Reeves happily considering a fullback dive. (Image: AJC)
What in the blue hell are the Georgia State people smoking? Ga. State announced yesterday that they have hired Dan Reeves to consult with the school on the feasibility and approach to launching a football program.
As Dawgnoxious said upon hearing the news:
Tech is going to hate to be the second best team in Atlanta. I thought GSU should focus on basketball like Georgetown but I guess they think they know better.Tech can't consistently fill at 55k seat stadium to watch Div I / ACC football. And now, the Atlanta community is going to embrace Div I-AA football played in the 80k seat cavernous Georgia Dome?
Per the AP: Georgia State, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, would become the eighth member of the conference to play football on the Division I-AA level. The Panthers are at least three years away from fielding a team, which would initially play home games in the Georgia Dome.If you take the aspirational long view, you could say that an urban commuter school with little to no student affinity to the program should invest in football to create a sense of community around the institution. That was certainly the view that Alabama's President Denny took shortly after taking the job in 1912, and it worked for them athletically and academically. (Although there was nothing Urban or Commuter about Tuscaloosa in 1912)
But what is the modern model for proven success to an urban commuter school? USF, UAB, FAU and UCF? Hardly.
It'll be interesting to see what sort of reaction the business and sports community give Reeves and the Ga. State program in the coming months.
PWD
