Happenings: Rally on the Square

Local businesses promote Bobcat football fanfare with ‘Rally’

Rally on the Square invites Bobcats and Red Raiders to enjoy San Marcos before the big football game.

By Amber Kahla

Local business are inviting the Texas State University community, Bobcat fans and our Red Raider guests to the first annual Rally on the Square, an evening of fanfare and fun before the big game.

In honor of the Texas State football team’s first home game on Sept. 8, Bobcat and Red Raider fans will gather for a common purpose before their respective teams face-off on the gridiron. The game will mark the first time the Bobcats play in the newly expanded Bobcat Stadium and the first game of the Western Athletic Conference.

Around Campus: Bobcats move to FBS

Bobcats’ move to FBS advances university’s mission to excel

Go, Cats, go!

By Andrew Osegi ’14

Texas State University has taken another step forward in its quest to be nationally recognized as a top tier institution by achieving Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) status in NCAA Division I athletic competition.

Alongside the university’s designation as an Emerging Research Institute in January 2012 and as a Hispanic Serving Institution in 2011, Texas State’s move to the FBS — when the university joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) this summer — was a landmark achievement.

Rising Stars: Karen Chisum

Chisum, in last Southland season,
earns acclaim, honors — and wins

Texas State volleyball coach Karen Chisum (center) is in her 32nd season as coach of the Bobcat team. Flanking her are players Caleigh McCorquodale (left) and Amber Calhoun.

By Mary Kincy

Karen Chisum counts it a privilege to be a Bobcat. “It’s not a right,” she explains. “Everyone doesn’t get to. You’re recruited out there to perform, to exceed expectations and to be successful.”

It’s advice she’s taken to heart during the course of more than three decades as coach of the Texas State volleyball team, earning a record that ranks her the sixth-winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I volleyball.

Chisum’s accomplishments were honored recently when she was named to the 2011 class of Distinguished Alumni Award recipients at Texas State (She earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the university in the 1970s.). Further acclaim came in mid-November, when the Southland Conference league office named Chisum its Coach of the Year following a 24-7 (15-1 in the Southland) record over the season that earned the 2011 team the program’s sixth Southland Conference regular season championship.

Rising Stars: Dennis Franchione

Franchione’s return to Texas State
readies Bobcat football for the WAC

By Billi London-Gray

From his roots in the small town of Girard, Kansas, to his leadership roles in some of NCAA football’s most prestigious programs, Dennis Franchione has spent his career shaping the lives of young men on the gridiron.

Starting his career as a high school football coach in the Midwest, Franchione moved to college coaching in 1978. From 1990-91, he led the Bobcats to two victorious seasons. Now, after a 20-year absence, “Coach Fran” has had a warm homecoming to Texas State University.

In January 2011, Franchione rejoined Bobcat athletics as head coach for the football program. He signed a five-year contract with the university, and says he plans “to culminate” his successful career — his overall record is 187-101-2 as a collegiate head coach — with a final run in San Marcos as the Bobcats move to the Western Athletic Conference and Football Bowl Subdivision competition in 2012.

Texas State Updates: Joining the WAC

Answers about Texas State’s
move to the WAC

So what exactly does it mean for Texas State to join the Western Athletic Conference?

The most significant change is in football

Schools in the WAC participate in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, known as Division I-A before 2006. Schools in Texas State’s current conference, the Southland Conference, play in the Football Championship Subdivision, previously known as Division I-AA.

Teams in the Football Championship Subdivision compete for one of 16 spots in a postseason tournament, which leads to a national champion.

Teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision play for a spot in one of 35 bowl games. They become eligible for bowl games by winning at least six games and not having a losing record in the process. The top 10 teams in the Bowl Championship Series participate in the major bowl games, with the top two teams playing for the BCS national championship.

Payouts for participation in bowl games, which can reach millions of dollars, are divided equally among the athletic programs in the schools’ conferences.

Scholarships

Moving to the FBS means Texas State now will offer 85 football scholarships, rather than the current 63. The program cannot sign more than 25 new student-athletes per academic year.

To stay in compliance with federal regulations, spending on women’s sports teams must increase by an equivalent amount.

Other sports

No differentiation like the FCS/FBS exists in other NCAA sports. The only change for Texas State’s other athletic teams will be a different set of conference opponents.

New conference

Barring further changes, the Western Athletic Conference will have nine members when Texas State, UTSA and the University of Denver join on July 1, 2012:

Institution	Enrollment
Texas State University-San Marcos San Marcos University homepage, Athletics homepage	32,586
University of Texas at San Antonio San Antonio University homepage, Athletics homepage	30,300
New Mexico State University Las Cruces, N.M. Univesrity homepage, Athletics homepage	29,468
San Jose State University San Jose, Calif. University homepage, Athletics homepage	29,076
Utah State University Logan, Utah University homepage, Athletics homepage	25,767
University of Hawai’i Manoa Honolulu, Hawai’i University homepage, Athletics homepage	20,435
University of Idaho Moscow, Idaho University homepage, Athletics homepage	11,957
Louisiana Tech University Ruston, La. University homepage, Athletics homepage	11,804
University of Denver Denver, Colo. University homepage, Athletics homepage	11,600

The University of Denver, which does not play football, is the only private school.

The Western Athletic Conference was founded in 1962 and crowns team and individual champions in 19 sports:

Men’s sports	Women’s sports
Baseball Basketball Cross country Football Golf Tennis Indoor track and field Outdoor track and field	Basketball Cross country Golf Gymnastics Soccer Softball Swimming and diving Tennis Indoor track and field Outdoor track and field Volleyball

Exposure

The WAC has an agreement with ESPN to carry football and basketball. The contract includes more than 300 regular-season contests and 45 championship events between 2008 and 2017.

The conference also has streaming coverage, at wac.tv, of conference championships in volleyball, soccer, swimming and diving, basketball, gymnastics, softball and baseball.