Best and worse FCS college towns?

[GoRacer1]

Besides the allure of the big city schools like UMass, Nova and the like ,who has the most to offer its students and recruits ?
Who is the worst or most boring place to live for 4 years ? Example, I heard the smell at Northern Colorado was horrible.(I cannot confirm this personally).

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Cheney is a pretty small, quaint town. Residential population of only 8 or 9k, doubles when class is in session. Only 3 stoplights total in the town. It's not for everybody, but Spokane is only 20 miles away. Lots of recreational/outdoor with all the lakes and Turnbull Wildlife refuge nearby.

[Cadbury20J]

Jacksonville, AL. should pretty much fit the description for most boring. You have to drive 30 minutes south to Anniston just to see a movie and/or get decent shopping done at a mall of some sort. Needless to say, most people commute here back and forth, rather than stay.

[00bluehen]

Amherst "big city"

In all seriousness, GR1...Amherst is kinda tucked in Middle-of-Nowhere, Massachusetts, about two hours (give or take) west of Boston. It's a nice campus in a quaint/quiet little town.

[JConnolly]

I'll agree with 00bluehen about Amherst. It's a solid hour and a half (with a Masshole driver such as myself) from Boston. Elon is a tiny college town, and they have been building up Burlington (the surrounding area) for a few years now, and it's really nice. I wouldn't really say too much of a college town, but it's a nice place. Its 30 mins to Greensboro, and almost an hour to Raliegh and Durham, not the greatest location for stuff to do, but we can shop at a nice outdoor mall thing, and we have a pretty nice new movie theater and a couple decent bars.

[Skjellyfetti]

No offense to William and Mary fans... because it's a great school and I love the campus and most everything about the school........ but, Williamsburg has to be the worst college town I've ever been to.

[clenz]

Worst candidates

Terra Houte, Indiana
Carbondale, Illinois
Greeley, CO - I don't remember the smell, but it didn't seem like a great city when I was there.

[Green Cookie Monster]

Sacramento has more to do than anywhere else in the country. And that is a blessing and curse.

Blessing-if you like the outdoors, your in heaven. Lake Tahoe, Napa Valley and Bay Area are all within a few hours.
Curse-too much to do to compete for a Saturday football game.

[weberwildcat]

Besides the allure of the big city schools like UMass, Nova and the like ,who has the most to offer its students and recruits ?
Who is the worst or most boring place to live for 4 years ? Example, I heard the smell at Northern Colorado was horrible.(I cannot confirm this personally).

I have also heard this rumor about Greeley, CO, home of UNC. My school is UNC's closest conference foe even though its still 7 hours away. The Big Sky is spread out pretty far luckily Weber has ISU just under 2 hrs away.

I assume I'll make it out to UNC to a game in the next few yrs to confirm. I'll find this thread and confirm at that time. LOL!

[Silenoz]

Can't complain about Missoula and Bozeman. Both have their fair share of diversions, and both are not too big and not too small. Now if only they mixed to form a more "moderate" town, it would be perfect

[weberwildcat]

FCS road games I've been to:

Montana
Montana State
Idaho State
Northern Arizona

ISU was the worst and UM was by far the best. NAU was way better than what I thought but it could have just been that the game was homecoming but it had a really good pre-game atmosphere.

At the Montanas you knew you were in a college town as soon as you got there.

[ODUalum11]

No offense to William and Mary fans... because it's a great school and I love the campus and most everything about the school........ but, Williamsburg has to be the worst college town I've ever been to.

I would have to agree as well...now I haven't been to a Tribe football game but I've been to a couple Tribe basketball games last year (vs. VCU, vs. ODU) and it doesn't seem like there isn't a whole lot to do.

Could Richmond be another town? I have been to Richmond on numerous occasions and it just seems like it isn't a big city with a lot to do.

Not to sound biased but I think Norfolk is a great college town. You have downtown Norfolk with shopping plus the waterfront, plus tours of the Naval Shipyards, and then the Norfolk Admirals hockey team, Norfolk Tides baseball team and then there is Virginia beach...enough said.

[FargoBison]

Fargo(NDSU) is a pretty good college town, there is something like 27,000 college students in the Fargo-Moorhead area which can make the downtown bars pretty packed on Friday and Saturday nights. Plus there is a decent amount of concerts and good places to eat.

Grand Forks(UND) is also solid, a little different vibe than Fargo because it is a smaller city and it seems like everything is centered more around the campus.

Brookings(SDSU) is a nice little town, no doubt it probably gets a bit stale but it probably isn't the worst.

I also liked Cedar Falls(UNI), Waterloo was a complete and total dive though.

Bozeman(MSU) is also pretty nice, probably one of my favorites.

My vote for worst goes to Vermillion(USD), I doubt I'd last a semester living in that town before wanting to transfer.

[CatMom]

San Marcos sits on the edge of the hill country. If you look at pics of the campus, even from the stadium, you can see the rolling hills.

A River (San Marcos River) runs through it (the campus) and Sewell Park (on campus) is a great hang-out spot between classes and weekends. (for swimming, etc)

The town now has about 15,000 and built up because of the U. 30,000+ students add to the population. Austin is 30 miles north and San Antonio is 45 miles south (gotten to quickly because of the interstate). There are a lot of places to go tubing, hiking, running, etc., and a lot of bars, etc within SM but many go to Austin's famous 6th street, on weekends. Lots of lakes, rivers and low mountains in the area, a Six Flags in SA and Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels (about 20 miles south)

Most everything you need to do, or need to buy can be had in and around SM.

I do have to say I love seeing pics of App St. Always loved the mountains.

[BigSkyBears]

Strange that this would be posted today. Greeley is a bad college town, but there is an article in the Greeley Tribune about a Bear Aware program that is supposed to help turn that around. I hope it works, but it's going to take a lot of effort. Here's the article from today's Tribune.
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/2 ... ofile=1001" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BigSkyBears]

FCS road games I've been to:

Montana
Montana State
Idaho State
Northern Arizona

ISU was the worst and UM was by far the best. NAU was way better than what I thought but it could have just been that the game was homecoming but it had a really good pre-game atmosphere.

At the Montanas you knew you were in a college town as soon as you got there.

Why was ISU bad?

[BigSkyBears]

San Marcos sits on the edge of the hill country. If you look at pics of the campus, even from the stadium, you can see the rolling hills.

A River (San Marcos River) runs through it (the campus) and Sewell Park (on campus) is a great hang-out spot between classes and weekends. (for swimming, etc)

The town now has about 15,000 and built up because of the U. 30,000+ students add to the population. Austin is 30 miles north and San Antonio is 45 miles south (gotten to quickly because of the interstate). There are a lot of places to go tubing, hiking, running, etc., and a lot of bars, etc within SM but many go to Austin's famous 6th street, on weekends. Lots of lakes, rivers and low mountains in the area, a Six Flags in SA and Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels (about 20 miles south)

Most everything you need to do, or need to buy can be had in and around SM.

I do have to say I love seeing pics of App St. Always loved the mountains.

App St doesn't have Mountains and for sure Texas doesn't either. Come to Colorado and you'll see mountains.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

I do have to say I love seeing pics of App St. Always loved the mountains.

If AZ weren't too busy giving reach arounds somewhere in Montana/PNW, he'd have something to say about that.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

San Marcos sits on the edge of the hill country. If you look at pics of the campus, even from the stadium, you can see the rolling hills.

A River (San Marcos River) runs through it (the campus) and Sewell Park (on campus) is a great hang-out spot between classes and weekends. (for swimming, etc)

The town now has about 15,000 and built up because of the U. 30,000+ students add to the population. Austin is 30 miles north and San Antonio is 45 miles south (gotten to quickly because of the interstate). There are a lot of places to go tubing, hiking, running, etc., and a lot of bars, etc within SM but many go to Austin's famous 6th street, on weekends. Lots of lakes, rivers and low mountains in the area, a Six Flags in SA and Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels (about 20 miles south)

Most everything you need to do, or need to buy can be had in and around SM.

I do have to say I love seeing pics of App St. Always loved the mountains.

App St doesn't have Mountains and for sure Texas doesn't either. Come to Colorado and you'll see mountains.

I was expecting a Griz, but a Bear will do.

[CatMom]

Well, I haven't been out west and I said SM had rolling hills, not mountains.

When you're driving a little Saturn ION through TN, NC and VA, it's mountains

[clenz]

Fargo(NDSU) is a pretty good college town, there is something like 27,000 college students in the Fargo-Moorhead area which can make the downtown bars pretty packed on Friday and Saturday nights. Plus there is a decent amount of concerts and good places to eat.

Grand Forks(UND) is also solid, a little different vibe than Fargo because it is a smaller city and it seems like everything is centered more around the campus.

Brookings(SDSU) is a nice little town, no doubt it probably gets a bit stale but it probably isn't the worst.

I also liked Cedar Falls(UNI), Waterloo was a complete and total dive though.

Bozeman(MSU) is also pretty nice, probably one of my favorites.

My vote for worst goes to Vermillion(USD), I doubt I'd last a semester living in that town before wanting to transfer.

I've been to Vermillion, Brookings, and of course CF/W'loo on your list and would agree with what you say about them.

Half of my school goes to SDSU or University of Sioux Falls for college, so there must be something about Brookings that they like. I"ve been there a couple times and wasn't real impressed. I must have missed the "hot spots".


Vermillion SUCKS. Anyone from my school that has gone there (except the two on the football team) have transfered after a semester OR spent 2.5 years doing a study abroad thing to get out of Vermillion.


CF isn't bad, but Waterloo is a shit hole. There are some decent bars over there, but nothing worth going over there for fun.

[tampajag]

Itta Bena, MS hands down, I've never even saw a house there. There's NOTHING to do there. Being there 5 minutes is too long. Why anybody goes the volutarily is a mystery.
Runners up:
Lorman (again middle of nowhere, but it's close to Natchez)
Grambling (no more needs to be said)

[BigSkyBears]

Besides the allure of the big city schools like UMass, Nova and the like ,who has the most to offer its students and recruits ?
Who is the worst or most boring place to live for 4 years ? Example, I heard the smell at Northern Colorado was horrible.(I cannot confirm this personally).

I have also heard this rumor about Greeley, CO, home of UNC. My school is UNC's closest conference foe even though its still 7 hours away. The Big Sky is spread out pretty far luckily Weber has ISU just under 2 hrs away.

I assume I'll make it out to UNC to a game in the next few yrs to confirm. I'll find this thread and confirm at that time. LOL!

I'm heading to Ogden in Sep for the game against UNC. I'll give a report after that. I've driven through Ogden only once and actually stayed the night at a creepy hotel, but it was pretty with the mountains.

[00bluehen]

Washington DC (Georgetown) and Providence RI (Brown from FCS, plus Providence College and Johnson and Wales) also come to mind as nice college towns in the northeast.

[slulionsfan]

Hammond, Louisiana is a great college town...population inside the city limits is roughly 20,000 (maybe more) with additional 25-30 thousand living in unincorporated areas and towns within a 5 to 10 mile radius...Covington/Mandeville (aka the Northshore) is 20-25 minutes to the east and is the most affluent area in the state...Baton Rouge is 35 minutes to the west and New Orleans is 50-60 minutes to the south.

Hammond has a revitalized historic downtown area, with plenty of quality, local restaurants and specialty shops...Southeastern Louisiana University & the Columbia Theater, provides cultural entertainment for the northshore region, by hosting a variety of concerts, plays, and guest lecturers...also lots of bars and clubs for students to hang out.

Below are locally owned restaurants (not franchises) in historic downtown Hammond...Tope La, Kirin, and Jacmel Inn are among the best restaurants in south Louisiana, and I love Pier 112...the others are good too. We also have several other quality local eateries located in other parts of town.

TOPE LA -- http://www.topela.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kirin Sushi -- http://kirinjapanesecuisine.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jacmel Inn -- http://www.jacmelinn.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PIER 112 -- http://www.pier1twelve.com/menu.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brady's Restaurant -- http://www.bradysdowntown.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

La Carretta -- http://www.carretarestaurant.com/locations.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tommy's on Thomas -- http://www.myspace.com/tommysonthomas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mariner's Inn --

Cate Street Seafood Station -- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hammond-L ... 8331850570" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Agape Pizzaria -- http://www.agapepizza.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Trey Yuen -- not located in downtown (on University right up from campus), but considered the finest Chinese cuisine on the northshore...sister restaurant located in Mandeville, La...http://www.treyyuen.com/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

COLUMBIA THEATRE
http://columbiatheatre.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;