UTC athletic director David BlackburnUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga vice chancellor and athletic director David Blackburn was not surprised by the vote by the NCAA board of directors giving more autonomy to the five biggest athletic conferences, but the decision raised more questions about where schools such as UTC will stand if the changes are upheld.
“There’s just a lot of unknowns,” Blackburn said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon. “We’re afraid that there are going to be a lot of things that will be permissive for us to do just like the big five. But how do we fund it? And if we don’t do it, what do our competitors do or not do?
“We want to be sure we’re competitive, and that’s where the unknown is and where those of us at the FCS level have concerns.”
Blackburn said he and UTC chancellor Steve Angle will work together to discuss how to vote on the override process, and they will try to determine how smaller schools and leagues such as the Southern Conference can continue to survive in the shifting landscape that college athletics has become.
“I think they have paid some concerns to us,” Blackburn said. “However, I don’t think there’s been any concern paid to how this will affect us monetarily. I don’t think the decision makers care as much about how this affects us monetarily.