Las Cruces Sun-News: Carruthers tells forum participants he's open to dropping football
Las Cruces Sun-News: Carruthers tells forum participants he's open to dropping football
Actually, for them, it isn't a bad idea. Sink the money in basketball, where they already have a name and they could build a powerhouse team.
If he drops football, then he is basically agreeing to drop to FCS as well. Dropping football hurts every other sport because of the money it brings in, but also because you can't be a descent FBS conference without a football program. This also reduces scholarships by 85, which changes the gender equity rules of Title IX, and softball and soccer teams might be eliminated to offset the funding brought in by football.
I'm glad we aren't considering this.
I'd speculate this is a ploy to open some wallets.
The same trick worked at Tulane not so long ago.
FBS/FCS is a football designation. Dropping football eliminates those designations.
They remain Division 1-AAA. By cutting 85 men's scholdships they can eliminate some of the Women's scholarships. They save a ton of money in some areas like scholarships and travel, but cutting football also takes away their largest revenue producer.
New Mexico State differs a lot from Tulane University. Think of how many politicians, doctors, lawyers, and other really rich alums that Tulane has at their disposal. Tulane has an endowment almost six times larger than New Mexico State. They also had a favorable college football conference situation and a decent-sized market (even though no one in that market attends any of the games).
This kind of trick worked for Tulane, but I doubt it would work for NM State.
The non-football designation is still I-AAA, a holdover from the I-A and I-AA days.
When Lamar U dropped football in laate 80's, their student body population dropped about 25%.
I may be confused, which is nothing new. However, if they dropped football completely, they could still be 1a in BBall, right? For NMSU, who has no where to go in football and can't draw any fans, why keep it? They could put all their money in bball and really build a powerhouse. That is where their heart is, anyway. They could easily develop a regular top 25 program and make money off bball units to do very well. Am I missing something? I don't think it will hurt their enrollment. No one goes to their football games, anyway, and they are not known for football.