UNF president says football or no, school comes first

It looks like the University of North Florida is pulling a new idea from its playbook.

We’ve learned UNF President John Delaney has asked the Board of Trustees to explore starting a football program at UNF.

While this is only the first step, and exploratory rather than an actual commitment, Delaney says it’s moving the university closer to a “probably inevitable” step.  In a letter he sent to campus, Delaney was mixed in his support of the program, but because other schools in UNF’s conference are considering the addition he felt they should as well.

Delaney vows there will be no academic resources used to support the program.

Although he says it is “not an opportune time economically” to consider a football team, it is a timely discussion because of the conference changes.  As a result, the school is now looking for feedback from students, faculty and the community at large.

Delaney told Jacksonville's Morning News on Wednesday that the program could cost several million dollars depending on what kind of program they set up.  He says even if they decide to go ahead with the program in the next year, it still wouldn't start for another four years at least.

"Still is not particularly likely, but we just need to explore it," says Delaney.

The challenge, Delaney says, will be keeping football on the back burner when it comes to athletics.  He says the school has refused to lower its admissions standards for athletics and it will be no differen this time.

"We just need to ensure that we won't let it become a distraction as it does at some other campuses."

WOKV wants to know what you think as well.  We have a poll going on Facebook right now, and you can weigh in on Twitter as well.

See his full letter sent to the UNF campus:

Message from the President 

Today I asked the Board of Trustees for permission to begin discussions with faculty and students about the possibility of starting a football program at UNF.  A number of universities within Florida and also others within our conference are looking at adding football teams. This may negatively impact UNF’s current athletic conference alignment and may open up opportunities at the same time.  This is exploratory only, and not a commitment to adding football.

I have long said that a Florida public university needs enrollment of about 25,000 students to properly support football. And most schools of that size do indeed have football. Thus football is probably inevitable for UNF at some point.  But our Athletic policy has always been that no academic resources can be used to support Athletics, and that we will not lower our academic admission standards. In short, Athletics has to support itself financially and not negatively impact the school academically. We are simply examining the pros, cons, costs and ramifications and doing preliminary due diligence.

With the athletic conference realignments, and with other Florida schools and others in our conference considering adding football, the landscape is changing dramatically. What was premature just a few month ago is a timely investigation now. This clearly is not an opportune time economically, but we have a duty to look at all options.

There will be plenty of opportunity for input once we get a few more details.

Again, we are at the very early stages of this discussion and analysis.  As we look into this option, we seek feedback from students, faculty, staff, alums, donors, volunteers and the community at large.  This will be a long process with ample opportunity to weigh the pros and cons.  We go into this knowing the possibility of having a football team at UNF will be a hotly-debated topic on campus and in the community.  Please know I am committed to doing what’s right for UNF.