Troy just latest to make jump to Division I-A
Saturday, September 20, 2008 3:14 AM
By
Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
http://www.dispatch.com/gameday
There are rebuilding projects and then there are building projects.
In the history of NCAA football, Larry Blakeney is one of only two coaches to lead a school through two major jumps in classification -- from Division II to I-AA and then to Division I-A. (Central Florida's Gene McDowell is the other.)
So which was tougher? To Blakeney, whose Troy Trojans play Ohio State today, the answer is simple: "The transition to I-A from I-AA was more difficult for us than from II to I-AA."
But it is not a leap Blakeney or his school regrets.
"At first, I didn't know if it was the greatest thing to do, but we certainly have reaped a lot of rewards for our university because of being in the highest division," Blakeney said. "There have been some tough days and there have been some great days, but that's pretty much across the board in any division."
Troy, which moved up in 2001, has hardly been alone in making the big jump from I-AA, now known as the Championship Subdivision, to I-A, the Bowl Subdivision. According to the NCAA, 12 schools have done so since 1996. Unlike the vast majority of teams jumping to the top level in college basketball, in which newbies to Division I have mostly floundered, many of the new kids in college football have had surprising success against the established big boys.
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