How to grow a football program

[pogo]

After an almost fall like morning here in doo dah I was thinking about past Shocker programs in particular and other not so successful programs in general. Money and facility questions aside how would a program start from zero players to being able to semi compete the first couple of years it started playing competition. A horrific first couple of seasons may doom any chances of support from the fickle fans of Wichita. If Wichita were to start its program over what type of coach would we get to come here. I was thinking a successful juco coach with STRONG ties to the state of texas. Perhaps some very successful and well liked/thought of high school coaches from metro areas of texas for assistant coaches. As much as I disparage ut, texas is the only regional area we could hope to land any talent that would allow us to compete with those in our conference initially. Depth has always been a problem at lower tier schools. Starting a program from scratch I think we would need to recruit a juco class and a freshman class one year and redshirt the whole group and practice. The following year again recruit juco, freshmen and redshirt freshmen from the juco ranks to build numbers to compete and build depth. Any other thoughts about how to start a program and hit the ground running?

[BOBB]

With no built in media market to deliver we will never have a fbs program here under the current system. We could have a reasonably successful fcs program paying its way with a few payday trips a year. The recent trends point to less fbs teams than more. Look what's going on in the wac.

[SubGod22]

What's going on in the WAC has nothing to do with the number of FBS teams. They're just jumping to what they feel is a stronger conference/situation. Much like all the other reallignment that's gone on. I'm hearing of more teams trying to move up than down too. Maybe I've read the wrong articles.

[BOBB]

I think the outcome for the left behind teams in the wac is going to be a downward step toward fcs.

[1972Shocker]

Not sure the support is there. If Wichita is so football starved you would think that they would have drawn significantly more than 6,500 fans to the Butler-Navorro game at Cessna stadium (both ranked in the Top 10).

Obviously it is not D-1 football but a substantial number of these players will end up at D-1 programs so it is essentially D-1 freshman/sophomore teams playing.

The athletes on these teams are probably comparable to what you would see on the field for the average FCS games which is the level the Shocks would be playing at.

Perhaps I am reading too much into this.

[WstateU]

Not sure the support is there. If Wichita is so football starved you would think that they would have drawn significantly more than 6,500 fans to the Butler-Navorro game at Cessna stadium (both ranked in the Top 10).

Obviously it is not D-1 football but a substantial number of these players will end up at D-1 programs so it is essentially D-1 freshman/sophomore teams playing.

The athletes on these teams are probably comparable to what you would see on the field for the average FCS games which is the level the Shocks would be playing at.

Perhaps I am reading too much into this.

Yes!

[AndShock]

Not sure the support is there. If Wichita is so football starved you would think that they would have drawn significantly more than 6,500 fans to the Butler-Navorro game at Cessna stadium (both ranked in the Top 10).
.

I didn't realize the attendance was that low. I remember last year or the year before, the attendance was twice that. Did they just give out tons of free tickets that year? Anyone know why the difference in attendance is so big?

[RoyalShock]

Not sure the support is there. If Wichita is so football starved you would think that they would have drawn significantly more than 6,500 fans to the Butler-Navorro game at Cessna stadium (both ranked in the Top 10).

Obviously it is not D-1 football but a substantial number of these players will end up at D-1 programs so it is essentially D-1 freshman/sophomore teams playing.

The athletes on these teams are probably comparable to what you would see on the field for the average FCS games which is the level the Shocks would be playing at.

Perhaps I am reading too much into this.

But it's still JUCO football. It's a notch above NAIA in terms of fan interest. People just don't get that excited about juco sports anymore. And is Butler CC even that big of a deal in Wichita? I went to high school a couple of years with Butler's coach and I might only go watch if they are playing at Hutch.

6500 actually sounds like a pretty good number for a juco game.

FBS
FCS
Div 2.
Juco
NAIA

WSU has much broader appeal with alumni that feel more connected to their alma mater and passionate fans. WSU in FCS would be a much bigger draw than a ranked juco team, IMO.