(06-15-2010 11:10 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(06-15-2010 10:30 PM)UCF-ENG Wrote:  

(06-15-2010 10:20 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(06-15-2010 09:33 PM)buckaineer Wrote:  

(06-15-2010 05:48 PM)NashvillePirate Wrote:  Why in the world do so many people think that UCF is an attractive candidate? They have no tradition, aren't good at ANYTHING, are probably the 4th largest presence in their own market, and they're stadium is likely to fall down within the next 10 years.

Seriously though, I'm just curious why UCF is perceived as such a worthy candidate for expansion.

The Big East has identified them previously and currently as a top expansion candidate because they meet much of the needed criteria best in their minds for the schools they will consider.

Large TV market-yes, Orlando is top 20
BE footprint-yes, near USF
Rivalry-yes potential rivalry with USF
Facilities-yes, they have built new football, basketball, etc. up to BCS standards
Recruiting-yes, Florida and Orlando are top notch recruiting areas
Academics-yes, they are tier 3 and on par with several BE bb and football schools
School size-yes, UCF is one of the largest universities in the nation
State demographics-yes, FL is growing leaps and bounds and will continue to do so
Competitive-they have played in two and won one CUSA championship
Attendance-similar to Cincinnati in attendance, in ballpark of other BE schools

UCF is a model for what may come in college education and I applaud them. I think we will see more schools use multiple campuses to expand their student enrollment and grow their alumni base. I think UCF has 12 separate campuses that make up its large student population.

What UCF has done is IMO could change the paradigm in college education.

I post this only to point out factually how such a young school could garner such a large student population and grow so quickly. My hat is off to them.

Damn dude, did you forget your /sarcasm tag?

You do realize that UCF's main campus has over 40,000 students right? and that most of the satalite campuses have maybe couple thousand students, and are pretty tiny... UCF has more campus afiliated housing than any other University in Florida and is considered a "Residential" sub-urban campus...

Pull your head out of your arse...

I really should have to do this...but ...I apologize to anyone that might have taken my comments as being derogatory towards UCF....but...I did not imply in any way that UCF did not have a large central campus. I simply was pointing out that having multiple campuses is a great paradigm for expanding a university and promoting support. I expressed nothing but praise for that paradigm. In fact I envy it.

FYI..I would have use the sarcasm tag if I was being sarcastic.

Fair enough... I would point out though that most of our growth has not been through the addition of satellite campuses, but rather by expanding the main campus... as pointed out, most of the satellite campuses are for working professionals taking classes at night, etc...

(06-15-2010 06:18 PM)NashvillePirate Wrote:  well I wouldn't say "certainly" qualified due to their lack of history and tradition. They have nice attendance numbers for C-USA and have some talent because they are in Florida, but they really haven't proven much to me on the football field.

Those are the same arguments people made against USF a few years ago. That worked out pretty well.

(06-15-2010 06:07 PM)TRest1 Wrote:  

(06-15-2010 06:04 PM)No Bull Wrote:  Orlando has the No. 19 TV Market

UCF, with 53,537 students, is now the largest University in Florida (UF – 50,691, USF – 46,612, FSU – 33,971, Miami – 15,670) so it clearly has scale and relevance.
By way of Big East comparisons: UCONN and WVU have about 30,000 students: Rutgers, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh about 35,000, Syracuse and Louisville about 20,000. Regarding other possible additions: Maryland 36,000, Mass 26,000 and ECU 23,000.

UCF is actually the third largest University in the country and is only 1,500 students behind Ohio State and 2,000 behind Arizona and growing faster than both so it could presumably become the largest University in the country any time it wanted.

It’s academics have been improving rapidly with an average SAT score for the entering class of 1225, on par with other BE schools including UCONN (which identifies its average SAT as being 1200 (I believe))

Like UConn, they have a very athletics supportive administration and state government. They opened a new on-Campus Football stadium in 2007 with 45,000 seats which are usually sold out (I infer) vs. the 35,000 seats at Rentschler Field.
Their BB Arena is also both new and elaborate with 10,000 seats including luxury boxes (the same size as Gampel)

UCF has beaten a Top 25 and BCS team under O'Leary

Their men’s BB recruits are on a par with USF and DePaul in the BE and on a par with such teams as: Gonzoga, UMass and Maryland.

They have an enthusiastic fan base and administration with over 15,000 seats sold by UCF to the Bowl against Rutgers and another 5,000 via direct purchase (at a sold out stadium with about 29,000 seats).

UCF and USF would give the Big East the two largest Universities in Florida. This would match the ACC (Miami and FSU) and exceed the SEC (Florida) giving us, over time, the opportunity to really attract recruits from the incredible Florida talent pool who would have the opportunity to perform twice a season in front of family and friends.

The Florida talent pool is the best in the country (especially for “skilled” positions). With access to that pool and the Midwest pool (Cincinnati and Pittsburgh (sort of)) it gives us a significant presence in the two talent pools we can meaningfully have access to. Add ECU to WVU and that gives us two in the mid-Atlantic another strong area.

Although I was pretty disappointed when UConn gave you a home game in your new basketball place, bringing in a top 10 team, and you couldn't sell it out.

Unfortunately that game was the day before the Liberty Bowl vs Miss St. As anyone in Florida can tell you, football rules and any of our basketball fans would have been in Memphis that night. We did sell out a midweek game vs Marshall last year, and our attendance has been higher than USFs every year since we opened the new arena. Still leaps and bounds behind most of the big east, though.

(06-15-2010 06:04 PM)No Bull Wrote:  Orlando has the No. 19 TV Market

UCF, with 53,537 students, is now the largest University in Florida (UF – 50,691, USF – 46,612, FSU – 33,971, Miami – 15,670) so it clearly has scale and relevance.
By way of Big East comparisons: UCONN and WVU have about 30,000 students: Rutgers, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh about 35,000, Syracuse and Louisville about 20,000. Regarding other possible additions: Maryland 36,000, Mass 26,000 and ECU 23,000.

UCF is actually the third largest University in the country and is only 1,500 students behind Ohio State and 2,000 behind Arizona and growing faster than both so it could presumably become the largest University in the country any time it wanted.

It’s academics have been improving rapidly with an average SAT score for the entering class of 1225, on par with other BE schools including UCONN (which identifies its average SAT as being 1200 (I believe))

Like UConn, they have a very athletics supportive administration and state government. They opened a new on-Campus Football stadium in 2007 with 45,000 seats which are usually sold out (I infer) vs. the 35,000 seats at Rentschler Field.
Their BB Arena is also both new and elaborate with 10,000 seats including luxury boxes (the same size as Gampel)

UCF has beaten a Top 25 and BCS team under O'Leary

Their men’s BB recruits are on a par with USF and DePaul in the BE and on a par with such teams as: Gonzoga, UMass and Maryland.

They have an enthusiastic fan base and administration with over 15,000 seats sold by UCF to the Bowl against Rutgers and another 5,000 via direct purchase (at a sold out stadium with about 29,000 seats).

UCF and USF would give the Big East the two largest Universities in Florida. This would match the ACC (Miami and FSU) and exceed the SEC (Florida) giving us, over time, the opportunity to really attract recruits from the incredible Florida talent pool who would have the opportunity to perform twice a season in front of family and friends.

The Florida talent pool is the best in the country (especially for “skilled” positions). With access to that pool and the Midwest pool (Cincinnati and Pittsburgh (sort of)) it gives us a significant presence in the two talent pools we can meaningfully have access to. Add ECU to WVU and that gives us two in the mid-Atlantic another strong area.

Your stadium feels like a high school stadium (aluminum bleachers in the Florida sun? Who thought that was a good idea?) To say your bball is onpar with Gonzaga? That's got to be a joke. You aren't even on par with Southern Miss.

The thing about UCF in Florida is it is not close to being in the top 3. Orlando is a very transient town with most people there being from some other place and supporting either FSU or UF. Still I guess if the criteria for getting in a BCS conference is a trip to Disney then its UCF hands down. But if you really want to improve the conference you have to go with Memphis and its not close. Corporate support, the Liberty Bowl, footprint in SEC territory and a great recruiting hot bed where all you have to beat is Arkansas and Ole Miss. Too many good reasons for Memphis over UCF.

(06-15-2010 06:24 PM)Capital Pirate Wrote:  ...and just curious - how many UCF satellite campuses make up that 53k number..?????

Interestingly enough, I was just reading ECU's factbook from their Office of Institutional Planning and Research. 22% of ECU's undergrads were enrolled only in distance education classes. That's a heck of a lot more students than UCF has enrolled in distance only or satellite only.

(06-16-2010 11:06 AM)mullinsworld Wrote:  

(06-15-2010 06:04 PM)No Bull Wrote:  Orlando has the No. 19 TV Market

UCF, with 53,537 students, is now the largest University in Florida (UF – 50,691, USF – 46,612, FSU – 33,971, Miami – 15,670) so it clearly has scale and relevance.
By way of Big East comparisons: UCONN and WVU have about 30,000 students: Rutgers, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh about 35,000, Syracuse and Louisville about 20,000. Regarding other possible additions: Maryland 36,000, Mass 26,000 and ECU 23,000.

UCF is actually the third largest University in the country and is only 1,500 students behind Ohio State and 2,000 behind Arizona and growing faster than both so it could presumably become the largest University in the country any time it wanted.

It’s academics have been improving rapidly with an average SAT score for the entering class of 1225, on par with other BE schools including UCONN (which identifies its average SAT as being 1200 (I believe))

Like UConn, they have a very athletics supportive administration and state government. They opened a new on-Campus Football stadium in 2007 with 45,000 seats which are usually sold out (I infer) vs. the 35,000 seats at Rentschler Field.
Their BB Arena is also both new and elaborate with 10,000 seats including luxury boxes (the same size as Gampel)

UCF has beaten a Top 25 and BCS team under O'Leary

Their men’s BB recruits are on a par with USF and DePaul in the BE and on a par with such teams as: Gonzoga, UMass and Maryland.

They have an enthusiastic fan base and administration with over 15,000 seats sold by UCF to the Bowl against Rutgers and another 5,000 via direct purchase (at a sold out stadium with about 29,000 seats).

UCF and USF would give the Big East the two largest Universities in Florida. This would match the ACC (Miami and FSU) and exceed the SEC (Florida) giving us, over time, the opportunity to really attract recruits from the incredible Florida talent pool who would have the opportunity to perform twice a season in front of family and friends.

The Florida talent pool is the best in the country (especially for “skilled” positions). With access to that pool and the Midwest pool (Cincinnati and Pittsburgh (sort of)) it gives us a significant presence in the two talent pools we can meaningfully have access to. Add ECU to WVU and that gives us two in the mid-Atlantic another strong area.

Your stadium feels like a high school stadium (aluminum bleachers in the Florida sun? Who thought that was a good idea?) To say your bball is onpar with Gonzaga? That's got to be a joke. You aren't even on par with Southern Miss.

The thing about UCF in Florida is it is not close to being in the top 3. Orlando is a very transient town with most people there being from some other place and supporting either FSU or UF. Still I guess if the criteria for getting in a BCS conference is a trip to Disney then its UCF hands down. But if you really want to improve the conference you have to go with Memphis and its not close. Corporate support, the Liberty Bowl, footprint in SEC territory and a great recruiting hot bed where all you have to beat is Arkansas and Ole Miss. Too many good reasons for Memphis over UCF.

4,117 fans to an actual Memphis game. :ncaabbs:

From the sound of the guys throwing the celebration party over on the Memphis board, you guys can both relax.

(06-16-2010 02:19 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  From the sound of the guys throwing the celebration party over on the Memphis board, you guys can both relax.

I hope Memphis and ECU are invited with us. We heckle RC Johnson (Memphis AD) everytime he comes to the Brighthouse.

(06-15-2010 05:48 PM)NashvillePirate Wrote:  Why in the world do so many people think that UCF is an attractive candidate? They have no tradition, aren't good at ANYTHING, are probably the 4th largest presence in their own market, and they're stadium is likely to fall down within the next 10 years.

Seriously though, I'm just curious why UCF is perceived as such a worthy candidate for expansion.

Instead of trying to assess what merits UCF brings to the table, just try to envision them as a travel destination and try to imagine benefits to other sports, not just football. Take Baseball for example. At the start of this year's baseball season UCF had 19 of the first 21 games at home. The reason was simple, we were playing a bunch of teams from colder climates. Also, if you review the schedule for those OOC games that played us you will find that many of them scheduled other nearby Florida teams to play in the same road trip. So, with one plane trip to Florida, then a chartered bus you get to schedule 4 or 5 baseball games in a week against 2 or 3 different opponents. Plus, the traveling fans can visit the tourist attractions.