[GoZips]

I am redfaced. Now the Aggies are denying they sent any letter to the Big 12.

They did just to make the NY Times look bad. You know how those Texans operate!

I think you're on to something!

I frequent an online football chat room operated by SEC fans.

The buzz there for the past couple of weeks is that it is a done deal
that Texas A&M is leaving the Big (sic) 12 for the SEC.

A couple of room regulars are fans of teams still in the Big 10/12 remnants.
They are fearful that the whole conference will collapse. A couple of wags
have been suggesting to one popular Kansas State lady fan that K-State bail
for the Mid-American.

The chat room is on PalTalk in the adult section and is titled "Talking
College Football". Its free to join. Warning: you need a thick skin to survive
the many lame barbs cast at any non-SEC school fan. Akron has some creds
as I have been there since before we upset North Carolina State and Syracuse.

I get teased a lot about soccer. But, they do respect our National Championship.

[ZachTheZip]

A&M made it official on their athletic website. Now the SEC takes one or three more, and the lines of dominos begin to fall once again.

I hope Dr Proenza is on the phone with FBS presidents all across the Eastern US. Get us into a conference with like-minded schools both academically and athletically.

[jupitertoo]

A&M made it official on their athletic website. Now the SEC takes one or three more, and the lines of dominos begin to fall once again.

I hope Dr Proenza is on the phone with FBS presidents all across the Eastern US. Get us into a conference with like-minded schools both academically and athletically.

Interested in knowing who in the Mac, perhaps with the exceptions of emu and ball state, are not like minded athletically with Akron. And most in the Mac are ranked above Akron academically, correct?

[ZachTheZip]

A&M made it official on their athletic website. Now the SEC takes one or three more, and the lines of dominos begin to fall once again.

I hope Dr Proenza is on the phone with FBS presidents all across the Eastern US. Get us into a conference with like-minded schools both academically and athletically.

Interested in knowing who in the Mac, perhaps with the exceptions of emu and ball state, are not like minded athletically with Akron. And most in the Mac are ranked above Akron academically, correct?

Bowling Green is being carried by a few big donors. Their administration has no interest in D-I athletics except to keep those few donors happy. They have a miniscule athletic budget compared to the rest of the MAC (even EMU). Some schools in the MAC care about athletics, others do not. Some that do not care still have success, but aren't interested in taking it any further than they have to. Some are not satisfied with where they are and strive to improve. Akron is in the second group. Quite a few MAC schools are in the first group, happy with how things are right now.

Academic philosophy is not the same as some ranking. A gigantic state research institution and a small private college be ranked close to each other nationally, but they don't share the same philosophy. Should they associate with the same conference based on that ranking, then? The MAC is a hodge-podge of urban and rural, research and undergrad, eastern and midwestern, just all sorts of things mixed together for the sake of short travel distances. It's hard to relate to the other schools. Part of what makes some of the conferences great is that you're playing against schools and opposing fans whom you have a lot in common with, culturally.

[jupitertoo]

Wow, I couldnt disagree more and suspect you've been to few Mac campuses. Akron's athletic budget is lower than several other schools. The academic philosophy of Akron is very similar to that of Toledo, Can't, central mich., western mich., niu and even emu. You denigrate rural schools but fail to realize that at least one of those, ou, has a larger research portfolio thAn the league's urban schools. Look at the b10 - Penn state is very rural. West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch. And northwestern is far above the other schools academically. But by your measure, this weird amalgamation that is the b10 must exist because they're all within a few states of one another.

Akron begged for decades to be part of the Mac. The league certainly ain't big time, but these schools do many things right when it comes to treating sports as secondary to the educational mission. Marshall was a good program but an academic renegade that belonged somewhere else. At least there's honor in this league.

By the way, emu has one of the highest athletic budgets in the league. Higher than Akron. Bgsu's budget is higher than ball state and buffalo. I think you must just make this stuff up.

[Zipmeister]

Wow, I couldnt disagree more and suspect you've been to few Mac campuses. Akron's athletic budget is lower than several other schools. The academic philosophy of Akron is very similar to that of Toledo, Can't, central mich., western mich., niu and even emu. You denigrate rural schools but fail to realize that at least one of those, ou, has a larger research portfolio thAn the league's urban schools. Look at the b10 - Penn state is very rural. West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch. And northwestern is far above the other schools academically. But by your measure, this weird amalgamation that is the b10 must exist because they're all within a few states of one another.

Akron begged for decades to be part of the Mac. The league certainly ain't big time, but these schools do many things right when it comes to treating sports as secondary to the educational mission. Marshall was a good program but an academic renegade that belonged somewhere else. At least there's honor in this league.

By the way, emu has one of the highest athletic budgets in the league. Higher than Akron. Bgsu's budget is higher than ball state and buffalo. I think you must just make this stuff up.

What Zach lacks in facts is offset by his high level of enthusiasm. Sure Zach is wrong about most stuff, but he is the ultraviolet light that keeps several forms of mold alive and well on our board.

[trimmy10]

Wow, I couldnt disagree more and suspect you've been to few Mac campuses. Akron's athletic budget is lower than several other schools. The academic philosophy of Akron is very similar to that of Toledo, Can't, central mich., western mich., niu and even emu. You denigrate rural schools but fail to realize that at least one of those, ou, has a larger research portfolio thAn the league's urban schools. Look at the b10 - Penn state is very rural. West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch. And northwestern is far above the other schools academically. But by your measure, this weird amalgamation that is the b10 must exist because they're all within a few states of one another.

Akron begged for decades to be part of the Mac. The league certainly ain't big time, but these schools do many things right when it comes to treating sports as secondary to the educational mission. Marshall was a good program but an academic renegade that belonged somewhere else. At least there's honor in this league.

By the way, emu has one of the highest athletic budgets in the league. Higher than Akron. Bgsu's budget is higher than ball state and buffalo. I think you must just make this stuff up.

Until you present data or a reference, you are no different than ZachTheZip. If I wanted non-stop propaganda with no facts, I'd listen to Rush or Hannity. I'd like to think that most of us here are better than that.

[jupitertoo]

Wow, I couldnt disagree more and suspect you've been to few Mac campuses. Akron's athletic budget is lower than several other schools. The academic philosophy of Akron is very similar to that of Toledo, Can't, central mich., western mich., niu and even emu. You denigrate rural schools but fail to realize that at least one of those, ou, has a larger research portfolio thAn the league's urban schools. Look at the b10 - Penn state is very rural. West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch. And northwestern is far above the other schools academically. But by your measure, this weird amalgamation that is the b10 must exist because they're all within a few states of one another.

Akron begged for decades to be part of the Mac. The league certainly ain't big time, but these schools do many things right when it comes to treating sports as secondary to the educational mission. Marshall was a good program but an academic renegade that belonged somewhere else. At least there's honor in this league.

By the way, emu has one of the highest athletic budgets in the league. Higher than Akron. Bgsu's budget is higher than ball state and buffalo. I think you must just make this stuff up.

Until you present data or a reference, you are no different than ZachTheZip. If I wanted non-stop propaganda with no facts, I'd listen to Rush or Hannity. I'd like to think that most of us here are better than that.

OK. MAC athletic budgets in 2010, per NCAA:

Temple $28,550,000.00
Miami $25,604,474.00
EMU $24,635,531.00
Akron $24,498,336.00
CMU $24,104,699.00
WMU $23,233,399.00
Ohio $22,875,238.00
NIU $21,899,024.00
Toledo $20,021,956.00
Can't $19,446,680.00
BGSU $17,850,240.00
Ball State $17,347,944.00
Buffalo $16,973,585.00

[Captain Kangaroo]

What Zach lacks in facts is offset by his high level of enthusiasm. Sure Zach is wrong about most stuff, but he is the ultraviolet light that keeps several forms of mold alive and well on our board.

[Zip Watcher]

West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch.

Zach, is that you? You have two logins now?

Can't believe I'm about to do this ... but ok. You point out that Zach hasn't been to many campuses .. and then you try to smudge things in your favor more, thus illustrating that you perhaps haven't been to some of the places you're such an expert about. Squint a little, and your post could have been written by the king of endzone gnomes himself.

While West Lafayette isn't a big city .. the local area in which it sits can't really be considered rural. Greater Lafayette is much more than a support structure for a university, albeit a very large university. Over 150,000 people reside in that area, and there are several huge employers that dwarf the size of the university staff, such as Caterpillar, Isuzu, Wabash National .. maybe Alcoa if it's still operating there. This isn't a rural area grown up around a university like Oxford or Athens.

Also, and I'll get around to adding this to the forum dictionary whenever we create one: several = 3.

UA and UT share many, many similarities. I for one expect that the Zips and Rockets will ultimately become long time bitter rivals no matter what shakes out with conference rosters and changes.

Go Zips!

[Dr Z]

Sure Zach is wrong about most stuff, but he is the ultraviolet light that keeps several forms of mold alive and well on our board.

This should be your signature. Well done.

[jupitertoo]

West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch.

Zach, is that you? You have two logins now?

Can't believe I'm about to do this ... but ok. You point out that Zach hasn't been to many campuses .. and then you try to smudge things in your favor more, thus illustrating that you perhaps haven't been to some of the places you're such an expert about. Squint a little, and your post could have been written by the king of endzone gnomes himself.

While West Lafayette isn't a big city .. the local area in which it sits can't really be considered rural. Greater Lafayette is much more than a support structure for a university, albeit a very large university. Over 150,000 people reside in that area, and there are several huge employers that dwarf the size of the university staff, such as Caterpillar, Isuzu, Wabash National .. maybe Alcoa if it's still operating there. This isn't a rural area grown up around a university like Oxford or Athens.

Also, and I'll get around to adding this to the forum dictionary whenever we create one: several = 3.

UA and UT share many, many similarities. I for one expect that the Zips and Rockets will ultimately become long time bitter rivals no matter what shakes out with conference rosters and changes.

Go Zips!

You're right about West Lafayette. My other points stand. And when you look at how the universities report their athletic budget figures (including coaches salaries in some cases, not in others), U of A drops 2 more spots. Zach claimed EMU was near the bottom when they're actually near the top. He implied that BGSU is a bottom feeder when in fact they just built a new b-ball arena and have had a decent football facility far longer than Akron.

And I have attended games on every MAC campus with the exception of Temple.

[ZachTheZip]

Wow, I couldnt disagree more and suspect you've been to few Mac campuses. Akron's athletic budget is lower than several other schools. The academic philosophy of Akron is very similar to that of Toledo, Can't, central mich., western mich., niu and even emu. You denigrate rural schools but fail to realize that at least one of those, ou, has a larger research portfolio thAn the league's urban schools. Look at the b10 - Penn state is very rural. West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch. And northwestern is far above the other schools academically. But by your measure, this weird amalgamation that is the b10 must exist because they're all within a few states of one another.

Akron begged for decades to be part of the Mac. The league certainly ain't big time, but these schools do many things right when it comes to treating sports as secondary to the educational mission. Marshall was a good program but an academic renegade that belonged somewhere else. At least there's honor in this league.

By the way, emu has one of the highest athletic budgets in the league. Higher than Akron. Bgsu's budget is higher than ball state and buffalo. I think you must just make this stuff up.

You seem to be confusing rural and suburban areas. Can't, Buffalo, and EMU are suburban. NIU, Miami, Bowling Green are rural. I've been to most MAC campuses and quite a few Big Ten campuses. The Big Ten is made up entirely of land grant universities. That and their academics tie them together, but more importantly than any of that, they share the same culture. The MAC does not share a culture across its member institutions, in fact it varies wildly.

Akron begged to get into the MAC, and it was a horrible mistake. If I had my say back then I would be dead against such a move (I am well aware of how the MAC was around the time we got in, so I am not judging based on where we are now). We never belonged in this league; the MAC has never treated us like one of its core members.

As far as EMU's budget, they spend it funding non-revenue programs. That is where their priority is. they can be just as successful in a non-football league or a lower division. If you're in the MAC, as an FBS school football had better be your top priority, followed by basketball. Ball State is another school who doesn't care for sports, but keeps them reluctantly. They drove away Brady Hoke after he became too successful.

[jupitertoo]

Wow, I couldnt disagree more and suspect you've been to few Mac campuses. Akron's athletic budget is lower than several other schools. The academic philosophy of Akron is very similar to that of Toledo, Can't, central mich., western mich., niu and even emu. You denigrate rural schools but fail to realize that at least one of those, ou, has a larger research portfolio thAn the league's urban schools. Look at the b10 - Penn state is very rural. West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch. And northwestern is far above the other schools academically. But by your measure, this weird amalgamation that is the b10 must exist because they're all within a few states of one another.

Akron begged for decades to be part of the Mac. The league certainly ain't big time, but these schools do many things right when it comes to treating sports as secondary to the educational mission. Marshall was a good program but an academic renegade that belonged somewhere else. At least there's honor in this league.

By the way, emu has one of the highest athletic budgets in the league. Higher than Akron. Bgsu's budget is higher than ball state and buffalo. I think you must just make this stuff up.

You seem to be confusing rural and suburban areas. Can't, Buffalo, and EMU are suburban. NIU, Miami, Bowling Green are rural. I've been to most MAC campuses and quite a few Big Ten campuses. The Big Ten is made up entirely of land grant universities. That and their academics tie them together, but more importantly than any of that, they share the same culture. The MAC does not share a culture across its member institutions, in fact it varies wildly.

Akron begged to get into the MAC, and it was a horrible mistake. If I had my say back then I would be dead against such a move (I am well aware of how the MAC was around the time we got in, so I am not judging based on where we are now). We never belonged in this league; the MAC has never treated us like one of its core members.

As far as EMU's budget, they spend it funding non-revenue programs. That is where their priority is. they can be just as successful in a non-football league or a lower division. If you're in the MAC, as an FBS school football had better be your top priority, followed by basketball. Ball State is another school who doesn't care for sports, but keeps them reluctantly. They drove away Brady Hoke after he became too successful.

Ugh. U of Mich, Indiana, Iowa and Northwestern are not Land Grant universities.

According to the NCAA, total football operating expenses:

EMU $4.385 million
Akron $3.862 million


Basketball operating expenses:

EMU $1.367 million
Akron $1.035 million


So if EMU doesn't care about the big sports...?

BTW, I only looked up a handful of schools, but BGSU and Ball State both outspent Akron on football and basketball.

[TPSjugglerdude]

Wow, I couldnt disagree more and suspect you've been to few Mac campuses. Akron's athletic budget is lower than several other schools. The academic philosophy of Akron is very similar to that of Toledo, Can't, central mich., western mich., niu and even emu. You denigrate rural schools but fail to realize that at least one of those, ou, has a larger research portfolio thAn the league's urban schools. Look at the b10 - Penn state is very rural. West Lafayette, ind., is not a big city by any stretch. And northwestern is far above the other schools academically. But by your measure, this weird amalgamation that is the b10 must exist because they're all within a few states of one another.

Akron begged for decades to be part of the Mac. The league certainly ain't big time, but these schools do many things right when it comes to treating sports as secondary to the educational mission. Marshall was a good program but an academic renegade that belonged somewhere else. At least there's honor in this league.

By the way, emu has one of the highest athletic budgets in the league. Higher than Akron. Bgsu's budget is higher than ball state and buffalo. I think you must just make this stuff up.

You seem to be confusing rural and suburban areas. Can't, Buffalo, and EMU are suburban. NIU, Miami, Bowling Green are rural. I've been to most MAC campuses and quite a few Big Ten campuses. The Big Ten is made up entirely of land grant universities. That and their academics tie them together, but more importantly than any of that, they share the same culture. The MAC does not share a culture across its member institutions, in fact it varies wildly.

Akron begged to get into the MAC, and it was a horrible mistake. If I had my say back then I would be dead against such a move (I am well aware of how the MAC was around the time we got in, so I am not judging based on where we are now). We never belonged in this league; the MAC has never treated us like one of its core members.

As far as EMU's budget, they spend it funding non-revenue programs. That is where their priority is. they can be just as successful in a non-football league or a lower division. If you're in the MAC, as an FBS school football had better be your top priority, followed by basketball. Ball State is another school who doesn't care for sports, but keeps them reluctantly. They drove away Brady Hoke after he became too successful.

Ugh. U of Mich, Indiana, Iowa and Northwestern are not Land Grant universities.

According to the NCAA, total football operating expenses:

EMU $4.385 million
Akron $3.862 million


Basketball operating expenses:

EMU $1.367 million
Akron $1.035 million


So if EMU doesn't care about the big sports...?

BTW, I only looked up a handful of schools, but BGSU and Ball State both outspent Akron on football and basketball.

Just because emu spent more on bball doesn't make them a better team.