Quote:State Sens. Matt Murphy of Palatine and Michael Connelly of Lisle have introduced a proposal that would create a commission to look into making one of the existing state universities a Big Ten school.

A proposal to look into something that they have no control over? I'm not going to lose sleep on this one.

"The first step is to fund our entry into FBS football, and then we move from there", somebody, somewhere, trying to take advantage of this idiocy in the Illinois State Senate.

(03-24-2014 12:18 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Lol. Their rationale is that having another Illinois team in the Big Ten will keep Illinois high schoolers from going to college out-of-state.


http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20140...140329655/

If they want to keep Illinois High Schoolers from going out of state then all they have to do is hire a Chicagoan with ties to Illinois high school basketball to coach at the University of Illinois. That is the problem.

the problem is FB, hardly any body stays home to play for Illinois, what they get 4 of top 100 instate, n they were at bottom of list

(03-22-2014 09:12 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  If the Big Ten were being formed today, you wonder if Northwestern would still make the cut given the disadvantages private schools typically face in FBS - but even if it didn't, there's not another AAU public institution in the state of Illinois.

I would say so. I think they hold a similar value to the Big Ten that Stanford holds to the PAC 12 (remember Stanford has had many a dark year in terms of revenue sports).

Can I get the Arizona Legislature to demand NAU be added to the Pac-12?

My state representative made a similar appeal to get Memphis, UT-Martin, UT-Chattanooga, Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, and ETSU into the SEC. Still waiting to hear back from Mike Slive, but we are optimistic.

If someone in the Minnesota Legislature made an attempt to get Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State and UMD to get to the B1G, they'd be de-selected at their party convention.

(03-23-2014 09:32 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(03-23-2014 03:36 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(03-23-2014 12:25 PM)ken d Wrote:  I won't say that Maryland's move to the B1G had nothing to do with academics. But I will say that in no way will being in the B1G directly improve Maryland's academic performance, academic reputation or ability to secure research funding. Nor do I think the school's leaders expect it to.

It is related to academics in this sense, and this sense only: The UM chancellor recognized that staying in the ACC was to risk perpetuating a debilitating financial drain due to athletics, which would have required that he and other administrators would not be able to devote their energy to furthering the academic mission of the school.

That is 100% correct.

The question is, did they take the short term fix to the detriment of the long term, athletically speaking, since they are abandoning their regional rivalries, ties, and shifting away from traditional athletic strengths. In addition, the much trumpeted differences in revenue, over the long-term, are yet to be anything but best-case speculation.

The size of the difference is subject to a great deal of uncertainty, but there's no serious question that once the Big Ten has negotiated its next TV deal, the per school conference distribution will be substantially greater from the Big Ten than the ACC.

"substantially" Uh huh... I'm quite sure that's what future press releases will attempt to trumpet because that's what PR always does.

Speculation, nothing more at this point.

(03-24-2014 01:37 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(03-22-2014 09:12 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  If the Big Ten were being formed today, you wonder if Northwestern would still make the cut given the disadvantages private schools typically face in FBS - but even if it didn't, there's not another AAU public institution in the state of Illinois.

I would say so. I think they hold a similar value to the Big Ten that Stanford holds to the PAC 12 (remember Stanford has had many a dark year in terms of revenue sports).

Northwestern would never be selected by the Big Ten today. Overlapping market with Illinois, comparatively small fan base. It would be like selecting Cincy with Ohio State. There is a wide gulf between Stanford's and Northwestern's athletic departments, even prior to Stanford's latest run in football. Academics bring almost no value on their own to athletic conferences. They are tie breakers and talking points.

(03-24-2014 02:37 PM)Rube Dali Wrote:  If someone in the Minnesota Legislature made an attempt to get Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State and UMD to get to the B1G, they'd be de-selected at their party convention.

Wait, there's another UMD?

(03-24-2014 03:26 PM)Hitch Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 02:37 PM)Rube Dali Wrote:  If someone in the Minnesota Legislature made an attempt to get Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State and UMD to get to the B1G, they'd be de-selected at their party convention.

Wait, there's another UMD?

But not UMd ... U MN-Duluth.

I still wonder whether anybody will be able to leverage these fantasy games into the state funding an upgrade to FBS with the Big Ten "to be done later" ... every time someone suggests another Illinois school in the MAC fantasy realignment league, "the state won't fund an upgrade intp FBS" seems to be a constant reply.

(03-24-2014 10:22 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 08:45 AM)vandiver49 Wrote:  I think what we are really talking about here though is the portability of a schools reputation. For example, with a degree from Cal Tech or MIT, you can go anywhere is the nation and the people (and employers) will conjure up an idea of what it took to graduate from such a place. What a B1G membership affords is an association with schools that are perceived to have high academics standards. A degree from a B1G has far greater academic brand recognition across the country than a degree an SEC school would. It's not fair, but in an era with dwindling employment options, such portability can open doors that might not be available to a NIU grad.

The bolded part hits the nail on the head.

The bolded part is true. The part about the name "Big Ten" conjuring up anything but football outside of some obsessed midwestern sports fans is not. How stupid: no one gets a degree from an ATHLETIC CONFERENCE.

Vanderbilt's degree is not impacted one iota by playing in the SEC. Nebraska does not get any academic reputation bump from sharing an athletic conference with Michigan. None-> US News Best Colleges 2009 ranking for UNL: #89 (UNL accepts B10 invite in 2010) US News Best Colleges 2014 ranking for UNL: #101.

(03-22-2014 09:12 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  If the Big Ten were being formed today, you wonder if Northwestern would still make the cut given the disadvantages private schools typically face in FBS ...

It wouldn't. But go back to when the "Western Conference" was formed, when interstate travel was by train and you could get to Chicago from almost anywhere in the Midwest & Great Lakes, and when none of the "big" state universities were anything like their current size, and it was a natural inclusion.

A strong example of how saying no to a wedding is a lot easier than pushing through a divorce.

having a private university in the conference allows the conference to keep some conference business undisclosed from FOI request so every conference will keep at least one private school if at all possible

(03-24-2014 04:31 PM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  having a private university in the conference allows the conference to keep some conference business undisclosed from FOI request so every conference will keep at least one private school if at all possible

Conferences themselves are private entities.

(03-24-2014 04:35 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(03-24-2014 04:31 PM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  having a private university in the conference allows the conference to keep some conference business undisclosed from FOI request so every conference will keep at least one private school if at all possible

Conferences themselves are private entities.

but if the members themselves are public universities then they (the universities) are not and thus an FOI can be made through them and it is much more difficult to deny that FOI based on "doing business with the conference and the conference is private" VS stating this can't be released because it involves other parties that are private (as in private school members)

it is like a business (janitorial supply as an example) that does business with the state saying that contract can't be disclosed because it gives away our cost and business numbers......well that is part of doing business with the state and why the state does contracts for services usually in a bid process anyway.....the conference would be no different than any other business

where as with a private member you can't be forced to disclose things that might make their business public

(03-22-2014 10:52 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(03-22-2014 06:08 PM)Waterloo Wrote:  What Illinois needs its own Miami University - a great public, destination university. It doesn't need or really deserve another B1G Ten athletic program.

Yes, this is exactly what the state should be aiming for. If there was another public university on the level of Miami in Illinois, then that would do wonders to alleviate the pressure. Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Iowa actually all have a better diversity of public university options to cover a larger range of students than higher population Illinois. Virginia is even better - basically every type of student ranging from the elite (UVA and William & Mary) on down has an on-point in-state university choice there.

Amen to both of your comments, thanks for your praise of Mother Miami.

I believe Chicago-area students at Miami make up roughly a quarter of out-of-state students, not counting the international student population. Plenty of people I knew from there were suburbanites who were drawn to the college town atmosphere at a town in the middle of Ohio farmland, and that's one of the reasons Miami has stayed in the upper-tier (academically) as OSU has risen up considerably over the past few decades. Something about a small town can set a college apart.

OSU was essentially open admission in the past, but it was only a matter of time before they got on par with Miami academically. The big city, major sports teams, and influence in the capitol guaranteed that they would get all the $$$ they wanted for research programs and such so that they'd be competitive with the rest of the Big Ten. Miami's undergrad is still better in my biased opinion (was ranked second in the nation in commitment to undergrad education), but there's no way we'll ever match the overall clout from Columbus. And maybe it should be that way, although it's too bad for schools like Cincinnati, who realistically will never match OSU's resources without being able to offer a significantly different college experience (with the exception of some academic programs, like UC's architecture).

Why this was never brought up before is because of Maryland. Their whole argument against the ACC is based on competing demographics. No surprise that Illinois is leading this fight. Please see Delany Big Ten strategy 101. Four corners.

(03-22-2014 02:12 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  There is a large number of Chicago area kids with great scores and parents who can afford high tuition dollars. These kids come from B10 families and specifically want to go to B10 schools. So if they don't get into UIL, they don't settle for UIC, NIU or SIU. Instead they apply to Iowa, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana etc

His logic then is that if we want to keep these high score students (and their parents tuition dollars) in Illinois then they need another B1G option in Illinois. Those of us who understand realignment know how incredibly unlikely that is.

They're welcome to apply to Maryland and spend their summers interning in Washington.