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Sports

In the FCS Huddle: FCS will remain, well, FCS

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Philadelphia, PA – The NCAA won't be changing its Football Championship Subdivision moniker.

Just don't call it the Football Championship Subdivision.

It's FCS.

"Nobody called the BCS the Bowl Championship Series, it was the BCS," said Patty Viverito, commissioner of both the Missouri Valley Football Conference and the Pioneer Football League. "So we're FCS."

It's been a troubled year for the FCS, with power programs (Appalachian State and Georgia Southern) announcing their departure to the Football Bowl Subdivision - OK, FBS - and a power conference (the Big Ten of the FBS) announcing it will end games against, and guaranteed paydays for, FCS programs after the 2015 season. Plus, the nation's seemingly endless realignment remains a sore spot as conferences hold their breath.

But the subdivision that has felt like it has had an identity crisis since Division I-A and Division I-AA were renamed to the FBS and FCS monikers, respectively, has decided to forge ahead with "FCS" after its schools and the NCAA considered yet another name change in the last year.

NCAA/FCS committees, whose members include college presidents, conference commissioners, athletic directors and football coaches, are still planning their rebranding initiatives for this year, and all will bring increased exposure for the FCS.

The members just won't push the name Football Championship Subdivision anymore.

With an "Every down, every day" motto for the football, there is expected to be a new FCS logo released in the near future. The letters FCS will remain in the logo, but "Division I" will be played up prominently to get the word out more that this indeed is Division I football.

The FCS has good football all around. It will go 127 schools (if Houston Baptist is counted) and 13 conferences deep this season after drawing nearly six million fans to games last year. This year, the playoffs will be expanded for the second time in four years, increasing to 24 teams.

"We're pretty comfortable with the letters FCS," Viverito said. "And we're very comfortable with talking about it in the context of Division I and making that prominent. And we are all wholeheartedly in favor of abandoning the mouthful that is Football Championship Subdivision in every way, shape or form."

It's FCS.