Let your voices be heard.

[ZachTheZip]

http://www.integrityservicesgroup.com/mac/Sorry I didn't get this up earlier, but I just found out about it today. Unfortunately, the deadline is Oct 31st so you had better hurry.This is a survey created by the Presidents of the MAC schools in unison with Rick Chryst. This may be your ONLY opportunity to share your feelings on the conference with the people who are in a position to do something about it. I really let them have it on the question about dropping to 1-AA. I can promise that they are listening. Now we just need to tell them what we think.

[tbozeglav]

I am not intentionally trying to "stir the pot" or anything, but in regards to your statement how the question was brought up about dropping down to 1-AA... IF that were to happen, and I put total emphasis on the "if" and the probability it wouldn't ever happen, I would vote that Akron go independant again. By no means are we 1-AA quality. We are just a Mid-Major D-1 school. Unless they have a legitmate reason to drop down a division, I would cease all support of their athletics if they did that. That is all of my rant. Carry on..

[johnnyzip84]

I am not intentionally trying to "stir the pot" or anything, but in regards to your statement how the question was brought up about dropping down to 1-AA... IF that were to happen, and I put total emphasis on the "if" and the probability it wouldn't ever happen, I would vote that Akron go independant again. By no means are we 1-AA quality. We are just a Mid-Major D-1 school. Unless they have a legitmate reason to drop down a division, I would cease all support of their athletics if they did that. That is all of my rant. Carry on..

I believe such a move would split the conference, and this is what I said in the survey.

[tbozeglav]

I believe such a move would split the conference, and this is what I said in the survey.

Exactly. Moving down would hurt the better teams in the conference while marginally helping those bad teams. Take ball state, for example. They are RANKED in the BCS standings. Granted they didn't have to go through the Gauntlet known as the Big10, they still are undefeated and have done so in convincing manner. To force them to drop to 1-AA would be beyond a slap in the face. I dont see this ever happening, but if the question was raised, that's cause for concern.

[skip-zip]

I can say with a pretty high degree of certainty that we'd elect to go independent before we did that. As someone who was a student when we turned I-A, I know how much the school has invested in getting into the higher division, and staying there over the years. We wouldn't give it all up now, especially with the investment into the new stadium.Beyond that, I'd like to believe that if the MAC split, and certain schools dropped out and went back to I-AA, we'd certainly be one of the schools that would stay. There's quite a few others who do not have the factors we have that would keep us among the top teams.

[Captain Kangaroo]

1.) You don't build a $62 million dollar stadium if you have ANY intentions of dropping to 1-AA.2.) There is no savings in dropping to 1-AA. You save 22 scholarships...that's it. That's peanuts.

[Quickzips]

1.) You don't build a $62 million dollar stadium if you have ANY intentions of dropping to 1-AA.2.) There is no savings in dropping to 1-AA. You save 22 scholarships...that's it. That's peanuts.

I totally agree on point #1. Point #2 is a different scenario all together. Talk to anyone in the athletic department. The biggest cost for an athletic program IS scholarships and the biggest culprit is football. 22 less football scholarships would be a BIG money saver for the AD. I would hardly call it peanuts. That said, there is little sense in dropping to IAA after everything that has been invested in this program. It would be like John McCain or Barack Obama coming out tomorow morning and saying that after years of campaigning and spending millions of dollars they are dropping out of the race for President 2 days before the election. Doesn't make any sense.

[Valpo Zip]

1.) You don't build a $62 million dollar stadium if you have ANY intentions of dropping to 1-AA.2.) There is no savings in dropping to 1-AA. You save 22 scholarships...that's it. That's peanuts.

I totally agree on point #1. Point #2 is a different scenario all together. Talk to anyone in the athletic department. The biggest cost for an athletic program IS scholarships and the biggest culprit is football. 22 less football scholarships would be a BIG money saver for the AD. I would hardly call it peanuts. That said, there is little sense in dropping to IAA after everything that has been invested in this program. It would be like John McCain or Barack Obama coming out tomorow morning and saying that after years of campaigning and spending millions of dollars they are dropping out of the race for President 2 days before the election. Doesn't make any sense.

If we talk numbers, a scholarship is worth around $10k/year in tuition and fees and an additional $9k/year in room and board so 22 scholarships are worth around $400k/year. That is just one of the paycheck games we play per year. So peanuts is a good way to describe the savings.

[Quickzips]

I doubt that anyone in the athletic department or the University administration would agree with such a characterization. In fact, I know for certain that they wouldn't.