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Does anybody know the reason why Tulane chose to leave the SEC in 1966?
I have heard several distinct reasons, some that are consistent with each other and some that are not. I don't know how to rank them in order of importance to the people who actually made the decision in the '60s. But the various factors in play -- that I have heard about -- were:

1. Desire to play a national schedule ("intersectional" was the buzzword of that era)
2. Desire to play other colleges/universities with a similar academic profile (i.e., an easier schedule). I think there was a hope that by playing a softer schedule, Tulane could win more games and thus have a more successful team on the field. Which would result in more TV appearances, bowl games, etc. And in fact, that hope did yield some positive results (cf. the overall W-L from about 1970-80).
3. Recognition that, barring a Drastic Re-Evaluation of certain university policies in terms of athletic admissions, budget limits, etc., Tulane would usually be non-competitive in SEC football. I do not know, right off-hand, what Tulane's record against SEC opponents was from about (say) 1953-65, but it was very, very ugly.
4. Encouragement by the fact that Georgia Tech had just made the same decision a mere two years earlier, and a concurrent belief that the SEC was becoming even more difficult for a private-urban school, more academically-oriented than schools like (say) Alabama or Georgia than it already was before.

As much as the reasons for making the decision to leave the SEC, we should also keep in mind the absence of reasons that seem obvious to us in retrospect, but did not seem obvious to Tulane or to anyone else at the time. For example, only a few college football games were televised each week in the US in those days. I do not think anyone could foretell, in 1964-65, the incredible rise of "sports media" like ESPN, and how significant conference-alignment would prove to be in a media-landscape dominated by it (by ESPN, I mean. And Jefferson-Pilot, Fox Sports, etc.).

I think, by the mid-70s, both Tulane and Georgia Tech probably wished they could have gotten back into the SEC, but of course that ship had sailed. Georgia and Louisiana State were not about to allow their hated rivals to get back in the gate. Georgia Tech was blessed by geography and was able to slip into the ACC as a consolation prize, but New Orleans was just too far away.
There is no way to know exactly how history would have unfolded if Tulane had remained in the SEC all these years. Obviously, in most ways Tulane athletics would be "better off." Certainly it would be richer from the $$$-aspect.

But everytime I scan over Vanderbilt's W-L record since then, I can't help but get the sense that Tulane would have been in the same boat, fighting with the 'Dores each year to see who would finish last and who would finish next-to-last. With a "special bonus", every other decade or so, of finishing 6-5 or 7-4 and getting to play in the Music City Bowl or some such. As bad as Tulane has had it in football, we have had it better than that. I don't believe the legacy of 1998, in particular -- an undefeated team that finished #7 in both of the major post-bowl polls -- would ever have happened if we stayed in the SEC.

As for C-USA, obviously Tulane and the league overall have some severe problems in terms of money, media-exposure, and competitiveness. Some of those problems have been self-inflicted, and some were created by external elements. All of C-USA need to work on that, and Tulane needs to work on it more than most. But the chance to play in the same conference with like-minded institutions such as Rice, SMU, and Tulsa is a great opportunity for us. The chance to have geographically-close (or semi-close) matchups in important southern hub-cities like Houston, Memphis, Birmingham, and Orlando is, too. The all-sports rivalry with Southern Miss (2-hour drive between campuses) is especially important to me. I can honestly say that I have been well-treated by everyone I have ever met in Hattiesburg. And while the tragedies of 11-14-70 and 08-29-05 are very different, deep-down they both deal with the same issues of loss and pain and renewal that transcends sports. No other university currently playing FBS-level football has had to deal with those issues on that scale, So I was glad to see Marshall join C-USA and while they've been down in football, I think they can snap out of it, much like ECU and Houston (for example) have done.
(07-26-2010 09:50 AM)SMUstang Wrote: [ -> ]Does anybody know the reason why Tulane chose to leave the SEC in 1966?

In the early 1950ties, there was a move to de-emphasize football at Tulane. Some wanted Tulane to be like an Ivy League School. Previously, Tulane had been a football powerhouse but some saw football emphasis as being an enemy of good Academics. In the 1960ties, there was a move to return but de-emphasis had taken its toll on the program so they withdrew from the SEC, thinking it might allow them to be more competitive and be in more bowl games. I think Tulane regrets this now that we have finally a football friendly administration but LSU would never want Tulane back in the SEC where it was very competitive with LSU.
(07-26-2010 12:35 PM)Native Georgian Wrote: [ -> ]I have heard several distinct reasons, some that are consistent with each other and some that are not. I don't know how to rank them in order of importance to the people who actually made the decision in the '60s. But the various factors in play -- that I have heard about -- were:

1. Desire to play a national schedule ("intersectional" was the buzzword of that era)
2. Desire to play other colleges/universities with a similar academic profile (i.e., an easier schedule). I think there was a hope that by playing a softer schedule, Tulane could win more games and thus have a more successful team on the field. Which would result in more TV appearances, bowl games, etc. And in fact, that hope did yield some positive results (cf. the overall W-L from about 1970-80).
3. Recognition that, barring a Drastic Re-Evaluation of certain university policies in terms of athletic admissions, budget limits, etc., Tulane would usually be non-competitive in SEC football. I do not know, right off-hand, what Tulane's record against SEC opponents was from about (say) 1953-65, but it was very, very ugly.
4. Encouragement by the fact that Georgia Tech had just made the same decision a mere two years earlier, and a concurrent belief that the SEC was becoming even more difficult for a private-urban school, more academically-oriented than schools like (say) Alabama or Georgia than it already was before.

As much as the reasons for making the decision to leave the SEC, we should also keep in mind the absence of reasons that seem obvious to us in retrospect, but did not seem obvious to Tulane or to anyone else at the time. For example, only a few college football games were televised each week in the US in those days. I do not think anyone could foretell, in 1964-65, the incredible rise of "sports media" like ESPN, and how significant conference-alignment would prove to be in a media-landscape dominated by it (by ESPN, I mean. And Jefferson-Pilot, Fox Sports, etc.).

I think, by the mid-70s, both Tulane and Georgia Tech probably wished they could have gotten back into the SEC, but of course that ship had sailed. Georgia and Louisiana State were not about to allow their hated rivals to get back in the gate. Georgia Tech was blessed by geography and was able to slip into the ACC as a consolation prize, but New Orleans was just too far away.
I was going to say, Tulane was/is too smart for the SEC.
Same goes for Sewanee. (And GT, of course.)[/align]
Few people know these two trivia questions:

1. What is the only (State) Land Grant University in the history of the United States to go private?

2. Which former (charter) member of the SEC holds more SEC football championships than 6 current SEC members COMBINED?

The answer to both is The Tulane University of Louisiana.
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