winning as a top priority. That means for the first few seasons you schedule something very close to what we had last year every year until the culture and psychology of the program is riding very high. Where the team realistically expects go go 10-3 or 11-2 or even undefeated every single year. Once you have established that culture then I would begin to gradually add teams of a higher tier.

That's how I would have done it going into independence. I know the fans would have been kinda upset with the quality of the schedule, but I think that it really does something when you have a winning culture. I know the argument can be made that going the route we went conditions us as a program to compete at a higher level week in and week out...and this is true. But if I were to choose one over the other I think having a winning culture ultimately does more for a program in the long run.