For the first time, I saw a Grand Canyon U. Commercial on my TV in KY. It rivaled the quality and content I've seen in national LU commercials.

They are legitimate competitor on multiple fronts as they transition from for-profit to non-profit status.

Are they actively transitioning to non-profit or is that a long term goal of theirs they have yet to do? It would be hard to do because they would have to buy out all the investors first and that is no small amount.

I just checked out a few commercials on YouTube and if they got that for-profit to non-profit thing figured out LU might be in trouble. That and GCU starting a FB team.

I suppose we need to schedule them in basketball ASAP, so we can put them in their place. All kidding aside, I would welcome a great rivalry with them if it went that direction. They already have a pretty good basketball program.

I was reading an article about their business plan. Seems they are working toward a mix of profit/non-profit however that would work. But it seems they are making a good move.

I was also reading their mission statement and they say they are a "missional" school rather than a "covenant" school. Not sure exactly what that means but seems that anyone can teach at the school regardless of their beliefs.

(02-08-2016 04:48 PM)army56mike Wrote:  I suppose we need to schedule them in basketball ASAP, so we can put them in their place. All kidding aside, I would welcome a great rivalry with them if it went that direction. They already have a pretty good basketball program.

I was reading an article about their business plan. Seems they are working toward a mix of profit/non-profit however that would work. But it seems they are making a good move.

I was also reading their mission statement and they say they are a "missional" school rather than a "covenant" school. Not sure exactly what that means but seems that anyone can teach at the school regardless of their beliefs.

I looked into the for-profit to non-profit conversion and it seems to be just in the figuring out how to do it stage.

Hope they start football at the FCS level.

I don't see how they will be able to afford to buy out the shareholders. I don't know why they started out for-profit if they ever thought that they would be non-profit in the future. They may be our competition online but I don't see it otherwise.

(02-09-2016 06:38 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  I don't see how they will be able to afford to buy out the shareholders. I don't know why they started out for-profit if they ever thought that they would be non-profit in the future. They may be our competition online but I don't see it otherwise.

They started out as a non-profit and sold out and turned to a for-profit when they were about to go belly up. Since being a for-profit appears to be a sinking ship they just want to make sure they have a future outside of being a for-profit. A good example is one of the largest for-profits UOPX is seeing a huge downturn in students. It was announced yesterday they (UOPX) are selling themselves and going from a publicly traded company to a private non-public one, they will still be for-profit. Being a for-profit just isn't as viable as it once was.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/pf/colle...index.html

Good find Curtis. That's an interesting read. I hate being compared to UOPX. I wouldn't be upset if they closed their doors.

Grand Canyon U saw our non-profit success and combined with their move up to the WAC from D2 the transition has become a legitimate focus of the school. As mentioned earlier, it won't be easy.

As for missional vs. covenant discussion, in this case it refers to the fact that you don't have to sign a declaration of faith to attend. Thankfully we dropped that decades ago. The idea is that if you want to pay us to be preached the Gospel for four years then by all means come on down. We don't need more holy huddles. We need more folks to have a personal relationship with God.

Looks like the HLC turned down their attempt to convert to a non-profit in Feb.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016...-nonprofit

Not quite sure how I feel about that. It would have been nice for LU to have a "peer" institution, and possible new rival, but it's also nice not to have competition. I imagine GCU will make another run at it by changing their model again.

It's tough to have a rival across the country. Most rivals are regional. I don't think it would have ever developed into a rivalry.

(03-11-2016 08:01 AM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  It's tough to have a rival across the country. Most rivals are regional. I don't think it would have ever developed into a rivalry.

The best rivalries are when an opposing team comes to town and brings their fans and vice versa. When opposing fans have come in numbers to the Vines Center or Williams stadium and cheered loudly, it amps up the fans and team. Ali never would have been as great as he was without Frazier. All great athletes and teams need their nemesis.

Mostly right. I was mainly thinking about Notre Dame's biggest rival game against USC.

(03-11-2016 09:12 PM)army56mike Wrote:  Mostly right. I was mainly thinking about Notre Dame's biggest rival game against USC.

Don't forget Notre Dame's rivalry with Stanford too. And a sort of rivalry with Miami. But Notre Dame is the exception.

GCU (26-6) was invited to the CIT. They won their first round game against S. Carolina St.(19-15) 78-74 and will host Jackson St. (20-15) in the second round.

GCU won their second round game in the CIT. Their next opponent..... Coastal Carolina on Wednesday.

(03-21-2016 08:12 PM)army56mike Wrote:  GCU won their second round game in the CIT. Their next opponent..... Coastal Carolina on Wednesday.

So who do we cheer for? Or should we just ignore it and say the CIT is a joke and not a real tournament? It doesn't exist because I can't watch it on TV?