TheDom said:
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BarleyMcDougal said:
PartyBear said:
It's like some of you are stuck with old talking points from 1954. What exactly is it about Baylor that is small? It's campus is now about twice the size of Univ of Texas' and its student population is almost half the size of Univ of Texas' undergraduate enrollment.
Campus size is absolutely irrelevant. Our enrollment numbers are only recently up and we still have a small alumni base compared to peer institutions (and we're still losing ground - thanks UT/TAMU). Baylor still has little to no cachet outside of Texas. Baylor's market tv market size is small.
And, BTW Dom, I'm pretty sure the DFW area has more BU alumni than Houston.
Oh now campus size is irrelevant? Everything is irrelevant to you that doesn't support the "just the way it is" talking point. PartyBear is right, ya'll stuck in the past.
I don't think campus acreage plays a role in the next round of realignment, if there is one. Do you?
We aren't talking about raw land acreage. PartyBear was referring to size of campus in terms of buildings, programs, enrollment, and academics. Things that assist with school appeal. Stuff that goes into the total picture. Yes, stuff that helps when it time to discuss notoriety of a school and thus attractiveness in realignment.
Nope.
Hummm... yes. Curious, you think the $1.1B will help in realignment?
Are you referring to Baylor's endowment? If so,
Nope.
Really, I'm not trying to be abrasive. I just consider my point of view entirely correct. I'm firm there and we're all allowed our opinions. So, I don't want to come off like a jerk.
No, the $1.1B we raising to build new fieldhouse, football only offices and weight room and study hall, repurpose Ferrell Center, etc.
I'm not trying to be a$$ either, really I'm just amazed. I also consider my point of view correct. I'm just amazed how lost you seem to be on whole deal. Honestly it's like you thinking in 1965 terms.
Those things are minimal in the long run. Baylor is a regional school with little national appeal. TCU is the same. Whatever we gained during the Briles years in terms of recognition is gone now due to the "scandal." Would a conference, say the ACC, consider improvements and financial commitment to athletics as a positive criterion? Sure. It wouldn't be close to integral, however.
Baylor is Memphis with better luck.
I'm sorry, that is just such silly sentiment. Crazy to me you think so poorly of your so called school, especially when facts don't support it. Memphis with better luck?!? Wow. Pretty sure Memphis doesn't have a $100M+ athletic budget. Such an ignorant statement.
For the record, most people outside of Texas I talk with about Baylor know very little about the scandal. As long as we get back to winning quickly, which we have taken first step in doing so by reaching bowl this year it will all be distant memory to outside world soon.
Also, Briles was just another good coach. He took a dormant program and got 2 conference titles. The run helped wake up the fan base and we got a new stadium and some national notoriety out of it. He got paid a lot of money and his son and son in law jobs within the college football industry. Then he got canned for bringing bad light upon the university. Positives and negatives. And now we move forward. Briles was a good starter kit. Now we move on to next step.
I don't consider that thinking poorly of Baylor. It's just factual. Memphis last year had a 50+ million dollar budget and they are in the AAC. Plus they have the FedEx billionaire willing to shell out all sorts of cash. They're a regional school like Baylor. Baylor has had the fortune of being in a major conference for a long time. If Memphis joined the Big 12 their budget would certainly rise.
I'm not sure what you think the "next step" is for Baylor. I'm not sure people at Baylor know.
You talk out of both sides of your mouth. The FedEx billionaire is good for Memphis but it negative that a individual booster is picking up tab at Baylor for the football coach.
It's all good man. Memphis is a mid major. Baylor is in a P5 conference. That fact isn't just by some mistake or luck. Sorry you think so poorly of Baylor. You should have gone to UT.
I'm sorry. You misunderstood. I'm saying that they have someone who can afford to give the program a lot of money, but that still doesn't help them develop a case for being added to a major conference. Memphis is a mid-major because they don't offer anything in terms of audience for tv sets.
You seem upset that I'm being honest. It's a known that Baylor faces the realignment chopping block like plenty of other schools. This upsets you, I guess. Even our most powerful boosters/regents have said as much. So you can be upset or bitter or whatever. It doesn't change the facts.
I'm curious to see how many fans we bring to the Texas bowl. That will be a good indicator if we even have a regional following at this point. When I went to Madison Square Garden to watch us in the sweet 16 a couple of years ago, we had almost no fans in the arena. It was really disappointing. The arena was packed . . . with other schools' fans.
In football, we were developing a statewide and national brand just 3 years ago and basically derailed it ourselves. It takes time, and contrary to all the revisionist history naysayers, we were headed in the right direction for the first time in my decades of following Baylor. I just hope we can regain the momentum. Living outside of Texas, it seems self evident to me that we are not on the national radar anymore.
Here we go again talking outside of both sides of our mouths. So we were on our way to being national brand? Well, McDougal claims we are just a lucky Memphis and according to him only few school are or can ever be national brands. Somehow in his book WV is one. Haha. So which is it?
The facts are yes we gained national notoriety in 2011 with a Heisman and winning conference in 2013 & 2014. We also gain notoriety for losing our important bowl games and playing a weak schedule. We got a stadium out of the deal, got fan base excited, and had huge scandal. Positives and negatives.
Basketball is hard to get footing bc we need to win more. Sweet 16 & Elite 8 are good first steps but we need some trips to Final 4 and to actually win conference. KU has won Big12 for 14 straight years so winning conference one year would make huge national waves. The fieldhouse will help tremendously too with excitement.
The good news is we headed in right direction. The $1.1B is huge investment and exactly what we need. Rhule and Drew just got to keep winning. And when we get to that point again we gotta close the deal and win the big games. That's how you keep fan base excitement and become nationally recognized.
I will summarize my thoughts:
1) before Briles, Baylor never was on the national radar and barely a regional brand. We were (and are) dwarfed by A$M and UT.
2) During CAB's tenure, we were becoming a strong regional brand which was upsetting the apple cart as we were beating everyone, and recruits were picking us over the other TX schools.
3) Under CAB, we were on the national radar for the first time. We weren't a national brand yet, but at least we were getting recognition. The playoff committee did everything it could to make sure OSU leapfrogged us and TCU which backs up Barley's point that we were not a national brand.
4) Nobody but us and perhaps our rivals remember that we lost a couple of New Years 6 bowls. They just remember we had a good run.
5) I don't want to say it's impossible for a private school to become a national brand - Miami did it beginning with Jim Kelly as QB, but the deck is definitely stacked against you.
6) If we had any chance of staying on the national radar and perhaps becoming a brand, we squandered it when we fired Briles. I don't know him but think he was a once in a generation (or two) coach. I don't know all of the facts, but from what has been released, it seems it could have been possible to retain him.
7) Our university administration, governance, and compliance were our weakest links, not our football program.