Sustaining a winning program is the key to navigating the changing landscape in major-college football for schools outside the nation’s five power conferences, according to coaches Troy Calhoun of Air Force and Mike Bobo of Colorado State.

Peering into what might become a turbulent future for the perceived bottom half of major-college teams, Calhoun and Bobo contend that it will take winning programs to keep up with the ongoing push for elite status by members of the top conferences.

Air Force and CSU are members of the Mountain West, which is not one of the five power conferences. Chief among the issues of concern are television revenue, “cost of attendance” stipend payments to players and participation in the national championship system.

Calhoun believes the necessity of a winning program isn’t a short-term deal.

“I’m not talking about two or three years. It’s going to take the commitment to build and sustain a winning program over a 15-year span,” said Calhoun, who has a 59-44 record in eight years at Air Force.

He noted that because of the emphasis on strength of schedule, teams from the five power conferences will attempt to fill their nonconference schedules with the better teams from below. Air Force, 10-3 last year, plays Big Ten power Michigan State on the road Sept. 19.

Bobo, new to CSU this year after a term as an assistant coach at Georgia, said his primary concern is the quality of the football program.

“Students, alumni, fans in general want a program that makes them proud to follow and be a part of,” Bobo said. “I think a team that they can be proud of is more important to them than a title or designation.”

Calhoun and Bobo attended the annual Colorado Coaches for Charity fundraiser May 1 in Denver. University of Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre also attended. His view of the changing landscape comes as a member of the Pac-12, one of the five power conferences.

“Our athletes are benefiting from this,” MacIntyre said. “We have to be concerned about the welfare of the game and the athletes who are on the field.”

On the subject of paying the players, Calhoun said he is in favor of it because they deserve compensation for the revenue they generate through fans’ attendance during the football season.

Former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry, who created Colorado Coaches for Charity, took a more stern view of the changing landscape.

“I’m very concerned,” DeBerry said. “Money is driving the game. The haves keep getting more and the have-nots keep getting less. It seems to me that college football is moving closer and closer to becoming farm teams for the NFL.”

DeBerry said he thought Air Force would have a place in the changing landscape because of the longtime quality of its program and its high reputation in college football.

Irv Moss: 303-954-1296, imoss@denverpost.com or twitter.com/irvmoss