GC&SU football, still undefeated

As the student body continues to grow every year at GC&SU, a certain question about athletics is asked over and over again.

Why doesn’t GC&SU have a football team?

“Not having a football team makes (the student body) feel left out,” said sophomore Brad Speers.

The biggest and most obvious reason is money to pay for the football team.

Brad Muller, assistant athletics director for Public Relations, said that in order to have a football team, the student activity fees would have to be increased by hundreds of dollars.

“If the student body is willing to shell out the money, then we can have a football team,” Muller said.

The increase in student activity fees would be substantial because the money from these fees would be needed to fund the hiring of coaches and the building of practice facilities and a stadium for the team.

Some students think that since college football is a huge moneymaker on the Division I level, it would also be a large source of income on the Division II level.

Not so, said Muller.

“Division II football is not a moneymaker,” Muller said.

Muller said that while Division II schools such as Valdosta State and West Georgia have successful football programs, the schools are not making a profit, primarily because of their small size.

“Football should be a revenue sport,” Muller said.

Director of University Communications Mitch Clarke echoed Muller’s perspective on the profitability of Division II football.

“Division II football has no TV contracts or Nike contracts,” Clarke said. “And College Gameday is not coming to Georgia College.”

GC&SU and the other 11 members of the Peach Belt Conference currently have no football programs, with the exception the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, which will debut its football program in 2007.

“If we added football, (GC&SU) would have to become an independent or move to another conference,” Muller said.

More sports would have to be added along with football because of Title IX.

Title IX of the Education Amendments is the 1972 legislation that said that all universities must base their athletic programs on the gender ratio of their students.

For instance, if 60 percent of a university’s students happen to be female, then 60 percent of its athletic programs must be geared toward women’s sports.

“If we had football, we would have to add at least two women’s varsity programs,” Muller said.

The average number of players on a college football team is 85. It would be difficult for the athletics department to find women’s sports equal to the massive size of a football team.

While money and Title IX are the most logical reasons for not having a football team, another reason lies between the hedges.

“Because (Milledgeville) is 70 miles from Athens, we would be competing with a fan base from the University of Georgia,” Muller said.

The University of Georgia has one of the most successful college football programs in the country. Sanford Stadium, UGA’s football stadium, has capacity of over 92,000, and every game is a sellout.

With a close proximity to the University of Georgia, the GC&SU football team would be competing with the University of Georgia to attract fans.

Muller and Clarke see that as a lost cause.

“If someone had a choice of going to see Georgia College play West Georgia or go see Georgia play Auburn, what would the choice be?” Clarke said. “They are going to go to the Georgia game.”

While there is a strong fan base for the Georgia Bulldogs at GC&SU, many students still want a football team to represent their university.

Bryan Weaver, a physical therapy major, said, “A football team would bring the student body together and give them something to support.”

The strong desire for a GC&SU football team might lead an outsider to think that students would embrace the other athletic teams. However, the 10 varsity programs at GC&SU play to nearly empty stadiums or arenas, despite being successful in sports such as softball, baseball and women’s soccer.

Muller wants the desire for a football team to be redirected toward these other programs.

“If it takes a football team to bring out athletic pride, I don’t think that is right,” Muller said. “I would rather see our students give our other athletic teams the support that they deserve.”

But students argue that more prestige would come to the university with a football team.

“Having a football team would add more interest and appeal to the school,” said Matt Cook, a sophomore. “It would give students something to do over the weekend (in Milledgeville).”

So, will GC&SU ever have a football team?

“Never say never,” Muller said. “But I don’t think it is likely or feasible in the foreseeable future.”

In the meantime, GC&SU students will have rely on intramural flag football for their football fix.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 7 2005. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry