A Southern Basketball School Wants to Play Football
Stuart Nachbar
November 13, 2008
This week I read that the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (UNCC) administration is trying to raise $45 million to begin construction of a 12,000 football stadium to play at the 1-AA (Playoff Subdivision) level by the year 2013. This will be in addition to the future costs of football scholarships, coaches´ salaries, and the other expenses associated with supporting a football team before a single ticket is sold.
Founded as Charlotte College in 1949 and a part of the University of North Carolina system since 1967, UNCC has more than 22,000 students. Athletically, it has been a basketball school. UNCC´s men´s basketball team has participated in NCAA March Madness eleven times, reaching the Final Four in 1977. The women´s basketball team has enjoyed similar success, reaching the NCAA tournament in 2003, and appearing in the Women´s NIT every year since.
UNCC´s roots in basketball go back to the appointment of its first chancellor, Dr. Dean Colvard in 1967. Four years prior to his installation as Chancellor, Colvard had served as president of Mississippi State University where he defied university policy by allowing his basketball team to play an integrated team from Loyola University of Chicago. That Loyola team went on to become national champions.
But UNCC has no ties to football. It has never played the sport at all. And it shouldn´t, if the financial support is not there. Reports in the Chronicle of Higher Education showed that two former chancellors of the university system oppose UNCC´s entry into college football, as do members of the Charlotte business community. (see: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i12/12a01801.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en).
The current UNCC president has said that backs football with a caveat: those who want football must help to pay for football. That´s hardly enthusiastic support for such an expensive endeavor. If the university is to meet its fundraising goal, it needs its president to be front and center. Otherwise, all bets are off. At present, given the state of the city´s banking community, now is not the time for a capital campaign for a small football stadium.
First-time contributions from potential season ticket holders number only $3.8 million. It will cost that much for the human resources: scholarships, coaches salaries and support services—for one football season. And in addition to football, the university, according to the Chronicle story, will need to add three women´s teams in order to be in compliance with Title IX.
Contrast UNCC´s situation with Georgia State University in Atlanta. I wrote a prior post about Georgia State in September (see: http://educatedquest.blogspot.com/2008/09/georgia-state-for-big-east-in-2017.html). Georgia State´s now-retired president Carl Patton had taken more time to investigate football and hired Dan Reeves, a former NFL coach as a consultant. Patton later hired Bill Curry, a former NFL player and college coach to be the face of the program. That took a huge burden off the athletic director´s shoulders to raise money and build recognition for the program.
In addition to hiring Curry, who had previously attended college and coached at cross-town Georgia Tech, Patton had another ace in the hole. He did not need to build a new stadium. His team would share the Georgia Dome with the NFL´s Atlanta Falcons. The students also agreed to pay an $85 fee to support a team, even though Georgia State will not play for another two years. By comparison, UNCC students will not pay close to that amount until 2013, when their team is expected to take the field.
It is one thing when a university community: the administration, students, alumni and corporations are gung-ho to play football and they have a major donor or an NFL stadium available for their use. It´s quite another thing to jump into football with both feet with none of these advantages in your corner.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com, a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicle, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com.
Founded as Charlotte College in 1949 and a part of the University of North Carolina system since 1967, UNCC has more than 22,000 students. Athletically, it has been a basketball school. UNCC´s men´s basketball team has participated in NCAA March Madness eleven times, reaching the Final Four in 1977. The women´s basketball team has enjoyed similar success, reaching the NCAA tournament in 2003, and appearing in the Women´s NIT every year since.
UNCC´s roots in basketball go back to the appointment of its first chancellor, Dr. Dean Colvard in 1967. Four years prior to his installation as Chancellor, Colvard had served as president of Mississippi State University where he defied university policy by allowing his basketball team to play an integrated team from Loyola University of Chicago. That Loyola team went on to become national champions.
But UNCC has no ties to football. It has never played the sport at all. And it shouldn´t, if the financial support is not there. Reports in the Chronicle of Higher Education showed that two former chancellors of the university system oppose UNCC´s entry into college football, as do members of the Charlotte business community. (see: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i12/12a01801.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en).
The current UNCC president has said that backs football with a caveat: those who want football must help to pay for football. That´s hardly enthusiastic support for such an expensive endeavor. If the university is to meet its fundraising goal, it needs its president to be front and center. Otherwise, all bets are off. At present, given the state of the city´s banking community, now is not the time for a capital campaign for a small football stadium.
First-time contributions from potential season ticket holders number only $3.8 million. It will cost that much for the human resources: scholarships, coaches salaries and support services—for one football season. And in addition to football, the university, according to the Chronicle story, will need to add three women´s teams in order to be in compliance with Title IX.
Contrast UNCC´s situation with Georgia State University in Atlanta. I wrote a prior post about Georgia State in September (see: http://educatedquest.blogspot.com/2008/09/georgia-state-for-big-east-in-2017.html). Georgia State´s now-retired president Carl Patton had taken more time to investigate football and hired Dan Reeves, a former NFL coach as a consultant. Patton later hired Bill Curry, a former NFL player and college coach to be the face of the program. That took a huge burden off the athletic director´s shoulders to raise money and build recognition for the program.
In addition to hiring Curry, who had previously attended college and coached at cross-town Georgia Tech, Patton had another ace in the hole. He did not need to build a new stadium. His team would share the Georgia Dome with the NFL´s Atlanta Falcons. The students also agreed to pay an $85 fee to support a team, even though Georgia State will not play for another two years. By comparison, UNCC students will not pay close to that amount until 2013, when their team is expected to take the field.
It is one thing when a university community: the administration, students, alumni and corporations are gung-ho to play football and they have a major donor or an NFL stadium available for their use. It´s quite another thing to jump into football with both feet with none of these advantages in your corner.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com, a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicle, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com.
Print
Email
