RE: 2018 College Football coaching carousel
Even though Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington had been in some sort of confederation since the 1920s, the official PAC-8 didn't emerge until 1968, making it a relatively young conference. When the PAC-8 admitted two WAC programs (Arizona and Arizona State) in 1978, I don't believe Arizona or ASU were notable for their academics or athletics at the time, but Arizona was a very fast-growing state. The PAC-8 made the correct calculation that Arizona and ASU would grow into their roles as members of the PAC-10. Now, some might say ASU has never quite realized its academic potential, but it is in Phoenix, a rapidly growing city: a smaller, drier version of Houston. The additions of Colorado and Utah brought fast-growing Denver and Salt Lake City, respectively.
If Rice and UT joined to create the PAC-14, it would be understood that Rice is already academically well-developed, and further development of athletics would be assumed over time. UT is the prize in terms of athletics, but Rice adds the Houston venue/access and the academic punch. The PAC-14 would have the top private university and the top public university in Texas, and that's real value to the reputation of a conference. Remember the "Ivy League" is nothing but an athletic conference, but we ascribe so much more to being a member of the "Ivy League". Cornell and Brown benefit enormously from being part of the "Ivy League", yet one could argue several other private colleges in the Northeast are actually better academically. The PAC wants to be a club of academic heavyweights as well, and Rice helps in that endeavor. UH, Tech, etc don't...
What Rice needs is a plan for where it wants to go with athletics, and that requires leadership. Having CDC at UT has strategic value if the contact is used properly. I don't believe Leebron is capable of effective leadership (why is he still around at his exorbitant salary???), and Leebron was central to the hiring of Greenspan as AD, a disastrous decision. Rice needs to improve its athletic performance, but it's more important that Rice has a strategic vision for where it is going. I think angling to get into the PAC-12 is the best strategy/vision, and it's not a crazy idea. Rice just doesn't play its cards properly.
(This post was last modified: 01-15-2019 06:43 PM by Bay Area Owl.)
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