Summertime in the sports fan’s world is a lot like New Year’s Day.

Since there’s nothing going on in college sports, it’s a time for fans to recollect the season past, and look forward to the future.

For Georgia Southern fans, there’s a lot of momentum from the Eagles’ Southern Conference baseball championship, the hire of GSU alumnus Charlton Young to take over the basketball program and the pending release of the Division I-A feasibility study which is currently taking place that will show the steps necessary to move to the highest level of college football.

Along with the wave of momentum comes a future full of question marks.

Georgia Southern Athletics Director Sam Baker, who was recently awarded with the Under Armour AD of the Year Award, one of 29 given out by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, feels the momentum of the recent success, and also has been anticipating what the future of GSU holds athletically.

Baseball, he feels, has been on the rise since the recent stadium renovations.

“What it’s shown is that when we went out and redid J.I. Clements a few years ago, we felt like it was going to help out with recruiting and it has,” said Baker. “We’ve been able to attract some outstanding players to come to Georgia Southern and I think each year we can build on that.”

As for basketball, Baker admits that Young’s future as the Eagles coach is uncertain. Still he, like most fans who have met the energetic coach, sees the potential of the GSU basketball program.

“Charlton is the eternal optimist,” Baker said. “He’s excited about being back in his alma mater and he’s going to have a tough schedule. … I think as time goes on he will build a very strong program. CY’s an outstanding recruiter and I’m looking forward to seeing them play.

“He certainly through his personality has gotten people enthused about coming back to Hanner and being a part of the basketball program.”

There’s no question the football team, the coaches and the fans are excited about the upcoming 2009 season too, but the bigger question surrounds the feasibility study.

The project was delayed due to the downturn of the economy.

“It’s like trying to hit a moving target right now trying to get the best projections,” Baker said. “In a way I’m glad it didn’t come out a year ago because those projections may have been so pie in sky they may not have been accurate.”

With a new president yet to be named taking over the helms of the university in January, nobody is sure where the study will lead. One thing’s for sure — a lot of people will be involved in the decision-making process.

“We internally will have to sit down and look at it,” Baker said, “then the president will review it. We’ll obviously send it to various groups over the college campus for them to review. It’s not a unilateral decision by Sam Baker that, ‘Hey, we’re going to go do this.’ I’m the individual that brings recommendations and thought processes to the table but athletics is just one of many parts of a university, and we in that role have to ask people to make decisions and give us guidance.”

In the meantime, Baker hopes to see continued success for the Eagles in the Southern Conference. He hopes the fans will continue to support the program through the times of uncertainty.

“You’ve gotta have a vision,” he said, “but my vision is that we continue to grow, continue to increase our season tickets, get more people donating and therefore help us to build our program and to do the things it takes to win.”

He hopes that unrealistic expectations won’t deter fans from supporting the Eagles.

“I had one gentleman — we were talking about it a couple years ago — and from what he was talking about, he thought we ought to be in the ACC,” Baker said. “Well you can’t have a rational conversation when somebody’s talking in those terms. My feeling is, I want us to be the very best we can be at whatever level we’re at when that decision’s made. But right now, we’re competing for an FCS championship.

“I want to make sure that when the decision is made, that it isn’t one of those things like they told me at (Louisiana) Monroe when they went (to Division I-A). Everybody got them to go, and when they went, (the fans) left and went to LSU. They’re sitting there with a half-empty stadium and struggling. I don’t want us to get to that state. I want us to have a program that can win.”

Winning and running a successful university athletic department takes a lot of hard work and money. Baker feels like a fan base which contributes to the program is instrumental to on-the-field success.

He pointed out that the off-the-field costs are often overlooked.

“We buy helmets at the same cost as a University of Georgia helmet,” he said. “Shoulder pads cost the same. Uniforms cost the same. When we travel, we’ve all got to pay for busses. We’ve got to pay for meals, we’ve all got to pay for scholarships. All these things cost money. We’re just like any other business, and the more we can get people involved, the more we can grow.”

And if anyone has any extra cash lying around?

“I’ve got projects if people are dying to give money,” laughed Baker. “I’ve always got a project that we can put their name on with the right check.”

Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9404.