Which ex-FCS program made the biggest mistake by moving up or dropping the program?

[NY Crusader 2010]

.........GEORGIA STATE...DUH AGS...ASS CLOWN....UH MOVE UPS.......IS 4-2 IN BOWLS..........AWK!

Georgia State was something like 1-15 in 2 years in the CAA. I think they beat URI once and that was it. And then they've moved up, and done well in FBS for the most part.

[bonarae]

Do you think Kennesaw State was "forced" to move up like Georgia State and UMass also did?

[Go Green]

To me UConn didn't make a mistake moving up. How many schools were/are in a position to go right from 1AA/FCS to a BCS/Power 4/5 conference and are handed a $91 million dollar stadium?

Looking back, having the stadium 30 minutes from campus hurts them, they've made some very bad coaching decisions, they've had bad conference luck with all of the moving around, and I think becoming an independent to move all the other sports to the Big East was a mistake, but in the moment that decision to move up is completely defensible and I'm not sure you'd make a different decision even in hindsight.

This.

if UConn made a "mistake" because they didn't foresee that the Big East would implode in football some fifteen years later... that's demanding a lot of the decision makers.

I suppose the one regrettable move UConn made was suing BC from leaving the Big East. Story I've heard repeatedly is that BC intentionally blocked UConn from joining the ACC as revenge. Who knows how it would have played out otherwise?

[Catamount87]

App was ready financially to make the jump to FBS, I don't think Ga Southern was - I think they jumped on the ship when they had the chance but weren't ready.

And not that they've ever cared about anything other than football, but their basketball team is 0-12.

Pretty much that was the opinion of many people outside of GSU, they weren't ready financially. Whereas App was very well prepared. As I recall, a lot of folks also felt GSU was pulling a "me too" move. I wouldn't be surprised if behind the scenes the Sun Belt was telling App that they needed to convince GSU to move up too.

[Catamount87]

Do you think Kennesaw State was "forced" to move up like Georgia State and UMass also did?

I am pretty sure that answer is No. Go back to them starting football and they wanted in to SoCon but had to settle for the Big South. I had two SoCon ADs at the time tell me the SoCon said no because two things were clear, 1) KSU intended to move to FBS as soon as they could and 2) their enrollment and ability to generate athletic fees well above the rest of the SoCon would give them a massive financial advantage.

[KnightoftheRedFlash]

Any school that dropped football made a mistake!

[DFW HOYA]

Any school that dropped football made a mistake!

is there any Division I school that dropped football and became a better athletic program as a result? Can't think of any.

[Go Green]

is there any Division I school that dropped football and became a better athletic program as a result? Can't think of any.

St. Mary's kind of sort of fit this bill for a while.

[DFW HOYA]

St. Mary's kind of sort of fit this bill for a while.

Not as an athletic program. Finished 223rd of 261 schools in the NACDA/Learfield Cup, just ahead of Alabama State

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Not as an athletic program. Finished 223rd of 261 schools in the NACDA/Learfield Cup, just ahead of Alabama State

Success is defined in various ways. In terms of the publicity, basketball has brought St. Mary's (especially their rivalry with Gonzaga) a significant amount of notoriety. The only reason St. Mary's was part of my conscious prior to their winning ways under Bennett is the fact Lehigh traveled to Moraga in 1998 to play them in football. They made the trip to Bethlehem in 2003 which proved to be their final season.