Kolek planning to go pro
Return to football and you've got ready-made opponents in Butler, Georgetown and Villanova, with three non-scholarship Div. I teams (St. Thomas, Drake, and Valpo) within driving distance of Valley Fields.
The biggest force that would prevent this is dark money from the University of Wisconsin. I'm half kidding. Which means I'm half serious. Wisconsin is the 20th state in population but has only one Division 1 team. This imbalance gives UW an incredible advantage in cultivating their walk on program. It also explains why UW-Whitewater is so dominant. A FCS or D2 program could be pretty competitive in Wisconsin given metrics. I'm not advocating for a team but merely pointing out that when you look at state's population and see that from 21-40 most have 2 teams, some have 3 and even a few have 4, there could be opportunity in Wisconsin.
We could recruit Whitewaters roster fill in some legit D1 recruits and win FCS based on what I remember from the last FCS football game I watched
To your point, Michigan has U of M and MSU and also has Central, Western and Eastern as MAC teams in D1. Then you get into Ferris State, Grand Valley State and Northern Michigan DII.MU could put together a very decent quality FCS team.
Fun fact: Al McGuire played high school football against Joe Paterno. Al was able score easily bc JoePa looked the other way.
Could Whitewater be competitive in FCS? Would we be scholarship or non-scholarship FCS? It's a hell of a lot easier to get kids to pay to pay full costs at Whitewater or LaCrosse especially in-state kids (Minnesota too if WI still has tuition remission for MN natives) than to pay full costs at MU. Tuition at Whitewater is under $8K a year, $15,384 with room and board. $24K for out-of-state students. This is without merit and need based aid too. Meanwhile, MU is $60K. That's the biggest impediment, IMO. Saginaw Valley and Wayne State in D2 as well. However, all of those are public schools. It costs $25K for in-state students and $30K for out-of-state students at GVSU, all in. Even less at SVSU, Ferris, and NMU.
Could Whitewater be competitive in FCS? Would we be scholarship or non-scholarship FCS? It's a hell of a lot easier to get kids to pay to pay full costs at Whitewater or LaCrosse especially in-state kids (Minnesota too if WI still has tuition remission for MN natives) than to pay full costs at MU. Tuition at Whitewater is under $8K a year, $15,384 with room and board. $24K for out-of-state students. This is without merit and need based aid too. Meanwhile, MU is $60K. That's the biggest impediment, IMO.
Non scholarship FCS to start. MU would have no problem attracting students to be in the program. Georgetown has kids falling all overthemselves to play football for the Hoyas.
Non scholarship FCS football is worthless.
Likely the aptly named Frosty Ferzacca.
I have been to a few games and saw a lot of school spirit and people having fun.
Whats “a lot of school spirit”?Valpo averaged 1800-2000 fans a game the last few games, and that was usually buffered by a “big” game early in the year. Multiple games have under 1200 fans.Butler similarly, averages around 2500 a game, but again multiple games under 1500 fans a year.Drake, under 2000.Dayton has the highest of the set, but they are still under 3000 fans.All of schools play in stadiums that seat way more than they bring. Drake and Dayton both play in stadiums that seat more than 10K fans. And they all have basketball teams that draw way more fans.It’s a waste of time. The Pioneer League has the lowest attendance as a conference in the FCS and usually gets blasted in any non-con games against legit FCS programs.
I think there is a photo of this somewhere.
Could Whitewater be competitive
No...and after reading many many psosts from people on this board that do...I have to say I'm MUCH better off, if this is the type of "intelligence" a degree from MU gets you. It sure is on full display I will say that.