Jacksonville State's Resume for the Sun Belt

Jacksonville State:

Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium

School Founded: 1883

Location: Jacksonville, AL

Football Founded: 1904

Current Conference: Ohio Valley

Facilities: 24,000 seat Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium. The Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees approved to name its football field Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium in the summer of 2010 and the Gamecocks will play their 63rd season in the facility this year.

The football playing facility has been called Paul Snow Stadium since the 1961 season, but will now also honor former coach Bill Burgess, who led the Gamecocks to the 1992 NCAA Division II National Championship.

Long ago, in the days when Jacksonville State University went by Jacksonville State Teachers College and the athletic teams were nicknamed the “Eagle Owls,” football was played in a field next to John Forney National Guard Armory.

In 1946 as JSU began to change, enrollment begin to rise and so did the popularity of football. Seeing the need for a new facility, the school built a stadium in the present location and it was dedicated in front of an overflow crowd at the 1947 Homecoming game against Pembroke. The Gamecocks went on to win that game and posted a perfect 9-0 season, including a 7-0 win over Florida State.

The “College Bowl” as it was called, was renamed in 1961 to honor longtime JSU supporter Paul Snow. Then in July of 2010, the stadium was renamed Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium.

The stadium got a face lift in 1965 when seating was expanded from 5,000 to 8,500 and a new press box was installed on the north side of the facility. Under the supervision of long-time Athletic Director Jerry N. Cole, the field house was constructed in 1977 and the expansion of the stadium was complete in time for the 1978 season when the student section was added to bring the capacity to 15,000.

Since opening in 1946, Jacksonville State has posted an incredible 233-93-8 record at home. Under Crowe, the Gamecocks are 34-16 all-time at home.

JSU Stadium just completed a $47 million expansion just in time for the 2010 season. The new facility consists of seven stories, with the bottom four floors dedicated to nearly 400 dorm beds. The top three floors will include 33 luxury skyboxes, a new press area, coaches booths, radio and television broadcast facilities, and a game management booth. The stadium was also expanded and now includes 24,000 seats.

The natural playing surface was replaced during the summer of 2005 to an artificial playing turf. It was the first major renovation to the stadium since the 1978 season. It took three months to install at a cost of just over $700,000 and was completed in time to hold summer graduation on the new playing field.

http://www.jsugamecocksports.com/sports/2008/8/4/FB_0804082618.aspx?id=20

TV Market(s): Birmingham (40th TV market)

All-time Record: 504-357-40  18 conference titles.

Claimed National Championships: One.

• 1992 Division II National Champions

Rivalries:

• Troy

Student Population: 9,490 total.

Academics: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/jacksonville-state-1020

Endowment: $9.9 Million

Athletic Budget:  $12.1 million

FBS Aspirations: JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville State is running up on a couple key deadlines in its decision toward moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision, but university policymakers are still not prepared to pull the trigger.

The NCAA moratorium on schools moving up or within divisions expires in August. The Ohio Valley Conference — JSU’s current conference affiliation — wants any member considering leaving to make its intentions known in May.

It’s not a decision that can be made last minute but the JSU board of trustees, exploring the possibility of moving up since July 2007, wasn’t prepared to declare its intention at last week’s meeting.

“We haven’t made any decisions along the lines of what our posture is going to be going into the spring,” said former Gov. Jim Folsom, chairman of the JSU board’s athletics committee. “We’ll hopefully have a meeting in the next couple of months, maybe just one or two of the committee members, and try to sort of discuss some of these things.

“I think everyone knows our long-range hope and plan was to make a campaign on Division I-A, but we really haven’t decided anything. We’re aware of all the deadlines.”

That doesn’t mean the idea is dead. There is strong speculation the move up is inevitable. The football program’s current recruiting strategy is geared toward a quality of players who will be juniors when the Gamecocks become full-fledged partners in the upper division in 2013 — if the school pulls the trigger now.

The next scheduled board meeting is April.

“I would suspect we ought to have some kind of decision around April, May at the latest,” Folsom said.

The biggest factor is finding a conference home to satisfy the requirement of playing five FBS home games. The Sun Belt has always been the strongest speculated landing zone, but it has issued no invitations.

http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/11156187/article-With-NCAA%E2%80%99s-FBS-moratorium-nearing-its-end--Jacksonville-State-must-make-decision-soon?instance=home_sports