This will be an up and comer in a few years. I know it is a commuter college but the enrollment is 23k plus. And they will play home games in the Alamo Dome.
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By John Whisler and and Jerry Briggs - Express-News
AUSTIN — The University of Texas System Board of Regents today approved UTSA's plan to add a football program.
The plan calls for UTSA to develop an $84 million athletic complex, to add a Football Championship Subdivision football program and to advance all sports teams to a Football Bowl Subdivision conference.
Under the plan, UTSA could hire a football coach or a program administrator by February.
UTSA would sign its first class of recruits in 2010, would sign another class in 2011 and then would kick off as an FCS team at the Alamodome in the fall of that year.
The school will need to raise $15 million in a capital campaign for the football program.
Another $62 million is needed to complete the athletic complex.
UTSA president Ricardo Romo said in a statement that he is mindful of the challenges facing the school in fundraising.
"I have carefully thought about the resources needed to achieve our goals,'' Romo said. "But we see these endeavors as achievable and complementary efforts and as part of a multi-phase long term program that will allow the university to realize its full potential.''
The athletics initiative at UTSA directly supports the university's academic mission as outlined in its strategic plan, A Shared Vision 2016, according to a university news release.
UTSA will fund the initiative through student fees, corporate and private support and other revenue streams that do not draw from the institutional academic budget.
In September 2007, UTSA students overwhelmingly supported a referendum to expand the athletics program and double the athletic fee over the next five to seven years.
Currently, UTSA sports teams play in the Southland Conference. The Southland is affiliated with the FCS, formerly Division I-AA.
Eventually, after several years, UTSA hopes to join a conference in the FBS, formerly Division I-A.
The Big 12, with Texas and Texas A&M, plays in the FBS. But UTSA isn't in talking about taking its teams to that level. Instead, Conference USA, the Sun Belt and the Western Athletic Conference are being mentioned as potential destinations.
Texas-based teams in Conference USA include Rice, SMU, Houston and Texas-El Paso.
The university's intent behind adding football is to engage current students at new levels by providing an enhanced and more complete university experience, according to the news release.
UTSA also hopes to draw former students and the San Antonio community closer to the university and its continued development towards national research university status.
Approximately 80 percent of the university's 76,000 alumni continue to live in the immediate area.
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Originally Posted by brody191
