Tulane is...good???

[Fishy]

Neither does Julliard....but they, like Tulane, don't field a football team.

But if the Juilliard wanted to play football, well, Rose Bowl inside of ten years.

 

[BlueHen]

I watched the game last night. Nothing to get excited about, but if Tulane is going to be in the same conference as UConn next year I guess that it's good that they win.

 

[billybud]

Heck...I now see that Maryland is favored by 6-5 over UConn....

 

[UConnDan97]

One of the things that shocked me about Tulane last night (besides the fact that I was watching) was the fact that they have a ridiculously good record in their own state against teams not named "LSU" (they are something like 54-7 against the rest: ULL, ULM, La Tech). Of course against LSU, they are something like 25-65. Still, they can safely claim the title of "second best team in Louisiana" for whatever that's worth...

(I know. That and $1.50 will get you a large coffee...)

 

[noeynox]

One of the things that shocked me about Tulane last night (besides the fact that I was watching) was the fact that they have a ridiculously good record in their own state against teams not named "LSU" (they are something like 54-7 against the rest: ULL, ULM, La Tech). Of course against LSU, they are something like 25-65. Still, they can safely claim the title of "second best team in Louisiana" for whatever that's worth...

(I know. That and $1.50 will get you a large coffee...)

Love ya man, but that's really reaching there.

 

[UConnDan97]

Love ya man, but that's really reaching there.

Oh, it's not a reach. They are the second best team in Louisiana. Kinda like Central Connecticut is the second best team in Connecticut...

 

[ZooCougar]

Memphis is a skank. We should not be in the same conference with that "school".

 

[whaler11]

Oh, it's not a reach. They are the second best team in Louisiana. Kinda like Central Connecticut is the second best team in Connecticut...

Eh historically they have been. The other three have had more life lately, Tech seems to have a Holtz dumpster fire on their hands.

 

[Fishy]

Of course, Tulane was in the SEC up until 1966 and was on the short list to be invited back when the SEC expanded to invite South Carolina.

When Tulane left, there was some support in the SEC for inviting Florida State and Memphis. (Florida State has been left at the alter so many times by the SEC...makes our dalliances with the ACC look mild.)

 

[metsfan2323]

Tulane is building a new on campus stadium, they have history, they have money, its a great school, and they will be getting a lot of play on ESPN like everyone else in the AAC. They are quite capable of rebuilding their football program, and it can be done quickly. If Boise State can be a national football power so can Tulane, so can Memphis and so can UCONN.

 

[billybud]

So can USF, UCF, FIU, Houston, and on and on...easier said then done.

Boise, like FSU in the late 70s through the 80's, won a lot of games, upset big names, and fired the public imagination.

Whether you grab a spotted horse and stick a guy with a flaming spear on it or install an eyeball burning blue field....it does not hurt to have an immediately recognizable brand symbol.

 

[TRest]

Tulane is building a new on campus stadium, they have history, they have money, its a great school, and they will be getting a lot of play on ESPN like everyone else in the AAC. They are quite capable of rebuilding their football program, and it can be done quickly. If Boise State can be a national football power so can Tulane, so can Memphis and so can UCONN.

Boise can get all the academic casualties from Cali that Pac12 schools can't allow. There are no academic casualties in the south that can't find a way into an SEC school.

 

[Adios]

So can USF, UCF, FIU, Houston, and on and on...easier said then done.

Boise, like FSU in the late 70s through the 80's, won a lot of games, upset big names, and fired the public imagination.

Whether you grab a spotted horse and stick a guy with a flaming spear on it or install an eyeball burning blue field....it does not hurt to have an immediately recognizable brand symbol.

You know very well that a lot of it comes down to coaches and resources. Oklahoma State have become pros at enticing recruits.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

So can USF, UCF, FIU, Houston, and on and on...easier said then done.

Boise, like FSU in the late 70s through the 80's, won a lot of games, upset big names, and fired the public imagination.

Whether you grab a spotted horse and stick a guy with a flaming spear on it or install an eyeball burning blue field....it does not hurt to have an immediately recognizable brand symbol.

To compare the above commuter schools or even your school to a school with the history and academic success of Tulane is a joke.
Even Fla State is a destination for kids that can't get into U of F.

The real question is what does Tulane want.
I think they can easliy be a Vandy if they choose to be.

 

[billybud]

Yeah...Tulane is a sleeping giant with the potential of a Brown or Cornell.

If they put their mind to it, they would be a dominant force in college football (maybe Division II).

 

[Husky68]

Yeah...Tulane is a sleeping giant with the potential of a Brown or Cornell.

If they put their mind to it, they would be a dominant force in college football (maybe Division II).

As opposed to hoping to someday be a Towson?

TCU endowment $1.2b; undergrads 8k
Baylor endowment $1.0b; undergrads 12.6k
Tulane endowment $1.0b; undergrads 8.3k

UConn endowment $.3b; undergrads 17.8k main campus

Not sure seeing all the Tulane can't stuff. Maybe they can't/won't but TCU got it done, Baylor maybe not as good an example.

TCU not rated top 25 from 1960 to 1999. Hire Franchione in 1998 and then current coach in 2000 and have 9 top 25 finishes since then. Seems like it can be done.

Tulane coach is Curtis Johnson, local kid made good, NFL and college coaching experience, solid Ollie type guy (from what I read, who really know). If he recruits locally (get Munchie type local player rather than going to Cincinnati) who says can't have solid team.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Tulane can become something solid. It is in fact quite sad that they let a once very quality football program sink as far as it did. Not long ago (the year Skip brought us to the 1-AA playoffs) Tulane had an undefeated season and finished something like #8 in the final poll.

Their biggest obstacle (and this is permanent) is that once they left the SEC, they gave the entire state (as a fan base) to LSU. It took quite a few years (until the early 1980's) but their fan base steadily deteriorated while LSU's grew. At best they may be able to hope for a Boise St situation where they have a stadium that consistently has ~ 32k-34k dedicated fans.

 

[billybud]

Tulane will never be more than a mid tier team...they can shoot for that.

In the last 43 years since 1970, Tulane is 7-77-0 (won 8%) of their games with teams who were year end ranked AP or Coaches Polls.

 

[Vowelguy]

Tulane is the poor man's version of Duke football and the poor man's version of Vanderbilt in everything else.

 

[junglehusky]

We like to think we belonged with Pitt and Syracuse and West Virginia. (and Syracuse thought they belonged with Ohio State, Penn State and North Carolina) This attitude is pervasive on this Boneyard. And, I believe it has made this board suck. Maybe I'm poking a hole in your happy happy exceptionalism (like VPutin) ... but, we might be playing this level for a decade. Let's just collapse this board right now; because, there is no good way forward if you can't get optimistic approaching the second game. I am saying that Memphis and Tulane are moving forward with a positive underdog chip on their shoulder. We better change to something better fast.

We belong with Pitt and Cuse and even WVU, or any existing ACC school, a heck of a lot more than we belong with SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, ECU, Memphis. For one thing, there's geography. Texas, Memphis, Louisiana are farther west than any of the dozens of east coast schools, in addition to the North-South divide.

For another, there's the fact that the students are different profiles (in part due to geography). SMU and Tulane may be fine institutions but you're not going to get much overlap between UConn and those schools as far as students who are considering applying to both schools, or who know friends at those schools. UConn students have siblings or cousins or friends who go to BC, UVA, Cuse, Rutgers, Penn State. You won't find many who know people at SMU, whose mission and undergrad profile are very different and unique to Texas. We will not develop much of a connection with those schools even if an on-field rivalry were to develop.

Thirdly the research profile of UConn has much more in common with any of the ACC schools, even the private ones (Duke) than they do to any of the AAC schools except for Tulane and Temple and the directional Floridas. But ask a research scientist to compare a list of the AAC schools vs. ACC or BigTen, ask them if they were advising a UConn undergrad, where they would advise them to to to grad school. See which list wins out.

The AAC schools are our conference mates, but they are not our peer institutions. Am I looking down my nose at them? Fine, if that's what you want to call it. I'd rather associate with the likes of UVA, UNC, Wisconsin or Michigan if I have the chance, and don't ask me to pretend that's not my opinion.

 

[SouthronCross]

Tulane can become something solid. It is in fact quite sad that they let a once very quality football program sink as far as it did. Not long ago (the year Skip brought us to the 1-AA playoffs) Tulane had an undefeated season and finished something like #8 in the final poll.

Their biggest obstacle (and this is permanent) is that once they left the SEC, they gave the entire state (as a fan base) to LSU. It took quite a few years (until the early 1980's) but their fan base steadily deteriorated while LSU's grew. At best they may be able to hope for a Boise St situation where they have a stadium that consistently has ~ 32k-34k dedicated fans.

Great post.

Tulane completely screwed themselves when they left the SEC in 1965. And, they've never recovered from it.

They could conceiveably become another version of Boise State. Especially with their location, relative to good recruiting grounds. But, they'd have to sacrafice their academic standards in a major way to even be competitive now. I cannot see them going to that extreme. Vanderbilt has done that, to a degree, but, I do not see it working for them, long term.

 

[whaler11]

Just wanted to touch base on the original question... Nope.

 

[Fishy]

In fairness to Pudge, he only said Tulane is "sort of good".

Which they're not.

 

[UConnDan97]

In fairness to Pudge, he only said Tulane is "sort of good".

Which they're not.

It was me. I want to make sure that Pudge's good name will not be smeared by ties to a thread that suggested Tulane might be "sort of good". I now realize they're "sort of not"...

 

[UConnDan97]

This reminds me; there was a Tulane fan in my row during the Michigan game (yes....a Tulane fan....so approximately 20% of their fanbase was in my row). He was a friendly, talkative, and unapologetic Tulane fan (Tulane sweater and all). It was fun chatting with him. He's quite happy that Montana's kid is their starting quarterback now. I didn't have the heart to tell him that his team got destroyed by Cuse last night, mostly because he was rooting for his fellow AAC school. God bless that man....he's gonna need it...

 

[whaler11]

This reminds me; there was a Tulane fan in my row during the Michigan game (yes....a Tulane fan....so approximately 20% of their fanbase was in my row). He was a friendly, talkative, and unapologetic Tulane fan (Tulane sweater and all). It was fun chatting with him. He's quite happy that Montana's kid is their starting quarterback now. I didn't have the heart to tell him that his team got destroyed by Cuse last night, mostly because he was rooting for his fellow AAC school. God bless that man....he's gonna need it...

You sure it's not Mitch McDeere?

Tulane is lucky they missed the Louisville/Rutgers AAC year. Their schedule is ridiculously hilarious. They might actually win 5 games... Because someone has to win.

The only school they play that doesn't have a direction or city in the name is Rice.

 

[Pudge]

I simply don't see the upside in pissing all over theses schools in this conference.

Does it make You feel good? Of course not ... it's depressing. Aresco did say the other night that the American Athletic Conference could be better than the old Big East. Haha. I think we overrated some of the names ... Pitt & Syracuse ... through most of our existence in the BE. I think the ACC valued them on some poor metrics on TV and market. But, I don't believe that Tulane or East Carolina are going to make this conference better than the 2003/2004 Big East Football we entered.

There is, however, the potential that Memphis or others could be good; one good coach can make a Program. We did see Cincinnati, UConn, Rutgers get much better over the decade (and USF too). I think UCF can be really good. But ... over the whole list ... we are not going to be comparable.

 

[billybud]

The problem with the ACC expansion was that there were only so many teams available that sort of fit the ACC footprint....

Syracuse was most likely brought in; 1. Because Shalala had wanted Cuse in the ACC from Miami's first discussions with the ACC in 2001, and 2. Because Notre Dame had some history with Cuse and a large New York fan base.

Pitt is a long time staple on the Notre Dame schedule and had the support of the basketball guys in the ACC.

I believe that the ACC was committed to bringing in two teams that would make Notre Dame comfortable with playing football in the conference.

 

[whaler11]

I simply don't see the upside in pissing all over theses schools in this conference.

Does it make You feel good? Of course not ... it's depressing. Aresco did say the other night that the American Athletic Conference could be better than the old Big East. Haha. I think we overrated some of the names ... Pitt & Syracuse ... through most of our existence in the BE. I think the ACC valued them on some poor metrics on TV and market. But, I don't believe that Tulane or East Carolina are going to make this conference better than the 2003/2004 Big East Football we entered.

There is, however, the potential that Memphis or others could be good; one good coach can make a Program. We did see Cincinnati, UConn, Rutgers get much better over the decade (and USF too). I think UCF can be really good. But ... over the whole list ... we are not going to be comparable.

Please - mine and anyone else's opinion of Tulane doesn't matter.

It was a ridiculously stupid addition to the league.

Memphis and Tulane will never sustain success in football. Fuente's clock is probably already running.

There is a pretty big difference between the Big East and the AAC. One of them had an autobid to the BCS. This is nothing like Cincinnati and Louisville joining the Big East. This is a bunch of CUSA schools joining CUSA with a better logo.

 

[UConnDan97]

I simply don't see the upside in pissing all over theses schools in this conference.

Does it make You feel good? Of course not ... it's depressing. Aresco did say the other night that the American Athletic Conference could be better than the old Big East. Haha. I think we overrated some of the names ... Pitt & Syracuse ... through most of our existence in the BE. I think the ACC valued them on some poor metrics on TV and market. But, I don't believe that Tulane or East Carolina are going to make this conference better than the 2003/2004 Big East Football we entered.

There is, however, the potential that Memphis or others could be good; one good coach can make a Program. We did see Cincinnati, UConn, Rutgers get much better over the decade (and USF too). I think UCF can be really good. But ... over the whole list ... we are not going to be comparable.

If I came off as making fun of them, that was not my intent. Do they have potential? Yes, from the standpoint that they have a large endowment and if they were to want to invest in football, they could. I was commenting more on what they are now, which I thought maybe was better than I had originally assessed them as. At this point, I think they are only slightly better than what I had originally assessed them as, which is not very good...