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Griz Rumor: to 1-A

I've never once voiced my opinion on this topic in an open forum. I see things happening in I-AA and in college football in general that are changing the complexion of this delicate subject.

First off the addition of the 12'th game in I-A has certainly changed the willingness and generousity of I-A programs. Once UM gets a taste of $650,000.00 they aren't likely to forget it.

Face it guys the BSC ain't what it used to be and never again will be. How much longer will Griz fans be willing to come to watch directional U?

There is an old saying in business. If you aren't growing, you are dying. Montana Football has succeeded because it has been growing. I sense that Griz football is at a plateau. Will, or can Griz football continue to grow by remaining status quo?

Personally, I love the BSC, the playoffs and Griz football. However, I don't think anyone would argue that there will be a time when it is necessary to get aboard, else we miss the train entirely.
 
grizpack said:
I am pretty familiar with both the AD, and the GSA (interim) director, and can promise you that no such meeting has occurred, nor have I heard of any such meeting.
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Really?

I was at a meeting a few weeks back with all three of them (AD, the Interim GSA Director, and new VP) as well as fellow boosters, and the fellow GSA board members for the Flathead chapter.


I'm not saying any of that was discussed...i but I had to laugh that you dismiss it so intensely (that a meeting could possibly occor with them in attendance)
 
Personally, I will come see the Griz play directional U because it's the fucking Griz and I don't care who they are playing.

The thing about growing is interesting though. I agree that it is exciting to see our program grow, but I don't necessarily think that we are done growing at this level. I think attendance was over 100% last year and I think that some seats can be added to the stadium. There are plans, money willing, to build a new locker room under the Griz vision and to add a few new seats and luxury boxes I believe. Hopefully the Iowa check can accelerate those updates. Money is not easy to come by for I-AA teams, but I think we should just continue to build a reputation as winners, while hopefully building the best facilities in I-AA, then consider the jump. It would be nice to have some serious momentum before making such a big change rather than just 12 years of being a contender at I-AA.

One factor in this equation that nobody ever mentions is that Football is only one of the sports affected by this decision. If the Mens and Womens Basketball teams continue to grow and be the top of the Big Sky, that could also have an effect on this whole thing.
 
Downwith - I am aware that O'Day and Sundberg have met with alumni and boosters around the state in the past couple of weeks. My point wasn't that they hadn't met with them, just that there was no meeting with the purpose of "explaining our move to 1A." As for that meeting, I stand by my statement.
 
I e-mailed the Sr. Asst Wac Commisiner (Jeff Hurd on this topis just this morning. I know he may not be able to say yes or no honestly but.... Please see our e-mails below. First e-mail is from Mr. Hurd my questions follows below that. This at least might help close down this topic MAYBE (even if I would support the move)!!
_____________________________________________________
The WAC has not had any conversation nor any meetings with anyone from Montana relative to possible membership. Any such conversation/meeting would have to be initiated by Montana, and the school has not indicated any interest in doing so .



Relative to whether Montana would be a good fit or not is a difficult question to answer since I do not have any information relative to Montana’s men and women’s programs, overall athletics staff and budget, its facilities or its long term program goals.



Thank you for your inquiry.



Jeff Hurd

Senior Associate Commissioner




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 9:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Montana Grizzlies to WAC



Dear Mr.. Hurd



I am a huge Montana Grizzlies fan (mainly for football) and try to follow as much news and information on them as possible. A debate has come up several times on Griz chat boards discussing a move to I-A. Our fan base is split 50/50 it seems on such a move. Many that support a move up figure should it happen the WAC would be the best fit. As you are aware there are several members in the WAC that used to be in the Big Sky Conference. Recently information has been buzzing around that members from the Griz Athletic Department met with WAC officials discussing a move to join the WAC. I know you may not be able to elaborate on any information on this but if so would you please? Also a question for you is would you support such a move? And do you feel the Griz would be a good fit for the WAC?



I would love to see the Griz play in the WAC. I am sure you are aware of our facilities (Washington Grizzly Stadium) and our rabid fan base and our winning tradition. I truly think the Griz would be an amazing fit in the WAC.

Thank you so much for your time.
 
It is closer to 60-40 according to a couple polls we have taken here in the past.

Funny thing is that when a school does take the jump they become huge I-A fans and would never want to come back. Idaho fans have stated that as bad as they have done the fans would be 90% against going back to I-AA and they were 50-50 before the move. It would be like the Minnesota Twins being demoted to AAA ball. Once you play the big time games against exciting competition week in and week out you don't want to play Weber State any more.

I'll post a poll at Idaho's site and see what their fans say. It would be interesting.
 
How do you feel about the huge turnaround in Idaho fans GrizFan10? Why in the world would those fans that were split 50-50 against going I-A now be 90% in favor of I-A? Explain the thinking as I know you are knowlegeable. And I know that Idaho fans are just as savvy as Montana fans. What gives?

I said it was closer to 60-40. If memory serves it was 62-38% in the last poll done. You look it up 10.
 
I personally would rather be a dominant 1-AA power and have a chance to compete for the national title year in and year out than play in the Dr. Scholl's Bunion Pad Bowl. Let's face it, in this day and age the chances of a school from outside one of the major conferences (Pac-10, Big-10, Big 12, Big East, SEC, ACC) ever winning a national championship is very, very slim to absolutely none....and I think we can take out the very, very slim.
 
I can see why fans don't want to move to I-A, but don't understand all the defensiveness most of the time. Would we not still get to watch great football, not way in hell UM becomes Idaho, we beat them even when they are I-A. The Griz would be competative, they just wouldn't get to get to be a big fish in a small pond.
Same great football, better competition (in most cases), better athletes, access to better recruits, more scholarships, same great atmosphere, if not better.
On the other side, more losses, at least for a while, no playoffs.
Either way is cool, I like having good level of football to watch right in town, but looking forward to Nevada, Idaho, Boise, etc, would just would just be a bit more exciting to me.
I'll leave out what wonders it could do for basketball.
 
JahGriz said:
I can see why fans don't want to move to I-A, but don't understand all the defensiveness most of the time. Would we not still get to watch great football, not way in hell UM becomes Idaho, we beat them even when they are I-A. The Griz would be competative, they just wouldn't get to get to be a big fish in a small pond.
Same great football, better competition (in most cases), better athletes, access to better recruits, more scholarships, same great atmosphere, if not better.
On the other side, more losses, at least for a while, no playoffs.
Either way is cool, I like having good level of football to watch right in town, but looking forward to Nevada, Idaho, Boise, etc, would just would just be a bit more exciting to me.
I'll leave out what wonders it could do for basketball.
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Hooray! someone else sees in my way! Are people really going to bail on the Griz if they have A 5-6 season or something like that? What else would you really rather do for 3 hours of the day, 6 saturdays of the year, than see some high quality football in a great atmosphere? It would be very excting to see how we would fare vs some solid I-A teams with the home field advantage of WGS. People take this topic so personally, it seems. I think some people just fear change or are naturally pessimistic.
 
First or all, don't we need a 30k seat stadium?.... We don't have Wazzu right next door like U-da-ho does. Until that happens, it's all speculation, unless I'm wrong.. (Which wouldn't be the first time) I think it would be cool to see 1-A teams in Missoula, but the B.S. Bowls are another thing... I would love to see them do a "Mid-Major" Playoffs system. That would sell me on 1-A all together. But playing in the "Humanitarian Bowl" is sorta sad. Is it an accomplishment?.... Yes, Does any one know... No.. And while some people may say, neither do they know about the 1-AA Championship? I agree, but atleast we have won it... Who is going to give a rats a** if we win the Humanitarian Bowl? It's just not very exciting at all................... I'll take a Natty over some crappy bowl any day!!!!!
 
Why do we need Wazzu next door to be D-I?

How much does Idaho's stadium hold? It looks just like Idaho State's puny dome. It shouldn't be the capacity of the stadium that matters, but how many butts you can fill it with.

Anyway, bowl games would be exciting I think. Bowl week is a football fans dream, and I don't think the I-AA championship ranks much higher than the lowest bowl game. I didn't even know who was in it until I was flipping through the channels and caught the second half at like 10pm on ESPN 4 or whatever it was. Nobody cares about the championship game except I-aa fans.
 
Idaho has to rent Wazzu's stadium for atleast two games to get above the required number for they're attendance, if I'm not mistaken.... Infact, even when U-da-ho is the "home team" against Wazzu, they still play in Martin Stadium... Sad huh???

I don't know what to say about the 1-AA playoffs, I guess your a fan or not. But as a little test.. Who won the "Emerald Bowl" without looking? I know... You probably haven't even heard of such a bowl, neither have I, that's the point... So, yea, maybe some people don't know who won the 1-AA Natty, atleast we can say we won it.... Not like the "Emerald Bowl"... :laugh:
 
I believe there is an average home attendance that has to be met, and no longer a 30K seating requirement. I also believe some I-A teams did not mean the min attendance, or did so by some fudging on numbers, yet aren't kicked out, so to speak. I'd have to look into it again for real facts, and what teams were on the attendance fence, but I'm almost positive a 30K seat stadium is no longer required.
In a couple years Wash-Griz will have more and updated skyboxes, and probably a couple thousand more seats regardless of any move. Though I think we all know a move is a very remote possibility, especially before at least 5 years, and even then who knows.
Yet with all of the restructuring rumors that float around who knows. It would be nice to have a plan set, facilities ready, and sponsors in line if some drastic changes are made to the classifications of NCAA football leagues. Any step backwards would be horrid, even in minimal.
 
I believe there is an average home attendance that has to be met, and no longer a 30K seating requirement. I also believe some I-A teams did not mean the min attendance, or did so by some fudging on numbers, yet aren't kicked out, so to speak.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that..., but did know the fudging was going on...



I believe there is an average home attendance that has to be met, and no longer a 30K seating requirement. I also believe some I-A teams did not mean the min attendance, or did so by some fudging on numbers, yet aren't kicked out, so to speak.
Click to expand...

What a beautiful thing!!!!!!!! :party: I can't wait!! Like most sports writers that come here say, there's not a place in the nation, considering the size, that can compare with Missoula! Thinking about it now gives me goose bumps! :thumb:

One thing I didn't realize though, was the student seating deal, what's up with that? re: taking out the bench seating?
 
What's this you hear about taking out the bench seating? Don't tell me they are pulling some kind of basketball fiasco type screw job on the students? Or am I missing something....which is a likely scenario for me.
 
I had lunch with O'Day about 1 week before he was named AD. He wasn't interested at all in going 1A.

Not meaning to call out the original post on here, but I would highly doubt that Jim has changed his mind in the last 9 months.
 
No question the Griz won't be going to I-A any time soon. If talks happened, great, because I think it would be wise to have all the data/info they need to be ready regardless of the fact that it just isn't going to happen any time soon, or unless some crazy reclassifications/restructuring type isht comes along.
 
Before considering going 1A I think a few things would need to be taken care of/addressed.

1. Pay off the $1 million dollar AD debt in full.
- We'd lose home games going 1A, thus the AD would lose some income, so we'd need to have our debts taken care of.

2. Multiple year contracts for coaches.
- I have no clue if other 1A schools have 1 year contracts, but it strikes me as something that would need to be changed before we go 1A. Hiring a new coach to head up the next up and coming 1A program and we can't offer them multiple year contracts? Good luck...

3. Lights
- To fit with TV schedules and the ability to play games at all times during the day. I would really be surprised if there were more than a handful of 1A teams without lights in their stadium

4. Larger Stadium (not mandatory, but something that should be done, in my opinion).
- I think we'd need to strive to have a stadium that could hold 26,000 - 30,000 if we want to do this right.

- Of course the updated boxes are in the making, as well as the new players lounge/area. I think the Press Box area would need serious upgrades and expansions as well.

5. Parking
- If we're going to potentially boost our attendance by 3,000 - 7,000 people are we going to address the need for additional parking?

6. Other programs
- Mens and Womens basketball, no sweat. I believe the other programs we've got are also up to par, but we'd need to add more programs. Which ones, how will they be successfully funded? Most athletic programs at most schools lose money, so how will we off-set the lost money on these additional programs?

I see a mountain of things that need to be looked at and considered before a 1A jump is made. Its sexy to do, but it's a big move and requires a lot of things done right, for it to work. Look at Idaho, they're just getting their feet under them after, what, 5 or 6 years in 1A. Do we want to be like Idaho for the next 4-5 years?
 
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