Because endowments matter so much to athletics. Its not like anyone is sharing their endowments within conference.
Also, UCF is ranked 173 by USnews rankings for national universities. Okie State 145. USF 161 WVU 168, Texas Tech 156. A good number of UCF's programs are ranked in the top 100. We're not talking a huge dropoff from universities already in the big 12. Besides, why do we pretend this is about anything but athletics anyways. We're not the big 10.
And no, UCF doesnt have a ton of endowment or fanbase built compared to all in the big 10 but they didnt start building their alumni base until the last couple decades (the school itself being less than 50 years old). It will happen with time, and with the fact that they *have* had at least some athletics history and a strong showing in attendance for their level of competition (bringing 35-45k routinely right now, with a 45k capacity stadium) it shows they could transition well to a higher level. When ashford is doing that then yeah, lets talk about them.
Also, UCF is ranked 173 by USnews rankings for national universities. Okie State 145. USF 161 WVU 168, Texas Tech 156. A good number of UCF's programs are ranked in the top 100. We're not talking a huge dropoff from universities already in the big 12. Besides, why do we pretend this is about anything but athletics anyways. We're not the big 10.
And no, UCF doesnt have a ton of endowment or fanbase built compared to all in the big 10 but they didnt start building their alumni base until the last couple decades (the school itself being less than 50 years old). It will happen with time, and with the fact that they *have* had at least some athletics history and a strong showing in attendance for their level of competition (bringing 35-45k routinely right now, with a 45k capacity stadium) it shows they could transition well to a higher level. When ashford is doing that then yeah, lets talk about them.