Is it time for Appalachian State to move up to the college football’s highest level? Maybe East Carolina should move down?

Appalachian State wants to go big-time in college football….Is this the right move? I would say not…..East Carolina has been playing up for many years now and with the exception of the Ed Emory years, what have they accomplished??? ECU draws big crowds for games with N.C. State and North Carolina, but they have never, and I mean NEVER found a football conference that they can play in…..What are they in now, the Conference USA, with teams like SMU, UAB, Houston, Memphis, Central Florida and the like…..(How pumped up can you get for playing a big home game in Greenville, against Memphis or Houston or SMU or UAB or Central Florida?)ECU would be better off to keep playing non-conference games with N.C. State, North Carolina and the like and then return to the Southern Conference…..It would be a perfect fit for ECU in basketball, baseball and other sports…..With ECU added, the Southern Conference would then have ECU, Appalachian, Elon, Western Carolina, bring back Marshall, and you also have Wofford, Furman, and others and it is a real good football conference….Or maybe ECU should just return to the Southern Conference in all sports but football and remain independent in that sport….ECU back to the Southern Conference makes the most sense of all, cause what they are doing in football now makes no sense at all……SMU, Houston, Central Florida, Memphis, UAB and whatever…..(Hey wait a minute, we have SMU coming to town and they have Craig James and Eric Dickerson…..Hold on now, that was 30 years ago, my Pirate Pals!!!!!)

As for Appalachian moving to the College Football Bowl Subdivision? Makes No Sense at All????? And if it does, prove it to me………..(See ECU above and you’ll get what I mean, but prove it to me and I’ll be open to your arguements…..)

BOONE, N.C. — A committee at Appalachian State says the Mountaineers’ football program should jump to the Bowl Subdivision.

The school’s athletics feasibility committee voted Monday to recommend to Chancellor Kenneth Peacock that it seek membership in an FBS conference.

The Mountaineers won three straight Championship Subdivision titles from 2005-07. They have captured six straight Southern Conference titles and have led the FCS in regular-season home attendance four straight years.

13 thoughts on “Is it time for Appalachian State to move up to the college football’s highest level? Maybe East Carolina should move down?

  1. Just don’t understand the rationale. Being a big fish in a smaller pond ain’t all that bad of a deal. Contending for titles with sold out crowds and leading FCS in attendance creates the atmosphere that leads to the big crowds. Going to FBS and you immediately become a very small fish in a huge pond. Not going to be able to compete with the big boys, have to increase stadium size, add scholarships and the schedule will become questionable. Crowds come to support winners who are playing for championships. That all goes away with the move. Doesn’t seem like a good move to me

  2. Good call and how much longer is Jerry Moore going to be able to keep coaching this team? If you expand the stadium to seat 50,000 and you bring in North Carolina or N.C. State and you get beat 42-7, how much fun is that and how long will the fans keep coming to see that…..Early on it would be tough to get the ACC teams to come up to Boone, but eventually they would….Florida State, Virginia Tech and other ACC schools sound exciting, but if you are getting beat by those schools on regular basis, again, how much fun is that???

    How about UNC-Charlotte to the Southern Conference in the next 10 years, that would be a nice fit with App, Elon, Western Carolina and maybe some games for Charlotte with Davidson down the road……

  3. East Carolina experienced limited success under the leadership of Bill Lewis and Steve Logan but never reached the same level that they did when Coach Ed Emory was there. ECU is lost under Ruffin McNeill right now and he will not be there long before he is asked to leave.

    Appalachian should stay where they are in the Southern Conference.

  4. Andy, I know you delete posts for inappropriate content, perhaps you should delete posts like Frank’s that contain grossly inaccurate content.

    Pat Dye and Ed Emory both produced some excellent teams while playing an extremely tough independent schedule. Bill Lewis’ last team at ECU defeated NC State in the Peach Bowl and gained a #9 national ranking, with only one loss. Steve Logan’s teams consistently competed at a national level. Pirate Nation could not be happier than it is right now under Ruffin, who has come home and is building a solid program with one of the best offensive minds in the college game. The defensive side of the ball has recruited a lot of speed and will be much improved. This season will set a record for season ticket sales and another stadium expansion has been approved.

    ECU is going no where but up.

  5. Don’t get Pirate Nation started……..no one likes to hear from them. It’s best when they’re playing UAB in a half filled stadium and no one talks about them.

  6. We’ll let the Pirates’ record stand on it’s own merit….Logan and Lewis both did a good job and ECU was at a loss for a while after Lewis moved up to Georgia Tech due to his success at East Carolina and ECU was hurting for sure after Logan was let go and it took Skip Holtz to get things turned around again and headed into the right direction….One thing that has hurt ECU over the years is that many of the coaches have used East Carolina as a stepping stone to get toward bigger schools/jobs…..Sonny Randle to Virginia from ECU, Pat Dye to Wyoming and then on to Auburn from ECU, Bill Lewis from ECU to Georgia Tech, Skip Holtz from ECU on to South Florida……ECU has always been a solid program for the most part and they can stand on their overall bowl record/overall record in general…….Still have never been able to land a real conference affiliation since back in the days of the Southern Conference, but most ECU Fans are not hearing any of the SoCon talk, since they still have bigger fish to fry and with so many Guilford County players with them down n Greenville, let’s hope it is all good for 2011 within the Pirate Nation……Justin Venable, Derek Blacknall, Will Foxx, Rocco Scarfone, Jonathan “Jay” White…..and more….

  7. Besides a storied past, ECU has also had a lot of recent football success. The Pirates won back to back Conference USA titles in 2008 & 2009 under Skip Holtz. Last season the team was contending for a third consecutive appearance in the league championship game until a late season loss knocked them out of the running. The team and Ruffin McNeill’s coaching staff fully expect to win the conference title again this year. They have been the top act in Conference USA for a good number of years, it is only a matter of time before ECU joins a major BCS conference.

  8. Good Gosh, there has not EVER been a half full stadium in Greenville so get your exagerations straight. Even during the lean years, Pirates have always supported Pirates. The oh-so-common fair-weather attitude that is prevelant in many institutions does not exist in eastern NC . The university was built on an “us against the world” mentality and that’s the way it still is. That chip has become a powerful tool.

  9. Pirate Fan – Don’t quote conference titles, then say you’ll be in a major conference soon. But thanks for clarifying the C-USA as not a major conference.

    ECU Alumnus – Ok…..so half is an exaggeration. The point was, you don’t fill ‘er up for many non-conference games. You can see that on TV! But even big time Pirates…..the go to every game kind….admit that too many fans choose to sit out games like UAB. The problem is you’re a “wanna-be”, not happy with you own existence. You get all jacked up for ACC games….but can find any real rivals or interest in conference games. By the way….that chip isn’t a tool…..you are a tool for continuing to use you’re Napoleon syndrome as a strategy.

  10. Sounds like UNC-CH and NCSU fans would like to hold ASU down, much like they tried with ECU. Now you guys travel to Greenville for football games and come home with losses. I understand your fear of coming to work with an ASU on Monday after a tough weekend.

  11. Andy, here are some interesting facts for you: The top football school in the ACC has clearlly been Va Tech for the last ten years so let’s use them as a measuring stick. UNC has beaten VT once over the last seven years and that win will be vacated in October for cheating so that makes VT 7-0 against the Heels. ECU has played VT the last four years and also beaten them 1 time. So after the NCAA is through with UNC, ECU will have a better record than UNC against VT. Isn’t that interesting?

    UNC has played ECU three times in the last four years and ECU won once. After the NCAA reverses the UNC record for 2009, that will make ECU 2-1 against them. Another interesting thought!!

    How about ECU versus NC State? They have played the last four years with each team going 2-2.

    And lastly how about UNC versus NC State? NC State is 4-0 against UNC.

    And speaking of App, didn’t they beat Michagan on national tv….Who has UNC EVER beaten out of conference that was nationally ranked? Can’t think of one single team.

    So, let’s quit putting App and ECU down and give them a fair shake. Also, go to “undaunted ECU” on youtube and see the real facts about ECU.

  12. Come on now and get real folks. I can’t stand the rational about we beat this team who beat the ACC champs so we are better than anyone in the ACC. Any given Saturday anyone can beat anyone. ECU and Ap have solid programs but would win no better than 50% of their games if they were in the ACC probably more like 25% at their best. Anyone can beat Duke and you would probably sneak up and beat another basketball school or two.

    ACC teams do not get excited and are not at their best for nonconference games. Although it is huge for you guys, attendance is generally down and coaching decisions are different for the ACC team versus the nonconference opponent.

    In any case best of luck to all. These are two solid schools that I wouldn’t mind my kids attending.

  13. Just trying to look at the best fit for all the schools for the long haul…..ECU should still keep on playing the UNC, Va Techs, and other top level schools and I’m sure they will keep on beating many of them….Over the long term though, ECU, APP, Charlotte, Elon and others would all fit well in a conference together such as the Southern Conference…..Sure, Appalachian beat Michigan and that is all good, but that is probably going to happen once every one hundred years and to be realistic, is that reason enough for App to move up to the next level? It seems that is some much of what App is basing their move on, the fact that we/they/App beat Michigan……App won three straight D I-AA titles, but they haven’t been all that close in the past 3-4 years…..Has the old Black Magic died out a little bit? Maybe…..They do continue to win the SoCon Titles and that is to be commended on behalf of the Mountaineers……

    The question is can Appalachian be successful on a consistant basis at the top DI level in College Football? I would hate to disassociate myself from my current conference members and strike out on my own, when I already have found a level of success at a level of play that seems to suit my needs……Good luck to be both App and ECU and I hope both schools find what is bes for them……

    ECU has been up for so long now it would be extremely hard for them to turn back the clock and enter back into the SoCon, but realistically speaking, they do need to find a better conference fit for them……Maybe if App moved up they could eventually find a conference that puts them at the higher level with ECU, Charlotte, Elon, ECU and others and it could be a mixed conference with DI and DI-AA teams…..

    There are lot of ways of looking at this, but in the end, ECU will continue with their goals to get with some sensible conference members and App will probably decide to remain in the SoCon and we will all be better off for at least talking this out…….

    Another interesting thought is you could have a split SoCon with DI members and DI-AA members……ECU, App, Charlotte, Elon and say one more member that went up on one end of the conference and other SoCon members at the DI-AA level on the other end of the conference….And they could still all play each other and that would still give you room for maybe three non-conference games vs. UNC, Va Tech, N.C. State, Duke, Wake, South Carolina and/or others…..

    I still like to refer to the teams as DI and DI-AA, in the end it is easier to keep up with…….

    I have left us with enough ideas to hopefully keep the discussion going for a while and we do have options Charlie Cobb and Terry Holland, so please listen to what, I’m saying…..I know the landscape as well as the old Mountaineer with the jug……..

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