As a Tulane fan, I should be thrilled that we're joining what appears to be a better conference than Conference USA. For the first few weeks it seemed as if this was going to be the big springboard that exposes Tulane's athletic faults (we're finally addressing those, lol) and causes growth to take place (especially in the facilities department). And so far, I still think those things will happen. Facilities are being updated for both the basketball and football teams. New coaches are in place at Tulane - and we're finally recruiting for football like we really should.

All of this growth is great, but I'm beginning to wonder at what cost will all this come. C-USA come 2015 will be loaded with schools THAT ACTUALLY CAN RELATE TO TULANE.

The "battle for the bell" with Southern Miss is now officially dead. A battle between the academic privates in Rice-Tulane is now dead. (Both Rice and S. Miss were GREAT baseball match-ups for Tulane, by the way.) Tulsa and Tulane don't have a rivalry as of yet - but they are very similar in more ways than one. Tulane-Charlotte sounds like it would've been a fun game in a few years as well (an all-sports rivalry, mind you).

That's not all of it, either. Here's the real kicker, folks: Louisiana Tech and Tulane could have been a fantastic all-sports rivalry that made sense considering program history, size, and location. That's right, I said fantastic rivalry - especially once Yulman is finished around 2014/2015 so Tulane can properly play a home game. Tulane has never had a proper "derby" opponent from its own state since they left the SEC back in the day (LSU v Tulane was the big one in that era). Our program NEEDS A PROPER LOCAL RIVAL.

The nBE has some strong programs in it, but I don't think many of them even give a toss about Tulane (for better or worse).

Temple and Tulane have no relationship. UConn and Tulane have no relationship. In my eyes there was never any C-USA vitriol or true relationship with UCF, USF, or ECU in last few years - and I think fans from those three would agree as well.

There are only four opponents in the nBE that I'm really interested in - and even with those four there isn't the regional fire that we're leaving behind. UH-Tulane will be a decent basketball game, but a heavy UH win in football. Memphis-Tulane will be tight in football, but a heavy Memphis win in basketball. Cincinnati will probably dump us to the curb in both sports for a few years until our recruiting finally kicks in.

The Tulane-SMU fixture is the only good one in my eyes. We're usually at each others' throats in both sports (win or lose), and we share a lot in common being old-school southern private universities.

I'll miss you all going forward. Thanks to the almighty RPI and TV Dollar, Tulane just traded 5-6 good matchups for a measly 2-3 (depending on hwo things develop). Just because the nBE is better on an absolute scale does NOT make it better for Tulane on a regional level.

With Tulane's new OCS coming and with Tulsa likely going to the BE soon, you will be in a good spot. Tulane, Tulsa, SMU and Navy are institutions that belong together, imho. Good luck to Tulane.

(01-25-2013 12:18 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  As a Tulane fan, I should be thrilled that we're joining what appears to be a better conference than Conference USA. For the first few weeks it seemed as if this was going to be the big springboard that exposes Tulane's athletic faults (we're finally addressing those, lol) and causes growth to take place (especially in the facilities department). And so far, I still think those things will happen. Facilities are being updated for both the basketball and football teams. New coaches are in place at Tulane - and we're finally recruiting for football like we really should.

All of this growth is great, but I'm beginning to wonder at what cost will all this come. C-USA come 2015 will be loaded with schools THAT ACTUALLY CAN RELATE TO TULANE.

The "battle for the bell" with Southern Miss is now officially dead. A battle between the academic privates in Rice-Tulane is now dead. (Both Rice and S. Miss were GREAT baseball match-ups for Tulane, by the way.) Tulsa and Tulane don't have a rivalry as of yet - but they are very similar in more ways than one. Tulane-Charlotte sounds like it would've been a fun game in a few years as well (an all-sports rivalry, mind you).

That's not all of it, either. Here's the real kicker, folks: Louisiana Tech and Tulane could have been a fantastic all-sports rivalry that made sense considering program history, size, and location. That's right, I said fantastic rivalry - especially once Yulman is finished around 2014/2015 so Tulane can properly play a home game. Tulane has never had a proper "derby" opponent from its own state since they left the SEC back in the day (LSU v Tulane was the big one in that era). Our program NEEDS A PROPER LOCAL RIVAL.

The nBE has some strong programs in it, but I don't think many of them even give a toss about Tulane (for better or worse).

Temple and Tulane have no relationship. UConn and Tulane have no relationship. In my eyes there was never any C-USA vitriol or true relationship with UCF, USF, or ECU in last few years - and I think fans from those three would agree as well.

There are only four opponents in the nBE that I'm really interested in - and even with those four there isn't the regional fire that we're leaving behind. UH-Tulane will be a decent basketball game, but a heavy UH win in football. Memphis-Tulane will be tight in football, but a heavy Memphis win in basketball. Cincinnati will probably dump us to the curb in both sports for a few years until our recruiting finally kicks in.

The Tulane-SMU fixture is the only good one in my eyes. We're usually at each others' throats in both sports (win or lose), and we share a lot in common being old-school southern private universities.

I'll miss you all going forward. Thanks to the almighty RPI and TV Dollar, Tulane just traded 5-6 good matchups for a measly 2-3 (depending on hwo things develop). Just because the nBE is better on an absolute scale does NOT make it better for Tulane on a regional level.

Are you British?
It's not too late to encourage TU administration to reconsider.

Agree about Tech... quit running from us and let's make it a great OOC rivalry.

It also needs to be said that you really just moved from CUSA 3.0 to CUSA 2.0. It's a bit more prestigious, but not much. But the tick in recruiting has not gone unnoticed. I think that is due to your coaching staff more than your conference.

Great post by op!

I can't stand our athletic department. We should be moving towards our local partners in Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss - not away from them. I think we're doing it because we're an AAU institution and a perennial Top-60 school in the US. It's more arrogance than fear in my opinion. We're "too good" to play with our relatives so we have to play with a bunch of strangers that match our own arrogance (or even exceed it as I've learned).

The rest of LA hates us for this - and they should. It's stupid. We can be an elite institution (as we still are) and athletically align ourselves with our local relatives.

(01-25-2013 12:35 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  I can't stand our athletic department. We should be moving towards our local partners in Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss - not away from them. I think we're doing it because we're an AAU institution and a perennial Top-60 school in the US. It's more arrogance than fear in my opinion. We're "too good" to play with our relatives so we have to play with a bunch of strangers that match our own arrogance (or even exceed it as I've learned).

The rest of LA hates us for this - and they should. It's stupid. We can be an elite institution (as we still are) and athletically align ourselves with our local relatives.

...makes too much sense...not cents...your stance would make dollars

too be honest, Tulane is one of the schools that stand to suffer the most if this "Big East" Conference fails to be better than C-USA, and honestly I am not convinced it will be. Tulane is arrogant, and also a great academic school, but I agree with the OP, they should have just said NO.

(01-25-2013 12:24 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  Tulane, Tulsa, SMU and Navy are institutions that belong together, imho.

I would include Rice in that group, as well.

If the nBE fails then Tulane will be homeless. C-USA won't want them back (and Tulane won't go back anyway). They're an outside option for the ACC and Big XII due to location, academics, and opportunity - but they are not a favorite to enter either league. They'd never go to the Sun Belt. They are out of the MWC market range.

If it got to this point, they'd be best off splitting football from the olympic sports and going into the A-10 (who'd take them in a second). The football team would be independent. They may or may not survive if so.

(01-25-2013 12:35 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  I can't stand our athletic department. We should be moving towards our local partners in Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss - not away from them. I think we're doing it because we're an AAU institution and a perennial Top-60 school in the US. It's more arrogance than fear in my opinion. We're "too good" to play with our relatives so we have to play with a bunch of strangers that match our own arrogance (or even exceed it as I've learned).

The rest of LA hates us for this - and they should. It's stupid. We can be an elite institution (as we still are) and athletically align ourselves with our local relatives.

I just want to confirm that last statement. As a native of Louisiana with a good GPA and good test scores, and money to spend on education, I've always given Tulane my consideration, if only in passing. It's unfortunate that Tulane seems fundamentally incapable of perceiving value in anyone who isn't a 19-year-old liberal arts major from suburban Pittsburgh.

Even their School of Continuing Studies does nothing for me... they advertise a pre-CPA program, but when I inquired about it, the SCS advisor flat-out told me they'd never offer all those classes and that I should go to UNO. He also tried to bait-and-switch me into their MBA program, which I want nothing to do with. I literally had my acceptance letter and my checkbook in hand. Tulane doesn't even really offer any engineering majors any more, unless they've rectified that very recently.

The sad thing is, I probably will end up taking what I can at Tulane just because, on a resume or transcript, Tulane >UNO. I guess Tulane is like KMart: they don't really have what you want, but I'll be damned if they don't figure out a way to get your money anyway.

Sports helped heal a lot of these little differences. But now that you're moving up and away from USM (a ridiculous notion...USM is everything Tulane should be but is not), I really don't have anything nice to say about Tulane.

Tulane does have a few good things - but you have to know what they are ahead of time as the administration can be ignorant at times with you. They have an accelerated M. Arch I degree (I have this :D), a good law school, a good med school, and an improving business program. They do not have some of the more specific science programs that you'd expect, however. Tulane is really finicky when it comes to what they offer and what they don't.

(01-25-2013 12:55 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  If the nBE fails then Tulane will be homeless. C-USA won't want them back (and Tulane won't go back anyway)... They'd never go to the Sun Belt...

If it got to this point, they'd be best off splitting football from the olympic sports and going into the A-10 (who'd take them in a second). The football team would be independent. They may or may not survive if so.

Tulane football barely survived 29 years of football Independence, back when there were many schools (public and private, in all sections of the country) that were Independent. In today's environment, the only ones who can survive that way are the military academies and schools like Notre Dame and BYU (I cannot think of anyone else) who have a distinct national following and some sort of special deal with the media. Tulane football would be dead within 10 years if it tried to go down that path today.

As for conference membership, Tulane football likewise could not survive playing teams like North Texas and Middle Tennessee and UTSA. The sense of mutual apathy/disinterest between Tulane and those schools is just about 100%. Even against schools like Houston and UTEP it's close to that.

FWIW: my family is from Louisiana and I'm not from the northeast. We've always respected Tulane as one of the best gulf Universities and I'm happy I attended.

I like playing Rice, USM. LaTech can shove it ;]

(mom went to ULM, aunt went to ULM, I went to Tulane)

You are right ng....we are dead...lmfao

(01-25-2013 12:52 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(01-25-2013 12:24 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  Tulane, Tulsa, SMU and Navy are institutions that belong together, imho.

I would include Rice in that group, as well.

Absolutely but I omitted them because they are not rumored to be going to the BE like Tulsa is. At least I don't think so. Anything can happen when it comes to realignment though.

(01-25-2013 01:08 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(01-25-2013 12:55 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  If the nBE fails then Tulane will be homeless. C-USA won't want them back (and Tulane won't go back anyway)... They'd never go to the Sun Belt...

If it got to this point, they'd be best off splitting football from the olympic sports and going into the A-10 (who'd take them in a second). The football team would be independent. They may or may not survive if so.

Tulane football barely survived 29 years of football Independence, back when there were many schools (public and private, in all sections of the country) that were Independent. In today's environment, the only ones who can survive that way are the military academies and schools like Notre Dame and BYU (I cannot think of anyone else) who have a distinct national following and some sort of special deal with the media. Tulane football would be dead within 10 years if it tried to go down that path today.

As for conference membership, Tulane football likewise could not survive playing teams like North Texas and Middle Tennessee and UTSA. The sense of mutual apathy/disinterest between Tulane and those schools is just about 100%. Even against schools like Houston and UTEP it's close to that.

I can remember Tulane as a SEC team and I can remember somewhere between 1959 or 1960 going to the Ole Miss Tulane game in old Tulane Stadium (loved that old stadium) and watching a totally outmanned Tulane team take a big whipping from the Rebels that might have started my distaste for Ole Miss.

I remember the first Tulane Southern Miss game and oh what a game it was, one for the ages. It actually was one of the few times I have been disappointed at our fans, because the safety of the officials was so bad that extra security had to be given them just because of the call on the field goal (I stand by their call because it was so close and no way I would say the officials intentionally got it wrong). That is one of few times but once in 82 in the dome, our mascot was Jeff Davis and some frat boys from one of the Tulane frats came on field at halftime and attacked Jeff. He fought them off but too many of them and eventually they put him on the ground knocking him out. Security came on the field after realizing it wasn't part of the act and got them, then the Tulane Admin. did the right thing and dished out well deserved punishment.

I remember also Tulane talking seriously as C-USA was forming that they might not be able to hang on in football to make it to the beginning of the conference. WE all held our collective breaths and Tulane did make it. I hope Tulane does ok.

(01-25-2013 01:13 PM)JDTulane Wrote:  FWIW: my family is from Louisiana and I'm not from the northeast. We've always respected Tulane as one of the best gulf Universities and I'm happy I attended.

I like playing Rice, USM. LaTech can shove it ;]

(mom went to ULM, aunt went to ULM, I went to Tulane)

Most of the New Orleanians I know who went to Tulane have lots of interesting stories about the Great Depression.

(01-25-2013 01:27 PM)SgtGoldenEagle Wrote:  

(01-25-2013 01:08 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(01-25-2013 12:55 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  If the nBE fails then Tulane will be homeless. C-USA won't want them back (and Tulane won't go back anyway)... They'd never go to the Sun Belt...

If it got to this point, they'd be best off splitting football from the olympic sports and going into the A-10 (who'd take them in a second). The football team would be independent. They may or may not survive if so.

Tulane football barely survived 29 years of football Independence, back when there were many schools (public and private, in all sections of the country) that were Independent. In today's environment, the only ones who can survive that way are the military academies and schools like Notre Dame and BYU (I cannot think of anyone else) who have a distinct national following and some sort of special deal with the media. Tulane football would be dead within 10 years if it tried to go down that path today.

As for conference membership, Tulane football likewise could not survive playing teams like North Texas and Middle Tennessee and UTSA. The sense of mutual apathy/disinterest between Tulane and those schools is just about 100%. Even against schools like Houston and UTEP it's close to that.

I can remember Tulane as a SEC team and I can remember somewhere between 1959 or 1960 going to the Ole Miss Tulane game in old Tulane Stadium (loved that old stadium) and watching a totally outmanned Tulane team take a big whipping from the Rebels that might have started my distaste for Ole Miss.

I remember the first Tulane Southern Miss game and oh what a game it was, one for the ages. It actually was one of the few times I have been disappointed at our fans, because the safety of the officials was so bad that extra security had to be given them just because of the call on the field goal (I stand by their call because it was so close and no way I would say the officials intentionally got it wrong). That is one of few times but once in 82 in the dome, our mascot was Jeff Davis and some frat boys from one of the Tulane frats came on field at halftime and attacked Jeff. He fought them off but too many of them and eventually they put him on the ground knocking him out. Security came on the field after realizing it wasn't part of the act and got them, then the Tulane Admin. did the right thing and dished out well deserved punishment.

I remember also Tulane talking seriously as C-USA was forming that they might not be able to hang on in football to make it to the beginning of the conference. WE all held our collective breaths and Tulane did make it. I hope Tulane does ok.

I loved that stadium. I lived on Calhoun St. when I was little and you could walk to the end and really see the whole stadium... it seemed like the whole thing was made out of steel rods and plates.

(01-25-2013 12:39 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-25-2013 12:35 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  I can't stand our athletic department. We should be moving towards our local partners in Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss - not away from them. I think we're doing it because we're an AAU institution and a perennial Top-60 school in the US. It's more arrogance than fear in my opinion. We're "too good" to play with our relatives so we have to play with a bunch of strangers that match our own arrogance (or even exceed it as I've learned).

The rest of LA hates us for this - and they should. It's stupid. We can be an elite institution (as we still are) and athletically align ourselves with our local relatives.

...makes too much sense...not cents...your stance would make dollars

I highly doubt there will be any ooc games in bb or baseball. football is for sure out the window. Tulane never cared about the battle of the bell. then ad Sandy barber (sp) did not want to be part of having it made.