In conference realignment, academics — not athletics — are king

[meangreen11]

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

[rcade]

I live in SEC country. The next time someone talks to me about the academic prestige associated with SEC membership will be the first time.

Edited August 7, 2021 by rcade

[UNTLifer]

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.

 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

[GrandGreen]

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.   

[NorthTexasWeLove]

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. 

[Rudy]

[outoftown]

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 August 9, 2021 by outoftown

[wardly]

I agree that UNT has moved up the food chain regarding academics. However it doesn't mean a hill of beans when it comes to athletics for our program.

[drex]

Let's talk for a bit about the academic prowess of Miss. State, as an example.  The SEC is a pro franchise for college athletics, nothing more.

[Graddean]

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.

[97and03]

Academics do matter to some conferences. I think the B1G and PAC are the leaders of that category. Also remember that it is university presidents that make conference decisions, not ADs. 

[El Paso Eagle]

This is why KU and ISU will probably end up OK. AAU member universities

[wardly]

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

[UNTLifer]

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.

[Salsa_Verde]

40 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

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

So much cash that KU football doesn’t even have to practice it’s completely optional. Or so I’ve heard.