A&T backs off Division I-A move
2-20-03
By JOHN NEWSOM AND JEFF CARLTON, Staff Writers
News & Record
GREENSBORO -- N.C. A&T has decided not to make the jump to Division I-A in football, Chancellor James Renick said Wednesday.
Renick, who announced his decision during the university's board of trustees meeting, said the move would cost too many millions of dollars and distract A&T from its academic mission.
A&T's football team plays in Division I-AA, the NCAA's second-highest division, and its other teams play at the Division I level. If A&T had made the move, it would have been the nation's first historically black college to compete at college football's highest level.
"After careful consideration, I have decided, given the current state of the economy, that the fiscal demands of making this move are just too great," Renick told trustees.
"Our goal should be to excel in the MEAC, both academically and athletically," Renick added, referring to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. "We will not be declaring our intent to move toward Division I-A."
Trustees Chairman Ralph Shelton praised the decision.
"I certainly think he has done the right thing," said Shelton, a Greensboro business owner. "Academics is first on this campus. We don't want this NCAA thing to take precedence over academics."
John Petty, national president of A&T's alumni association, said alumni are less interested in playing at college football's highest level and more concerned about winning at whatever level the Aggies are playing.
"We're on target, we're still focused, and we're still going in a direction the chancellor wants to go," Petty said. "And I think the alumni are 100 percent behind this chancellor and where they're going."
Athletics director Charlie Davis had hoped to elevate the Aggie football program to the I-A level within five years of his October arrival at A&T. He said Wednesday he believes Renick is merely putting the project on hold, not shelving it for good.
"What I have to do is make this athletic department as strong as possible," Davis said, "so that when it is looked at again -- and it will be -- the shortfalls in this athletic department aren't things that will hinder (the university) from making what I think are positive decisions.
"It will be the right decision," Davis added. "I can dream all I want, but we've got work to be done."
A spokesman for Alabama financier Donald Watkins said Watkins will offer his resources to another historically black school serious about going to I-A.
Watkins said he would commit his financial expertise and resources if Renick declared to the NCAA that A&T would move up to Division I-A. Renick said Jan. 10 that he would not apply for I-A status before reviewing the findings of an internal feasibility study, which was completed in January.
"The A&T family decided not to be the trailblazer," said the spokesman, William Parker. "There will be a historically black college that goes to Division I-A, and North Carolina A&T decided not to be the school to break into the I-A family. That's OK. There will be other schools that pick up the baton."
But that task could be daunting. New NCAA regulations that take effect in August 2004 would require Division I football programs to:
Annually award 90 percent of the permissible maximum number of football scholarships, which would be 77 under current policy. The I-AA limit is 63 grants.
Play five home games against other I-A schools.
Sponsor at least 16 varsity sports, with at least six for men and eight for women. A&T has five men's teams and seven women's teams.
Average 15,000 in home football attendance. A&T averaged 16,798 fans in 2002.
These things cost money -- a lot of money -- and the university's internal study kept coming back to money.
A&T officials, based on its review of Troy State and Marshall and other former I-AA schools that play Division I-A football, estimated the annual athletics department budget would have to increase to approximately $18 million to sustain a I-A football program.
That money would be needed to pay for additional sports, more scholarships, extra coaches and athletics tutors, team travel and athletics department staff, among other things, said David Hoard, vice chancellor for development and university relations.
The university's current athletics budget is about $4.2 million.
A&T would need about another $30 million to $40 million to upgrade its stadium and athletics facilities to meet Division I standards.
A&T could have raised money by raising ticket prices, getting more individual gifts and sponsorships and signing television deals -- but not in this economy, Hoard said.
Another concern was that money-raising efforts for football might interfere with A&T's largest-ever campus fund drive, a $100 million effort that kicked off last fall.
"It's a hard decision," Hoard said of deciding not to move to Division I-A status. "But once you look at the numbers, it's not a hard decision."
For now, A&T will focus on improving its football team and raising more money for sports.
New head football coach George Small hopes to improve the Aggies' 4-8 record of a year ago. The new Victory Club, launched this fall, hopes to raise $2.5 million in three years for A&T's athletics program.
"You never say never," Renick said about future plans to move up to Division I--A. "But we're not planning on making that move at this time."
Bama State told him to step, he could not get MLB to sell him a franchise and now A & T has given him the boot. 
