Chicago State University is convening an exploratory committee to be Chicago's first Division I football program on the Southside


Pretty interesting considering that they don't even offer football at this time on any level.

I wish them well. Go, Cougars!
 

JayThomas said:
Pretty interesting considering that they don't even offer football at this time on any level.

I wish them well. Go, Cougars!
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No different than UTRGV as they didn't offer football but set up a committee and then they decided to add it. They just hired a head coach for them to start playing in 2025 in the WAC
 
Fiyah said:
No different than UTRGV as they didn't offer football but set up a committee and then they decided to add it. They just hired a head coach for them to start playing in 2025 in the WAC
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RGV has a little more cash to play with - they're already in the upper echelon of the wac in pay and budget for football
 
ghostwriter said:
RGV has a little more cash to play with - they're already in the upper echelon of the wac in pay and budget for football
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They did what other schools did and that's get the students to buy in with a increase in fees.
 
The merger of UT Brownsville and UT Pan Am into what is now UTRGV best explains what UTRGV has became athletically.
 
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University of Texas Rio Grande Valley enrollment is 32K.
right off the bat, you know their resources and dollars are a lot longer.


Chicago State has around 2600 students.

Still, we know the move goes beyond enrollment....IJS.

And I still wish Chicago State well if they do add football. ;)
 
JayThomas said:
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley enrollment is 32K.
right off the bat, you know their resources and dollars are a lot longer.


Chicago State has around 2600 students.

Still, we know the move goes beyond enrollment....IJS.

And I still wish Chicago State well if they do add football. ;)
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Right. They'lll be FBS in 5 years or less once they get football started because of that enrollment (especially in Texas).

All I know about them is we beat em in soccer a few years ago lol (sadly that was one of our few D1 wins over the past few years smh))

Chicago State's enrollment is barely bigger than Valley AND they are well outside of the SWAC and MEAC's footprint so I can't see Dr. McClelland adding them to basically become the MEAC with a footprint from Daytona to Chicago (Huntsville is the closest school to Chicago (9 hours))
 
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Chicago has not been kind to HBCU football in general with the attendance

when those committee numbers come out we'll see how accurate it'll be as a band will have to be formed obviously and then will the travel numbers be based as an independent or part of a potential league?

like @In_The_662 said UTRGV is 30K students ahead and hired a coach in seconds paying top dollar and has a stadium and a potential FBS designation already available
 
I would love to see them pull this off.

Being realistic though, there have been multiple seasons in which their basketball program did not even complete the season. If sustaining basketball is that big of a struggle, football seems like a tall task.
 
funkie junkie said:
I would love to see them pull this off.

Being realistic though, there have been multiple seasons in which their basketball program did not even complete the season. If sustaining basketball is that big of a struggle, football seems like a tall task.
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They cut baseball a few years ago too
 

If anything they shouldn’t be driving a Benz and living in a mobile home…..perhaps D-2 or the NAIA is the move they should start with.
 
Yeah, them going D1 will be rough. The best thing for them to do if they're serious is begin by going NAIA or D2 with the Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio HBCUs and go from there.
 
funkie junkie said:
Yeah, them going D1 will be rough. The best thing for them to do if they're serious is begin by going NAIA or D2 with the Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio HBCUs and go from there.
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They are D1.

The last time that basketball team won more than 20 games- Fox the network, Star Trek The Next Generation nor Lebron James existed.
15 year since they had a winning records and now 10 years since they won more than 10 games.
13 years for the Women. 4 times they went winless.

They need to go NAIA or D3. They got too many issues to work out.
 
Why not DIII with a plan to move up after achieving some stability and success? There are plenty of DIII football programs within Illinois. The perfect conference for them is the CCIW, seven of the nine schools in the conference are right there in Illinois.

Since lack of money seems to be the primary issue being realistic about things, and getting in where you fit in would be a smart move.

Football - CCIW

The official Football page for CCIW
cciw.org cciw.org

www.collegefactual.com

Best Colleges for Division III Men's Football in Illinois

Check out the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men's Football in Illinois rankings and see which schools are at the top of the list.
www.collegefactual.com www.collegefactual.com
 
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LAW DAWG said:
Why not DIII with a plan to move up after achieving some stability and success? There are plenty of DIII football programs within Illinois. The perfect conference for them is the CCIW, seven of the nine schools in the conference are right there in Illinois.

Since lack of money seems to be the primary issue being realistic about things, and getting in where you fit in would be a smart move.

Football - CCIW

The official Football page for CCIW
cciw.org cciw.org

www.collegefactual.com

Best Colleges for Division III Men's Football in Illinois

Check out the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men's Football in Illinois rankings and see which schools are at the top of the list.
www.collegefactual.com www.collegefactual.com
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They have folks there who been around fb in the fall their whole lives but now aren't and they want to recreate that moment even though most won't be there by the time they take the first snap
 
Honestly, it would be GREAT to see Chicago State pull off a D1 athletic program that includes basketball. But I don't think any of us want to see them struggling and failing at this...not wishing anything bad on them. Being a predominantly Black institution [but not an hbcu], I would love to see them succeed. ☝️ This will be interesting to see.

Good luck, Cougars, if you do it.
 
If they went DIII or NAIA with the goal of moving up over time would we be any less happy for them? Making the choice to struggle should not be an option under any set of circumstances. Langston has been NAIA for a moment, and while they would probably like to move up it seems they are clear on what is the right fit for them.
 
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