Rumors from our favorite rumor mongers getting interesting

[Revrat]

Since everyone is so against these posts I am not going to quote them so you will just have to twitter for yourself. The other day one was posted that said a certain Northern school was a surprise candidate for the B1G. This morning he tweets that the B1G is ready to jump and the next team is North of the Mason Dixon Line. I think that pretty much leaves Cincy, UConn, BC and Syracuse or Pitt as the only real possibilities. Im not going to debate the merits of any of these as choices only to say that our recent push on Academics and Research and recent news of huge money coming into those areas may be helping. These are just rumors so they of course are meaningless and most likely completely inaccurate. I also wouldnt be surprised to see Syracuse jump into the mix. I just hope if it's anyone it isnt BC.

 

[djct1999]

if i were the big 10, why not take syracuse, uconn, bc, and uva. i know that temporarily dilutes their football product but think long term, the markets it locks up and the rivalries it maintains. by locking up the north/midwest and northeast, the big 10 can sit back and watch the remaining conferences fight it out.

 

[Hoophound]

I think only large public U's end up in B1G expansion. The ACC keeps taking private schools and it continually fails them. Every private school they take falls to pieces. The Big 10 seems to think things through better. The future doesn't lie with private schools at any level, sport or education.

 

[UConnRock]

Let's look at the list of schools:

Cinch and Pitt are non-starters as they will be in direct competition with existing B1G schools in their respective states and do not add B1G network subscribers.

Syracuse voluntarily left the AAU before they got kicked out. Nebraska's loss of AAU status did not sit well with the B1G presidents who voted them in. A positive for Syracuse is that the are in a large population state and if the B1G network cand charge more in states with members it could mean a huge windfall for the B1G.

BC is purely a Boston, hockey and ND play. They are as far from from the B1G model schools as you can get. BC is private, religious, non-research, no AAU. B1G is public, research, AAU. ACC thought they were getting a media plus with the Boston market and look what they ended up with. In short, is the carrot for ND, and hockey enough for BC.

UConn - nice fit for BIG footprint. Shores up the northern flank of the NYC market. Making noteworthy strides toward AAU, with state backing. Negatives are small population for increased B1G network fees, and not AAU yet.

In short, none of the schools are a perfect fit like Maryland or Rutgers. After eliminating Pitt and Cincy due to geography, the remaining schools all have positives and negatives.

Worse thing to happen if the B1G goes north would be UConn replacing BC or Syracuse in the ACC. Let's hope the B1G decides to go north are it makes things much clearer.

 

[auggie22]

Nope, not worse case. Worse case is bc and cuse going to the b1g, and vile and Pitt going to the big twelve. Now we are in Siberia, and I probably watch more pro sports.

 

[Stinger92860]

What the tweeter who shall not be named wrote was it was a rumor and its north of the mason Dixon line. Anyone of us could write that.

 

[upstater]

Nebraska's loss of AAU status did not sit well with the B1G presidents who voted them in.

Let's not forget that it was B1G Presidents who were instrumental in rigging Nebraska's ouster from the AAU. Michigan and Wisky organized it, and this started long before Nebraska became a candidate for the B1G.

 

[Doggie Style]

Let's not forget that it was B1G Presidents who were instrumental in rigging Nebraska's ouster from the AAU. Michigan and Wisky organized it, and this started long before Nebraska became a candidate for the B1G.

Why was that? Anyone know?

 

[caw]

If it were UVA/BC, a replacement of Cincy/UConn wouldn't be horrible. Football would probably improve, or be net neutral and basketball would improve dramatically. Tech would still keep the ACC in VA and UConn brings more audience than BC. The issue comes if other schools use that as an excuse to leave.

 

[uconndogs]

UVA would be a huge loss for the ACC and could be the move that sets the whole thing rolling. Has little if anything to do with their play on the field or hardwood.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

What the tweeter who shall not be named wrote was it was a rumor and its north of the mason Dixon line. Anyone of us could write that.

What do you mean could? Several of us have.

 

[Alum86]

http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads...ongers-getting-interesting.32908/#post-489015

Agree. But will VA legislature not fight breaking UVa and VA Tech up?
Likewise NC and NC state and their politicians. My guess if UVa goes from the ACC there will be some angry Hokies. Unless they go B12 ?
I am confusing myself. End of Post

 

[RegisteredUconn]

http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads...ongers-getting-interesting.32908/#post-489015

Agree. But will VA legislature not fight breaking UVa and VA Tech up?
Likewise NC and NC state and their politicians. My guess if UVa goes from the ACC there will be some angry Hokies. Unless they go B12 ?
I am confusing myself. End of Post

If UVA goes B1G, VaTech goes to the SEC or else Slive cedes Virginia and I doubt that happens.

 

[Exit 4]

It sure is depressing reading the WV scout chat board and other sites about CR where UCONN is routinely described as below Cincy's worthiness.

I have a lot of thoughts....but for now, I'm going to emphasize the positives. In general, I think the rest of the world is too focus on the football product itself and not the complete A to Z picture.

1) We help provide critic mass to shore up NYC and all coastal northeastern tv markets. NYC and even NJ, eastern PA and MD cable tv interest could be underwhelming if Rut and MD get off to a slow start in the B1G. Adding us provides more local juice when the programs are down.
2) We offer the best cultural cohension and geographic cohension which is important for all sports (particularly all the sports not football and BB) and academics (and research).
3) We offer proximity which helps shore up fan interest even in down years for the conf. Long distance rivalies are rare and disintgrate in down years for programs.
4) We occupy a region with a substantive B1G alumni base.
5) We are the largest and most dominate state supported university north of Rutgers and Penn St.
6) The state is committed to academic excellence and ambitious expansion ---see 1.5B STEM proposal
7) We have a plan to get to AAU status.
8) We are committed to sports, all sports - see basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey etc. (Can Rutgers say that?).
9) We are developing a hockey program.

Other pros
10) We have no exit fee, we are ready to join
11) Alumni would not be split, easy decision (not the case for schools south of UVA)

 

[Exit 4]

UVA would be a huge loss for the ACC and could be the move that sets the whole thing rolling. Has little if anything to do with their play on the field or hardwood.

We'll see. What if the SEC phone call never rings for UNC and Duke? I think the ACC survives the loss of UVA, particularly if the SEC never calls and UNC and GT so no to B1G.

Can't wait for this mess to be over.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

If it were UVA/BC, a replacement of Cincy/UConn wouldn't be horrible. Football would probably improve, or be net neutral and basketball would improve dramatically. Tech would still keep the ACC in VA and UConn brings more audience than BC. The issue comes if other schools use that as an excuse to leave.

Tech will keep the ACC in Virginia until the SEC removes them. Unless the Slive see some larger truth that I can't fathom, the SEC's best, most formidable footprint is from the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi River (and a little bit beyond. There are only two states that are preventing that vision: North Carolina and Virginia. One ACC school from Virginia is heading to the SEC and one of the North Carolina ACC schools (not named Duke or Wake Forest) is also headed there.

Everybody thinks UNC is in the catbird seat with this realignment business but, if they're not careful, the best they'll they'll be is "Lucky Pierre."

 

[upstater]

Why was that? Anyone know?

Because they were far below in research grants. The AAU was looking at a national trend of fewer research dollars. So they culled the heard. Wisky and Michigan headed the membership committee, and when it was clear 3 years ago that they didn't have enough votes to oust Nebraska, they tabled the vote until the same committee was reconstituted with new members more amenable to carving the shiv UMich. was preparing for Nebraska's back.

 

[ZooCougar]

The next member of the B1G is in the Western Hemisphere.

Feel free to quote me.

 

[Fishy]

Because they were far below in research grants. The AAU was looking at a national trend of fewer research dollars. So they culled the heard. Wisky and Michigan headed the membership committee, and when it was clear 3 years ago that they didn't have enough votes to oust Nebraska, they tabled the vote until the same committee was reconstituted with new members more amenable to carving the shiv UMich. was preparing for Nebraska's back.

Given that, and given that there was a decade between Texas A&M/Stony Brook invites and the relatively recent Georgia Tech/Boston U. invites, is it even realistic to think that UConn might be invited in the next decade? A lot of our plans are announced, but not yet in action.

How strong is our case?

 

[pj]

Why was that? Anyone know?

Because the university presidents don't see AAU status and athletic affiliation as tied. They're happy to have a conference mate that's not in the AAU. The AAU thing is just a diplomatic way for Jim Delany to say to smaller private schools "we're not interested in you" and to the public schools "the bigger you are, the more we like you."

 

[upstater]

Given that, and given that there was a decade between Texas A&M/Stony Brook invites and the relatively recent Georgia Tech/Boston U. invites, is it even realistic to think that UConn might be invited in the next decade? A lot of our plans are announced, but not yet in action.

How strong is our case?

UConn is far from the level of grants that will get them noticed. They need to hit big on the new investments and hires. On the other hand, those new professors can land those grants fairly quickly (i.e. those hired for next year can land grants the following year). The problem is that research money is dwindling. Someone should call BU and ask how they did it while everyone else was going backward. I know a couple institutions including my own that are pushing for 40% increases, which makes me imagine that every single school out there is doing the same.

Many faculty around the country would probably think that being in the northeast is attractive, even at Storrs, so UConn has a natural drawing card. My sense of UConn among faculty I know is that it is a place people would like to be, the same way that Temple for instance attracts lots of good faculty simply because it's in Philly. Faculty in the northeast like to travel to urban centers often, so places like Storrs, Amherst, Albany, Buffalo (i.e. near Toronto) are quite attractive.

I've been in meetings in which AAU membership was discussed and 99% of the meeting was geared to looking at the benchmarks in terms of research dollars. That's basically it. Because the AAU is a lobbying entity, and there's really nothing they can do for you other than the fact that you're a member of an elite group. That in itself might tip some research grants into the hands of faculty.

If you're talking about Malloy's new plans, I don't think those are going to matter as much. The hopes for UConn and the AAU come from Herbst's hiring plans and the rise in tuition that will pay for them. U. Albany, for instance, laid out a couple billion, and created public private partnerships that have returned an investment of $14 billion to the area (chip fabrication, nanotech, bioinformatics, etc.). But private industry generated by such investments (which is what Malloy is really thinking about) do not count toward the AAU. U. Albany generated $14 billion in research investment. It's not in the AAU.

 

[pj]

UConn is far from the level of grants that will get them noticed. They need to hit big on the new investments and hires. On the other hand, those new professors can land those grants fairly quickly (i.e. those hired for next year can land grants the following year).

Most of these professor-hires already have grants and will bring their grants with them to UConn. Hiring faculty at the peak of their careers who already have grants is the quick way to increase the grant $/faculty ratio. This will make UConn look exceptionally good statistically on AAU standards. Meanwhile schools losing their peak-career faculty and retaining aging tenured faculty who have lost grants will look relatively worse.

Of course, hiring people at the peak of their careers means that in 10-25 years you have a lot of aging faculty on the downslope of their careers. Hopefully we are in the B1G before then.

 

[Waquoit]

Can't wait for this mess to be over.

It is over, for us.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

It is over, for us.

I'm convinced as well. All that's left is to sit back, pop open a brewski, light up a stogie, and wait for the FedEx truck with the invite.

 

[RS9999X]

U. Albany, for instance, laid out a couple billion, and created public private partnerships that have returned an investment of $14 billion to the area (chip fabrication, nanotech, bioinformatics, etc.). But private industry generated by such investments (which is what Malloy is really thinking about) do not count toward the AAU. U. Albany generated $14 billion in research investment. It's not in the AAU.

Surely Malloy's Willard's $250 Million Mutant Mice Project in Farmington will appeal to the AAU. Jackson labs doesn't need to stop with designer mice. Designer Fidos will be all the rage soon.

http://mousemutant.jax.org/index.html