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http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs...603180334/1006
No wonder the Big Sky hasn't wanted any part of Southern Utah.
Scheduling has been a headache for Beazer since he took over in January. The Thunderbirds were dropped by UNLV, Northern Arizona and Idaho State, and Division I-A schools have backed off after initial offers of six-digit money guarantees.
"I've had no less than a dozen Division I-A teams call me, even as recently as (Friday) morning, asking me if we would come play them," Beazer said. "When I informed them that we're not a counter, they backed off."
A "counter" is a term used to describe whether I-A teams can count a game against a I-AA squad toward a bowl berth. According to NCAA bylaws, a I-AA team is a counter only if it averages 90 percent of the permissible scholarship equivalencies.
Teams at the I-AA level are allowed a maximum number of 63 equivalencies, meaning the T-Birds would have to average 57 over a rolling two-year period.
"To give you an idea of where Southern Utah is right now, this last year we were at 62 percent of equivalencies," Beazer said.
That gap equates to a minimum of $125,000, which Beazer said he has promised football coach Wes Meier he would raise by June. Beazer said he was halfway to that goal. He hopes to make SUU a counter by 2008.
"It's a huge sum of money that we're having to raise to do this," Beazer said. "But we've got to do this. It just makes sense."
"I've had no less than a dozen Division I-A teams call me, even as recently as (Friday) morning, asking me if we would come play them," Beazer said. "When I informed them that we're not a counter, they backed off."
A "counter" is a term used to describe whether I-A teams can count a game against a I-AA squad toward a bowl berth. According to NCAA bylaws, a I-AA team is a counter only if it averages 90 percent of the permissible scholarship equivalencies.
Teams at the I-AA level are allowed a maximum number of 63 equivalencies, meaning the T-Birds would have to average 57 over a rolling two-year period.
"To give you an idea of where Southern Utah is right now, this last year we were at 62 percent of equivalencies," Beazer said.
That gap equates to a minimum of $125,000, which Beazer said he has promised football coach Wes Meier he would raise by June. Beazer said he was halfway to that goal. He hopes to make SUU a counter by 2008.
"It's a huge sum of money that we're having to raise to do this," Beazer said. "But we've got to do this. It just makes sense."
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