Seawolves Fans

RHillibilly, question for you: I don't know how long you've been around UB, but has the move to FBS football made a difference in terms of student morale, retention, and applications? Many would argue that the primary purpose of college athletics is (or should be) to improve the academic experience by improving the student experience. There may also be some benefit wrt recruiting faculty and gaining alumni support (though most FBS programs lose money for the school). We've had some debate on this board re. whether it's a good idea for SBU to go FBS and probably be a mediocre FBS program for many years w/o any chance for a top national ranking, OR remain FCS and be a consistently Top 15  team and regular candidate for a national championship (without losing money). I've advocated  the top-level FCS option. Some others think bigger is better....although as I said it could mean a string of losing seasons for a while (which has been UB's experience and probably same for UMass). Just curious what you and others at UB think about the actual effect (not just personal preference) of UB's move to FBS.

I totally agree there. Unless there is any chance of upgrading to one of the top 5 BCS conferences like ACC or Big 12 (for which there is no realistic chance), I just dont see the allure of moving up to FBS and playing in one of the bottom conferences with losing seasons. We will never have the budget or the local/alumni passion and support that those southern and mid-western BCS programs have. And to me, those programs have lost their soul to money making anyway. And besides the top 5 dor 10 bowls, rest of the bowls are meaningless imo.
College sports should be about college experience and I am happy with competing for FCS national championship than playing for meaningless bowl game that no one cares about. (MBB is a different topic though, and I think we can definitely generate good local support and a realistic chance of becoming a major player in the northeast region and joining a conference like A10 oneday).