Finance committee to decide fate of future UNCP football team

By Scott Ammons
Senior Staff Writer

UNCP has one more pass to complete before the football team it longs for becomes official.

In March the Board of Governors postponed their decision on whether or not to grant UNCP a football program until their finance committee can review the school’s plan and its viability, according to athletic director Dan Kenney.

Three representatives of the finance committee will be on campus April 15 to meet with university officials.

Chancellor Allen C. Meadors said he is optimistic that the finance committee would be satisfied with UNCP’s proposal for a football team.

According to Meadors, a football program would generate the interest of the community in UNCP; the state may be known for its basketball programs, but the surrounding community is a football region.

Meadors went on to say that football has been one of the biggest issues he has had to deal with since arriving at the campus in 1999. “I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked when will UNCP get a football program,” he said.

However, at that time it would have cost each student around $200 in student fees and I wanted to wait until enrollment increased, so the cost for students would decrease, Meadors said.

With a football program student fees and tuition will remain under $3000 a year the fourth lowest in the UNC school system.

Support for a UNCP football program has been overwhelming. A poll conducted by the university that included students and alumni found that 70 percent of the student body supported a football team, and university alumni were extremely enthusiastic about football at UNCP.

While support has been overwhelming, there are still a few opponents of UNCP football, according to Meadors. Most of that opposition has come from faculty members who believe having a football team would cause students to miss classes because of away games.

Meadors said, “I understand their point of view, but their concerns are not really valid. We have other sporting teams that require students to miss an occasional class due to an away game, but most of the football games will be played on Saturday.”

According to Kenney, “Athletics is not the most important thing at UNCP; however, football will make our resume stronger, and it will help attract the more traditional student.”

Kenney said that “society judges property by its curb appeal and athletics is the front porch of the university — the curb appeal.”

Echoing the Chancellor’s beliefs that a football team would increase the surrounding communities’ inv-olvement at UNCP, Kenney also believes it would help aid student retention and increase enrollment.

Student retention has been the university’s Achilles heel as of late.

There are 15 schools in the UNC school system that have athletic programs. Out of those 15, Pembroke is the only school that does not compete in NCAA Division I or have football.

Currently UNCP plays in Division II and is a member of the Peach Belt Conference. Although Kenney said, “If the Board of Governors approves UNCP football, then the university will consider its conference options and make a decision about conference play.”

According to Kenney UNCP will have three options to consider when we receive the go-ahead for a football team.

• Remain in the Peach Belt.

• Join another conference for just football.

• Join another conference altogether.

Presently, UNCP has three independent sports programs, — men and women’s track and field and wrestling, that don’t compete in Peach Belt Conference play.

The committee will also look at the plan for the infrastructure and facilities that is a part of the UNCP football proposal at their meeting.

While no plans on where the football team will play have been set in stone, Kenney believes the Belk Complex to be the most logical choice. “It would be the most cost efficient thing for us to do. All we have to do is install some stands, a press box and goal posts.” Kenney went on to say, “The complex could also be used for spring commencement.”

While the university is growing at an alarming rate, and the addition of a football team only solidifies that fact, Kenney believes “any university that is adding programs or going through any type of transition, must hold onto their core values in order to survive.”

The finance committee will present their findings to the UNC Board of Governors at their April 28 meeting.