Since when has UNT not been in the bottom of FBS?
UNT football has been a bottom feeder in FBS for several years. There is nothing you can do to get away from it until you start winning and go to bowl games in multiple years.
Yes Texas State and UTSA will start out at the bottom of the FBS, but the budgets that they are bringing to the table will help them improve quickly. Both are/have maxed out their athletic fees at $20 per credit hour and both have over 30,000 students enrolled.
Budget comparisons
School Expenditures Revenue
University of North Texas (FBS) $22,417,616 $22,417,616
Texas State University (FCS) $19,695,633 $21,300,108
UT-San Antonio (FCS) $14,475,118 $14,475,118
Another note: Texas State has already passed UNT on the Texas list of emerging institutions in regards to research with about a quarter of the PhD. programs that UNT offers, our endowment has grown and is now larger than UNT, and our 4, 5, and 6 year graduation rates in 2006-2009 (latest years of available data) were significantly higher than North Texas State.
We may be FCS now, but we are not just saying we want to be FBS, we are also putting the money into the program to make a successful move to the FBS level. Our football stadium is being upgraded now to approx. 29,500 and another expansion is scheduled in 2014 that should bring the capacity up to about 35-36,000. We recently completed new luxury boxes and club level seating that are very nice and will be some of the best in the WAC next year.
Whether you like it or not, on July 1 Texas State will be an FBS school.