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Thanks for taking the time to post. I think it looks nice!

Michigan Bucks (PDL) 3, Detroit City FC (NPSL) 0 In one of the most anticipated matches of the First Round, perennial U.S. Open Cup power Michigan Bucks grabbed two early goals from Nick Wysong and Peri Marosevic in the seventh and ninth minutes respectively. Threatening throughout the first half, the Bucks found a third goal on the hour mark with Brad Ruhaak’s long distance strike and easily handled their NPSL neighbors in the second half to earn a 3-0 victory. Next up for the Bucks is a Second Round date with Portland Timbers 2, set for May 20 at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac, Michigan.

First off, this is a really good discussion-- one which has to happen more publicly and openly. To respond to some of LZips questions on what is sparking all this. Something has indeed changed over the past 20 years-- the inflation rate for college has outstripped basically every other sector including healthcare. States once provided most of a university's budget but that's now down to like 10%. This isn't just an Ohio thing; it's happening every place. As Zach linked above, there has been hints of this happening for quite a while. It appears that Scarborough is looking for a way to respond to this, and I am glad he is at least attempting to be proactive. My concern is that just changing the name, let alone just adding a tag line, doesn't mean much of anything. Again, this is not an issue unique to UA or Ohio-- every state is grappling with the costs of higher ed. It is a massive national issue because students are coming out with huge debt loads (total college debt passed credit card debt about 5 years ago), essentially crippling millennials who are not able to buy houses, new cars, etc., at the same rate as prior generations. At the same time, universities have been on a building binge (obviously including UA), engaged in a ruinous arms race in sports, and greatly expanded highly paid administrative positions while shifting as much instruction work to part time faculty as possible. And all of this is happening when the idea of going some place to be educated-- the very notion of a university being a separate place in the world and a specific time of life-- is increasingly being replaced with digital learning (online programs and MOOCs) as well as the sense that learning will have to be an ongoing "lifestyle" since we will all have multiple careers because of the pace of job change, longevity, and lack of retirement savings. If you are a university with a large and/or wealthy alumni base that is motivated to give buckets of money, you can thrive. Everyone else is in trouble. UA has actually lost momentum over the past few years-- enrollment has decreased even while Can't and Ohio has increased. This is causing a troubling reduction in revenue, which is I think one of the main reasons the board picked a CFO to be president. We need a very clear-eyed assessment of where UA stands, which I think he is doing. There is no doubt there are pockets of strengths and real excellence at UA, but overall it is not held in high regard. Schools like UA, Can't, BG, etc.-- lightly regarded schools that probably do alot better job than their rankings, but that are heavily invested in burning large sums on money on Div 1 sports in an attempt to "stay in the game" vs the land-grant/BCS schools-- are the ones that are in serious trouble in the immediate future. The path forward is very challenging-- declining enrollment leads to tuition increases to cover the shortfall leading to further decline in enrollment, meanwhile athletics expenditures increase as things like athlete supplemental payments happen, and the professionalization of college sports means that a place like Ohio has a single "pro" college team and then lots of minor league teams. If you're a kid in Ashtabula, do you root for and support the local minor league teams or for the pro team. I think the re-branding is wholly inadequate to the challenge and in fact comes with a ton of potential baggage-- I can totally see how someone might see this as essentially equating to trade school, which is why I hope they are doing some serious research on this. The reality is that a poorly thought out rebrand could make matters worse and actually accelerate a downward spiral.