, do you think u of montana should drop down to d2 or nail level foolball?..lol.
 
uofmman1122 said:
You can't make fun of a guy for a spelling/slip of the mind mistake and then post 3 straight posts where you can't figure out how the edit and quote functions work lmao
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Yeah, so I screwed up, I'll own up...
Why aren't you jumping on Hoops too?

You're proving to be just another in a line of trolls overe here...too funny.
 
hm.grwn.grizfan said:
The FCS gets more and more watered down. While Missouri state wasn’t exactly a powerhouse in football they were a respectable playoff team just recently and also had a strong athletic program. Losing respectable FCS programs hurts, and the division continues to suffer those losses. Not sure if the Griz or MSU will get the shot at a move up anytime soon, but I’ve been ready to see them make the move for a decade, and would welcome the change.
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But for the Petrino era, MO St. was the doremat of the MVFC.
 
Montana football is FCS because of Title IX and the scholarship requirements for women's sports, which I don't disagree with. Universities had a choice, either add women's sports to create parity with men's sports, cut scholarships for men, or do a combination of both.
"Moving up" isn't as easy as fans think. Montana has already added scholarship soccer and softball to comply with Title IX, not because of FCS football, but because women are strongly represented in the student body. It's a good bet UM would have to do more to accommodate FBS than it's doing now.
I would like to see the Griz play a tougher football schedule, but that's not what's going to drive the decision in the future and it didn't get us to where we are now.
 
Montana will join the NAIA ranks before joining fbs.. pretty obvious that no one in the department wants to go fbs.
 
griz4life said:
Montana football is FCS because of Title IX and the scholarship requirements for women's sports, which I don't disagree with. Universities had a choice, either add women's sports to create parity with men's sports, cut scholarships for men, or do a combination of both.
"Moving up" isn't as easy as fans think. Montana has already added scholarship soccer and softball to comply with Title IX, not because of FCS football, but because women are strongly represented in the student body. It's a good bet UM would have to do more to accommodate FBS than it's doing now.
I would like to see the Griz play a tougher football schedule, but that's not what's going to drive the decision in the future and it didn't get us to where we are now.
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How would Title IX cause UM to do more if it moves to FBS?
 
mthoopsfan said:
How would Title IX cause UM to do more if it moves to FBS?
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Who knows what will happen with title IX. If it stays the way it is, # of scholarships has to be equal for men & women.
FBS schools offer 85 scholarships
FCS schools offer 63 scholarships

If Montana goes FBS, they will have to create 22 scholarships for women, which means adding another sport or two.
 
GrizWin99 said:
Who knows what will happen with title IX. If it stays the way it is, # of scholarships has to be equal for men & women.
FBS schools offer 85 scholarships
FCS schools offer 63 scholarships

If Montana goes FBS, they will have to create 22 scholarships for women, which means adding another sport or two.
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The scholarships aren't the issue per se, its more the hiring of additional staff (coaches) and facilities to support the additional sports. While there is a cost per scholarship that needs to be accounted for the hard cost of the other items is the cash flow issue...
 
GrizWin99 said:
Who knows what will happen with title IX. If it stays the way it is, # of scholarships has to be equal for men & women.
FBS schools offer 85 scholarships
FCS schools offer 63 scholarships

If Montana goes FBS, they will have to create 22 scholarships for women, which means adding another sport or two.
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Got it. I agree.
 
......No.

Regardless of what the subdivisions in college football are titled there will alway be tiers. 300+ school fielding competitive teams could never be included in a single playoff system. At least not one that is reasonable. There will also not be complete parity across that many programs. That means everyone who isn't in the top tier needs to find a place where they can find a definition of success for both the players and school.

Montana cannot compete with the larger populations that the current Power conferences enjoy & the corresponding fundraising potential. Montana is simply too small of a population. Our fan base is maxed out with its level of support. Unless Montana becomes more welcoming to Californians or creates a six child family policy, the size of the fan base will continue limit how high up the tiers Montana can rise.

If Montana would jump back into the Pac-?? conference the issue of recruiting becomes a bigger specter. While in the FCS we are able to find success in the field using 50% locally grown stock. That is relevant to the mission of a state school: how many Montana boys are recruited at the Power conference level? Maybe 2-3 kids each year. If the Griz were to recruit like the biggest programs today the culture of the program would alter to the point it wasn't Montanan anymore.

Montana is a good place in the FCS. Competitive, modestly profitable, entertaining and home grown. That's a good measure of success! Moving up is only good on the romantic level... a little success make you dream of 'bigger' things.
 
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