Bulls' 2005 football schedule unfilled

[WoolyBully]

Well....maybe there is something to this IAA FAMU band thing...if the teams sucks (3-6  thus far), maybe the highly-touted band can suit up:

Hazing Suit Wins Former FAMU Band Member $1.8 Million

The Associated Press

Published: Nov 6, 2004

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TALLAHASSEE - A former Florida A&M University marching band member who was badly beaten during a 2001 hazing incident won a $1.8 million verdict in a civil battery case.

Marcus Parker, now 21, was beaten so badly with a paddling board during a Marching 100 initiation that one of his kidneys temporarily shut down. He has been through four surgeries, and likely will require a kidney transplant, his attorney, David Frank, said.

After a two-day trial, jurors late Monday found five men liable for damages. An attorney will collect the award by garnishing the defendants' wages and going after their assets, Frank said.

``I feel like justice was served, and I'm just glad it's over,'' Parker said.

The five men - Eric Biggins, David Benoit, Anthony Gamble, Sean McGriff and Jimmy Simmons - did not appear at the trial. All either could not be reached or declined to comment.

Records show Parker, a trumpet player from Jacksonville, settled with FAMU a year ago for a confidential amount.

Hazing is illegal under Florida law, and FAMU maintains a ``zero tolerance'' policy that includes kicking any students caught hazing out of the band.

Though other hazing victims have sued the university, this case marked the first time a victim has gone after individuals involved, Frank said.

[Knight_Light]

Remind me, how many games were we allowed to play in 2001 and 2002 per NCAA rules? How many did we play instead? How many road ends did we get out of the way so we could play I-A home games in 2003-2009?

We had the 12-game year before and it did us no good. Our only hope is that DW can utilize it better than LRS did. Which is very possible.

Actually, it was 2002 and 2003 that all NCAA Teams were allowed to schedule 12 games.

USF was the only school in the Country to play only 11 games both years.

Since scheduling has been a problem over the past 3-4 years...one would think this would of been Project #1 for new AD.

Most 117 other schools manage to plan years in advance.

Why can't USF??

Yes...games are cancelled, moved, teams switch different conferences...but almost every AD has a "waiting" list to call to help fill in their schedule.

Heck...I'll think many fans/boosters/business people in Tampa could just take an independent contractor job from USF and work on scheduling...and be done with it in just a few weeks per year.

If its not "Rocket Science"...then why does EVERY USF AD make it so??

Something in the water in their offices??

KL

[Jim Johnson]

Freak,

I believe Army and Navy both have their schedule filled for 2005 and 2006.  (You see, most college programs actually schedule teams IN ADVANCE, rather than when they get desperate).

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Gary,

You have managed to convince me that the 6 home game "rule"," coupled with our future "road only" games is a significant hinderance.  You are right - can't have it both ways.  Either we play 6 home games (through 1 for 1 contracts) or we play to programs on the road only.

Still, it is not IMPOSSIBLE to play 6 home games every year.

Let's take your summary:

2005 (home/away games needed): 2/0

2006: 2/2

2007: 3/1

2008: 2/2

2009: 3/1

2010: 2/3

Here is a hypothetical example of how we can schedule games with only 2 I-AA home games over the next few years.

2005

 HOME (2): 1 I-AA team, 1 home end of 2 for 1 with SunBelt team (FAU/FIU)

2006

 HOME (2): 1 home end of 1 for 1 with SEC team (Vandy/KY/Miss), 1 home end of 1 for 2 with ACC team (NC/NC State/BC)

 AWAY (2): 1 road end of 2 for 1 with SunBelt team (FAU/FIU), 1 road end of 1 for 1 with BIG 12 team (Mizzou/K State/Colorado)

2007

 HOME (3): 1 home game versus C-USA team (UCF/USM/etc), 1 home end of 1 for 1 with BIG 12 team (Mizzou/K State/Colorado) , 1 home end of 2 for 1 with SunBelt team (FAU/FIU)

 AWAY (1): 1 road end of 1 for 2 with ACC team (NC/NC State/BC)

2008

 HOME (2): 1 home end of 1 for 1 with MWC team (TCU?/Utah/BYU/Air Force)

 AWAY (2): 1 road game versus C-USA team (UCF/USM/etc), 1 road end of 1 for 1 with SEC team (Vandy/KY/Miss)

2009

 HOME (3): 1 I-AA team, 1 home end of 1 for 1 with C-USA team (UCF/USM/etc), 1 home end of 1 for 1 with MAC team (No Ill/Toledo)

 AWAY (1): 1 road end of 1 for 1 with MWC team (TCU?/Utah/BYU/Air Force)

2010

 HOME (2): 1 home end of 1 for 1 with WAC team (Boise St/Fresno/SDSU), 1 home end of 1 for 1 with SunBelt team (North Texas/Mid TN St)

 AWAY (3): 1 road end of 1 for 2 with ACC team (NC/NC State/BC), 1 road end of 1 for 1 with C-USA team, (UCF/USM/etc), 1 road end of 2 for 1 with MAC team (No Ill/Toledo)

Of course, this is all just theoretical... but it does show that it can happen under the 6 game rule... but then I don't have any 1-road-game-only options in this scenario.  I would surmise that any time we schedule a 1-road-game-only, the "home" end of that will be a I-AA team.

[bulls96go]

Wooly,

FAMU's band is a reason to play FAMU - as opposed to one of the other I-AA teams that we could play.

If you have to choose between two I-AA teams, choosing the one with a fan base the travels well -- and has a decent band -- would be the way to go.

FAMU would sell more tickets than Oregon State.

Isn't that a good thing as well?

FAMU band is far from decent, they are great and are one of the few bands worth the price of admission

[GarySJ]

Jim,

Your analysis is on the mark as usual. Well, for the most part. I don't think a MAC team would give us a 2-for-1 (though FAU or FIU would probably go for it). And I know that SEC/Big XII teams will not give us a home-and-away. K-State wouldn't even give us a 2-for-1. So lower your quality-of-opponent expectations a little on those. But otherwise you're pretty close to something that would work.

I think we agree on what USF needs to do to have a quality schedule while meeting the arbitrary-but-perhaps-mandated six-home-game limit. The question is, will they do it? Such solutions would have worked equally well in the past, but USF did not exercise them when they had the chance to.

It is to be hoped that our new AD Woolard will be creative about balancing our need for home games with our need to have an OOC slate that isn't a complete laughingstock.

Freak,

You've made this argument before, but you know what? This isn't 1997 and we're not Southern Miss or UCF. What we may have done in the past, or what other teams do, is of no relevance here.

I am fully aware of Paul Griffin's "we want to be a buyer, not a seller" remark and philosophy from when the program started. That's fine, but it's easier to be a buyer when you're a I-AA Independent with a 25K attendance base then when you are a BCS conference team with a 25K attendance base. Hopefully you can see why. We're in a higher tax bracket now. The things we used to be able to buy (home-only games against comparable competition) are now unaffordable. We need to change our spending patterns a little.

To look at this from a different angle: we did, by the grace of God, win the Big East invite. Now that we have it, I think we need to step up the non-conference scheduling a little to justify our existence in such a lofty plane.

I don't think Mike Tranghese extended USF the all-sports invitation so we could sit on our comfy asses and play Tennessee Tech at home while the rest of the NBE football league tries to earn us BCS credibility.

Next year, NBE teams will play OOC games against North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio State, Purdue, Virginia, Notre Dame (twice), Florida State, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Nebraska. If our OOC slate is going to be struggling Penn State, 0-9 UCF, and two I-AAs I think Tranghese would be well justified to send Doug Woolard a memo stating "thou shalt play better OOC competition or thou shalt be replaced by Memphis."