Cincy makes me vomit. If we are gonna add an ex big east school it should be UCONN. That makes me puke too but at least they are a flagship.
I actually think it would benefit the big 12 a lot to add A Mountain West team to have 3 time zones...we would be only conference with 3 time zones available for tv networks to show games..could have game at 11, 2:30 and 9pm every week..that's actually a big appeal to a network. More content.
Here's a scathing take from Dodd at CBS.
Big 12 expansion: Public pandering by AAC schools is borderline embarrassing
Apparently you've never met a university administrator, or a college recruiter trying to convince skeptical parents to send their kid to the recruiter's campus. Academics are kind of a big deal. Also important is the public's perception of a university's academic prowess, which is impacted by the universities that school chooses to associate with.
Also, Iowa State IS an academic juggernaut - an AAU member, ranked in the top five among colleges of agriculture in the world, a well known engineering program, growing endowment, and the list goes on. When people think of conferences they generally think that the member universities have some commonalities. Unfortunately we've traded AAU members Missouri, Texas A&M, Colorado, and (then member) Nebraska for two schools that aren't in the same league academically, and leaving ISU, Texas, and KU as the only three remaining AAU members. The Big 12 has become a distant 5th among the power 5 in regard to academics. If you don't believe me, just look up the "peer institutions" of ISU, and compare them the peers listed by TCU, WVU, and any of the universities being considered for expansion.
Didn't realize East Carolina was lobbying so openly.
Also, no to ECU.
Of course academics matter to admissions, but this is about sports and tv, not admissions. I evaluated ISU based on the academic programs at ISU. It doesn't matter that they play football games against community colleges lime KSU and TTU. Swapping ATM for TCU on the athletics schedule doesn't do squat to our academics, they are two totally separate entities. If this actually made a difference we would schedule a bunch of Ivy League schools each year to raise our profile.
The idea that even the perception of our engineering program would change based on who our opponent is at Jack Trice next Saturday is nuts. College sports are a big deal to people on this board, but the majority of the general public still doesn't follow it closely.
Also, no to ECU.
East Carolina doesn't interest me, either. I might prefer Tulane.
Here's a scathing take from Dodd at CBS.
Big 12 expansion: Public pandering by AAC schools is borderline embarrassing
Of course academics matter to admissions, but this is about sports and tv, not admissions. I evaluated ISU based on the academic programs at ISU. It doesn't matter that they play football games against community colleges lime KSU and TTU. Swapping ATM for TCU on the athletics schedule doesn't do squat to our academics, they are two totally separate entities. If this actually made a difference we would schedule a bunch of Ivy League schools each year to raise our profile.
The idea that even the perception of our engineering program would change based on who our opponent is at Jack Trice next Saturday is nuts. College sports are a big deal to people on this board, but the majority of the general public still doesn't follow it closely.
Their fans are active. But not annoying. They enjoy and support their teams. I did wirk with the main donor to the football stadium and he is a huge douche.After spending almost six years at NCSU and having first hand experience with ECU fans, I'd definitely be against ECU. That TV market is already saturated with ACC and SEC programming. I don't see ECU bringing many TVs. ECU doesn't have much for academic chops. Basically if you get rejected from NCSU or UNC you go to ECU. Plus it's an R2 university. Also, their fans are obnoxious. Lastly, it would not help recruiting in the Big 12 at all. There are eight D1 football teams in North Carolina. Pretty much all of them recruit 95% of their players from outside the state, and the best players go to play for SEC schools anyway. Heck, even the AAC had qualms about letting them join.
Lots of rumors out there today that decisions have been made. UC, Memphis, Houston, BYU.
We will see if that proves correct.
I'd be okay with this. Adding Houston as a group of four doesn't really hurt for the Texas saturation. They and BYU should add enough cache that UC and Memphis shouldn't hurt. Overall, the footprint gets expanded quite a bit.
Lots of rumors out there today that decisions have been made. UC, Memphis, Houston, BYU.