What is the best conference for Furman Football? - Sun Belt?

[Northeast Furman Fan]

I hope that the people on this forum will be able to give this come serious consideration and conversation. My hope is that many of the people that care the most about Furman Football will be able to be constructive in offering their thoughts and opinions on this.

I am an avid Furman fan and a season ticket holder for almost 40 years. My blood runs purple and I want the best for Furman.

On the Furman Basketball Forum, I saw the question asked if it was time for Furman to leave the Southern Conference. This post made me wonder what would be the best conference for Furman from a football perspective.

I enjoy fall weekends at Paladin Stadium and I enjoy seeing the stands as close to full as possible. Some of the games that I have enjoyed in past years are games against Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, and even against Marshall. Beating these teams provided a lot of satisfaction.

Our Home Schedule (next 10 games) for the next 2 years is against the following teams;
North Greenville
Samford
Western Carolina
Chattanooga
Wofford
ETSU
Citadel
VMI
Mercer
Tennessee Tech

Which games are our biggest rivalries? Probably Wofford and Citadel and not much beyond that.

If we were in the Sun Belt, our home schedule would include the following teams;
Appalachian State
Georgia Southern
Marshall
Coastal Carolina
Georgia State
Old Dominion
James Madison
Louisiana Lafayette
Troy
South Alabama
Louisiana Monroe
Texas Southern
Texas Arlington
Southern Mississippi

Also, our only games against Wofford and Citadel would be home games for us.

In addition, we could schedule home and home games with other D1 schools like Duke, East Carolina, Wake Forest, UNC Charlotte, and Vanderbilt.

This schedule has a lot more to be excited about. This schedule would draw more fans to our games. The Sun Belt would have more money to pay to Furman.

I have heard people say that the exciting thing about playing FCS football is playing for championships. When we played for our last championship in 2001, it was a lot of fun and the quality of football opponents was much deeper back then. Since 2001, many of the top programs in FCS have left for Division 1.

Furman has had over 100 home football games since 2001 and the quality of our schedule has diminished over time. I would like to up our game in terms of schedule. I would like to see Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Marshall, and Georgia State in Paladin Stadium. I would like to see 5 great football teams and games at home each year. I Think that the buzz around Furman Football would be greater and our attendance would be greater.

Again, Please provide your constructive ideas and comments. We all want Furman to be the best.

Thanks

[Flagman]

SoCon

[youwouldno]

The Sun Belt isn't interested in Furman. So it's not clear how "constructive" it is to speculate about impossible courses of action.

Within the current landscape, Furman has no possible conference option that would be better than the SoCon. The CAA is a little better in football (gap has shrunk due to JMU's departure), a little worse in basketball, and is also unstable and geographically problematic. And that's pretty much the only alternative out there.

Barring additional, massive shake-ups in conference alignment, Furman will be in the SoCon, there's no alternative, and nothing can be done about it.

What can be done is for Furman to build up it's own program, for instance through facility improvements, attendance increases, etc. Focus there if you want to think about strengthening the athletic program.

[DungeonRealm]

Sun Belt would be 1 million times better than playing this small time socon schedule every year, FCS has become incredibly boring to watch with all the bigger programs leaving (outside of NDSU and Montana)

I would take a guaranteed shot at those sun belt teams every year over just hoping we make a rare run in FCS playoffs every once in a blue moon

[apaladin]

One correction those teams did not leave for D1, they were already D1. They left FCS for FBS, both D1 foitball classifications Furman can’t afford a baseball team so they certainly can’t afford a move to FBS in football. If they had not cancelled baseball Furman may not even exist today.

[DungeonRealm]

[Roundball]

Any conference would be better than the SoCon.

[Affirm]

Pioneer Football League would be the best conference for Furman football. Bring Wofford along if possible but not necessarily. If we bring them along, then we at least have PC and Davidson close. We are spending too much money on football, compared to the benefits, present and future. Focus on basketball (especially basketball) and other sports, though still seeking competitiveness and championships in football, such as Davidson has (finally) done in Pioneer Football League. Either stay in SoCon for all other sports, or preferably get into A-10 or CAA (or some newly -formed conference of a similar quality if we could include perhaps Wofford and Davidson). Reinstate baseball, which could be more feasible with regard to both money and Title IX after we go to Pioneer Football League.

[FUBeAR]

Pioneer Football League would be the best conference for Furman football. Bring Wofford along if possible but not necessarily. If we bring them along, then we at least have PC and Davidson close. We are spending too much money on football, compared to the benefits, present and future. Focus on basketball (especially basketball) and other sports, though still seeking competitiveness and championships in football, such as Davidson has (finally) done in Pioneer Football League. Either stay in SoCon for all other sports, or preferably get into A-10 or CAA (or some newly -formed conference of a similar quality if we could include perhaps Wofford and Davidson). Reinstate baseball, which could be more feasible with regard to both money and Title IX after we go to Pioneer Football League.

Remember how you felt when you saw Chattanooga’s last second shot go in to win the SoCon Championship and end Furman Basketball’s hope of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 42 years?

FUBeAR felt the same way you did that night.

FUBeAR also feels that exact same feeling when he reads each of your (many & repeated) posts of the nature of this one.

Doubtful that makes any difference to you whatsoever, but FUBeAR wanted you to know.

[Fred Garvin]

Pioneer Football League would be the best conference for Furman football. Bring Wofford along if possible but not necessarily. If we bring them along, then we at least have PC and Davidson close. We are spending too much money on football, compared to the benefits, present and future. Focus on basketball (especially basketball) and other sports, though still seeking competitiveness and championships in football, such as Davidson has (finally) done in Pioneer Football League. Either stay in SoCon for all other sports, or preferably get into A-10 or CAA (or some newly -formed conference of a similar quality if we could include perhaps Wofford and Davidson). Reinstate baseball, which could be more feasible with regard to both money and Title IX after we go to Pioneer Football League.

Remember how you felt when you saw Chattanooga’s last second shot go in to win the SoCon Championship and end Furman Basketball’s hope of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 42 years?

FUBeAR felt the same way you did that night.

FUBeAR also feels that exact same feeling when he reads each of your (many & repeated) posts of the nature of this one.

Doubtful that makes any difference to you whatsoever, but FUBeAR wanted you to know.

Fred feels the same way as FUBeAR with regards to the continued posts. Fred is not very political so here it goes.....
Furman Basketball last won a championship when I was in HS. In that span of 42 years our football team has carried the torch by winning 12 of their 14 championships. To paraphrase the man that built Furman football, "You basketball guys need to get better." We ain't leaving the Southern Conference and we ain't talking with Wofford about going to the Pioneer League as a nerd tag team to develop a great new rivalry with Davidson.

When Furman wanted an on campus football stadium a group of men went out and raised the money to get it done. If basketball is truly driving the car of our athletic program I'm sure people are knocking down the door with money to build a new arena. I know Timmons sucks; we all know it. Go find some $ and fix it.

[aqualung]

I hope that the people on this forum will be able to give this come serious consideration and conversation. My hope is that many of the people that care the most about Furman Football will be able to be constructive in offering their thoughts and opinions on this.

I am an avid Furman fan and a season ticket holder for almost 40 years. My blood runs purple and I want the best for Furman.

On the Furman Basketball Forum, I saw the question asked if it was time for Furman to leave the Southern Conference. This post made me wonder what would be the best conference for Furman from a football perspective.

I enjoy fall weekends at Paladin Stadium and I enjoy seeing the stands as close to full as possible. Some of the games that I have enjoyed in past years are games against Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, and even against Marshall. Beating these teams provided a lot of satisfaction.

Our Home Schedule (next 10 games) for the next 2 years is against the following teams;
North Greenville
Samford
Western Carolina
Chattanooga
Wofford
ETSU
Citadel
VMI
Mercer
Tennessee Tech

Which games are our biggest rivalries? Probably Wofford and Citadel and not much beyond that.

If we were in the Sun Belt, our home schedule would include the following teams;
Appalachian State
Georgia Southern
Marshall
Coastal Carolina
Georgia State
Old Dominion
James Madison
Louisiana Lafayette
Troy
South Alabama
Louisiana Monroe
Texas Southern
Texas Arlington
Southern Mississippi

Also, our only games against Wofford and Citadel would be home games for us.

In addition, we could schedule home and home games with other D1 schools like Duke, East Carolina, Wake Forest, UNC Charlotte, and Vanderbilt.

This schedule has a lot more to be excited about. This schedule would draw more fans to our games. The Sun Belt would have more money to pay to Furman.

I have heard people say that the exciting thing about playing FCS football is playing for championships. When we played for our last championship in 2001, it was a lot of fun and the quality of football opponents was much deeper back then. Since 2001, many of the top programs in FCS have left for Division 1.

Furman has had over 100 home football games since 2001 and the quality of our schedule has diminished over time. I would like to up our game in terms of schedule. I would like to see Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Marshall, and Georgia State in Paladin Stadium. I would like to see 5 great football teams and games at home each year. I Think that the buzz around Furman Football would be greater and our attendance would be greater.

Again, Please provide your constructive ideas and comments. We all want Furman to be the best.

Thanks

Agree 100%. IMHO, FU and SoCon used to play quality mid-major CFB equivalent to what the top teams in the Group of Five produce now. The big increase in number of schools playing D1 football has greatly diluted the talent level combined with FU's ridiculous academic requirements for football players. Hence our decline. Not sure when this all started but back when we dominated, Coach Sheridan enjoyed a much lower academic bar to get players in. He was smart enough to always recruit guys that he thought could graduate. He never abused the privilege and the historical graduation rate speaks for itself. Then somewhere along the way somebody decided to blow it up and fix what was not broken. And here we are.

So I say let's make FU Football great again. Invest some capital, be reasonable with admissions, step up to the level we used to play at...somewhere in the group of 5, and PS will be back to 12K-16K every week and FU would enjoy a healthy ROI in building the brand.

Also agree 100% with FuBear and Fred...Pioneer league? Are you frigging kidding me? That's the worst idea I've heard since Build Back Better. Pathetic.

[FUBeAR]

So I say let's make FU Football great again.

[DungeonRealm]

Pioneer Football League would be the best conference for Furman football. Bring Wofford along if possible but not necessarily. If we bring them along, then we at least have PC and Davidson close. We are spending too much money on football, compared to the benefits, present and future. Focus on basketball (especially basketball) and other sports, though still seeking competitiveness and championships in football, such as Davidson has (finally) done in Pioneer Football League. Either stay in SoCon for all other sports, or preferably get into A-10 or CAA (or some newly -formed conference of a similar quality if we could include perhaps Wofford and Davidson). Reinstate baseball, which could be more feasible with regard to both money and Title IX after we go to Pioneer Football League.

Remember how you felt when you saw Chattanooga’s last second shot go in to win the SoCon Championship and end Furman Basketball’s hope of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 42 years?

FUBeAR felt the same way you did that night.

FUBeAR also feels that exact same feeling when he reads each of your (many & repeated) posts of the nature of this one.

Doubtful that makes any difference to you whatsoever, but FUBeAR wanted you to know.

Fred feels the same way as FUBeAR with regards to the continued posts. Fred is not very political so here it goes.....
Furman Basketball last won a championship when I was in HS. In that span of 42 years our football team has carried the torch by winning 12 of their 14 championships. To paraphrase the man that built Furman football, "You basketball guys need to get better." We ain't leaving the Southern Conference and we ain't talking with Wofford about going to the Pioneer League as a nerd tag team to develop a great new rivalry with Davidson.

When Furman wanted an on campus football stadium a group of men went out and raised the money to get it done. If basketball is truly driving the car of our athletic program I'm sure people are knocking down the door with money to build a new arena. I know Timmons sucks; we all know it. Go find some $ and fix it.

There is really no reason to make this a football vs. basketball thing no matter which side you are on, Furman should be in position to upgrade and build both programs into championship level, there is good support for both!

[The Jackal]

What I hear you say is that you want to be in a conference with App State and Georgia Southern. I get it. Those were fun years.

The Sun Belt doesn't make any sense for Furman. It wouldn't be super lucrative, and the operational costs would sky rocket. College athletics is financially taxing on the university enough without conference road trips to Lafayette or San Marcos.

Besides, about the only thing Furman shares in common with a lot of those schools is they used to play FCS football.

[Davemeister]

All we really need to do is WIN the freakin' games.