Switching gears from a tentative plan to join the Southland Conference in football, UTSA has charted a new course for its fledgling program.

University of Texas at San Antonio athletic director Lynn Hickey said the school, which is slated to begin play in 2011, would attempt to reach the NCAA’s top flight as an independent by its fifth season in 2015.

Should they do so, the Roadrunners would become one of just four independent football teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A). They would remain there indefinitely until an opportunity to move their entire athletic program into an FBS conference presents itself.

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“We have worked really hard looking at all our options,” Hickey said. “As a start-up program in a major city, with the aspirations we have, the facility we have, the head coach we have, the best thing we can do is move as quickly as we can to FBS status. And until we’re in a conference that has FBS football , we need to stay independent.”

Once populated by powers like Miami and Penn State, the cast of FBS independents has dwindled to three - Army, Navy and Notre Dame. The model for much of UTSA’s strategy, South Florida, played as a major-level independent for two seasons before joining Conference USA in 2003.

The school left for the Big East in 2005, eventually climbing as high as No. 2 in some national polls.

UTSA officials have said that earning a similar invitation will be akin to pursuing an NFL franchise. Until then, the school is prepared to survive without affiliation indefinitely.

“There are no promises,” Hickey said. “We won’t have control over a conference wanting to make changes. But we certainly have control over building all the pieces, the best we can, to be prepared and ready.”

The success of UTSA’s plan could hinge on the school’s relationship with the Southland, of which UTSA already is a member in 16 other Division I sports.

Southland commissioner Tom Burnett said members might balk at allowing UTSA to reap the benefits of Southland affiliation, particularly lucrative NCAA tournament berths, as it pursues membership in an FBS conference.

The 12-team Southland, which UTSA joined in 1991, plays football in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), one level below the FBS.

“An administrator at another school told me, ‘If our football isn’t good enough for them, then why in the world would their basketball, baseball and track be important to us?’” Burnett said.

Opposition within the Southland doesn’t stem from UTSA’s ambitions, Northwestern State athletic director Greg Burke stressed, but concern for the league’s future.

“We all have a lot of respect for Lynn and her staff,” he said. “It’s a judicious move for their school and their city. It probably should have happened a long time ago. But we have a conference to protect. Speaking about the people who work under my roof, the reaction to this hasn’t been very good.”

Aiming higher
Hickey said in September that plans to join the Southland in 2013 were “pretty much set.” Deeper exploration of the school’s options and a lukewarm response locally predicated a different approach.

“I don’t know if we got a lot of feedback, but people we talked to were a little disappointed,” she said. “They wanted us to go into a little higher level.”

Hickey has tried to address any concerns among her peers through individual conversations with Burnett and the Southland’s 11 other athletic directors.

UTSA’s biggest selling point for bypassing Southland football is to avoid the potential disruption of temporary membership.

“As the process went on, it became clear that we didn’t want to be constantly looking over our shoulder, looking for a way out,” coach Larry Coker said. “We have a lot of respect for them, so we tried to take them into account.”

Stephen F. Austin athletic director Robert Hill isn’t convinced, pointing to the fact that an FBS conference invitation would trigger the exodus of UTSA’s entire athletic program.

“It’s going to leave a void, one way or another,” he said.

What steps the Southland might take remain to be seen. UTSA’s plan likely will be a hot topic at the annual meeting of Southland school presidents in Galveston on June 4.

Asked if the conference could give UTSA an ultimatum to join fully or leave, Burke said: “I don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility. I think we all hope it doesn’t get to that level.”

But until formal discussions take place, Burnett said: “It’s all conjecture.”

“Six of our former members are playing FBS football right now,” he added, “and we didn’t stop any of them. If that’s what they want to do, they’re probably going to do it. We’re going to be professional. We just haven’t had time to get together and react.”

With the course to FBS status already being charted, Hickey said she doesn’t know what UTSA would do if its membership in the Southland is made to hinge on football.

“There are so many factors, it would be unrealistic to say at this time,” she said. “Our program would be in a difficult situation and we’d have to look closely at the ramifications for everyone involved.”

Beyond any serious resistance from the Southland, Hickey and other UTSA officials are confident the school can meet the five NCAA requirements for FBS membership.

The Roadrunners already offers the requisite number of sports (16) and overall athletic scholarships (200). They’ve raised more than $2 million in donations, well on target to fund the football scholarship pool of 85. The combination of a major metro population and the Alamodome’s capacity provides an ample base to reach the rolling attendance standard of 15,000 per home game.

The biggest concern had been scheduling. But UTSA associate athletic director Ross Cobb said the response among potential FBS opponents has been “extremely favorable.”

“I’d say 95 percent have said they’d definitely be interested in a home-and-home,” he said. “This is a great city, with a great facility, and a lot of these schools recruit in Texas. It just makes sense to most of the people we talk to.”

Though no contracts have been signed, Cobb said, the school is in “serious” discussions with up to 20 FBS teams.

“I was a little apprehensive, just because there are so few teams that (play independently),” Cobb said. “But I think being in this city, with the recruiting hotbed that Texas is, if anybody has a chance to pull this off it’s us.”

Future of UTSA football timeline
The proposed timeline for UTSA’s new football program, which would establish the school as an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) independent in its fifth season, 2015:

2010
* First recruiting class
* First official practices
* No games
* 20-30 scholarships

2011
( Football Championship Subdivision independent)
* Second recruiting class
* 9-11 games (FCS, Division II, D-III, NAIA opponents)
* Eligible for FCS playoffs
* 40-60 scholarships

2012
(FCS independent)
* Third recruiting class
* 11 games (FBS, FCS, D-II opponents)
* 6-7 home games, 4-5 away games
* Eligible for FCS playoffs
* 63 scholarships

2013
(Year 1, reclassification)
* Fourth recruiting class
* 12 games (FBS, FCS, D-II opponents)
* Not eligible for FCS playoffs
* Will count toward FBS bowl eligibility for opponents
* 85 scholarships

2014
(Year 2, reclassification)
* Fifth recruiting class
* 12 games (FBS, FCS opponents)
* Not eligible for FCS playoffs
* Will count toward FBS bowl eligibility for opponents
* 85 scholarships

2015
(FBS independent)
* Full member of FBS
* Bowl eligible

Leaping Forward

The UTSA Roadrunners have mapped out a football plan that includes two years as a Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS, independent starting in 2011. After that, the Roadrunners plan to make a two-year probationary transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision, or FBS, before becoming a full member in 2015.

Three Florida schools took a similar path, playing at the highest level in their fifth year of existence.

Express-News staff writer Douglas Pils takes a look at how the four most recent startup teams advanced through their formative years. For a frame of reference with the schools below, San Antonio’s metro population was 2.031 million and the Roadrunners will play in the 65,000-seat Alamodome.

South Florida
Location: Tampa, Fla. (2.733 million population in metro area)
Stadium: Raymond James Stadium (65,857 capacity)
First year: 5-6 in 1997 as Division I-AA independent, now called FCS
First-year home games: D-II - Kentucky Wesleyan (W, 80-3); FCS - Drake (L, 23-22), Morehead St. (W, 33-17), S. Illinois (L, 23-10), Charleston Southern (W, 24-6), Ga. Southern (L, 24-23), Davidson (W, 46-3)
First-year attendance: 231,271 (33,038 average)
2009 attendance: 315,319 (52,553)
First winning record: 8-3 in 1998
First FBS season: 8-3 in 2001
Conference: Conference USA, 2003; Big East, 2005
First FBS opponent: Sept. 5, 1999, San Diego St. 41, USF 12
First FBS home opponent: Sept. 29, 2001, USF 28, North Texas 10
First bowl: 2005 Meineke Car Care Bowl (North Carolina St. 14, USF 0)

Florida Atlantic
Location: Boca Raton, Fla. (3.016 million population in metro area)
Stadium: FAU Football Stadium (30,000 capacity, opens this fall)
First year: 4-6 in 2001 as FCS independent
First-year home games: D-II - Slippery Rock (L, 40-7); FCS - Marist (W, 31-9), Jacksonville (W, 35-12), St. Mary’s (Calif.) (L, 24-10), St. Peter’s (L, 19-0), E. Illinois (L, 38-10), Albany (W, 27-9)
First-year attendance: 37,271 (5,324)
2009 attendance: 76,630 (15,326)
First winning record: 11-3 in 2003, reached FCS semfinals
First FBS season: 2-9 in 2005
Conference: Sun Belt, 2005
First FBS opponent: Aug. 29, 2002, South Florida 51, FAU 10
First FBS home opponent: Oct. 23, 2004, La.-Monroe 17, FAU 13
First bowl: 2007 New Orleans Bowl (FAU 44, Memphis 27)

Florida International
Location: Miami (5.414 million population in metro area)
Stadium: FIU Stadium (18,000, expansion plans call for 45,000)
First year: 5-6 in 2002 as FCS independent
First-year home games: FCS - St. Peter’s (W, 27-3), Butler (W, 42-0), Georgetown (W, 27-2), Maine (L, 33-7), Gardner-Webb (L, 17-14), Jacksonville (W, 39-6), Albany (W, 35-26)
First-year attendance: 54,353 (7,765)
2009 attendance: 51,018 (10,204)
First winning record: Not yet
First FBS season: 0-12 in 2006
Conference: Sun Belt, 2005
First FBS opponent: Nov. 8, 2003, La.-Lafayette 43, FIU 10
First FBS home opponent: Oct. 2, 2004, La.-Lafayette 43, FIU 34
First bowl: Not yet

Alabama-Birmingham
Location: Birmingham, Ala. (1.117 million population in metro area)
Stadium: Legion Field (71,594)
First year: 4-3-2 in 1991 as D-III independent (9-2 in 1993 as FCS independent)
Home games in 1993: NAIA - Lambuth (W, 40-14); FCS - Troy St. (L, 37-3), Morehead St. (W, 52-14), Dayton (W, 27-19), Prairie View A&M (W, 58-12)
First-year attendance: In 1991, 23,301 (4,660); in 1993, 37,723 (7,545)
2009 attendance: 89,933 (17,787)
First winning record: 1991
First FBS season: 5-6 in 1996
Conference: Conference USA, ‘99
First FBS opponent: Sept. 24, 1994, Kansas 72, UAB 0
First FBS home opponent: Sept. 14, 1996, UAB 42, Arkansas St. 17
First bowl: Not yet
Sources: 2008 Census Bureau population estimates, media guides for South Florida, Florida Atlantic, FIU and UAB, and NCAA .org

UTSA now plans to go it alone in football
by Dan McCarney, The San Antonio Express-News
http://foxsports.foxnews.com/cfb/story/10609004/UTSA-now-plans-to-go-it-alone-in-football-