(02-16-2017 03:02 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I can't emphasize this enough: it took the single largest donation in the history of Penn State for ANYTHING (including academics, football, etc.) to start up the hockey program there. That's a MASSIVE bar to climb.

I would hope aspiring programs wouldn't use PSU as the benchmark. Penn State had a club. It had some sort of facility it was using.

The money came in, and everything went to top-shelf level. That's the difference. Infrastructure was there, but the "growing pains" were dramatically reduced. It's not that Penn State had nothing, Penn State was injected to become as close to an instant contributor at an instant. The facility alone...just ridiculous.

That's a problem, imo. It's that there is this perception that you might have to be Michigan/State, Wisconsin, or Minnesota right out of the gate if you're a Big Ten school, or any program looking to move into D1. That's simply not fair, or logical. But, that might be the playing field now.

Quote:I know for a fact that Lincoln tried to get Omaha into the CIC when Nebraska entered the Big 10. Their reasoning was that Illinois-Chicago was allowed to attend CIC meetings, so why shouldn't Nebraska-Omaha? (Much of the benefit of CIC is meetings to discuss best practices, so if you're allowed to attend the meetings you're effectively "in" the CIC for most practical purposes). But rather than allow Omaha in, the CIC kicked out UIC. Pissed off the folks in Illinois something fierce.

That's interesting! Institutional cooperation...it's still a thing?!

Oh, wait, it isn't in Ohio. Or Pennsylvania.