May 17, 2004

Charleston, SC - The Citadel, which plays two Division I-A football foes this season, will double up on "money" games more often and has added future games with Mississippi, Texas A&M and North Carolina State, athletic director Les Robinson said.

The Bulldogs will play at Ole Miss on Oct. 8, 2005, at Texas A&M in 2006 and at N.C. State in 2007, he said.

The Citadel is scheduled to play back-to-back games at Auburn and Duke this season, and Robinson said he hopes to double up on I-A foes again in 2005 and 2008. He plans for the Bulldogs to play one Division I-A team in each of the 2006, '07, '09 and 2010 seasons.

The Division I-AA military school, which cut men's soccer and golf in the past year, should collect more than $600,000 for the Auburn and Duke games, and future games at I-A schools should average about a $400,000 payday, Robinson said.

The scheduling plan will help the financial bottom line and in recruiting, he said. "The purpose of it is for our coaches to be able to go out and say, 'This is who we are playing for the next four years,'" Robinson said. "I know that will help us in recruiting, and in our budget."

The games against teams from Bowl Championship Series conferences are a challenge for first-year coach John Zernhelt and his players. The Citadel lost last year at Maryland, 61-0, and at Louisiana State, 35-10, in 2002.

"From a coaching standpoint, I do think it helps in recruiting," Zernhelt said. "The deck is stacked against you, but it helps you recruit players who want to face that kind of competition.

"And if you are successful in getting those players, when it's time to play in your own league, they know the kind of effort it takes to succeed."

Robinson said the short-term hit to the won-lost record pays off over time.

"In the short term, it doesn't help our record," Robinson said. "But in the long term, I'm confident that it does. Before we played at LSU, I heard from some fans who said, 'This is over our heads, why are we doing this?

"But I firmly believe that playing teams like LSU helps you recruit the players who can beat Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Furman, and that is the goal. And every now and then, you might slip up and beat one of the big schools."

With the future of Johnson Hagood Stadium still up in the air, The Citadel will play only 10 games in the 2004 season, Robinson said.

The 2004 schedule will be released this week; as of now it includes non-conference games with Charleston Southern, Auburn and Duke and seven games against Southern Conference foes. There are only four home games on the schedule -- against CSU, Western Carolina, Georgia Southern and Chattanooga.

Missing from the schedule for the first time since 1956 is military school rival Virginia Military Institute. The Citadel and VMI played the Military Classic of the South in Charlotte the last two years. Robinson said the Bulldogs have a date set with VMI for 2005 and would like to play the Keydets every year. But he said VMI's move from the SoCon to the Big South means the game is not certain to be played every year.

"It's unfortunate, but when VMI left the conference, that made it difficult," he said.

"For this year, they couldn't play on our open dates and we couldn't play on theirs. We'd like to play them every year, but as long as we are in different conferences, there's no way to guarantee that."

The Citadel plans to play home games this season at Johnson Hagood, where the home side of the old stadium has been torn down. The school plans to have a renovated Johnson Hagood or a new stadium at the site of the current Stoney Field ready for the 2005 season.