Money and Pride
September 17, 2009 at 11:43 pm 2 comments
Alabama was the big fish that got away for Florida International University. Going into halftime the Golden Panthers hanged on against the Crimson Tide having some in South Florida fantasizing the potential headlines on ESPN. “Biggest upset of the season” would have been the likely choice. Even when the Crimson Tide began to pull away in the third quarter, one touchdown would have got the Golden Panthers back into the game. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter when Alabama scored two touchdowns, burying Florida International University in the process, that our hopes were deflated like a balloon.
Despite being a young program a question arises, why are FIU Golden Panthers in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formally known as Division 1-A? The program began in 2001 with their inaugural game in 2002 and despite winning their first game the team has an all-time record of 21-58 with 2006 and 2007 being their worst seasons. When the program began the team was placed in Division 1-AA. Initially an independent team, they became part of the Sun Belt Conference. The Sun Belt Conference is a 31 division conference and one of 11 that are part of the FBS. The conference is also part of the Bowl Championship Series, also known as the BCS. It wasn’t until 2005 that the team moved up into the FBS.
The decision to move into the FBS was made by the university. Former President Modesto Madique wanted to promote the football team to benefit the program. The program had to go through a two-year process to become “bowl ready”. The process required the school to offer over 200 scholarships across the board in athletics and the school had to field at least 12 teams in order to complete the process, according to Richard Kelch, assistant in media relations of the FIU Athletics Department.
Courtesy: FIU Athletic Department
Prior to the season, former Athletic Director Rick Mellow went out to set up the eventual showdown between FIU and Alabama. Alabama paid the school $450,000 to travel up there and play them on their home field. This is common in the NCAA according to Kelch. Two years ago Texas paid Florida Atlantic University $2 million to come over and play them. FIU’s football budget for 2008-09 is roughly $5.5 million, down from $5.9 million in 2007-08. Kelch said the reason teams do this is economical, it’s to do what’s best for their programs. In Alabama’s case they wouldn’t come down here to play FIU no matter what the offer was. Their football program sought to have seven home games this year. As for FIU, they would go on to have five home games every season and have teams pay to play for the road games.
“The benefit of being in Division 1-A is national exposure, TV time and for campus life,” Kelch said. “If you’re not on the map, you’re nowhere.”
Prior to joining the Sun Belt Conference in 1999, FIU was a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The advantage in being a part of the Sun Belt Conference is prestige because of the group’s affiliation in the college FBS and the BCS. Two of the top schools in the conference are the University of North Texas Mean Green and the Troy University Trojans, this year’s defending champion.
“We invited Florida International University in part because of its success, geography and size of the school,” Associate Commissioner John McElwain said.
FIU’s 10 year membership and student population are some of the main reasons its football program was invited to the conference.
“We are very proud to have them in our conference considering their youth,” McElwain said.
Courtesy: FIU Athletic Department
The conference was founded on August 4, 1976 by six schools: New Orleans, South Alabama, Georgia State, Jacksonville, North Carolina-Charlotte and South Florida. Initially the conference participated in four men’s sports playing basketball, soccer, golf and tennis. Currently the conference consists of 13 schools and 19 sports for both men and women. The Sun Belt Conference also has a permanent seat on the NCAA’s 17 member board of directors. As a result the conference has influence in all issues concerning college sports.
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iamfree1804 | September 22, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Hey! Cool blog, very informative. There is a part where you spelled through “thru.” It’s the texting and instant messaging that did that to you. It did it to me too. We’re so used to writing words wrongly that we don’t notice when we do it. It’s almost like the wrong way to write it has become the right way. Although spell check can maybe help you beat that phenomenon, the best way to make sure you don’t make those mistakes, is to reread whatever you write at least twice. Also, you have nice contributed pictures, but try to take pictures yourself if possible.
Overall, your blog is really nice. It’s easy to read. It’s colorful, but not too much; the colors are sort of pastel which doesn’t make it hard to keep your focus on the copy itself. You should add an image in the top banner which is black for now.
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Elyse Coleman | September 22, 2009 at 9:34 pm
It sounds like by “exposure” what Kelch actually meant was “money.” We have a team that’s does poorly because we insist on playing teams that should out-class us for money.
Maybe I’m looking it wrong. Gaining a reputation as a team that will make other teams look good for money is still “exposure.” It may not be the kind of exposure the Golden Panthers want, but maybe Kelch is operating under a “any publicity is good publicity” philosophy.
The article is good in providing an insight as to why FIU Football runs the way it does. If I had one complaint it’s that some pacing needs to be fixed here and there. At some points the paragraphs run too long and facts end up running together.
As for the aesthetics, I like the heading and layout. It makes it looks like the blog is officially affiliated with FIU. Simpler is definitely better with this layout and I think you managed to dress it up just enough to be impressive without starting to overwhelm the content. The pictures are well-placed, though I would have liked to see some aligned to the left or right instead of placed entirely in the center.
Overall, it’s a good job.