OT: U. Buffalo goes back to being U. Buffalo

[upstater]

A couple years ago we were talking about how U. Buffalo rebranded itself as State University of New York.

I wrote this: B1G, ACC battle for New York

"U. Buffalo's AD seems to think the state should get behind it. The school spent a decade or more rebranding itself as University at Buffalo instead of SUNY Buffalo, then the Duke AD's kid comes in and decides to call it the University of New York. ADs are apparently not the marketing geniuses many believe them to be."

Then Danny White Jr. left UB for UCF, and quickly then, this happened:

School puts 'Buffalo' back on its logo

 

[Palatine]

A couple years ago we were talking about how U. Buffalo rebranded itself as State University of New York.

I wrote this: B1G, ACC battle for New York

"U. Buffalo's AD seems to think the state should get behind it. The school spent a decade or more rebranding itself as University at Buffalo instead of SUNY Buffalo, then the Duke AD's kid comes in and decides to call it the University of New York. ADs are apparently not the marketing geniuses many believe them to be."

Then Danny White Jr. left UB for UCF, and quickly then, this happened:

School puts 'Buffalo' back on its logo

Edsall wanted us to be Connecticut and not UConn.

 

[upstater]

Edsall wanted us to be Connecticut and not UConn.

It's funny though how the blame goes on White in the article, but no one asks how it even got that level, and what the response might have been. Pretty hushed, and now you have ESPN drawing all the wrong conclusions. The move to UB didn't happen because of voices in the community. It happened because they spent $10 million over a decade before White got there to rebrand, and then they went away from it (likely because someone convinced someone that the B1G was a possibility).

 

[UC1995]

Probably realize that we own New York and they are wasting money, so they are making way for us as we enter the B1G!

 

[tiger paw]

Edsall wanted us to be Connecticut and not UConn.

R.E. believed the football team should represent the entire state + every one in it., not just a university. I agree. Too many casual residents / fans have that perception. They don't think in terms of "were all in this together" They look at the UConn brand as a university they have no real connection with. State loyalty/ pride is not as strong in the northeast as most other parts of America.

 

[NickyNewark]

R.E. believed the football team should represent the entire state + every one in it., not just a university. I agree. Too many casual residents / fans have that perception. They don't think in terms of "were all in this together" They look at the UConn brand as a university they have no real connection with. State loyalty/ pride is not as strong in the northeast as most other parts of America.

I agree we in NJ suffer the same problem to a lesser degree....it seems it starts in NJ and then most of NE..??

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I agree we in NJ suffer the same problem to a lesser degree....it seems it starts in NJ and then most of NE..??

Plus, like CT, NJ lacks that one 'super city' to coalesce around and is seen more or less as a suburb of either NYC or Philadelphia. Plus, just like, NJ's original "power" football team was Princeton just like CT's was Yale and the downgrade of the Ivy League in football put the Northeast in playing catch-up to this day.

 

[junglehusky]

R.E. believed the football team should represent the entire state + every one in it., not just a university. I agree. Too many casual residents / fans have that perception. They don't think in terms of "were all in this together" They look at the UConn brand as a university they have no real connection with. State loyalty/ pride is not as strong in the northeast as most other parts of America.

That may be true about residents not identifying with the state university here as much as they do in the midwest / plains states. But let's be honest, that has nothing to do with whether the school is branded "Connecticut" or "UConn". It's a separate issue. I would guess residents here don't even identify with the state of Connecticut as a whole the way they do in other states.

 

[EastCoast2]

UB's rebranding effort was embarrassing at best. The SUNY system has many schools - two in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany, Stony Brook, etc. Any one of these schools claiming to be "New York's team" is laughable.

 

[upstater]

UB's rebranding effort was embarrassing at best. The SUNY system has many schools - two in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany, Stony Brook, etc. Any one of these schools claiming to be "New York's team" is laughable.

You're a good poster. But, why not read the thread? It refutes what you are saying. They never rebranded. They were UB before and want to stay UB. This doesn't threaten Syracuse but I always detect that Cuse fans are somehow threatened by SUNY. Not sure why. Syracuse is a private school in central New York. Whereas the SUNy schools are actually the public schools of the state. The 2 schools that you mention in Buffalo, Buffalo St. and UB, are in no way alike. Night and day. UB is actually an AAU school. This is a very big difference. And yeah, UB prides itself on being the jewel of the system.

 

[HuskyHawk]

That may be true about residents not identifying with the state university here as much as they do in the midwest / plains states. But let's be honest, that has nothing to do with whether the school is branded "Connecticut" or "UConn". It's a separate issue. I would guess residents here don't even identify with the state of Connecticut as a whole the way they do in other states.

I think this is true. As someone born in the midwest and mostly raised in CT, I always noticed this. I really think the role the state U plays in the northeast states is different. There are older, more prominent private schools in all of these states. Then the volume of private schools means that the flagship state U serves a smaller percentage of the population. So people just aren't as naturally attached to it. Look at poor UMass...it is behind Harvard, BC, BU, MIT, Tufts, Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Bentley, Babson. UConn is in better shape. But the State U is the best school, or near the top in many states.

 

[History Geek]

I think this is true. As someone born in the midwest and mostly raised in CT, I always noticed this. I really think the role the state U plays in the northeast states is different. There are older, more prominent private schools in all of these states. Then the volume of private schools means that the flagship state U serves a smaller percentage of the population. So people just aren't as naturally attached to it. Look at poor UMass...it is behind Harvard, BC, BU, MIT, Tufts, Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Bentley, Babson. UConn is in better shape. But the State U is the best school, or near the top in many states.

^^ this

 

[DarthGrumpy]

You're a good poster. But, why not read the thread? It refutes what you are saying. They never rebranded. They were UB before and want to stay UB. This doesn't threaten Syracuse but I always detect that Cuse fans are somehow threatened by SUNY. Not sure why. Syracuse is a private school in central New York. Whereas the SUNy schools are actually the public schools of the state. The 2 schools that you mention in Buffalo, Buffalo St. and UB, are in no way alike. Night and day. UB is actually an AAU school. This is a very big difference. And yeah, UB prides itself on being the jewel of the system.

Stony Brook is AAU, also, while Binghamton has always prided itself in being a very good and relatively cheap liberal arts type school (at least it had that rep 20 years ago when I looked at colleges). Albany has very well respected science and business programs (I know a lot of Albany grads on Wall St) Overall, the weakness with the SUNY network is that it is too dispersed and from a marketing viewpoint, its athletic programs were not taken serious until the last 20 years or so as even U Buffalo was DIII in football through the early '90's and then D-IAA until '99 and thus took a back seat to Cornell, Columbia, and Army early on and then Syracuse later. In retrospect, SUNY should have designated a 'primary' flagship in terms of academics and athletics a long time ago, likely Albany due to its central location in the capitol and plenty of land to build on.

I believe some of the confusion between SUNY and Syracuse is due to 1) Syracuse, which is private, often markets itself as New York State's university, and 2) many think that SUNY Upstate Medical School is part of Syracuse, which it isn't; but, is understandable as it shares some academic programs with private Syracuse U and is basically located on Syracuse's campus, which should be no surprise as Syracuse 'sold' the medical school to SUNY back in the '50's I believe.

 

[pepband99]

UB's rebranding effort was embarrassing at best. The SUNY system has many schools - two in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany, Stony Brook, etc. Any one of these schools claiming to be "New York's team" is laughable.

As opposed to a school almost in Canada doing it, with a not-so-clever turn of phrase?

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I think this is true. As someone born in the midwest and mostly raised in CT, I always noticed this. I really think the role the state U plays in the northeast states is different. There are older, more prominent private schools in all of these states. Then the volume of private schools means that the flagship state U serves a smaller percentage of the population. So people just aren't as naturally attached to it. Look at poor UMass...it is behind Harvard, BC, BU, MIT, Tufts, Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Bentley, Babson. UConn is in better shape. But the State U is the best school, or near the top in many states.

Very true and many of the elite Northeastern private universities, especially the Ivy and little Ivy schools, lost their religious roots over time whereas many of the private schools in the Midwest, South and West such as ND, Marquette, Creighton, SMU, Baylor, etc. did not. As the country diversified its religious views over time, state universities were seen as more open to different backgrounds (ignoring the race issue through the '60's) and drew on a larger population while often using sports, especially football, to be seen as 'the' college to go to for any given state. Just look at the map today, how many states outside of the Northeast have private, D1 FBS football programs - NC (Duke, Wake Forest), FL (U Miami), IN (ND), TN (Vanderbilt), LA (Tulane), TX (Baylor, Rice, SMU, Rice), OK (Tulsa), UT (BYU), CA (Stanford, USC). That's not a lot.

 

[NYUConn]

UB's rebranding effort was embarrassing at best. The SUNY system has many schools - two in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany, Stony Brook, etc. Any one of these schools claiming to be "New York's team" is laughable.

How were you guys successfully able to brand yourselves in away to set you apart from the rest of your colleagues in the SUNY system?

 

[upstater]

Stony Brook is AAU, also, while Binghamton has always prided itself in being a very good and relatively cheap liberal arts type school (at least it had that rep 20 years ago when I looked at colleges). Albany has very well respected science and business programs (I know a lot of Albany grads on Wall St) Overall, the weakness with the SUNY network is that it is too dispersed and from a marketing viewpoint, its athletic programs were not taken serious until the last 20 years or so as even U Buffalo was DIII in football through the early '90's and then D-IAA until '99 and thus took a back seat to Cornell, Columbia, and Army early on and then Syracuse later. In retrospect, SUNY should have designated a 'primary' flagship in terms of academics and athletics a long time ago, likely Albany due to its central location in the capitol and plenty of land to build on.

I believe some of the confusion between SUNY and Syracuse is due to 1) Syracuse, which is private, often markets itself as New York State's university, and 2) SUNY Upstate Medical School shares some academic programs with private Syracuse U and is basically located on Syracuse's campus, which should be no surprise as Syracuse 'sold' the medical school to SUNY back in the '50's I believe.

While Stony Brook is an AAU, it is half the size of Buffalo in terms of research. It's a failed effort for me to even go into the workings of SUNY and the standings of the schools, because it's obvious very many people here will not buy it (probably because of negative feelings toward the city of Buffalo). The fact is, Buffalo has the most highly ranked programs, most research, and even the downstate rep of Binghamton compared to Buffalo as a liberal arts school is highly questionable, given the rankings of actual Humanities and Science departments.

I'm not even getting into the sports thing, since these schools do not try to distinguish themselves there.

Soon, Buffalo will be the only AAU of the SUNY's, one of 4 AAU schools in the entire state.

The fact that Buffalo is in a far corner of the state away from New York City hasn't stopped it from growing the fastest, doing the most research, and essentially becoming the state's flagship.

 

[pj]

Soon, Buffalo will be the only AAU of the SUNY's, one of 4 AAU schools in the entire state.

So who's getting kicked out along with Stony Brook, NYU or U of Rochester?

 

[upstater]

So who's getting kicked out along with Stony Brook, NYU or U of Rochester?

Argh, wasn't counting Rochester. Funny, since I once worked there. Poor Rochester, always being forgotten.

So--5 of them.

 

[Pudge]

And ...

UConn still suffers the research moniker and AAU status because Yale is in the same state. Same deal. In the long run, UB will far exceed Syracuse. But Syracuse, like the many Privates in NY & NE still have a strong niche.

 

[huskypantz]

I think this is true. As someone born in the midwest and mostly raised in CT, I always noticed this. I really think the role the state U plays in the northeast states is different. There are older, more prominent private schools in all of these states. Then the volume of private schools means that the flagship state U serves a smaller percentage of the population. So people just aren't as naturally attached to it. Look at poor UMass...it is behind Harvard, BC, BU, MIT, Tufts, Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Bentley, Babson. UConn is in better shape. But the State U is the best school, or near the top in many states.

It's funny, I have had a few people up here in the Boston area ask me why I like/root for UConn so much - as an honest question. They don't question hardcore Sox or Pats fans, but they don't quite grasp why college sports could be so endearing to someone. Juxtapose that with the mindset of folks in the south or midwest. I was at a resort in Texas and half of the adults felt the need to wear their favorite college's gear 75% of the time. Few people wore pro sports gear of any kind.

 

[EastCoast2]

It's funny, I have had a few people up here in the Boston area ask me why I like/root for UConn so much - as an honest question. They don't question hardcore Sox or Pats fans, but they don't quite grasp why college sports could be so endearing to someone. Juxtapose that with the mindset of folks in the south or midwest. I was at a resort in Texas and half of the adults felt the need to wear their favorite college's gear 75% of the time. Few people wore pro sports gear of any kind.

See that also. Go around the Outer Banks or Hilton Head and see nothing but college shirts/sweatshirts. Boston is the definition of a "Pro Sports Town". They have 4 historically good pro franchises, and no good college football at the moment.

 

[EastCoast2]

You're a good poster. But, why not read the thread? It refutes what you are saying. They never rebranded. They were UB before and want to stay UB. This doesn't threaten Syracuse but I always detect that Cuse fans are somehow threatened by SUNY. Not sure why. Syracuse is a private school in central New York. Whereas the SUNy schools are actually the public schools of the state. The 2 schools that you mention in Buffalo, Buffalo St. and UB, are in no way alike. Night and day. UB is actually an AAU school. This is a very big difference. And yeah, UB prides itself on being the jewel of the system.

I guess I was moreso referring to this:

I think this shows a clear effort to brand your team as "New York". Someone, either the athletic department, public relations, or elsewhere, made an attempt to lay claim as New York's team, all research/AAU/academic growth aside.

 

[EastCoast2]

As opposed to a school almost in Canada doing it, with a not-so-clever turn of phrase?

What? Buffalo is closer to Canada than Syracuse, Albany,and Binghamton. Syracuse is right about smack dab in the middle of the state, at least geography wise, both East-West and North-South, there's a reason Onondaga County is referred to as Central New York.

 

[EastCoast2]

How were you guys successfully able to brand yourselves in away to set you apart from the rest of your colleagues in the SUNY system?

If this is a serious question, it's because SU (I'm not an alumnus) is a large private school with a huge athletic budget and exposure with 100x the opportunities to do so around the state, region, and country. Many people outside of the region don't know what Binghamton is, and even with the Bills many people can't place Buffalo on a map.