Once again, the old should we or shouldn't we move up to the FBS. Some things to consider based on the current landscape:
1) Many fans don't want to play in a meaningless bowl game. 2) Continue being a perennial FCS Power
James Madison is likely going to make the FBS playoffs and North Texas will just miss the cut. These are two former FCS members that we are familiar with. If a decision to move up is made, two important things need to happen and one isn't necessarily controlled by the University. The overall athletic budget at the university will need to be increased by around 20- 30 million to put it on par with the rest of the FBS. Since the majority of these funds would need to come from the state budget, I find it highly unlikely to happen. The other main item is to be accepted into a western conference ( Mountain West or Pac 12 or any iteration of these conferences). I think this would be mostly dependent on a sizeable increase to the athletic budget. I would be in favor of making the move to FBS if there is a major infusion of money to the athletic budget. Lacking this increase to the budget, we should stay in our current conference
1) Many fans don't want to play in a meaningless bowl game. 2) Continue being a perennial FCS Power
James Madison is likely going to make the FBS playoffs and North Texas will just miss the cut. These are two former FCS members that we are familiar with. If a decision to move up is made, two important things need to happen and one isn't necessarily controlled by the University. The overall athletic budget at the university will need to be increased by around 20- 30 million to put it on par with the rest of the FBS. Since the majority of these funds would need to come from the state budget, I find it highly unlikely to happen. The other main item is to be accepted into a western conference ( Mountain West or Pac 12 or any iteration of these conferences). I think this would be mostly dependent on a sizeable increase to the athletic budget. I would be in favor of making the move to FBS if there is a major infusion of money to the athletic budget. Lacking this increase to the budget, we should stay in our current conference
