(11-01-2011 11:18 AM)Max Power Wrote: All public schools in Illinois except U of I (ISU, NIU, SIU, EIU, WIU) were small teachers colleges until the 1950s, when the GI Bill created a huge demand and led teachers colleges all over the country to greatly expand. Since that time, NIU and SIU have aggressively expanded to become full fledged comprehensive graduate-level research institutions in the U of I's image, while ISU, EIU and WIU were content to continue to focus on teaching. This is due in part to the fact ISU has its hands tied more than NIU and SIU because the U of I won't let the college down the road land high level grants or professional programs because they don't want the competition. NIU and SIU make the case that because they serve specific regions far from U of I they need these high level programs, with some success.
Look, I'm not bashing ISU or teaching-focused colleges here. I went to Bradley, which is the same way. ISU is like a larger Bradley (of lower quality).
I know money doesn't win football games (though FBS college football is a big business and you're more likely to fall behind if you don't have the dollars). My point there on research and endowment was more to refute the ISU fans here who said they're similar to some Big XII schools. In terms of the dollars flowing through these places, the Big XII and Ten are powerhouses that ISU will never catch up to in a million years, and while NIU and SIU probably won't either they're far ahead of ISU and have far more growth potential.
SIU is a dying university, and in the past decade their enrollment has steadily declined each year. You can say all you want about their Med, Law, and Aviation offerings, but there is no debate right now as to what is the second best undergraduate public university in the state of Illinois right now. It's not just USNews' overwhelming bias or the rants of a few obnoxious ISU fans on here. Ask any HS guidance counselor in the state, the vast majority will tell you that ISU is the #2 choice for public undergrad studies in the state, regardless of the field of study.
And you talk about Bradley like it's Northwestern or something. All of the kids in my HS that went to Bradley were UofI rejects, just like all the kids that went to ISU, Loyola and DePaul. I would say from an undergrad quality standpoint, that those four schools attract a pretty comparable caliber of student. Sorry if it stings, but NIU, SIU, UIC, EIU and WIU typically get whatever is left after the previously mentioned schools take their pick from UofI's castoffs. That's pretty much how it works.
Not that any of this matters whatsoever when we are talking about a league that buses its football teams to games and plays on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in an attempt to get 1/10th of the same media attention that any neighboring BCS conference school gets.
I just seriously doubt that because some west suburban 30-something gets his/her MBA at an NIU campus in Naperville, or that because some lower-rung med school prospect does his/her residency in Springfield (about 3 hours from Carbondale, where football games are played), that it really makes that big of an impact on the 10-15K thousand people that choose to watch a MAC football team on a weekly basis.
There's nothing wrong with trying to attract the finest academic candidates out there, but as far as MAC football is concerned, it should really just be about what schools can play somewhat decent football, put 15K fans in the stands on a regular basis, and offer an academic reputation that won't totally embarass the conference. Trust me, no one is confusing the MAC with the Ivy or Patriot Leagues.
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Illinois State making $20MM renovation to football stadium
