KSU football and CPJ

[swampsting]

And KSU will lose their first game ever against the East Tennessee Buccaneers, another team that is starting(restarting actually) a program in 2015,
I will be there!
Go Bucs!
(Tech fan first, but 5 hour drive to ATL for Alcorn State or 15 minutes to Johnson City for first ever game...- by the way_ season ticket holder at both)

Are they gonna use the old airplane hangar stadium again?

Hey, people forget ETSU was a pretty competitive program. It was pretty shocking when they pulled the plug, to me at least. And they recruited Georgia hard.

Back to KSU. I also think Bohannon will stay and give it some stability. As much name recognition as Curry brought to State when he got there and started it, I don't know if anybody really thought he was in it for the long haul.

The sneaky school might be Mercer. Mercer can be another Furman down the road, if not sooner. A private school but their fan base has gone gaga over what's happened there - their baseball team is good, the hoops team beat Duke in the NCAAs in 14 and the football team had a 10-win year back in 13 (IIRC). And they have their own stadium, too.

Now, I hate Furman. I don't hate Mercer. But Furman sux on a level of hell Dante couldn't have envisioned.

 

[TechSBP]

KSU will kick off their inaugural season of football soon with a number of connections to GT.

Head Coach Brian Bohannon coached under CPJ at Tech, Navy, and GSU.

OC Grant Chestnut was a OL player at GSU in the 90s.

LB Coach, Shane Bowen, played LB for Tech and coached BBs with Bohannon.

DL Coach/Recruiting Coordinator, Liam Klein, was a GT graduate assistant.

Ryan Godhigh (Robbie's brother) will be a RB.

I'm hoping these guys can make some noise in the Big South this year.

I hope they suffer the same fate as Georgia State. Screw Dan Pap and his empire building.

 

[TechSBP]

Kennesaw is trying to become "legit"- in all areas. And they are. As the academics have improved, so has the campus, and so has the campus life, and so has the student's perception of their own school. This is a big deal to a university. If you have students that love their school and all that it has to offer rather than being a "ehh, I guess I'll just go here" school, that's a big deal. Football is a big part of that in the South. So is Greek life, which is also somewhat improving. Students want to go to a "real school".

In other words, they want to pay more money to have things that have nothing to do with an education because more established better schools have those things?

 

[GEETEELEE]

Georgia Gwinnett College is also planning a football team, but it's probably 10 years out.

 

[GEETEELEE]

There was absolutely no pencil put to paper when it came to consolidation of the two schools. It was basically do it "just because" and those at the two schools were left to figure it out. I do know it was supposed to be a merger of the two schools but SPSU folks appear to be getting run over in the deal.

???

The BOR has consolidated the following:

• KSU & SPSU
• Ga State and Ga Perimeter
• Augusta State and Ga Health Sciences U

And is planning the additional mergers:

• Macon State and Middle Ga
• Waycross and South Ga Colleges
• Gainesville and North Ga Colleges

The official reasons are:

• Increase opportunities to raise education attainment levels. Enhancing opportunities for students to raise their education attainment levels will be a goal.
• Improve accessibility, regional identity, and compatibility. Geographic proximity, transportation corridors, student backgrounds, ensuring as much as possible a cultural fit, and other factors which strengthen the qualitative aspects of campus offerings will be considered.
• Avoid duplication of academic programs while optimizing access to instruction. Consideration will be given to demand for degrees, program overlaps and duplications, and optimal institutional enrollment characteristics sufficient to offer and support the needed array of services.
• Create significant potential for economies of scale and scope. Consideration will be given to the potential for achieving cost efficiency in service delivery, degree offerings, and enrollment.
• Enhance regional economic development. Consideration will be given to consolidations with the potential to improve economic development through enhanced degree programs, community partnerships, and improved student completion.
• Streamline administrative services while maintaining or improving service level and quality. Potential for administrative efficiencies and savings which yield more effective service will be considered. In addition, functional consolidations on a regional basis will be analyzed.

Whether the reasons are valid or not remains to be seen, but it wasn't done "just because" nor was it done without financial considerations. Those are also available if you care to Bing it.

 

[33jacket]

poly tech was in $ trouble...combining with KSU helped....

 

[GT1992]

In other words, they want to pay more money to have things that have nothing to do with an education because more established better schools have those things?

That's exactly the problem. If the programs aren't self sustaining, they are stupid. I can see how having a team in South Georgia could make some sense and it being a non-commuter school, but doing it in the Atlanta market at two largely commuter schools is a recipe for disaster.

 

[Yukonwreck]

KSU sold a bunch of season tickets and they have an enrollment of about 30K. They're setting themselves up for success - their own field, their own facilities, etc. They have a much better plan than State did for launching football, because they have their own field.

I talked to Bohannon earlier this summer. He told me they've sold out every home game and they had about 7K for their spring game. He said their plan is to compete for championships in five years. Bo told me they had been talking about football at KSU for about 20 years before he got there.

KSU has support and backing. They have sold naming rights for their stadium (Fifth Third Bank Stadium). They are in a better position right now than Georgia State is five years into it.

KSU has a chance to be the next Georgia Southern. I think they're content with being FCS for a while, since they'll have the resources to compete at that level. That jump from FCS to FBS isn't just 22 extra scholarships to play with. It's a huge financial undertaking.

And realistically a drive to Kennesaw, and a day or evening at a football game, is a much more enjoyable proposition for a lot of folks, than heading to downtown Atlanta---whether it be to Grant Field or the Georgia Dome. If I wasn't a Tech grad, I would probably never do it. Look at what the Braves are doing--abandoning the urban core.

 

[JJacket]

poly tech was in $ trouble...combining with KSU helped....

Really? I am an alum and that is news to me. Enrollment was up. No one could ever provide any numbers on how any of this was put together. It is just a general "because"

 

[beej67]

poly tech was in $ trouble...combining with KSU helped....

This isn't true. SPSU was in the black, and the cost to bus kids back and forth across campuses is going to exceed the costs saved by eliminating department heads. The overall overhead still goes up because there are still the same number of students, and the overall faculty (less admin overhead and department heads) will stay the same for the same reasons.

The SPSU students screamed to the roof to see the supposed financial analysis that led to the decision and it was never released. Because, most likely, it didn't exist.

Regardless, it's water under the bridge now. The way I see it, there's now an alternate engineering school I can send my kid to in 15 years if he doesn't get in to Tech, that will also give him an opportunity to hook up with some shoe models. Ain't all bad. It just makes KSU that much better an alternative to UGA.

 

[TechSBP]

???




The official reasons are:

• Increase opportunities to raise education attainment levels. Enhancing opportunities for students to raise their education attainment levels will be a goal.
• Improve accessibility, regional identity, and compatibility. Geographic proximity, transportation corridors, student backgrounds, ensuring as much as possible a cultural fit, and other factors which strengthen the qualitative aspects of campus offerings will be considered.
• Avoid duplication of academic programs while optimizing access to instruction. Consideration will be given to demand for degrees, program overlaps and duplications, and optimal institutional enrollment characteristics sufficient to offer and support the needed array of services.
• Create significant potential for economies of scale and scope. Consideration will be given to the potential for achieving cost efficiency in service delivery, degree offerings, and enrollment.
• Enhance regional economic development. Consideration will be given to consolidations with the potential to improve economic development through enhanced degree programs, community partnerships, and improved student completion.
• Streamline administrative services while maintaining or improving service level and quality. Potential for administrative efficiencies and savings which yield more effective service will be considered. In addition, functional consolidations on a regional basis will be analyzed.

Whether the reasons are valid or not remains to be seen, but it wasn't done "just because" nor was it done without financial considerations. Those are also available if you care to Bing it.

Indeed. And what's interesting is that the BOR's own report said doing that for SPSU and KSU would accomplish none of that---yet it is happening anyway. Do the math.

To wit: merging the two will reduce the number of people enrolling in engineering programs; KSU and SPSU don't have duplicate programs (but the KSU folks want SPSU's programs); SPSU was far more efficient than SPSU--the merger is expected to end up costing more money on an annual basis due to higher classroom costs; etc etc.

The merger costs more, merges a good name with a bad name, and has already led to KSU officials raising tuition, thus limiting access.

I don't disagree about merging the other schools. But the KSU - SPSU merger is all about helping one person: Dan Pap. This is no different than when the BOR gave U[sic]GA an engineering school when it would have been better placed at Georgia Gwinnett, Georgia Southern, or in Savannah or Augusta.

 

[ramblinwise1]

Dan Papp is at KSU? Used to play pickup basketball with Dan lots in my days at Tech. He could ball.

 

[jacket67]

I recently toured the two KSU campuses with my kids, who will soon be applying to college.

The Marietta campus (Southern Poly) seemed pretty run down, especially the landscaping and courtyard areas. My kids thought the older dormitory looked like a mental hospital, and the buildings are mostly old and unrefurbished. The engineering and computer facilities seemed first rate, so that seems to be where the money goes, but the rest of the campus is not very impressive.

By comparison, the University System has invested lots of money in the expansions of KSU for land, modern new buildings, and landscaping. The KSU freshman dorm we toured was like an Embassy Suites, with atrium coffee shop and nice architectural features. The dining facility is ranked one of the best in the country, including fresh produce from 3 KSU farms in the area. They even produce their own honey.

They obviously want to direct their spending in ways that appeal to the students they seek, and the two campuses are targeting somewhat different students. Nevertheless, the old Southern Poly campus might benefit from some of the cosmetic and modernization treatments going on in Kennesaw. Maybe the merger will help Poly getting the upgrades they deserve.

 

[eneq]

You guys talking out of your ass is hysterical. This team will succeed. The students here are so excited for this. The alumni around here are so excited for this. This is going to be a huge step in order for KSU to become a "real university." Our Greek Life is bigger than ever, we've got a brand new and huge rec center, and we've got our own football stadium. There's probably over triple the amount of school pride here since when I first started back in 2013. All the home games are going to be a sell-outs. Like someone said earlier, there were around 7k people at the spring game, and that's not including all the people tailgating that didn't even make it inside the stadium. Bohannon has also been on record saying he doesn't want to be scheduled for tune-up games because he's trying to build a winning culture here, and you don't get that from automatic losses. Either way, all the pieces are set up for this team to succeed and do well.

 

[eneq]

???

The BOR has consolidated the following:

• KSU & SPSU
• Ga State and Ga Perimeter
• Augusta State and Ga Health Sciences U

And is planning the additional mergers:

• Macon State and Middle Ga
• Waycross and South Ga Colleges
• Gainesville and North Ga Colleges

GSU and GAPer hasn't happened yet, but Gainesville and NGCSU already has. It's now University of North Georgia.

 

[05GTCorndog]

You guys talking out of your ass is hysterical. This team will succeed. The students here are so excited for this. The alumni around here are so excited for this. This is going to be a huge step in order for KSU to become a "real university." Our Greek Life is bigger than ever, we've got a brand new and huge rec center, and we've got our own football stadium. There's probably over triple the amount of school pride here since when I first started back in 2013. All the home games are going to be a sell-outs. Like someone said earlier, there were around 7k people at the spring game, and that's not including all the people tailgating that didn't even make it inside the stadium. Bohannon has also been on record saying he doesn't want to be scheduled for tune-up games because he's trying to build a winning culture here, and you don't get that from automatic losses. Either way, all the pieces are set up for this team to succeed and do well.

Said GSU in 2010...

Heck, they even got a SI cover story.

 

[jdubjacket]

You guys talking out of your ass is hysterical. This team will succeed. The students here are so excited for this. The alumni around here are so excited for this. This is going to be a huge step in order for KSU to become a "real university." Our Greek Life is bigger than ever, we've got a brand new and huge rec center, and we've got our own football stadium. There's probably over triple the amount of school pride here since when I first started back in 2013. All the home games are going to be a sell-outs. Like someone said earlier, there were around 7k people at the spring game, and that's not including all the people tailgating that didn't even make it inside the stadium. Bohannon has also been on record saying he doesn't want to be scheduled for tune-up games because he's trying to build a winning culture here, and you don't get that from automatic losses. Either way, all the pieces are set up for this team to succeed and do well.

I can understand why you're excited. I mean, Gold has already notched a win against Black in convincing form.

http://www.ksuowls.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=133

 

[Diseqc]

Over/Under for wins in KSU's first season: 6 (GSU got 6 in their first season).

I'll take the under.

 

[TheTaxJacket]

You guys talking out of your ass is hysterical. This team will succeed. The students here are so excited for this. The alumni around here are so excited for this. This is going to be a huge step in order for KSU to become a "real university." Our Greek Life is bigger than ever, we've got a brand new and huge rec center, and we've got our own football stadium. There's probably over triple the amount of school pride here since when I first started back in 2013. All the home games are going to be a sell-outs. Like someone said earlier, there were around 7k people at the spring game, and that's not including all the people tailgating that didn't even make it inside the stadium. Bohannon has also been on record saying he doesn't want to be scheduled for tune-up games because he's trying to build a winning culture here, and you don't get that from automatic losses. Either way, all the pieces are set up for this team to succeed and do well.

GSU fans were also very excited as well in 2010. That doesn't do öööö when your team is losing. They'll get unexcited real quick. Initial student excitement has nothing to do with it. You sound like a GSU student back then. See how that's worked out.

 

[GT1992]

So Bohannon has basically said they won't schedule any big time programs. That and a losing season will take the air out of the program. Enjoy the tuition hikes to cover the boondoggle.