seawolf
March 23rd, 2007, 08:50 AM
http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ny-skmarc0322,0,6785869.column?coll=ny-sports-columnists
by Newsday's Steve Marcus
Yet another local college is aligning with schools from the South, but this time there just might be some logic to it.
Stony Brook University will join the Big South Conference in 2008. Why is SBU teaming with Liberty, Gardner-Webb, Charleston Southern, et al? First and foremost, it beats being an independent with an unbalanced schedule that could range from a piddling scholarship team to an over the top contender and no shot at the NCAA playoffs.
Joining a conference, any conference, displays a method to this I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) madness. Football cannot forecast success as an independent and that is what Stony Brook faced when it left the Northeast Conference where it competed with Central Connecticut, Wagner, Albany, Robert Morris and others in a non-bid and undernourished scholarship situation. Stony Brook wanted out, even after a conference title in 2005, because it eventually wants to compete with the best the division has to offer.
SBU athletic director Jim Fiore wasn't satisfied to schedule as an independent for more than a year or two. He knows where he wants to go and may have the perfect blend of ambition and impatience to make it work, though this will be like a long term bond that may not yield dividends until held to maturity.
Here's what will happen in Fiore's perfect world: Stony Brook will acquit itself well over the next several years, adding scholarships and continuing to play arch-rival Hofstra and other fully funded (by FCS standards) schools as he can. Look for games against Hofstra, UMass, Richmond and Youngstown State in the immediate future.
If Fiore can raise the scholarship ante to the allowable 63--and he promises he will--he might have something here. The Big South needed a warm football body to fulfill the requirement of six teams for automatic bid consideration. Even if Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander was being gratuitous in saying he expects Stony Brook to compete for the conference championship right away, that is exactly Stony Brook's goal.
Stony Brook hopes to be poised to make a run at that NCAA bid because attaining it could open the Seawolves to other conference opportunities. Ultimately, and all of this could take the better part of a decade, the end game for Stony Brook is being in a high profile conference with some of the best northeast teams in the Football Championship Subdivision. Currently, many of those reside in the Colonial Athletic Association, which essentially took over the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Big South is safe harbor until that opportunity arrives.
Fiore has no choice but to be optimistic that all the pieces will come together. He isn't releasing the price tag for all of this, but suffice to say it is enormous. And its mostly on him to make it work through raising the revenue. His administration backs the concept but isn't necessarily signing a blank check to finance it. Let the rubber chicken circuit begin, or more accurately, continue, with Fiore as the keynote speaker.
As we have repeatedly said, this brand of football, regardless of affiliation, has not worked at the box office on Long Island as it has in other parts of the country. Hofstra has proven that year after year. The difference at Stony Brook is that it does not have to fill a 15,000-seat stadium. A nice crowd at the college's on-campus facility is four or five thousand. It may not make money but at least will render the attendance issue moot.
In any event, we're probably guaranteed one local northeast rivalry amid this southern discomfort: Hofstra-Stony Brook. Anybody for a one-game season?
by Newsday's Steve Marcus
Yet another local college is aligning with schools from the South, but this time there just might be some logic to it.
Stony Brook University will join the Big South Conference in 2008. Why is SBU teaming with Liberty, Gardner-Webb, Charleston Southern, et al? First and foremost, it beats being an independent with an unbalanced schedule that could range from a piddling scholarship team to an over the top contender and no shot at the NCAA playoffs.
Joining a conference, any conference, displays a method to this I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) madness. Football cannot forecast success as an independent and that is what Stony Brook faced when it left the Northeast Conference where it competed with Central Connecticut, Wagner, Albany, Robert Morris and others in a non-bid and undernourished scholarship situation. Stony Brook wanted out, even after a conference title in 2005, because it eventually wants to compete with the best the division has to offer.
SBU athletic director Jim Fiore wasn't satisfied to schedule as an independent for more than a year or two. He knows where he wants to go and may have the perfect blend of ambition and impatience to make it work, though this will be like a long term bond that may not yield dividends until held to maturity.
Here's what will happen in Fiore's perfect world: Stony Brook will acquit itself well over the next several years, adding scholarships and continuing to play arch-rival Hofstra and other fully funded (by FCS standards) schools as he can. Look for games against Hofstra, UMass, Richmond and Youngstown State in the immediate future.
If Fiore can raise the scholarship ante to the allowable 63--and he promises he will--he might have something here. The Big South needed a warm football body to fulfill the requirement of six teams for automatic bid consideration. Even if Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander was being gratuitous in saying he expects Stony Brook to compete for the conference championship right away, that is exactly Stony Brook's goal.
Stony Brook hopes to be poised to make a run at that NCAA bid because attaining it could open the Seawolves to other conference opportunities. Ultimately, and all of this could take the better part of a decade, the end game for Stony Brook is being in a high profile conference with some of the best northeast teams in the Football Championship Subdivision. Currently, many of those reside in the Colonial Athletic Association, which essentially took over the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Big South is safe harbor until that opportunity arrives.
Fiore has no choice but to be optimistic that all the pieces will come together. He isn't releasing the price tag for all of this, but suffice to say it is enormous. And its mostly on him to make it work through raising the revenue. His administration backs the concept but isn't necessarily signing a blank check to finance it. Let the rubber chicken circuit begin, or more accurately, continue, with Fiore as the keynote speaker.
As we have repeatedly said, this brand of football, regardless of affiliation, has not worked at the box office on Long Island as it has in other parts of the country. Hofstra has proven that year after year. The difference at Stony Brook is that it does not have to fill a 15,000-seat stadium. A nice crowd at the college's on-campus facility is four or five thousand. It may not make money but at least will render the attendance issue moot.
In any event, we're probably guaranteed one local northeast rivalry amid this southern discomfort: Hofstra-Stony Brook. Anybody for a one-game season?