FGCU Continues Uphill Battle With Scheduling

(Courtesy of Linwood Ferguson)

Recruits rave about them. Players feed off their energy. The cameras love them. They are the Dirty Birds, FGCU's student section.

Ever since Florida Gulf Coast's Sweet Sixteen appearance in March of 2013, they have flocked to Alico Arena in unprecedented numbers. The arena housed 13 sellout crowds the past season, including a record of 4,673.

While Dunk City's 'founding' caused many fans to enter Alico Arena, it encouraged a few other people to keep their distance - most importantly, Division I basketball programs.

"We're in that situation where we've gotten more successful so teams are more leery of coming to play us because they know how hard it is to win at Alico Arena," said Florida Gulf Coast athletic director Ken Kavanagh.

While the Eagles encountered this problem in the offseason immediately following the Sweet Sixteen run, it has continued to nag at them.

"In both cases it hasn't been easy," Kavanagh. "It's probably been even harder now because our team's gotten even more strength from an overall depth stand point."

The reduction of conference games from 18 to 14 has also increased difficulties with scheduling. This stemmed from both Mercer and East Tennessee State departing the Atlantic Sun for the Southern Conference. The former of the two teams has developed quite a buddy rivalry with FGCU.

"We've talked to them and showed that we'd love to play the likes of Mercer and Belmont because of the respect for their great programs as well as our schools know each others teams," Kavanagh said. "It'd be a good game to have on schedule. "

"Unfortunately, we've not been able to find mutually agreeable dates," Kavanagh continued with reference to only 14 A-Sun games. "We have more needs then Mercer does with them going to the Southern Conference."

They will "continue to pursue that" and Kavanagh also noted the realistic possibility of adding them to the non-conference schedule for other sports as well.

"The more we can continue to develop familiarity with our opponents to our fans, the better it is in terms of developing rivalries," Kavanagh said.

The Eagles are after another former Atlantic Sun foe as well: Belmont. The Bruins compete in the Ohio Valley and concluded a 26-10 season with a deep NIT run.

"Coach Byrd is a tremendous coach. I've spoken to him as well as their AD Mike Strickland. We thought we had a date this year but unfortunately we already had a committed opponent for a home game and we couldn't move it," Kavanagh said. "Furman is coming back to play us next year and we couldn't find another date to do it otherwise we we're going to start a series with them as of next year. We're hoping the following year we'll be able to start doing that."

Although talks with Florida Atlantic were initially promising as well, a coaching change put a temporary stop to the potential matchup.

"The previous coach (Mike Jarvis) had agreed to play us and we we're going to start a series at FAU," Kavanagh said. "When their new coach came on board it was a combination...there was a feeling that they couldn't play us this year. We are working trying to start a series already for next year. I'd like to play them for a four game series."

The Owls are just one of many sunshine state schools that FGCU is attempting to schedule. The reception hasn't been overwhelmingly supportive, however.

"Unfortunately right now there's been a reluctance by most of those schools to play us. It's disappointing we'd think it'd be a good game for those schools from a marketing and RPI standpoint," Kavanagh said. "Many of those schools have FGCU alums in the area. We have pockets of FGCU fans everywhere. When we played FIU, that was probably one of their biggest crowds of the year."

In addition, Florida Gulf Coast continues to play three "guarantee" games next season. For these contests, a power conference school, such as Xavier, pays FGCU a sum ($95,000 in the Xavier situation) to visit for a single game. Last season, these trips included Nebraska and North Carolina State.

"We're trying to go less of those so we can balance our schedule with more home games," Kavanagh said. "We keep trying to call others schools like ourselves, good mid-majors, with the same problems getting home games."

FGCU concludes series' with mid-majors Furman and Iona this season and will have to replenish their home games.

"We're even looking at a couple schools where we may play a home and home against them in the same year where we play one home and one road against the same team," Kavanagh said. "It's not a common occurrence but it does happen occasionally."

And if the Eagles lured the "right team" to Fort Myers, Kavanagh said FGCU would consider playing a home game at nearby Germain Arena.

"It is still something for down the road..." Kavanagh said. "It's still not a total venue that's ready for basketball. In the meantime, it wouldn't be worth it financially at this point. We like the fact that there is more demand for our games."

For now, Florida Gulf Coast has confirmed games with Furman and FIU as well as visits to Xavier and Iona. Also, Kavanagh said the Eagles are "very likely playing" at the Gulf Coast Showcase over Thanksgiving at Germain Arena.

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