A 45-minute ride up the mountain to Boone to watch the highest level of college football sounds mighty attractive to local pigskin fans.
It may be a possibility in the not to distant future as Appalachian State University appears to be very close to making the decision to move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision of the NCAA.
The school’s other 19 sports teams play at the Division I level and the football team’s big upset of Michigan three years ago has created a lot of interest in it moving up also.
Even after making the decision to move, the school would have to wait until a spot opened up in a conference. At the present, there is a lot of talk of teams switching conferences again. ASU would need to have their football program ready if an attractive conference affiliation was made available to them.
Appalachian has updated its football facilities and drew nearly 30,000 fans for its home games last year. This ranks above many teams already playing at the FBS level but it must be noted the Mountaineers have been at the very top of the second level. They have won three national titles and 71 total games in the past six years, records that are unlikely to continue at the higher level. After the new wears off, attendance will again be driven by the team’s success.
There is the possibility of forming a new conference with mostly nearby schools. It appears UNC-Charlotte will soon add football and East Carolina would be happy to join a league that gave them more national rivalries. Liberty, James Madison and Marshall are other potential members for such a conference.
School officials say the move is not about the football program only, but that the university would benefit as a whole by the upgrade of its profile.
If you’ll make the short drive to Boone, you’ll see a big campus with a beautiful football stadium, a very attractive 8,000 seat basketball coliseum and fine facilities all around.
It’s definitely time for them to consider the football team’s future.
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Freedom and Draughn have both started their football seasons 3-0 and one of them will go 4-0 when they meet Friday night in Valdese.
The game brings back memories of clashes between Morganton High and the Valdese Tigers in years gone by.
Freedom had their offense in high gear last week against East Burke with quarterback Michael Helms leading the way. Draughn coach Scott Lambert must come up with a defensive plan to slow down Helms’ great passing ability.
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Golf lost some of its uniqueness as a gentleman’s game with the recent rise in David Feherty’s exposure. Some golfers may have talked like the Northern Ireland analyst but not on TV or in a national magazine.
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Many of you have asked about my daughter, Julia Sims, and I’m happy to tell you she is much improved and back at work. She suffered a major heart attack in late March and her doctors have called her survival a miracle.
Last week, the company that made the defibrillator used on her flew her and her husband, Jeff, to Seattle to tour their facilities and speak to their employees.
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CORRECTION: Last week’s longtime youth sports supporter should have read John Wilson, not John Watson.
Roy Waters was the baseball and basketball coach from 1955 to 1966 at Salem High School where his teams won 18 championships. In 2007, he was inducted into the Burke County Sports Hall of Fame.
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