The Shorthorn

HOME

OPINION

Opinion

Pursuit of Tier One status should not put football in the backseat

Written by Clint Utley, The Shorthorn sports editor

Thursday, 21 January 2010 08:56 PM

President James Spaniolo said in a Jan. 20, 2005 statement that he would reexamine the possibility of a university football team within five years, not just a football club.

“With respect to football, by far the most expensive and complex of any intercollegiate sport, I will defer any decision for now; however, I am committed to taking a fresh and comprehensive look at football for UTA within five years,” Spaniolo had said.

Today is Jan. 22, 2010 and we haven’t received any word on football.

Spaniolo has had other things on his mind. First being the nearly-begun construction of the special events center. Second being the university achieving Tier One status.

Archived Stories

Special events center receives Regents’ approval

Thursday, 12 November 2009

In a meeting with The Shorthorn last semester, Spaniolo said any decision made about football would have to take a backseat to the completion of the SEC. With groundbreaking scheduled for this semester and a completion date set for early 2012, it looks like football is still on the bench.

The basketball and volleyball teams deserve a proper arena that will serve as home court. But students deserve something that will give them an exact time frame for when the idea of football will be revisited.

After the SEC is completed, will football become a priority?

Tier One status has been a hot topic for quite a while and will undoubtedly become a primary issue when the SEC is able to host Southland Conference tournaments for basketball and volleyball. Will the pursuit of Tier One delay a decision considering football?

One of the major advantages the SEC will give UTA is a boost in recruiting. Men’s basketball head coach Scott Cross said in a previous Shorthorn article that, “Not having a special events center made it more challenging, no question about it.”

With a chance to lure premiere athletes to Arlington, a recruiter on campus could be more receptive to our school’s pitch by hearing, “Our president has just reinstated football, so we’ll have a team next year when you get here.”

Now that Jerry Jones has landed his spaceship in Arlington and TCU has made national news with its football program, it’s time for UTA to produce its own football news.

Even if it is to say, “Give us another five years.”
Views: 762 | E-mail

Comments (1)

1 Written by Ben, on 01-22-2010 10:10
this issue needs to be addressed by the presidents office, to ignore it is nothing but an insult to those students and alumni who care about bringing it back ... if it is being delayed, fine TELL US ...

Ben Watkins
04 BS - INSY

Report Abuse

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 January 2010 09:01 PM )

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

Archived Stories

Social Media

Related Items