(03-14-2018 11:49 PM)flash3200 Wrote:  These kids stepping up to legit programs definitely is an indictment on the prior program. Hopefully Bloomgren builds something people will want to stick around for, even if they are still in CUSA.

No, it's not. If anything, it is an indictment on the ****** conference Rice plays in and the ****** teams Rice plays. No decent player wants to play in front of a crowd of a couple thousand every weekend.

(03-15-2018 09:25 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 11:49 PM)flash3200 Wrote:  These kids stepping up to legit programs definitely is an indictment on the prior program. Hopefully Bloomgren builds something people will want to stick around for, even if they are still in CUSA.

No, it's not. If anything, it is an indictment on the ****** conference Rice plays in and the ****** teams Rice plays. No decent player wants to play in front of a crowd of a couple thousand every weekend.

Probably both right. OTOH, what it is not an indictment of is the recruiting and player development. I don't think Texas, South Carolina, or Texas Tech would want an over-recruited/underdeveloped transfer.

(03-15-2018 09:25 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 11:49 PM)flash3200 Wrote:  These kids stepping up to legit programs definitely is an indictment on the prior program. Hopefully Bloomgren builds something people will want to stick around for, even if they are still in CUSA.

No, it's not. If anything, it is an indictment on the ****** conference Rice plays in and the ****** teams Rice plays. No decent player wants to play in front of a crowd of a couple thousand every weekend.

And that also in part lands with the previous regime and leadership. We were too busy self- pleasuring our self over our bowl games and "unprecedented success" to see the obvious disaster occurring.

And we also had our genius AD and his sandwich board comments.

If we had focused on being truly better instead of the circle jerk of the last decade, maybe we wouldn't have an empty stadium. It spans long before the last decade but we really actively ****** ourselves recently.

Instead of blaming the players for leaving, blaming the conference etc. The cronies responsible should look in a mirror.

I support the grad-transfer rule in theory but in application it's a farce. As I understand it, kids have to enroll in a graduate program not offered at their undergraduate school. You can't tell me there are all that many majors that are unique to one school versus another AND that kids are genuinely interested in studying at a graduate level. So what happens in practice is the kids base 100% of their decision on athletic factors, then there's probably a hunt through the two schools' course catalogs to find a niche program at the transferee school to stick them in. These kids almost certainly have no intention of actually getting their master's, though, so whether they actually do anything academic is unlikely and probably not even checked, and even if it were, their one season will be over before there would be any consequences. Hats off to the few that actually get their degrees but the numbers are laughably low.

Like much of the ineffectively-self-policed NCAA system, it is a rule that looks good on paper but that lends itself to abuse in favor of less academically rigorous schools.

(03-15-2018 01:52 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  I support the grad-transfer rule in theory but in application it's a farce. As I understand it, kids have to enroll in a graduate program not offered at their undergraduate school. You can't tell me there are all that many majors that are unique to one school versus another AND that kids are genuinely interested in studying at a graduate level. So what happens in practice is the kids base 100% of their decision on athletic factors, then there's probably a hunt through the two schools' course catalogs to find a niche program at the transferee school to stick them in. These kids almost certainly have no intention of actually getting their master's, though, so whether they actually do anything academic is unlikely and probably not even checked, and even if it were, their one season will be over before there would be any consequences. Hats off to the few that actually get their degrees but the numbers are laughably low.

Like much of the ineffectively-self-policed NCAA system, it is a rule that looks good on paper but that lends itself to abuse in favor of less academically rigorous schools.

Even if their decision is 100% athletics based, they don't owe us a damn thing.

hell let's use the grad transfer farce to our advantage !

just win, baby.

(03-15-2018 03:27 PM)davidw Wrote:  hell let's use the grad transfer farce to our advantage !

just win, baby.

If it's within the rules then absolutely.

If we aren't/don't - we aren't morally superior or whatever, we are ******* stupid

(03-15-2018 08:45 AM)uhcoog27 Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 07:36 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 04:58 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  He did what was asked. We did what was promised.

I can't explain why, but for some reason your comment reminds me of my favorite lines from one of the finest poems in the history of the English language, Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (1750=1751). The poet contemplates the lives of the un-famous common folk buried in a small-town graveyard, and imagines his own epitaph as one of them. The second-to-last verse reads in part:

He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,
He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.

I wrote my graduate thesis on Gray! Even had the pleasure of visiting the supposed graveyard in Stoke Poges. Never expected to run into him on a sports message board. Thanks for the smile.

And likewise! A pretty nice digression in any conversation, and especially for a sports board.

(03-15-2018 03:40 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 03:27 PM)davidw Wrote:  hell let's use the grad transfer farce to our advantage !

just win, baby.

If it's within the rules then absolutely.

If we aren't/don't - we aren't morally superior or whatever, we are ******* stupid

It's not so much moral superiority as it is an institutional problem. Rice doesn't get grad transfers for a few reasons, but the main one is that the university has very, very few one-year grad school programs. Athletes go places to get a degree and play football; if there are places that you can do both in one year, why go to Rice? You're just signing up for extra school without football by transferring as a grad student to Rice

(03-16-2018 10:47 AM)ricedtea Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 03:40 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 03:27 PM)davidw Wrote:  hell let's use the grad transfer farce to our advantage !

just win, baby.

If it's within the rules then absolutely.

If we aren't/don't - we aren't morally superior or whatever, we are ******* stupid

It's not so much moral superiority as it is an institutional problem. Rice doesn't get grad transfers for a few reasons, but the main one is that the university has very, very few one-year grad school programs. Athletes go places to get a degree and play football; if there are places that you can do both in one year, why go to Rice? You're just signing up for extra school without football by transferring as a grad student to Rice

I would think if we got a grad transfer we would honor a two year scholarship, even if only one year of eligibility left - no?

(03-16-2018 10:47 AM)ricedtea Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 03:40 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 03:27 PM)davidw Wrote:  hell let's use the grad transfer farce to our advantage !

just win, baby.

If it's within the rules then absolutely.

If we aren't/don't - we aren't morally superior or whatever, we are ******* stupid

It's not so much moral superiority as it is an institutional problem. Rice doesn't get grad transfers for a few reasons, but the main one is that the university has very, very few one-year grad school programs. Athletes go places to get a degree and play football; if there are places that you can do both in one year, why go to Rice? You're just signing up for extra school without football by transferring as a grad student to Rice

absolutely. But that doesn't mean anyone who does offer these programs is somehow acting improperly. The existence of grad transfers is a known fact. Rice can either adapt to meet the requirements of the playing field or find a different field/level to play on.

(03-16-2018 12:16 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(03-16-2018 10:47 AM)ricedtea Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 03:40 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 03:27 PM)davidw Wrote:  hell let's use the grad transfer farce to our advantage !

just win, baby.

If it's within the rules then absolutely.

If we aren't/don't - we aren't morally superior or whatever, we are ******* stupid

It's not so much moral superiority as it is an institutional problem. Rice doesn't get grad transfers for a few reasons, but the main one is that the university has very, very few one-year grad school programs. Athletes go places to get a degree and play football; if there are places that you can do both in one year, why go to Rice? You're just signing up for extra school without football by transferring as a grad student to Rice

absolutely. But that doesn't mean anyone who does offer these programs is somehow acting improperly. The existence of grad transfers is a known fact. Rice can either adapt to meet the requirements of the playing field or find a different field/level to play on.

I'm as jaded about Rice's commitment level as the next guy but even I don't think there is some game here that we're short-sightedly refusing to play. I don't think schools are going so far as to create soft one-year master's programs in, say, hotel mgt. or sports mgt. or public admin. just to get a leg up in attracting athlete grad transfers, of which there are still only a relative handful even with the recent increases.

What they are doing is, if they already have these programs, or with whatever grad-level programs they already have, is finding a spot to stick a transfer athlete so it can legitimately be certified to the compliance office as a program not offered at the kid's undergraduate school, and then not giving a flip as to whether the kid actually does anything toward getting the degree. They only need to keep them eligible for a few months until their sport's season ends. Frankly I would rather Rice not engage in these shenanigans, although again, I have no problem with taking transfers who are willing to be bona fide grad students, nor do I really have a problem with Rice grads taking off for greener pastures and benefiting from the flawed system that is in place. Ideally the NCAA would tighten up the loopholes but I won't hold my breath on that.

Bottom line is that as long as we stay a have-not instead of a have, we are going to be a net loser when it comes to grad transfer talent, regardless of the course offerings we do or do not have. Grads who were starters here will go to P5 schools but the reverse won't be happening - those kids will just simply be going to other P5 schools. We might be in the mix for P5 kids who weren't on scholarship or wouldn't be getting any playing time if they stayed, and we might be an attractive destination for kids for whom CUSA would be a step up in competition level.