Montana and APP State Football

asugoapps · Unread post by **asugoapps** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:56 pm

]What are we to learn from App State’s ambition?

http://missoulian.com/sports/college/mo ... 963f4.html

19 hours ago • By BILL SPELTZ of the Missoulian

Recent history on the football field and a shared reputation as FCS royalty have forever linked the Montana and Appalachian State football programs.

They’ll play for the third time in five years on Aug. 31 in Missoula. The game may be close on the scoreboard but the programs have never been further apart when it comes to future plans.

Appalachian State appears headed for the BCS level. It started tossing around the idea about the same time as Montana, with distinctly different results.

In November 2010, University of Montana President Royce Engstrom announced the Grizzlies were staying on the FCS level, citing costs among other reasons. It was a tough decision to make in his first six weeks on the job but most agree he did the right thing.

App State and its accomplished eighth-year athletic director, Charlie Cobb, see things differently. They’re taking a proactive approach.

I know, I know, we’ve already covered this subject in Missoula ad nauseam. You still can’t help but wonder if UM, which attracted App State’s largest home football crowd in 2012, will feel the same five years down the road.

“What is today is not going to be what’s coming down the pike, so there’s the unknown,” Cobb told the Missoulian, referring to college football’s landscape. “At some point I think you’ve got to get in the game if you want to stay in the game.”

App State is looking for a BCS league to join. Conference USA and the Sun Belt have been mentioned the most. Regardless of the league it’s a risky proposition in a shaky economy.

“The thought of the university,” Cobb explained, “is if we can do this thing the right way – not move up with student fee money but with self-generated revenue and ticket sales – it would actually help brand the university in a way to benefit the academic part of the campus. Then everybody feels it would be the right situation.”

Such an ambitious undertaking is not feasible for Montana right now. The Grizzly athletic budget is stretched thin. Coming up with funds for a softball program is going to be a chore in itself.

It hurts just a little knowing App State’s intentions because they convey an attitude. Moving up is an idea often coveted by the biggest and boldest of the FCS. I’d like to think UM is still in that group.

“Our program has done so much, just like Montana’s,” Cobb offered. “Ya’ll compete at a level that is worthy of being in that group of schools that might include Conference USA, the MACs, the Sun Belts, the WACs. They look a lot like the Big Sky and the Southern and the Colonial – just a few more scholarships and they play bowl games instead of the championship.

“It’s great when you win the (FCS) championship but there’s only one team out of 120 that ends our season pretty happy. The big boys have figured out about half of them have a chance to be happy at the end.”

Last month the New York Times printed an article documenting the hardship of programs like UMass football. Programs that jumped up from the FCS to the BCS level and suffered a big financial and competitive hit.

Stories like that fuel those who believe the Montanas and App States should stay put. But do those who hold up UMass and Idaho as examples of what not to do take into consideration the whole realm of what an App State hopes to accomplish by moving up in football?

“What’s funny to me is that everybody looks at athletics at a time when campuses are doing the same thing,” Cobb noted. “Presidents, I was just with about 30 of them in Frisco, Texas, and they’re talking about most schools want to increase their Carnegie Profile and their standing within these other various reports and rankings.

“What they’re wanting to do is no different. It’s just people, for whatever reason, there’s a sports section in the newspaper that people like to read.”

App State and UM are both doing the right thing at this point. But because fortune usually does favor the bold, it’s hard to not feel just a little envious over here in western Montana.

Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255

Gonzo · Unread post by **Gonzo** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:20 am

West and East are very different. This is the best collection of Cobb quotes I have ever read. Perhaps he's more in touch with everything than I realized.

firemoose · Unread post by **firemoose** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:30 am

Posted a link to this in the FBS folder yesterday.