It’s been nearly three years since Western’s Board of Regents voted to begin the transition to Football Bowl Subdivision play, but the three remaining members from that group retain the same message — be patient.

“It’s a work in progress,” Chairman Jim Meyer said. “As far as our progress goes, I’ve always said it’s going to take us at least five years from now, or at least last year, to be able to compete and win on a consistent basis and get our program where we want it to be.”

This season marks the Hilltoppers’ first as a full-fledged FBS member, and only three regents remain from the nine who voted in 2006.

Those regents — Meyer, Yevette Haskins and Larry Zielke — all acknowledge the pressure for results to be shown on and off the field.

However, each is adamant that the process can’t be rushed.

“This isn’t going to be done in a day, and we’re going to have to take some bumps and some hits,” Vice Chairwoman Haskins said. “We’re not going to come into this area of athletics winning all our games. It will take a while for us to get where we want to go.”

The Board of Regents first approved the transition to FBS on Nov. 2, 2006, by a vote of 7-2.

The dissenters were former Regent Forrest Roberts and former Faculty Regent Robert Dietle.

Dietle, an associate history professor, was about 10 minutes into an argument against the transition before being interrupted by Zielke, who called for an immediate vote.

Dietle said in an e-mail on Wednesday that he still feels the move was a financial mistake by President Gary Ransdell and the university.

“As we have already seen, the cost of our football program continues to increase regardless of how well it performs — and regardless of the financial pressures felt by the rest of the university,” Dietle said in the e-mail. “Moving to (FBS) football is the most foolish decision Dr. Ransdell has made since he has come to WKU. Let me add that even if we were winning all our games, my opinion would be the same.”

Zielke said he feels the transition will eventually pay dividends by placing Western in the national spotlight.

“I look at the state of Kentucky as having a ‘duopoly,’” Zielke said. “That is, where the University of Louisville and (the University of Kentucky) were the only teams in play for conference championships, bowl games and things of that nature. I thought it was important for Western, if it’s going to be a national player, to get into this arena.”

Meyer said he knows that Western accepted a large undertaking with the FBS transition, but he feels confident that the move will prove to be a smart one in the long run.

“All of these things certainly cost money, and some felt that it took away from money that could be spent elsewhere,” he said. “But my feeling was that if we went to the top level of athletics, it would help the university by raising the bar overall.”