VMI Football!

Comments

1. vmi warrior says:
   August 22, 2011 at 5:59 pm

   I cast my vote, however I don’t think Mother I will drop to Div. III anytime in the near future. The reason was explained in a memo to MG Knapp I caught a glimpse of during my cadetship. At the time, VMI was attempting to cut costs in the athletic department without affecting minority enrollment. VMI was (is) still under USDOJ supervision from the 1960s and has a benchmark of 15% minority enrollment which it had never reached, I think peaking at 11%. If VMI dropped to Div. III, it would effect what type and how many athletic scholarships could be given. Since 95% of African-American cadets were on athletic scholarship, this would have a negative impact on minority recruitment and retention. (It also noted that the vast majority of athletic scholarship cadets had not received any other scholarship offers from other schools). Other plans were looked at to save money without negative repercussions on minority enrollment were discussed, such as eliminating tennis, baseball, swimming and golf teams (teams with little minority participation), but noted that those teams had very small budgets anyway, and eliminating them would not make up for the shortfall. The final sad, but true, point noted that the major source of income for the football team was in playing other schools for their homecoming so they were guaranteed a “win”.

   I also wonder what effect, if any, Title IX will have on a decision to switch divisions or conferences.

   • Townie76 says:
     August 22, 2011 at 6:36 pm

     Interesting comments. You are correct about the concern for minority enrollment. To my knowledge VMI has never been under Justice Department monitoring for minority enrollment. Some background my Dad was VMI’s attorney for a number of years and I never remember him speaking of monitoring or mandates vis a vie minority enrollment. It is quite possible that the Commonwealth of Virginia is being monitored. I doubt if any Virginia school meets the 15% goal, except for possibly UVA and Tech. Part of what hurts VMI is we do not have a graduate program which is included in the calculations for minority enrollment.

     There was a time when 95% of African American cadets attended VMI on an athletic scholarship. I doubt that is the case today, my guess it is probably around 80% today. I am aware that increasing number of African Americans attending on ROTC scholarship.

     I really appreciate your insight thanks for the comments. HJFJR

     • VMI Warrior says:
       August 22, 2011 at 11:11 pm

       I’m guessing Norfolk State, ODU & Virginia State all far exceed 15% minority enrollment.
       As far as the DOJ supervision, it was mentioned in this memo, that’s all I’d ever heard of it or know of it.
       I concur that there are probably more minority students on ROTC scholarships now…that in my mind is a big plus for the I

       • Townie 76 says:
         August 23, 2011 at 4:29 am

         Norfolk State and Virginia State are considered historically black universities are would not be included.
2. LtCol P says:
   August 22, 2011 at 7:57 pm

   God preserve us from perfidious permits. Get rid of the football team, all its works and all its empty promises. Last time I checked (mid 90s) it was a gross money drain. I don’t give a rat’s ass– no pun intended– if the VMI
   football team wins, loses, draws, or just doesn’t show up. It and everything about it is utterly meaningless to me.

   • tricycle says:
     August 22, 2011 at 10:36 pm

     You clearly neglect the tailgating aspect in which scores of alumni gather to drink excessively, act foolishly, decry the current state of the corps (whilst recalling, ad nauseum, how much harder things were in “the old corps”), and oogle the new buildings and cadet girlfriends. I have taken part in a few such tailgates and found them well worth the price of watching the football team demonstrate the exact opposite of the latter half of the school spirit song centered around them. The former half is well demonstrated, mind you, making the Spirit of VMI a quibble at worst (good thing one cannot find themselves the subject of a 0300 wakeup for singing the school song). The question that remains to be asked, here, is this: if you could play football exceptionally well, why in the hell would you go to VMI?
   • Will Augustine says:
     September 20, 2011 at 11:09 am

     Thanks for your kind remarks. I’ll make sure that I share them with my kid who is on VMI’s football team. He’ll be glad to know you stand behind him. He’s really skating up there with an academic load of 19.5 hours this semester…in addition to all the football team requirements.

     You’ll be glad to know that they are currently 0-3.

     What’s your branch? Before he commissions, I want to make sure I steer him away from people like you.
3. DaveO says:
   August 22, 2011 at 9:09 pm

   One never improves playing on level, or playing down. I understand that we can’t recruit the best coaching staff, and in turn develop a program of recruiting the best athletes to turn VMI into another OU or UT. That doesn’t mean we can’t successfully compete in the Southern Conference.