The Next Shocks

[Ha Who]

I know that Kentucky ranks lower than UConn in most undergraduate academic metrics, and I didn't claim otherwise. But kids in Kentucky and other states are still more likely to choose their state flagships and other nearby institutions over higher ranked out-of-state schools, including UConn. In addition, some students are attracted to a school because it excels in a particular discipline -- geology, for example, or environmental science, or physics, or aeronautical engineering, or architecture, or creative writing. In which areas of study is UConn so superior that it would attract students away from their home states?

If you think that UConn is better equipped to weather the coming demographic storm than those other schools because it might rank higher on USN&WR (and it doesn't when compared to many), then you'll have to come up with a more persuasive argument than your feeble ad hominem attacks on my understanding of the situation. I note with considerable interest that UConn's endowment and its research activity don't compare favorably with a lot of seemingly inferior institutions, even with those of UK.

Actuarial Science

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I know that Kentucky ranks lower than UConn in most undergraduate academic metrics, and I didn't claim otherwise. But kids in Kentucky and other states are still more likely to choose their state flagships and other nearby institutions over higher ranked out-of-state schools, including UConn. In addition, some students are attracted to a school because it excels in a particular discipline -- geology, for example, or environmental science, or physics, or aeronautical engineering, or architecture, or creative writing. In which areas of study is UConn so superior that it would attract students away from their home states?

If you think that UConn is better equipped to weather the coming demographic storm than those other schools because it might rank higher on USN&WR (and it doesn't when compared to many), then you'll have to come up with a more persuasive argument than your feeble ad hominem attacks on my understanding of the situation. I note with considerable interest that UConn's endowment and its research activity don't compare favorably with a lot of seemingly inferior institutions, even with those of UK.

Because why go to the home state school if another school is just better? It doesn't need to be 100% of the students making this choice. It needs to be maybe 20%, and the school will go into a doom loop. The overhead and infrastructure at many of these schools is so big that unwinding it becomes almost impossible.

 

[hank970]

Actuarial Science

Actuarial science makes sense, given the number of insurance companies headquartered in Connecticut. But is that it?

 

[dayooper]

Because why go to the home state school if another school is just better? It doesn't need to be 100% of the students making this choice. It needs to be maybe 20%, and the school will go into a doom loop. The overhead and infrastructure at many of these schools is so big that unwinding it becomes almost impossible.

Cost is a huge factor. Many public universities charge less tuition for instate students than out of state. I know Michigan universities do. I don’t know the instate tuition of Kentucky and the out of state tuition of UConn, but that could be a huge deciding factor.

 

[Rdkid]

Because why go to the home state school if another school is just better? It doesn't need to be 100% of the students making this choice. It needs to be maybe 20%, and the school will go into a doom loop. The overhead and infrastructure at many of these schools is so big that unwinding it becomes almost impossible.

Because of the basketball and football teams, or because mom and dad or some cousin went there. Is that not a huge part of why all this conference stuff is playing out this way? Bread and circus and branding and all that? Maybe they won’t be pumping out Rhodes scholars but they’ll gladly find room for Eastern Kentucky or Bowling Green’s best prospective students.

 

[Rufus]

I know that Kentucky ranks lower than UConn in most undergraduate academic metrics, and I didn't claim otherwise. But kids in Kentucky and other states are still more likely to choose their state flagships and other nearby institutions over higher ranked out-of-state schools, including UConn. In addition, some students are attracted to a school because it excels in a particular discipline -- geology, for example, or environmental science, or physics, or aeronautical engineering, or architecture, or creative writing. In which areas of study is UConn so superior that it would attract students away from their home states?

If you think that UConn is better equipped to weather the coming demographic storm than those other schools because it might rank higher on USN&WR (and it doesn't when compared to many), then you'll have to come up with a more persuasive argument than your feeble ad hominem attacks on my understanding of the situation. I note with considerable interest that UConn's endowment and its research activity don't compare favorably with a lot of seemingly inferior institutions, even with those of UK.

Kentucky will be fine. If anything, students in the past that could not get into Kentucky and went to Western Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, etc. will go to Kentucky in the future. It will be the non-flagships that suffer the most. They might have to make some budget cuts at some point, and maybe they decrease total student enrollment, but they will exist and they will be a basketball school. Just like UConn.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think some modest revenue sharing among a large number of programs is not out of the question. The Big 10 and SEC are smart enough to know that no one will care about a "championship" of just two leagues that have less than a total of 40 schools between them.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

6.A) Prestige Universities - One area that is worth addressing is that there are several schools who do not get as much out of affiliating with what is becoming a minor league as other schools do. While I am sure they like the checks, Northwestern and Vanderbilt derive very little value in terms of student interest from their athletic programs getting stomped by pro teams. They did not try to compete in the pre-NIL/Transfer Portal world, and they certainly are not going to bid up to bring in the caliber of free agents necessary to win against Michigan or Alabama. These schools can afford to compete, they just don't want to because that is not how they generate their real money, which is alumni donations.

I was surprised that Cal and Stanford did not take the lead on this, but we may need one or two of the other shocks to the system to happen first before the prestige universities break off to form their own league. I think Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Duke, Cal, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Stanford, Miami, Rice, Tulane, Boston College and maybe some wildcard like the University of Chicago could form a league of likeminded schools. It would still be possible to compete nationally in basketball out of a league like that, but those teams wouldn't have to take the poundings in football, and their alumni would LOVE it. Notre Dame would commit felonies to get its hoop programs and Olympic sports into that league. I think this league would probably turn away 20+ applicants. I am a little surprised it has not happened yet.

This is related to #6 above in that these schools spend millions on branding themselves as exclusive, premier educational institutions, and playing Mississippi State or even Florida State on Saturdays does not help with that branding at all.

https://mikefarrellsports.com/college/could-acc-teams-be-fired-and-form-an-academy-academic-alliance-conference