UNC Charlotte Football

[AuLukey]

For some reason I was thinking they only made it to the "Elite Eight" that year. Good call. Met, as for pulling out my checkbook, I already have, but I'm still a student so my salary may not be as big as some who got offers from several fortune 500 companies after they graduated.

[NLP]

The pledges are coming. 40% spike in contribution pledges and pledges for season tickets.

People have pledged to give more than ECU boosters give per year.

Remember, most athletic programs (UNC too) generate most of their recurring funding from student fees.

These are fees on top of tuition, and do not take away money from academics or research, which a lot of people believe.

Considering the team doesn't even exist, I think we're off to a great start... and we haven't even done a small portion of the things we have in store.

[kickazzz2000]

I agree with you 100 percent. That website alone should be reason enough to spend the money to promote academics at UNCC instead of football. It's full of gramatical errors.

You mean, grammatical errors?

[monsoon]

You mean, grammatical errors?

Yep. But I am not running a website to improve a place of higher learning.

[SmellyCat]

Luke...UNCC made it to the Final Four back in the '70's. I think '74, but I didn't look it up.

1977 to be precise - UNCC came within one shot of making it to the finals but eventually lost to the other cinderella team that year, Marquette.

I don't think we need football at UNCC. We have enough lousy college FB teams in this state as it is.

[GoFightWin]

I disagree with you on almost all of your points::

Most people that live in this city will never go to UNCC.

Most people get outta town when they go to college. That is the whole college experience. What DOES happen though is that graduates stay in the area they went to school after graduation. I have met more UNCC graduates here than any other school by far.

If you don't go to a school then there is no reason to believe there is going to be "this spirit" that you refer too.

Oh you are SOOOOOOO wrong on that one. You think the ten of thousands of Duke and UNC hat and shirts you see around here all went to those colleges? You think the millions of people who chear for Notre Dame every weekend went to that school? You think the 110,000+ fans at a Univeristy of Michigan game all went to UMICH? No, no, and no.

Why don't we let the people who want it show their support by pulling out their checkbooks and credit cards to actually pay for it.

That is what they are trying to do but until they have a commitment for a team, money isn't going to be flowing in from anywhere. You think the average alumni that thinks UNCC will never get a football team is going to write them a big check? Money doesn't come in until you build a football program. How do you think USC has a brand new basketball arenas, plans for a new baseball field, etc? Because people give to the gamecock club to get football tickets.

Had I gone to a school with a football team I certainly would not be deriving my happiness from waving around a flag.

Maybe you should have gone to a "football school" then before you make that comment. For millions of people on Saturdays that IS where they derive thier happiness...Like it or not. Try driving down I-77 or I-85 on a saturday morning and count the USC and Clemson flags with out-of-state tags.

If your best days are your college days, then life really did treat you unfairly. For me there are simply too many other things that are much more important to my life.

Maybe life treated YOU unfairly. If you didn't have the "time of your life" in college, maybe YOU missed something. Was college the best years of my life, heck no. Was college the most fun years of my life, hell yes.

[jednc]

1977 to be precise - UNCC came within one shot of making it to the finals but eventually lost to the other cinderella team that year, Marquette.

I don't think we need football at UNCC. We have enough lousy college FB teams in this state as it is.

Thanks for the details...

[AuLukey]

Maybe you should have gone to a "football school" then before you make that comment. For millions of people on Saturdays that IS where they derive thier happiness...Like it or not. Try driving down I-77 or I-85 on a saturday morning and count the USC and Clemson flags with out-of-state tags.

I agree. Something I didn't really think to mention until I watched the Florida-Tennessee game on Saturday. My best friend from when I was little called me from the game while I was watching it. I unfortunately never saw her on TV. But while staring at the specks in the audience, I realized that football is a game that brings all types of people together, the jocks, the nerds, the preppy kids, the closet kids (and by that I mean loners,) alumni, and faculty. They are all there for the same reason: to cheer on their team. How can someone not be proud of their own college enough to get energetic about college sports? I mean is it odd to anybody that the Tennessee Volunteers play in a larger stadium than the Tennessee Titans? (104k to 67k)

My friends that do go to "football schools" are crazed about college football. And I'm talking paint themselves team colors for the game and stay that way all day (and sometimes the next) type fans. Oh, and these are A students at reputable schools: i.e. UF, UGA, Notre Dame, Syracuse, even some friends at Duke, which isn't a football school (as far as reputation.) Seems like you can have more than one thing on your mind in college and still graduate with honors.

I want to dress up in miner green and gold and wear a hunter green afro for my team before I graduate. Let's see, how many graduations would I have to avoid...?

[monsoon]

Maybe life treated YOU unfairly. If you didn't have the "time of your life" in college, maybe YOU missed something. Was college the best years of my life, heck no. Was college the most fun years of my life, hell yes.

I rest my case. If you are no longer have much fun in life I can see where you might want to sit at home and watch football. BTW, most people take the time to learn how to use the quote's on this system.

[GoFightWin]

I rest my case. If you are no longer have much fun in life I can see where you might want to sit at home and watch football. BTW, most people take the time to learn how to use the quote's on this system.

And I used to wonder why you were nominated as "bad guy of Charlotte" in the Charlotte Observer last month.

Just because you have an opinion about everything, doesn't mean you opinions are always right.

[monsoon]

And I used to wonder why you were nominated as "bad guy of Charlotte" in the Charlotte Observer last month.

Just because you have an opinion about everything, doesn't mean you opinions are always right.

Haha, yeah I note the party that stated that was "Anonymous..." In any case, it's good to see that I am ranked up there with other famous people in Charlotte. I had no idea I was keeping such good company these days. Good advertising for the site too, thanks for posting the link.

But I digress. If you bother to actually read my posts around here you will find that I am the first to say what an "opinion" is worth including my own. I note that it was you that bothered to butt into a post I made to someone else who did ask for my "opinion".

Wonder if I will win the contest?

[swh1972]

Congrats on the nomination metro...

[NLP]

The Charlotte 49er Football Initiative is meeting again tonight. I'll post rough minutes on what we talked about later tonight. If anyone has anything they'd like me to bring up, or address, I'd be happy to do so.

Oh, and based on pledges so far we'd be Top 50 in donations. Not bad for a team that doesn't exist.

[atlrvr]

How do the pledges work? Who can I make a donation too, and what can I get named in my honor?

I know another alumni, with farrrrrr deeper pockets than my own, that would probably be willing to make a major donation if it gets UNCC to form a football team in the forseeable future.

Please describe the initiative underway.

[RLJordan]

Let's stop using emotion and start using rational with all of this football talk. Football is highly costly and only a handful of colleges are able to operate the football program in the black. The truth of the matter is, UNCC does not have enough financial support to field a team. Title 9 would require additional womens sports and does anyone really think that BofA Stadium would allow 2 teams a week on that field? That would be an astronomical upkeep on the grass not to mention the extra work required to employ people to get the stadium ready to Sundays Pro game. Also, NC has enough horrible football programs. The only feasible conference that would take us would be the Big East and do we really want our inaugural season to be pitted agaisnt the likes of West Virginia? Another issue would be recutiment. Where would our players come from. Again, there is the matter of money to get these kids here. I spent 2 years in an SEC school and while football Saturdays is a treat to enjoy, it certainly is not the only aspect of college to be revered. Other teams would suffer as well, the addition of a new conference would mean harder teams to play, more building blocks needed to run a succesful mens basketball program. Student fees would be raised and with Charlotte still being known as a commuter campus, it is just not feasible. Put it on the back burner, and for Charlotte's 75 anniversary, then lets recurect the football talks.

[AuLukey]

How do the pledges work? Who can I make a donation too, and what can I get named in my honor?

I know another alumni, with farrrrrr deeper pockets than my own, that would probably be willing to make a major donation if it gets UNCC to form a football team in the forseeable future.

Please describe the initiative underway.

atl, the link to the site is in the beginning of the thread. It used to have several pages that went in depth about the cause at hand and the different issues that serve as roadblocks. For some reason they have reduced the site to less than this, but here is the link again: http://www.charlotte49erfootball.com/ Under "how to help" is where you can pledge your donation and the number of season tickets you would be willing to buy if and when the program ever starts. Charlotte does take naming rights donations to things even as little as benches in campus courtyards. Most naming rights on campus are named in honor of a person for what they did for the school rather than how much they donated, although there are exceptions.

Not to you atlrvr specifically, but I wish a lot of people who are newer to this thread would read back over at least the first couple of pages as it now seems there is a lot of information that a lot of the newer people don't know about the "cause," which is understandable.

First, to RLJ, welcome to the forum. Charlotte would not enter a league in Division I football at first like their basketball program currently is. Most new programs, for example, the program being started at Pembroke, start out in division II to keep initial costs of building the team down. That is the goal of the "cause." To build a program in division II and build it up enough so the school can afford to elevate it to division I standards. At Appalachian State University, they won last years division II championship game, many people that go to that school have been into their football program all along, but now are hoping the school will move on to the Division I level.

To the interference of one sport to another, that does happen, but not on as large of a scale as you would think. Look at the University of Florida for example. They are currently a ranked football program and they are the defending NCAA champions in basketball. Some schools are known as football schools and some as basketball schools. There are only a handful of examples of schools are successful in both. Whether this is because of the schools' lack of popularity in a certain sport has to do with this is hard to tell, but that would be my guess. A nationally ranked high school player of either sport will probably want to go to a college that is nationally ranked in that particular sport. It's just the same as the, let's call them well educated individuals, that want to go to an Ivy League school. The kid that graduates with honors in the top ten of his/her class will probably get more offers from universities of high ranking education than the kids who maybe finished with honors, but only managed to be in the top fifty of their class. The same will go for athletics. The stand out super stars of a high school football team will probably be more likely to be offered a scholarship to a nationally ranked football program; likewise with basketball, soccer, etc. So, it's really not that a school is better in one sport than another because they only focus on one, it's that the particular staff and school reputation for that sport mirror the level of interest athletes of that sport have in it.

Also, to the post you made in the USC forum:

As a proud Gamecock who put his time into Darla Moore's graps I say bravo. USC is just the school to send those damn Tar Heels packing..and even though we can barely beat Wofford in football, at least we can beat someone! Now maybe UNCC can ease off all of this football talk and keep focusing on their academics.

I don't think that the school USC is building in Charlotte will have any athletics programs. It would be nice if they would to create some cross town rivalries, but I doubt it will be anything larger than a satellite campus. I doubt its presence will turn loyalties to Columbia.

[Miesian Corners]

RL, welcome to the forum.

Now on to a question. If you are a "proud Gamecock", in what frame of reference do you use the word "our" in terms of building a football program at UNC Charlotte? Do you work at the university, are you a graduate student, or are you using the word as simply a resident of Charlotte?

[RLJordan]

In response, I speak as a Senior. Watching all of my friends graduate from a top tier business school with excellent marks and still having a hard time finding a job I took a job offer in commercial real estate. The job market, while relatively strong is still unsteady and a college degree just doesnt always cut it any more. I also love the Charlotte area having been raised here and cant think of a better city to work in.

[Miesian Corners]

^Thanks for the clarification. Differing opinions are always welcome. I just wanted to know from where your thoughts were originating. After all, you did label yourself as a "Gamecock". Sure do wish people had enough pride at UNC Charlotte to say the same as "proud 49ers". Will your degree say "The University of South Carolina" or will it read "The University of North Carolina at Charlotte"?

As a fellow undergraduate at UNC Charlotte (junior, majoring in geography), I disagree with your position. I really want to see the university become more than just a commuter school with no life beyond Thursday afternoons. I see no issue with developing a football program if alumni are willing to fund it.

[monsoon]

In response, I speak as a Senior. Watching all of my friends graduate from a top tier business school with excellent marks and still having a hard time finding a job I took a job offer in commercial real estate. The job market, while relatively strong is still unsteady and a college degree just doesnt always cut it any more. I also love the Charlotte area having been raised here and cant think of a better city to work in.

Welcome to the forum RLJordan and thanks for the very thoughtful comments and we appreciate the support for UrbanPlanet as well. Hopefully the people that are donating money towards this football cause will get some of it back when they discover this effort has zero chance of happening anytime in the foreseeable future.

UNCC needs to focus its resources on building more residence halls, classrooms, and other facilities that will insure it will continue to grow as it has for the last 40 years. Football, especially if public money is used to finance it, is a wasteful distraction from this process.

[Miesian Corners]

Welcome to the forum RLJordan and thanks for the very thoughtful comments and we appreciate the support for UrbanPlanet as well. Hopefully the people that are donating money towards this football cause will get some of it back when they discover this effort has zero chance of happening anytime in the foreseeable future.

UNCC needs to focus its resources on building more residence halls, classrooms, and other facilities that will insure it will continue to grow as it has for the last 40 years. Football, especially if public money is used to finance it, is a wasteful distraction from this process.

Sort of like public money being used to brick up the campus? That's very important.

[monsoon]

Sort of like public money being used to brick up the campus? That's very important.

I am reminded of the saying "Two wrongs don't make a right". If the only justification for wasting money on a football team is because their has been money wasted on frivilous projects in the past, then.... as I said above.... it has zero chance of happening.

[Miesian Corners]

metro, as usual, we will simply have to agree to disagree. I am on campus daily and see and hear what students say. Most are here simply because its inexpensive or was what their parents wanted them to do (close to home). There is no sense of community at all.

You are from Horry County, right? Check out what a football program has done for Coastal Carolina University in Conway. Much like UNC Charlotte, it was a commuter school in the middle of nowhere that had no life beyond the school week. Boy things are different now. Due to Coastal's success, UNC Pembroke is now serioulsy considering a similar program.

[monsoon]

You are from Horry County, right? Check out what a football program has done for Coastal Carolina University in Conway. Much like UNC Charlotte, it was a commuter school in the middle of nowhere that had no life beyond the school week. Boy things are different now. Due to Coastal's success, UNC Pembroke is now serioulsy considering a similar program.

This isn't exactly an apples to apples comparison given that you are talking about a 7,500 student school that withdrew from the USC system versus the 4th largest campus in the UNC system with close to 22,000 students. (and UNCC has not been around as long as Coastal either)

However, I certainly wouldn't say it was in the middle of nowhere. Coastal is only 5 miles from Myrtle Beach and 3 miles from Conway. Highway 501 has been completely developed between the two. There are a quarter of a million people living within a 15 minute drive of the place. The big draw of Coastal Carolina is its proximity to Mrytle Beach. Always has been and always will be.

I've seen no sign that people in Myrtle Beach or Conway have all of a sudden adopted this school as being suggested that Charlotteans will do if a football program is placed at UNCC. I know a huge number of people that live in Myrtle Beach and Conway and I don't know any of them that have gone or even thought about going to a football game at Coastal. The state remains capitivated by USC vs Clemson, just as it is Duke, UNC and NC State in NC. Always has been and always will be. However I would say that it is high school football that dominates that area for people that are interested in that sport. Want to see a packed football stadium? Attend the Myrtle Beach High School vs Conway High School game.

Coastal has done most of its growing in recent years because they decided to build on campus housing and expand the facilities so they can offer more undergraduate programs. This is exactly the same recipe that UNCC needs to follow.

[RLJordan]

In agreement with Metro, Coastal, while enjoying success is still a much smaller student body than UNCC. And oddly enough it is still mostly a commuter campus. The Chants while technically is apart from the USC campus is still enjoying its old affiliation with the system. The word 'Chanticleer' even means "a fighting chicken" from Chaucers Canterbury tales. However, I like to think that if UNCC were to get a football program it would aspire to a higher status than playing teams such as Wofford and Georgia Southern. The simple fact of the matter is that it all boils down to the numbers. And the numbers are that football programs initially are a huge drain on a schools finances and even in the long run there is slight chances for the program to operate in the black. I to am on campus most days and hear the football talk. But as with most college students, they talk more than they think. Are they willing to see their student fees increase for the team? Are they willing for potential increases in tuition? And are they willing to watch a struggling team for the first decade? fanciful thoughts rarely lead to rash decisions...sorry to be a buzz kill ya'll.