(04-17-2021 11:17 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I still think Murray State has a problem with university president resistance - it was clearly there previously in other MVC expansion discussions where a lot of fans continuously overrated their chances of an invite. This isn’t even necessarily a public/private issue, either - Illinois State, for instance, has a much different academic and student profile. Maybe that resistance has dissipated over the past few years, but it might be stronger than what a lot of people give it credit for.

In a lot of discussions I discount academics as a factor (e.g. WVU to the ACC) because money talks in most instances. WVU's land grant status was touted by the XII when it was an expansion candidate.

But Murray to the MVC is one of those profiles I believe negative to an aspirational conference. If it went by the name Southern Kentucky it would have more respect as it would represent more than just a small college town.

There was discussion on this board that directional names are "bad" but only in so far as trying to move a school to the power level. For an aspiring mid major, a directional name is beneficial as it portends a full service state university that students go away to as opposed to a little hole in the wall college.