Austin Peay announces return to scholarship football and the OVC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sp-05 BK/bk 4/8/145
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ? Less than six months after announcing it was exploring a return to scholarship football, Austin Peay
State University has made that dream a reality.
In a Friday press conference in Nashville, Austin Peay announced it will return to scholarship football in 2006 with the plan of
rejoining the Ohio Valley Conference a year later.
"This is an exciting moment in the history of athletics at APSU," said Dr. Sherry Hoppe, Austin Peay president. "I am excited
for our alums, including our former football players, and campus and community leaders who strongly believed we should be
playing at the scholarship level in the OVC.
"APSU's public and internal images were diminished when scholarship football was dropped. I think it affected how students
viewed this University. I see this as an investment in Austin Peay's future."
Austin Peay, which dropped from scholarship to non-scholarship football after the 1996 season, will leave the Pioneer
Football League following the upcoming 2005 season. In 2006, APSU will transition from non-scholarship to partial-scholarship
status as a I-AA independent, largely because the NCAA allows a maximum of 30 scholarship awards per season. Then in 2007,
APSU plans to rejoin the OVC as a full-scholarship (60 grants) member.
After Hoppe was appointed president in January 2001, she was deluged with queries by former players, alums and supporters
about the possibility of returning to scholarship football. Last October, Hoppe indicated she was exploring the University's return
to scholarship status.
"Our financial condition at that time of my hiring did not allow me to consider the possibility of returning to scholarship
football," Hoppe said "With three years of enrollment increases (this year APSU had the largest growth of any public university in
Tennessee-13.5%), we are now positioned to support scholarship football.
"Even with the highest enrollment in our history, though, we knew we would find it difficult to provide the level of financial
support necessary to be competitive in the OVC. Consequently, after determining how much we would need to ensure we were
able to field a competitive team, we began a fund-raising campaign."
In early December, a letter, written by Dr. Hoppe, detailed a plan to return the University to scholarship football. It was sent
to former APSU players and other potential donors.
The plan stated the University, through several different sources, could fund as many as 45 scholarships at a cost of
$382,000 per year plus the necessary resources for recruiting, an additional assistant coach and gender-equity compliance.
However, the plan indicated the remaining 15 annual scholarships would need to come from private funds over a five-year period,
totalling $150,000 per year for five years ($750,000 total).
Four months of fund-raising left the University less than $30,000 per year short of their goal. After last weekend's Football
Reunion Weekend and the resulting goodwill generated from the gathering, APSU reached its goal this week.
"Over the past few months we have contacted a large number of former football players, and the response has been tremendous,"
Hoppe said. "This past weekend more than 100 former players returned to campus and we surpassed our goal of $750,000 in
pledges."
On Dec. 11, 1996, then-APSU President Sal D. Rinella announced the University was dropping from I-AA scholarship to non-
scholarship, citing a "lack of equal financial footing. When it comes to support for football, we are disadvantaged by the size of our
university and funding," said Rinella at the time.
However, going non-scholarship saw the loss of traditional rivalries, resulting in attendance reduction and subsequent drop in
revenue. In addition, the expected cost savings never really materialized when scholarships were discontinued.
"Our challenge now is to continue to raise private dollars to support our football program," Hoppe said. "With the current level
of commitments, we can be competitive in the OVC. However, to move to the championship level, we will need additional funds so
our fund-raising efforts will be ongoing.
"I am confident our former football and athletic supporters will commit the necessary resources to make our team the best it
can be. With our excellent coaching staff, our strong community support, and our new football field turf, we have in place the basis
on which to expand and strengthen our football program as we return to scholarship football in the Ohio Valley Conference."