Jump to content

In conference realignment, academics — not athletics — are king


meangreen11

Recommended Posts

But often, the speculation about realignment focuses too much on sports and too little on the academic institutions themselves. What about Texas’ in-state football rivalries in the Big 12? Will the Big 12 and Pac-12 coordinate a football scheduling agreement? What about basketball — how does this move help the SEC? Such questions are important. But the two biggest brokers in these conversations, and ones that are often overlooked, are the role of academics and a given school’s “institutional fit.” And, I would argue, this should always be the case.

Ask any athletic director, university president or conference commissioner — one of the most-uttered phrases in conference realignment talks is “institutional profile.” Even in the money-crazed world of college sports, academic prestige is extremely important, especially for several Power Five conferences. Call it what you will: academic elitism, Ivory Tower egotism, scholarly snobbery. But a school’s institutional profile — what it can bring to a conference, in terms of its academic offerings, research profile, faculty awards and memberships, and reputation — is absolutely essential.
 

read more: https://www.deseret.com/platform/amp/2021/8/6/22613053/college-football-conference-realignment-aau-association-of-american-universities

  • Upvote 2
  • Haha 2
  • Skeptical Eagle 1
  • Eye Roll 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, meangreen11 said:

Ask any athletic director, university president or conference commissioner — one of the most-uttered phrases in conference realignment talks is “institutional profile.” Even in the money-crazed world of college sports, academic prestige is extremely important, especially for several Power Five conferences. Call it what you will: academic elitism, Ivory Tower egotism, scholarly snobbery.

But a school’s institutional profile — what it can bring to a conference, in terms of its academic offerings, research profile, faculty awards and memberships, and reputation — is absolutely essential.

 

watching arrested development GIF

  • Upvote 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Academic profile is way down the line from athletic profile. 

First, and foremost; there is absolutely no way to determine a school's academic status. 

Ever look at the criteria for most of these type rankings, everything but the kitchen sink is involved.  Most have nothing to do with judging the true effectiveness of an institutions' academics. 

Teams in the big time p5 conferences, are not turning away great athletes because of academics.  If they can pass the NCAA clearinghouse minimum standards and are deemed a value to the athletic program, they are welcome at 90% of D1 schools.  

The way college athletics have developed, successful teams are antithetical to college's stated mission.   An university's objectives are to provide the best education available. 

Having teams almost totality composed of players that could not get into a school if they were not athletes should be hard for a lot of name schools to reconcile.   

  • Upvote 6
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, GrandGreen said:

Academic profile is way down the line from athletic profile. 

First, and foremost; there is absolutely no way to determine a school's academic status. 

Ever look at the criteria for most of these type rankings, everything but the kitchen sink is involved.  Most have nothing to do with judging the true effectiveness of an institutions' academics. 

Teams in the big time p5 conferences, are not turning away great athletes because of academics.  If they can pass the NCAA clearinghouse minimum standards and are deemed a value to the athletic program, they are welcome at 90% of D1 schools.  

The way college athletics have developed, successful teams are antithetical to college's stated mission.   An university's objectives are to provide the best education available. 

Having teams almost totality composed of players that could not get into a school if they were not athletes should be hard for a lot of name schools to reconcile.   

Truth bombs. 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Academic Profile IS important.... when you are the big 10 or you do not have an athletic money profile isn't so big that that it trumps everything. For C-USA schools with 400k tv checks that sure isn't the case and for AAC schools it barely is. For OU and UT ... different story (although UT is an AAU member, an OU is at least a Tier One Institution)

Academics alone by itself obviously gets nobody nowhere (see Rice), but Mean green fans should actually hope a minimum standard of academics matters. While NT is not an AAU member, by being a tier one university, it is ahead of some of its athletic competitors on research funding and investment. I would argue NThas moved steadily up in academic standing in the past 15years and overtaken some of those other schools. Smatresk -among others- has done a stellar job in that regard. Even SMU for its claims of education and all, is behind NT when it comes to measures such as research. TCU and Baylor aren't Tier one research institutions either. For that matter, neither are 8 out of 14 C-USA schools. Those 8 are UTSA, La Tech, MTSU, WKU, FAU, Charleston, ODU and Marshall

Edited by outoftown
  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the reason I always thought Texas would go with the Big 10 if they changed conferences.  Even when I was in grad school (50 years ago), Texas was trying to position itself as a top academic institution.  I know Athletics is about money, but academics is still the reason for a the existence of a university.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, wardly said:

Realignment is football driven, which means revenue. Neither Kansas nor Iowa State bring enough additional money to any conference which would justify their inclusion.

I would argue that KU's basketball program brings in some cash.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Tell a friend

    Love GoMeanGreen.com? Tell a friend!
  • What's going on Mean Green?

    1. 78

      BREAKING: Jason Edwards to enter transfer portal

    2. 0

      Portal Possibilities???

    3. 15

      USC Basketball Head Coach Andy Enfield Reportedly Leaving for SMU Job

    4. 15

      USC Basketball Head Coach Andy Enfield Reportedly Leaving for SMU Job

    5. 78

      BREAKING: Jason Edwards to enter transfer portal

  • Popular Contributors

  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      15,383
    • Most Online
      1,865

    Newest Member
    Tank
    Joined
  • GEOVbwaWAAEbd3Q.jpg

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Please review our full Privacy Policy before using our site.