Vandal fans are three days removed from the Sun Belt Conference’s bombshell announcement that the Idaho and New Mexico State football teams will not be conference members after the 2017 season.
Some are disappointed in the announcement, because it means our football program will likely become the first team to relocate from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). This would occur if University of Idaho President Chuck Staben accepts an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference.
Staben said Tuesday the Big Sky had extended an invitation to Idaho. The Vandals have until May 4 to make an official decision.
Staben said there is an option to request the conference to extend its deadline if necessary. For now, the Idaho football program has an impending decision to make before the summer.
I am personally torn about the decision, because the team was just two wins away from receiving a bowl bid last year. But I would not be surprised if the Vandals were to join the Big Sky after 2017 when the Sun Belt contract ends.
There’s been a lot of buzz on social media regarding Tuesday’s announcement, as some campaign for Independent FBS status while others lobby for the Big Sky. I can see the reason why fans support an FCS option, because playing independent football is difficult to maintain.
Idaho is not a powerhouse program like independent Notre Dame, which possesses an abundance of revenue and a lucrative NBC contract. Idaho attempted this route in 2013, and the football program struggled mightily.
A move to the Big Sky will finally allow all of athletic teams to remain within one conference, with the lone exception being the swim and dive program, which is part of the Western Athletic Conference.
It is very possible that Idaho will be an FCS team after 2017, and this is actually a blessing for the program’s future.
One of the issues for Idaho in the Sun Belt is the amount of time spent traveling around to the Southeast. The vast distance between Moscow and opposing schools results in hardly any Vandal fans attending away games.
For instance, in Idaho’s 19-16 win against Troy on Oct. 17, the team had several flight delays and didn’t arrive at their destination until just hours before the game. It must prove frustrating for the Vandals to not have any support on the road, but that is what happens when the team plays in a southern-based conference.
If Idaho joins the Big Sky, the Vandals would not have to worry about the long distances to travel in order to play a game.
Not only would fans get to attend more road games, but playing Big Sky football could potentially result in more competitive matchups that fans would get excited about.
On the downside, the university will lose a significant amount of scholarships, but at least Vandal fans will not have to travel to Alabama to cheer on their alma mater. Instead, fans can make relatively short drives throughout the Northwest to cheer on their team.
Imagine traveling to the Inferno in Cheney and having hundreds of Vandal fans rooting for our team to beat Eastern Washington – one of the top teams in the conference.
Not only would fans see more regional games, an old rivalry can finally be renewed. The Vandals would have the opportunity to face Montana, a team it has not faced since 2003.
The Grizzlies won the last matchup 41-28, but the Vandals have beaten Montana 55 out of the programs’ 84 meetings. I picture this future game as an event that will pack the Kibbie Dome and bring a little buzz to football.
Besides an occasional meeting with Washington State for the Battle of the Palouse, what opponent can Idaho face that will bring excitement to the program?
In this day in age, the Vandals lack a consistent and meaningful rivalry. Idaho and Boise State experienced an irreparable exchange of words before their meeting in 2010.
In the Big Sky, the Vandals could reignite the Little Brown Stein series with Montana, bringing excitement to Vandal football.
In contrast to general opinion, joining the Big Sky will not result in immediate success for Idaho football. The team would have to face Eastern Washington and Portland State, both of which have beaten Pac-12 teams in recent years.
At the end of the day, moving to the Big Sky will provide a geographically friendly feel for the Vandals. The move to the FCS could potentially increase the number of fans in attendance at away games.
The Vandals are slowly on the path to rebuilding a solid football program, and the 2016 season will be the ultimate test of whether or not the team is the real deal. If the team joins the Big Sky in 2018, the Vandals could become a conference contender.
Luis Torres can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @TheLTFiles
Vandal for Life!
The FCS option should be a non-starter for Staben. When the Vandals were the "elite" of then I-AA football those so called regional rivaleries rarely filled the Dome. I vividly remember so called important games against Montana, MSU, ISU, ot EWU and seats would be empty past the 20 yard line. The Dome only filled for BSU, UNR, or homecoming games. There were playoff games that would only attract 6000 fans. Looking at the really poor attendance with a 19 win Men's basketball program demonstrates that very few people are interested in the current line-up of Big Sky basketball teams. When BSU and UNR were members at least it was interesting. The Big Sky is not our future. The universities, with the exception of Montana, are not our peer institutions (unless Staben, the legislature, the governor, and the Reagents plan is to shrink the UI to the point of become a college...based on the lack of viable recovery and growth plans and declining enrollment maybe there is more truth to this...) So if the plan is to do something other than eventually dismantle the UI, the only path forward is FBS independence until our facilities, fan base, team records, TV audience, and institutional relevance meets the criteria for inclusion into the Mountin West. Unless we see a clear path, including increased capacity of the Dome to 25,000 as requested by the MWC in past discussions, put forward by Staben and Spear then we must conclude that the eventual fate of the UI is outright extinction as we all know the elected leaders of our state do not value the UI. BSU's growth as an institution, and as the new flagship institution, is solely due to the success of their athletic programs and a very comprehensive institution wide plan to assure and capitalize on that success. BSU's greatly increased state funding, attraction of students, research grants, clearly serves as evidence that as long as our state government stays as it has for the last 20 years success in sports is all that matters when dividing up the scarce educational funds. This is the reality we live with and given voting patterns of the more populace south, it isn't going to change. I wish the Vandal nation would rise up and stop the death spiral of our once great institution.
Dandy
Why are you deleting comments that disagree with your point of view? If you're open for constructive criticism then please allow for comments to be posted w/out deleting them!!
Zach Dixon
Please stop campaigning for the FCS. It isn't helping anything. We need to start writing the president and telling him that his defeatist attitude is not going to bring our program down. There has been enough outrage and support for the program being in the FBS that the president needs to start recognizing that he will be losing a lot of the fanbase. I know that transitioning to the FCS will lose me and many others that I know. And the worst part is that the only reason is to regain "old rivalries" that no one remembers having in the first place.
John
On another note,why don't you ask the young men lining up in the black and gold on your cover story's picture how they feel about moving to FCS. They may come to a strikingly different conclusion than you.
dandyvandy
U of I Football dropping down to FCS will directly limit the long term credibility and viability of the University of Idaho in many ways and indirectly impede the future advancement of The City of Moscow in many more. Ultimately, U of I moving down to FCS would secure a long term “Death Sentence” to the U of I as an institution and the growth of the greater Moscow community. I know you Argonaut/Vandal Nation writers have so little time on your hands because of all the diligent and in depth research you're doing regarding this matter, so with respect to you and your time I will try to be succinct, clear and most of all SIMPLE with my support points regarding the FACTS. The University’s enrollment growth plan will be crippled by moving down to FCS. Athletics are integral in advertising to the masses (i.e. the 80% who are not academics), primarily through football, and without being on the “mainstage” or FBS Idaho loses that target audience, thus losing 80% of its potential market segment. U of I student enrollment will be in a constant stagnation mode without proper advertising through athletics. Further, with enrollment flat or decreasing, capital deployment by investors into Moscow real estate (commercial and residential) will dry up due to the lack of opportunity on future ROI predicated by increasing student enrollment. Additionally, as I’m sure you well know due to your in depth research, U of I directly represents approximately 50% of the primary economic base to the City of Moscow. Dropping football down will directly inhibit the profitability of all the businesses in Moscow due to decreased revenues from people like myself who will no longer travel to Moscow to see games. Look at football attendance during our Big Sky tenure and you’ll see it pales in comparison to attendance, despite winning while FCS, since going back into FBS in the 90’s. Further, people from outside the area WILL NOT travel to Moscow for a weekend to see the likes of the teams/schools that remain in the Big Sky today, except for MAYBE Montana. The “rivalry” institutions that were there in the 80’s have moved on. Alumni relations are critical for the success of any University. The very thought of this move down is already having a negative affect within the alumni circles in Boise and Seattle (two of our primary markets) and moving down to FCS will permanently alienate many within those alumni bases, thus causing irreparable and permanent damage to long term alumni relations. Outside of personal platitudes by a few delusional (and apparently very influential) individuals who are proponents for returning to FCS, there is not one positive objective metric supporting the greater good and continued advancement of The University of Idaho or the City of Moscow from moving backwards in football status. Ultimately, by moving football back down to the FCS level the U of I cannot succeed on the public perception platform in its current market against peer institutions. Being that perception is reality I’ll finish my comment by proposing a question, a question that many alumni are asking themselves, “Why should we continue to fight for the long term tenable future and success of our alma mater and/or Moscow when its leaders will not?”
doug
Nothing you said can be backed up with fact. You are arguing with pride and nothing else, which is strange considering Idaho's winning percentage when not part of the Big Sky is 34%. The football team needs to join the rest of the sports where it belongs, in the Big Sky.
dandyvandy
Doug, everything I stated is fact. Please see paragraph 2 of page 6 (https://www.ci.moscow.id.us/records/Planning%20%20Guides/Strategic%20Plan%20Executive%20Summary.pdf). Please think/research/use some form of cognitive logic before you spew garbage on the internet regarding matters that you know nothing of next time you decide to type.
John
It's telling when the main argument for the advantages of retreating to FCS is playing Montana for the "Little Brown Stein"...I'd rather have the ability to play Bowling Green for the H-Bowl title any day of the week. We drop to FCS, we lose.
Andy F
Well Our basketball team one game short of a 20 win season played the #1 team in the Big Sky conference. Attendance was 1495. Wow so much for Big sky Rivalries.
James Kirk
Regional? How many miles is that drive to north Dakota? How about Northern AZ or Northern Colorado or southern Utah? Ask yourself how many fewer fans will make the drive to Moscow for home games. They will more than outweigh the hundreds going to cheney or Missoula. Basing a decision that will impact the entire University for generations to come on the ability for a couple hundred people to drive to cheney is beyond ignorant. For you younger readers let this veteran of the big sky let you in on a secret, there never where the great old days. The school lucked into hiring Dennis Erickson and the next 2 to 3 coaches and won. Also, ewu and Portland state were D2 so not historical rivals. Wake up, you are being sold a bill of goods. I hope there are four of you reading this who are supporting giving up that are ready to step up and purchase my season tickets and kick in my vsf donation because this alum, father of a current student, and season ticket holder for 20 years will have nothing else to do with a University that makes major decisions based on b.s. and some fake "regional" conference. Be warned, if the UI voluntarily makes itself irrelevant it won't be long until the name change to North Idaho Engineering School is the next step to increase the student experience.
concerned
Will the students be allowed to vote on this decision?
Martin
You should do your homework before you write uneducated articles like this. So, how do you make up for lost donations from businesses, boosters, and Alumni when we drop from FBS to FCS? How do you make up for lost revenue from FBS Playoff money and Bowl money? The only money earned through FCS affiliation is the FCS Championship $450,000. Lower bowls offer $750,000/team. How do you make up for lost revenue from money games? Currently we get over a million on average, where FCS games average $400,000. You were not around when Idaho was FCS. There are no rivalries in the Sky except for 1, Montana. All the others have moved to FBS. The teams in the FCS are not going to draw more fans and success will not be guaranteed. Instead of 11,000 fans at the games you will see 6,000. If we happen to make the playoffs in December you will still see 6,000 at the games. Our last H-Bowl win got more viewers than the FCS Championship game.Talent will drop and players will leave due to the drop down. IF FCS is so awesome and such a no-brainer, you should interview the UAB Athletic Director and ask them why they didn’t just move to FCS instead of KILLING their program. Oh by the way, they are bringing it back and not at the FCS level! Go to an FCS game next year and compare it to one of our games next season and tell me if we should drop to that level. If we go bowling the next 2 years (which we have a very good chance of doing) tell me why we don’t belong at the FBS level!