Already in the past several years, a handful or two of Div. 1-AA (FCS) football programs have made the jump to the Div. 1-A (FBS) level. This year alone, four programs -- South Alabama (Sun Belt), Texas State (WAC), UMass (MAC) and UT-San Antonio (WAC) -- will be making the jump.
Georgia State will be making the move to the big-boy level of football next year, as will Charlotte in 2015, while Appalachian State is on the verge of doing the same.
Now, another program is prepared to take that step up the football ladder.
During his commencement address Saturday, Liberty University chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. (pictured, left) announced that, as the Lynchburg News & Advance wrote, the Flames are ready to make the leap to the Football Bowl Subdivision. The decision is the result of a feasibility study that commenced in December, shortly after the hiring of former Kansas head coach Turner Gill (pictured, right) for the same position with the Flames.
While a press conference will be held at 1 p.m. Monday afternoon to address the decision, Falwell Jr. issued a press release confirming the news he broke during the commencement speech.
“Competing at the highest levels of collegiate competition has been the vision for Liberty University since its founding in 1971,” Falwell said in a press release. “It is exciting to watch the fulfillment of that dream taking shape as Liberty now has the financial resources, facilities, academic support and athletics professionals necessary to move forward.”
Even as Liberty, a private Christian university founded over 40 years ago by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, has the desire to move up a level, they cannot do so without an official invitation from a 1-A conference, which is much the same position in which Appalachian State finds itself.
The News & Advance notes that the Sun Belt and MAC are the most likely options, and the school is hoping that the positive end to the feasibility study will prompt conferences to take an interest in the football program.
One plus for the two conferences mentioned is stadium size. While Williams Stadium seats just 19,200 fans now, there are plans to expand the stadium to a capacity of 30,000 in the very near future. Such a number would put LU behind just three of 12 schools in the MAC* -- Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan at 30,200, Central Michigan at 30,199 -- and make them very competitive attendance-wise in the Sun Belt -- seven of the 10 schools currently in the conference have stadiums with listed capacities between 30,000 and 31,000, with new member South Alabama topping the league at just over 40,000.
(*13th member UMass will play its home games at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots)
Adding Liberty would expand the MAC’s footprint to seven states, the Sun Belt’s to eight.
Regardless of where Liberty ultimately lands, the school is confident it’s ready to take that next step with its football program.
“There has always been great commitment from our university to our NCAA Division I athletics programs and everything we have done has been with intent and purpose,” athletic director Jeff Barber said in his statement. “Our university and athletics program have gone through tremendous transformation during the past five years, and because of this, we are ready for FBS football.”
(Photo credit: Liberty athletics)