UCA new school to I-AA

[BEAR]

Hello all d1aa fans! I found out today that UCA has been invited to join the Southland conference. I expect them to accept so here we are! :D

Please tell me about this division because I have no idea how tough it is and who is in it. thanks! Can't wait to talk the smack with you guys during football season!

[JMU Duke Dog]

Welcome! The James Madison University Dukes are the current defending national champions of Division I-AA. JMU is comprised of 17,000 students located in Harrisonburg, Virginia and plays football in the Atlantic 10 Conference which will become the Colonial Athletic Association soon keeping the same members. Good luck to UCA in the Southland Conference and Division I-AA!

[BEAR]

UCA is growing and has 11k students. It brings a rich history and I hope we will be an asset to the division. UCA has all kinds of sports, check out ucasports.com to see the list...yes.. pippen is our big basketball guy..monte coleman and willie davis are our football ones too!

[bisonguy]

Welcome from a fan of a school already in DI reclassification purgatory!

Here's a couple of good sites to help become familiar with I-AA:

http://www.i-aa.org/ (The parent site of this board, and best site on I-AA football- or is it the other way around :confused: )
http://www.diaafootball.com (nice site to quickly get facts on I-AA teams and their schedules- from the creator of Bisonville.com)


Edit don't know how I missed Ralph's link he provided with all the sites, but the two I listed give a good intro to I-AA

[BEAR]

Thanks for all your help! I know UCA will be in suspended animation until the probationary period is over, so we won't take the national championship away just yet. Our big concern is how your schools handled the jump from whatever to d1 in all the other sports..I mean I know it will be tough but nobody wants to see their team get whipped by Kentucky or another d1 team right off the bat..sure am glad the football team will be d1aa! ;)

[89rabbit]

Thanks for all your help! I know UCA will be in suspended animation until the probationary period is over, so we won't take the national championship away just yet. Our big concern is how your schools handled the jump from whatever to d1 in all the other sports..I mean I know it will be tough but nobody wants to see their team get whipped by Kentucky or another d1 team right off the bat..sure am glad the football team will be d1aa! ;)

Welcome to the board and I-AA. SDSU, like our friends at NDSU, is in the process of becoming full members of D-I. You asked about the other sports . . . funny you should mention Kentucky our Women's Basketball team's first D-I win can against Kentucky and our Men open the season this year on ESPNU against Kentucky in the Guardians Classic. Don't get me wrong there is a learning curve and you will pay your dues as you ramp up scholarships (at times it won't be pretty) but it is all worth it. Much better to be a newcomer to D-I then a power in D-II, IMHO.

[bisonguy]

Thanks for all your help! I know UCA will be in suspended animation until the probationary period is over, so we won't take the national championship away just yet. Our big concern is how your schools handled the jump from whatever to d1 in all the other sports..I mean I know it will be tough but nobody wants to see their team get whipped by Kentucky or another d1 team right off the bat..sure am glad the football team will be d1aa! ;)

Here's the link to the NDSU message board- http://www.bisonville.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl and the SDSU message board- http://diaafootball.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl if you want some insight as to what the transition is like from DII to DI (both NDSU and SDSU are in the third year of the five year transition) .

[catbob]

All I heard was UCA, who the heck is UCA? That is like saying MSU that can mean like 5 schools at least. :P

Someone spell it out for me.

[AgentOrange]

UCA Bear.

How is this news coming out now? Last I heard the UCA suits and the Southland Conference reps wern't due to meet until the first week of September. Has someone pulled a fast one on us?

Be careful on how you answer. Don't want to leak anything sensitive.

[JaxSinfonian]

Congrats and welcome.

My first bit of adive would be to hang in there. It can be very discouraging during the limbo period, especially if your school hasn't lined up the appropriate support from alumni and private donors. Division I is a different world from D-II, and if your administration doesn't recognize that and act accordingly, it could be a loooooong adjustment period.

Case in point: Jax State won the D-II title in 1992, then announced the move up. Records for the subsequent years:

1993: 3-7
1994: 4-7
1995: 7-4
1996: 1-9
1997: 1-10
1998: 7-4
1999: 1-10
2000: 4-6
2001: 5-6
2002: 5-6
2003: 8-4
2005: 9-2

Oh, and from 1995-2002 we played in the Southland. That didn't help the W-L record any, either. Good luck ;)

[WCU LawCat]

wow that 95 and 98 team got a hold of some good steroids :p

[BEAR]

The official offer must have come out because it has leaked all over Conway, home of UCA, hard to keep a secret in a small city like this. We would be starting in the Southland conference becuase of its closeness to Arkansas.
UCA stands for University of Central Arkansas. NOT affiliated in any way with the U of A system, I hate the hogs. :bang:

I know we will have it tough to start out, but I believe we will do better in the Southland than most people will realize. Since we are on probation, even an undefeated season would mean nothing, but undefeated is unlikely to happen anyway. I bet most of the fields in those states are flooded by Katrina anyway. :(

Prayers to all those in Katrinas path.

[bobcatfan06]

Nope, Bobcat Stadium is high and dry. I think the only school affected by Katrina in the SLC is Nicholls St. They were right in the path of the hurricane. In case you didn't realize, the SLC has teams in Louisiana and Texas. Football playing schools in Texas are Texas State, Sam Houston State, and Stephen F. Austin. Non-football playing schools in Texas are University of Texas-San Antonio, University of Texas-Arlington, and Lamar. Football playing school in Louisiana are Nicholls St., McNeese St., Northwestern St., and Southeastern Louisiana. Only the University of Louisiana-Monroe is the non-football playing school in Louisiana. They play in the I-A Sunbelt for football and maybe volleyball?? Anyway, Welcome to the SLC and I-AA!!!

[Cat79]

UCABear,

Welcome to the Southland. We look forward to having you guys in our conference.

[greenG]

I think the only school affected by Katrina in the SLC is Nicholls St. They were right in the path of the hurricane.

Actually, Southeastern Louisiana is in Hammond which is not far out of New Orleans. The school web site isn't responding, although Lionsports.net is. They are due to play Jacksonville on Thursday but I don't think they'll be playing much ball in those parts soon.:( Too many more important things to deal with.

[TexasTerror]

SELA and Nicholls cancelled their games...

Welcome to the conference. Make sure you join up on http://www.katfans.com and get some of your fellas in UCA to join up as well!

What's the status of mens' soccer? Going to just be independent?

[bobcatfan06]

Actually, Southeastern Louisiana is in Hammond which is not far out of New Orleans. The school web site isn't responding, although Lionsports.net is. They are due to play Jacksonville on Thursday but I don't think they'll be playing much ball in those parts soon.:( Too many more important things to deal with.

Oops, I meant to put SeLA in there too and just left them out. I still have a hard time remembering they are in the SLC (no disrespect).

[Cat79]

Ralph,

SLU is SeLa. I think they officially use SLU.

[McTailGator]

Hello all d1aa fans! I found out today that UCA has been invited to join the Southland conference. I expect them to accept so here we are! :D

Please tell me about this division because I have no idea how tough it is and who is in it. thanks! Can't wait to talk the smack with you guys during football season!


UCA Message Board (http://forums.delphiforums.com/boutthembears/start)

Here is a link to an unofficial USA Message board started by one of your fans about 6 months ago. It has several links to the majority of Southland Schools.

[kats89]

UCA Message Board (http://forums.delphiforums.com/boutthembears/start)

Here is a link to an unofficial USA Message board started by one of your fans about 6 months ago. It has several links to the majority of Southland Schools.


Well, welcome to the wonderful Southland Conference. Hope you have some boys that can take the beating on the football field. This is a very physical conference with some great rivalries. Looking forward to you coming to Bowers Stadium.

[bobcatfan06]

They do. TSU-SM?


OK DAMN!!! SLU!!! SLU!!! SLU!!!! :mad:

[89Hen]

Welcome Bear! It is always great to get some new blood in the classification. Hey, this is one less state on the must get list! We haven't had any Arkansas teams since the Indians left, have we? How many states left?

BTW, I'm not doubting you Bear, but have we had confirmation of this from the SLC yet?

[NoCoDanny]

Welcome Bear! It is always great to get some new blood in the classification. Hey, this is one less state on the must get list! We haven't had any Arkansas teams since the Indians left, have we? How many states left?

BTW, I'm not doubting you Bear, but have we had confirmation of this from the SLC yet?

Arkansas-Pine Bluff baby!

[OL FU]

All I heard was UCA, who the heck is UCA? That is like saying MSU that can mean like 5 schools at least. :P

Someone spell it out for me.


Thanks for asking, 'cuz now I don't have to.
Welcome to I-AA and AGS. and in this part of the south, think Furman. Don't believe anything those Georgia Southern fans say about us or anything else.

[Eagle_77]

We say nothing but nice things about Furman.

**had to get the true message to him some how. ;)

[89Hen]

Arkansas-Pine Bluff baby!
:doh: I never think of the non-playoff teams.

[buckp]

Welcome UCABEAR!!!! :beerchug:

We're always glad to have new members here at AGS and especially happy that
the BEARS have decided to join Southland.....:nod:

[BEAR]

Well, welcome to the wonderful Southland Conference. Hope you have some boys that can take the beating on the football field. This is a very physical conference with some great rivalries. Looking forward to you coming to Bowers Stadium.


Sam Houston is the great great? grandfather of my brother in law charles Houston..it's a direct line to his heritage..he played at Florida State...cool connection I think...

[MR. CHICKEN]

CENTRAL ARK. ......SHOW US DUH MONEY....AWK!...AH MEAN...HELMET!....:rotateh:...AWK!

[89Hen]

Looks like UCA has already played their first game for the year last week, beating Eastern New Mexico 51-0.

"Estes Stadium's west (home) side was rebuilt from the ground up before the 1998 season, and named for G. Dan Estes, who coached football at UCA from 1915-1932. The new $5 million dollar facility houses the entire football program, including dressing room, weight room, meeting and film rooms, equipment room, coaches' offices and athletic training room. The concourse (second) level consists of consession stands, novelty stands and restrooms and offers a unique view of the game in progress."
http://www.cromwell.com/images/uca%20stad.jpg

http://www.helmet-collectors.com/helmets/D2/gulfS/uca1.gif

[HPCAT]

They do. TSU-SM?

Yes, that is the new TSU (Texas Southern) campus on South Montrose. :)

Inside joke you might have to be familar with Houston to understand.

TXST is the appropriate acronym for Texas State.