Tweet
Kennesaw State (Georgia) is looking at adding Football to its athletic department to increase moral and school spirit. The tide has changed, there are more schools adding football then there are those dropping it,now is the time to do this, lets atleast do a study to see what it would take and see if would be successful. I had to edit some of the article so I could post it. Believe it or not, their goal is the Big East.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
By David Brandt
MDJ Assistant News Editor
KENNESAW - Several universities across the country often have their names immediately associated with their athletic teams.
Especially football.Especially in Georgia.Especially when it comes to UGA.
In the coming years, Kennesaw State University hopes to share the Georgia college football limelight with similar symmetry between its name and what officials hope will become a successful football program, often considered a right of passage for most NCAA Division I schools. KSU entered Division I in its 2005-06 year."We are sitting here without a football program, but we should have one," said KSU Athletic Director Dave Waples, who helped create the football program at Valdosta State University in south Georgia in the late 1970s. "I've been trying for 20 years to get one here.""It's not so much a ripple effect as it is a tsunami," Papp said in describing the interest and possible plans for a football program.But he hopes the tide will turn in KSU's favor after officials learn the findings of a fundraising feasibility study conducted by Greg Turner of the consulting firm Turner and Associates. KSU officials asked Turner to survey donors and trustees about a potential capital campaign for the school's athletics department.Though football was not part of the original survey, university officials expected it to be a hot topic among respondents.Turner would not comment on specific details of the feasibility study per a contract agreement with KSU. Papp said that Turner is expected to present a first draft late this week, with a final report due to KSU officials early in April.Meanwhile, ideas are plentiful about what a KSU football program could become down the road and what it could mean for the university's future.
Stadium seating
Papp and Waples agree that initiating KSU football would require a founding investment between $20 million and $40 million. But several factors play into that amount.The most significant is where the team would play."We want a stadium that's either on campus or across from campus," Waples said.Two spots he considers "available" on campus are a wooded lot across from the baseball field along Kennesaw State University Road in the southern portion of campus, or the campus' East Parking Lot behind a Shell gas station and a Waffle House on Frey Road in the adjacent southeast corner.Waples said no architect has completed a design of a football stadium, but available room on campus could push the number of people a facility may be able to hold. He said initial construction could fit as many as 35,000 people. It's more likely, however, that KSU would start with fewer seats.For the Owls to maintain Division I status in college football, Waples said there would need to be a rolling average attendance of at least 15,000 spectators over the first two years."A stadium made to hold 16,000 would be enough," he said. "We'd already have the available seating."
Outside of stadium plans, personnel, uniforms, equipment and additional athletic facilities also must be accounted for to start a football program. A startup fund of $1 million, Waples said, would likely cover a new weight room, uniforms, protective player equipment and video equipment to record and catalog games.The first million dollars, he said, likely would not be able to pay for new personnel or athletic offices, although Waples said the school could save some money by including offices in stadium plans. Such design is found in many college stadiums around the country.Another planning factor for a football program is what level of Division I that KSU can maintain. Annual operating costs for a Division I non-scholarship football team - which Waples and Papp expect to start with - are estimated to be around $1 million.He went on to say Division I-AA schools like Georgia Southern University in Statesboro operate with an annual football budget of about $1.5 million, while Division I-A programs, such as Georgia Tech and UGA, operate between $5 million and $7 million, but even that amount varies program to program.According to department records, KSU's 2006-07 athletic budget is about $5.7 million, an almost $2.5 million increase from its last budget as a Division II school in 2004-05. Just more than $2 million covers salaries and benefits, while $1.8 million is devoted to athletic scholarships, including summer school.Based on Waples estimates, the first few years of a football program would force that budget to be at least $7.5 million, even higher with a stadium attached.But "we are still about $4 million behind D-I schools with no football," Waples said.
Morale boost
Approval of football for KSU surely would swell up anticipation from students, faculty and the Kennesaw community alike, but Waples still urges all to not hold their breath."Once football is announced, it will take three years before you see a team play," he said, adding that about 18 months to two years would be under the management of the first KSU football coach. There's also the need to hire additional coaching staff, recruiting players and training the team in time for a scheduled first season."These things can't be rushed," Waples said. "But we won't have any trouble finding coaches and players. High school players would jump at the chance to attend a school like KSU."He said the idea of KSU football alone is enough to make waves in various aspects of the university outside of the athletics department.He also said football could help draw more spectators to other KSU sporting events. As of this year, according university data, average attendance per game among KSU's teams is estimated at 1,100 for men's basketball; 350 for women's basketball; 400 for volleyball; 350 for baseball; 300 for softball; and 650 for women's soccer.But with the addition of football, free student admission to sports events might have to go, Waples said. KSU students might only have to chip in $2 or $3 a ticket, however, since at least 77 percent of the athletics budget is derived from student activity fees.Papp sees the addition of football as a chance for KSU to become a better draw for students. With student enrollment fast approaching 20,000, now is the time to build on opportunity."The level of campus camaraderie goes way up," Papp said. "If you're going to have a football program at all, you've got to make sure it's a successful one. And all sorts of advantages come with that.""I would expect to see increased student retention and increased graduation rates," Papp said. "It should also increase students' ties to KSU and enhance the campus relationship with the community."
Players market
If or when KSU football kicks off, don't expect it to play Georgia and Georgia Tech right away or be equally popular from a national perspective."Do you know what the No. 1 major is at UGA? I don't, but I can tell you how the football team did last year," he said. "For anyone to have a big-time program, they'd have to get in one of those conferences."Roy Martin and Fred Stillwell, longtime KSU sports fans and donors to the school, are delighted at the chance for football on campus. Martin, a former president of the KSU athletics booster club, said football would mark a new era for the school."It's quite an undertaking, but it could be very helpful. It helps unite the student body and draws in the community, as well," he said, adding that fellow church members often ask him about the status of KSU's program.
KSU isn't the only metro-Atlanta institution considering a future in football. Georgia State University released its finding of a football program feasibility study last fall.According to the results, moving into Division I-AA football would cost Georgia State between $6 million and nearly $25 million. About $20 million would be needed to replace its Sports Arena with a stadium arena, and build a football practice facility in downtown Atlanta.Georgia State officials have yet to announce the start of a football program.But regardless of the means by which KSU's program is born, Martin said he looks forward to the day Owls football takes the field.
"I'm 75," he said. "I hope to see the football team play."
dbrandt@mdjonline.com
Staff writer Jon Gillooly contributed to this article.
Copyright © 2007 Marietta Daily Journal. All rights reserved.
All other trademarks and Registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
By David Brandt
MDJ Assistant News Editor
KENNESAW - Several universities across the country often have their names immediately associated with their athletic teams.
Especially football.Especially in Georgia.Especially when it comes to UGA.
In the coming years, Kennesaw State University hopes to share the Georgia college football limelight with similar symmetry between its name and what officials hope will become a successful football program, often considered a right of passage for most NCAA Division I schools. KSU entered Division I in its 2005-06 year."We are sitting here without a football program, but we should have one," said KSU Athletic Director Dave Waples, who helped create the football program at Valdosta State University in south Georgia in the late 1970s. "I've been trying for 20 years to get one here.""It's not so much a ripple effect as it is a tsunami," Papp said in describing the interest and possible plans for a football program.But he hopes the tide will turn in KSU's favor after officials learn the findings of a fundraising feasibility study conducted by Greg Turner of the consulting firm Turner and Associates. KSU officials asked Turner to survey donors and trustees about a potential capital campaign for the school's athletics department.Though football was not part of the original survey, university officials expected it to be a hot topic among respondents.Turner would not comment on specific details of the feasibility study per a contract agreement with KSU. Papp said that Turner is expected to present a first draft late this week, with a final report due to KSU officials early in April.Meanwhile, ideas are plentiful about what a KSU football program could become down the road and what it could mean for the university's future.
Stadium seating
Papp and Waples agree that initiating KSU football would require a founding investment between $20 million and $40 million. But several factors play into that amount.The most significant is where the team would play."We want a stadium that's either on campus or across from campus," Waples said.Two spots he considers "available" on campus are a wooded lot across from the baseball field along Kennesaw State University Road in the southern portion of campus, or the campus' East Parking Lot behind a Shell gas station and a Waffle House on Frey Road in the adjacent southeast corner.Waples said no architect has completed a design of a football stadium, but available room on campus could push the number of people a facility may be able to hold. He said initial construction could fit as many as 35,000 people. It's more likely, however, that KSU would start with fewer seats.For the Owls to maintain Division I status in college football, Waples said there would need to be a rolling average attendance of at least 15,000 spectators over the first two years."A stadium made to hold 16,000 would be enough," he said. "We'd already have the available seating."
Outside of stadium plans, personnel, uniforms, equipment and additional athletic facilities also must be accounted for to start a football program. A startup fund of $1 million, Waples said, would likely cover a new weight room, uniforms, protective player equipment and video equipment to record and catalog games.The first million dollars, he said, likely would not be able to pay for new personnel or athletic offices, although Waples said the school could save some money by including offices in stadium plans. Such design is found in many college stadiums around the country.Another planning factor for a football program is what level of Division I that KSU can maintain. Annual operating costs for a Division I non-scholarship football team - which Waples and Papp expect to start with - are estimated to be around $1 million.He went on to say Division I-AA schools like Georgia Southern University in Statesboro operate with an annual football budget of about $1.5 million, while Division I-A programs, such as Georgia Tech and UGA, operate between $5 million and $7 million, but even that amount varies program to program.According to department records, KSU's 2006-07 athletic budget is about $5.7 million, an almost $2.5 million increase from its last budget as a Division II school in 2004-05. Just more than $2 million covers salaries and benefits, while $1.8 million is devoted to athletic scholarships, including summer school.Based on Waples estimates, the first few years of a football program would force that budget to be at least $7.5 million, even higher with a stadium attached.But "we are still about $4 million behind D-I schools with no football," Waples said.
Morale boost
Approval of football for KSU surely would swell up anticipation from students, faculty and the Kennesaw community alike, but Waples still urges all to not hold their breath."Once football is announced, it will take three years before you see a team play," he said, adding that about 18 months to two years would be under the management of the first KSU football coach. There's also the need to hire additional coaching staff, recruiting players and training the team in time for a scheduled first season."These things can't be rushed," Waples said. "But we won't have any trouble finding coaches and players. High school players would jump at the chance to attend a school like KSU."He said the idea of KSU football alone is enough to make waves in various aspects of the university outside of the athletics department.He also said football could help draw more spectators to other KSU sporting events. As of this year, according university data, average attendance per game among KSU's teams is estimated at 1,100 for men's basketball; 350 for women's basketball; 400 for volleyball; 350 for baseball; 300 for softball; and 650 for women's soccer.But with the addition of football, free student admission to sports events might have to go, Waples said. KSU students might only have to chip in $2 or $3 a ticket, however, since at least 77 percent of the athletics budget is derived from student activity fees.Papp sees the addition of football as a chance for KSU to become a better draw for students. With student enrollment fast approaching 20,000, now is the time to build on opportunity."The level of campus camaraderie goes way up," Papp said. "If you're going to have a football program at all, you've got to make sure it's a successful one. And all sorts of advantages come with that.""I would expect to see increased student retention and increased graduation rates," Papp said. "It should also increase students' ties to KSU and enhance the campus relationship with the community."
Players market
If or when KSU football kicks off, don't expect it to play Georgia and Georgia Tech right away or be equally popular from a national perspective."Do you know what the No. 1 major is at UGA? I don't, but I can tell you how the football team did last year," he said. "For anyone to have a big-time program, they'd have to get in one of those conferences."Roy Martin and Fred Stillwell, longtime KSU sports fans and donors to the school, are delighted at the chance for football on campus. Martin, a former president of the KSU athletics booster club, said football would mark a new era for the school."It's quite an undertaking, but it could be very helpful. It helps unite the student body and draws in the community, as well," he said, adding that fellow church members often ask him about the status of KSU's program.
KSU isn't the only metro-Atlanta institution considering a future in football. Georgia State University released its finding of a football program feasibility study last fall.According to the results, moving into Division I-AA football would cost Georgia State between $6 million and nearly $25 million. About $20 million would be needed to replace its Sports Arena with a stadium arena, and build a football practice facility in downtown Atlanta.Georgia State officials have yet to announce the start of a football program.But regardless of the means by which KSU's program is born, Martin said he looks forward to the day Owls football takes the field.
"I'm 75," he said. "I hope to see the football team play."
dbrandt@mdjonline.com
Staff writer Jon Gillooly contributed to this article.
Copyright © 2007 Marietta Daily Journal. All rights reserved.
All other trademarks and Registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Comment