Lots of Charlotte 49ers schedule news

-- Hearing that the men's basketball season opener will be a home game on Friday, Nov. 9 against Charleston Southern. The 49ers' nonconference schedule will be loaded down with home games: The next game will be at home Nov. 13 against Georgia Southern, followed by another at Halton Arena against Lamar on Nov. 17.
The 49ers then head out for the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov 23-25, before returning for a home game against East Carolina on Dec. 1.

The rest of the nonconference schedule (unofficial): Dec. 5, at Davidson; 8, Central Michigan; 14, at Miami or Kennesaw State; 16, at Kennesaw State or Miami; 19, Radford; 22, Florida State (TWC Arena). Jan. 2, UNC Asheville.

The Atlantic 10 schedule begins Jan. 9.

-- The men's soccer schedule was released Thursday. Charlotte, last season's College Cup runner-up, opens against Denver on Aug. 25 at Transamerica Field. The 49ers will face three future Conference USA rivals -- Alabama-Birmingham (Aug. 31 at home); at Kentucky (Sept. 9) and South Carolina (Sept. 12 at home). Kentucky and South Carolina are associate C-USA members in soccer.

Charlotte opens Atlantic 10 play Oct. 5 at Virginia Commonwealth and will host the conference tournament Nov. 8-11).

The complete schedule:

Aug. 18, Gardner-Webb (exh.); 25, Denver; 27, Coastal Carolina; 31, Ala.-Birmingham.

Sept. 7, Stony Brook (at Kentucky Invitational); 9, at Kentucky (Kentucky Invitational); 12, South Carolina; 15, at UNC Greensboro; 22, at Elon; 26, at Central Florida.

Oct. 5 at Virginia Commonwealth; 7, at Richmond; 12, Fordham; 14, La Salle; 19, Massachusetts, 21, Rhode Island; 26, at Saint Louis; 28, at Butler.

Nov. 3, George Washington; 8-11, Atlantic 10 tournament (at Transamerica Field).
 
-- The 49ers' football move to Conference USA in 2015 has meant some schedule juggling will be necessary. The 49ers must play at least five home games against FBS schools when they move up -- and four of them will be C-USA opposition in a 12-game schedule. Charlotte has four other games scheduled now in 2015: home against FCS teams Georgia Southern and Presbyterian and away against FCS Furman and Georgia State (which will be FBS in 2015).

So it appears that Charlotte will need to drop one of those nonconference games (it won't be Georgia State) and add a home game against an FBS team. Charlotte has been fishing around the MAC, Sun Belt and has also approached Temple about playing.


-- Men's director of basketball operations Rob Perron is headed for Newberry, where he will be an assistant under an old friend, Dave Davis. Perron was an associate head coach under Davis at Pfeiffer in 2005-06. Perron was head coach at St. Andrews from 2003-05. Perron has been at Charlotte since 2006.

-- The 49ers' football team has signed with Nike, which will provide uniforms, shoes and equipment. Charlotte was also considering Under Armour. The team's helmet design will be unveiled sometime within the next few weeks.