I know money is tight and schools already have a budget that is too small.
I also know that travel cost (bus/plane, food, & hotel) is hurting a lot of schools.
Most schools play money basketball game for a reason and now starting to play money football games.

All of this is true but I still believe the MEAC can do much better. Right now the all sports award is a complete joke. It just means you have a good track program and good in something else.

Adding a few inexpensive sports would be good for the MEAC.
* It would help young Black kids pay for college
* It will give them somewhere to go/play after high school
* It would be one more sport to added to a rivalry

The MEAC could sponsor men and women soccer as a conference sport. Not that I am a soccer fan but it seem like a very inexpensive sport. Its 10 people kicking around one ball and not needing any special equipment.

You could have a minimum of:
* A part time head coach (2:00 pm – 6:00 pm daily)
* A part time assistant coach
* A volunteer coach (retired alumni)
* You could have 4 full scholarships and break them into many.

Uniforms and balls should not be too expensive.

You can play teams within a 3 hour radius that would not require any over night stays

No most D1A schools are cutting sports due to the increase in Title IX, the struggling economy, Travel Costs. HBCU's are hit the hardest. HU doesn't need to add any more sports because we have to beg the community and students to come now.

Howard, DSU, and SCST already have women soccer. Title 9 would not be a problem if you add men and women. Most MEAC school has a lot of African students who already play the game all the time.

The cost of adding soccer should only be a few thousand.

quote:

Originally posted by MorganFan:
The MEAC could sponsor men and women soccer as a conference sport. Not that I am a soccer fan but it seem like a very inexpensive sport. Its 10 people kicking around one ball and not needing any special equipment.

You could have a minimum of:
* A part time head coach (2:00 pm – 6:00 pm daily)
* A part time assistant coach
* A volunteer coach (retired alumni)
* You could have 4 full scholarships and break them into many.

Uniforms and balls should not be too expensive.

You can play teams within a 3 hour radius that would not require any over night stays

i'm glad you're not the AD at NSU... that seems like you're just throwing together a sport that we'd get smashed at during OOC play. imagine THAT team of yours going against another d1 program. this is why some of our programs are a joke. if you are gonna do it do it for real, otherwise don't even mention it. you don't see PWC talking about adding a sport that way... ODU put together a million dollar team to "consider" having football. you want to pay a coach part time and use the campus green as a field.

sad.

quote:

Originally posted by MorganFan:
Howard, DSU, and SCST already have women soccer. Title 9 would not be a problem if you add men and women. Most MEAC school has a lot of African students who already play the game all the time.

The cost of adding soccer should only be a few thousand.

MF, it would be to expensive. Even if you have women soccer teams you would still have to add more scholarships for womens sports if you created mens programs. Also don't forget the cost of salaries, travel, insurance, athletic trainers, food, lodging, etc. It would also place an additional burden on understaffed compliance officers and S.I.D's. At minimum, you'd be looking at a $50,000 budget hit.

i agree it’s a problem budget wise. but i'm a soccer fan, so i'd love to see soccer added. unfortunately, most college students aren't soccer fans, so it wouldn't generate any revenue. but soccer is a great sport, i'd love to see the meac add soccer as a championship sport. and as far as being competitive with pwc d1's, i'd bet howard university would have something to say about that. they have a d1 national championship in soccer and has a history of being very competitive with major pwc programs…

quote:

Originally posted by SpArTaNz RuLe:

quote:

Originally posted by MorganFan:
The MEAC could sponsor men and women soccer as a conference sport. Not that I am a soccer fan but it seem like a very inexpensive sport. Its 10 people kicking around one ball and not needing any special equipment.

You could have a minimum of:
* A part time head coach (2:00 pm – 6:00 pm daily)
* A part time assistant coach
* A volunteer coach (retired alumni)
* You could have 4 full scholarships and break them into many.

Uniforms and balls should not be too expensive.

You can play teams within a 3 hour radius that would not require any over night stays

i'm glad you're not the AD at NSU... that seems like you're just throwing together a sport that we'd get smashed at during OOC play. imagine THAT team of yours going against another d1 program. this is why some of our programs are a joke. if you are gonna do it do it for real, otherwise don't even mention it. you don't see PWC talking about adding a sport that way... ODU put together a million dollar team to "consider" having football. you want to pay a coach part time and use the campus green as a field.

sad.

Most of the MEAC sports get killed during OOC. It would be nothing new. Our sports are done on the cheap and it shows in the national playoffs. The MEAC and SWAC probably have the smallest budget in Div. 1.

I would be counting on the talented African students, who has been playing their whole lives, to make us competitive.

MEAC schools tend to lack vision.We have enough students from the Carribean to add soccer and other sports.

quote:

Originally posted by Decks:

quote:

Originally posted by MorganFan:
Howard, DSU, and SCST already have women soccer. Title 9 would not be a problem if you add men and women. Most MEAC school has a lot of African students who already play the game all the time.

The cost of adding soccer should only be a few thousand.

MF, it would be to expensive. Even if you have women soccer teams you would still have to add more scholarships for womens sports if you created mens programs. Also don't forget the cost of salaries, travel, insurance, athletic trainers, food, lodging, etc. It would also place an additional burden on understaffed compliance officers and S.I.D's. At minimum, you'd be looking at a $50,000 budget hit.

Decks

This could be done on the cheap. Travel, food, and lodging should not be major factors because they would only play local schools.

Coaches salaries should not be high because you would only need one or two part time coaches. It will only be 20 more athletes so it’s not a lot more work for the compliance office.

You could take 4 full scholarships and divide them many ways.

I see it costing around the same as the volleyball team and less then the softball team.

quote:

Originally posted by oleschoolaggie:
i'd love to see the meac add soccer as a championship sport. and as far as being competitive with pwc d1's, i'd bet howard university would have something to say about that. they have a d1 national championship in soccer and has a history of being very competitive with major pwc programs…

MF, last year Howard spent $80,000 on mens & womens soccer. George Mason spent $154,000. It's not as cheap as you're thinking it is.

quote:

Originally posted by Decks:
MF, last year Howard spent $80,000 on mens & womens soccer. George Mason spent $154,000. It's not as cheap as you're thinking it is.

Decks

$80,000 is not a lot of money when you have a 7 million dollar budget. It’s less then one percent of most MEAC schools budget.

Also I would have every school sponsor a soccer team. The level of commitment it up to each school. If they want a good program they will spend money. If they just want a team they won’t.

quote:

Originally posted by Decks:
MF, last year Howard spent $80,000 on mens & womens soccer. George Mason spent $154,000. It's not as cheap as you're thinking it is.

I agree. For example at FAMU $50,000 would probably only fund 2 out of state athletes for 1 full year and thats only including tuition, meals and housing. Its not as simple and cheap as some of you think.

not trying to strand any student athletes, but if it were up to me i'd replace a&t's women's swimming team with a women's soccer team...

This is not as cheap as you think....

thanks Deck for bringing out the other "athletic personnel" that it would require. Especially another athletic trainer. Adding soccer is like adding another football team. There is a great risk for having a catastrophic injury with soccer just as football. So there will be at least 2 sports that we (ATCs) would have to be at practice at all times.

This is not as easy as you think. Then, who is going to play this sport. I don't see that many AA running up and down any soccer fields. Most schools are having a hard time trying to meet compliance in the traditional sports they already offer, now you want to add something that is non-traditional for the Black folks......come on.....

quote:

Originally posted by Decks:
MF, last year Howard spent $80,000 on mens & womens soccer. George Mason spent $154,000. It's not as cheap as you're thinking it is.

Let's not forget those teams have to be insured as well.

Adding more sports isn't the move at this moment.

I would like to see more sports added but I just don't think it would happen. The sports that we have now are the only ones that generate enough interests from HBCU students to come and see the games. Soccer is just not one of those sports. We could easily get a team together with students from Africa, the carribean, South America and Europe but who would go to the games. Lacross is very big in Maryland and at one time Morgan St had a lacross team. They were even competitive against power house schools like John Hopkins and Maryland. They got rid of the program after low revenue. Of all the MEAC schools only FAMU has a predominantly black roster for baseball and Bethum-Cookman has a predominantly hispanic roster for baseball. If we can get blacks to play baseball for an HBCU how can we add another sport thay will draw attention from blacks to come play or watch?

Howard is one of the most expensive HBCU. If they can afford to have a soccer team then most schools should.

I am not saying we should spend a lot of money, the players can be mainly walk-ons, but it’s a sport that can grow on a HBCU campus. Soccer is now a world sport.

It’s sad when you see other Div. 1 conference with so many sports and the HBCU with only 4-5. If we can not handle Div. 1 we need to consider going back down to Div. II.

The MEAC should also consider adding men and women Golf as a conference sport (if it’s feasible).