More on UTSA... From Me.

Pictured: Fake Helmet

So as promised: Here is more reaction sports fans.

This ain't going to be pretty.

Here are the requirements for being an FBS school (or Division 1-A for you fogies)

FBS requirements

To earn FBS status, schools must meet five requirements (UTSA already satisfies Nos. 1 and 2):

1. Sponsor a minimum of 16 varsity intercollegiate sports, including football.

2. Annually offer a minimum of 200 athletic scholarships, or spend at least $4 million on scholarships.

3. Schedule at least 60 percent of its football games against FBS members, including five home games.

4. Average at least 15,000 fans for home games in at least one of two reclassification seasons.

5. Provide an average of at least 90 percent of the maximum number of football scholarships (85).

All the above is from the Express-News.

First off, notice how it doesn't say you have to be any kind of awesome huh? Well, other than drawing 15000 fans a game. Now do you see why the good ol' Mean Green give away student tix?

It's cool though. The U used to do the same thing. Here is a lengthy breakdown of what it all means according to the Internet scroll down to TastyGreek's post. I'll summarize here a bit because it is freakin long:

Its gonna be hard. Other schools that did it had special circumstances and still had it pretty rough. UTSA should not alienate their conference if they want to do this right. 

That pretty much sums it up. Lots of examples and things in the original post however.

What intrigues me most is that UTSA's AD Lynn Hickey said this

“We have worked really hard looking at all our options,” Hickey said. “As a start-up program in a major city, with the aspirations we have, the facility we have, the head coach we have, the best thing we can do is move as quickly as we can to FBS status. And until we’re in a conference that has FBS football, we need to stay independent.”

It makes me extremely curious to see the number that she was looking at. To the average fan, San Antonio produces decent talent every now and then and the city is pretty big population wise but nothing  exceptional in any other areas. So its not like they are striking an untapped gusher here. Austin is next door. UT fans permeate the city. Shit, UT-SA is part of the UT System. Of course UTSA is aspiring to be  a top flight school but realistically what can we expect?

I see something like UNT. Not only do the RoadRunners have to battle for a piece of the state educational fund pie with the other public schools in the state, but also with its own mother: the beast that is the University of Texas.

Its hard to fathom that the state government will ever let UTSA be competitive athletically with the big boys. UNT has a hard enough time.

The private schools have a better chance to compete than do the smaller public schools. There are a lot less regulations to deal with and most importantly, its easier to get money.

And money is everything cousin.