(09-09-2021 10:55 AM)Stammers Wrote:  

(09-09-2021 10:15 AM)memtiger1987 Wrote:  

(09-09-2021 09:49 AM)CKMcDan Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 01:54 AM)grapes Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 01:24 AM)Alanda Wrote:  That's why I focus so much on the academics side. This to me is the biggest gap that can be closed if UM keeps working on it.

Academics are very important I agree, but if we put a winning football team out each year that draws a large viewing and puts butts in the seats that can be overlooked.

UCF's invite proves that point. Geographically, they make no sense, being several states separated from the nearest B12 member. They've had a good football run over the past 10 yrs, thus they get an invite despite no other connections to the B12.

Not to mention UCF built an OCS. You may not like their stadium, but it’s a good sized OCS (around 45k). They went big. They’ve hired some bigger named coaches (I’m certainly not complaining about our picks, just lesser names).

They’ve shown huge commitment to football. And it got them into the Big 12 before us. My guess is if we had shown that commitment 5-10 years ago, we’d be in a better spot now.

So where will be 5-10 years from now?

I guarantee nobody cares if their stadium isn't state of the art. They have a great atmosphere and the area with the football stadium, basketball arena and student housing is very cool. They are in a fertile recruiting area; a nice destination and they win ballgames.

Their enrollment is 66,000 and keeps skyrocketing, while ours has been at 20,000 give or take for as long as I can remember. I know there must be a reason for it, but I would have thought that increasing enrollment would have been a priority.

Damn, we agree about something!

UCF had vision and decided to invest big time on their facilities. They went FBS in 1996 (Independent). Joined the MAC in 2002, and have been moving up ever since. They should be a template for us (also Louisville). Bold vision. Big outcomes.

Looks like USF got the memo.

(09-09-2021 10:55 AM)Stammers Wrote:  I guarantee nobody cares if their stadium isn't state of the art. They have a great atmosphere and the area with the football stadium, basketball arena and student housing is very cool. They are in a fertile recruiting area; a nice destination and they win ballgames.

Their enrollment is 66,000 and keeps skyrocketing, while ours has been at 20,000 give or take for as long as I can remember. I know there must be a reason for it, but I would have thought that increasing enrollment would have been a priority.

One possible (probable?) reason for the stagnation of student population and UofM is that the general region served has stagnated. Metro area of Memphis had a very small population increase in this latest census.

(09-09-2021 11:11 AM)bbqtiger Wrote:  

(09-09-2021 10:55 AM)Stammers Wrote:  I guarantee nobody cares if their stadium isn't state of the art. They have a great atmosphere and the area with the football stadium, basketball arena and student housing is very cool. They are in a fertile recruiting area; a nice destination and they win ballgames.

Their enrollment is 66,000 and keeps skyrocketing, while ours has been at 20,000 give or take for as long as I can remember. I know there must be a reason for it, but I would have thought that increasing enrollment would have been a priority.

One possible (probable?) reason for the stagnation of student population and UofM is that the general region served has stagnated. Metro area of Memphis had a very small population increase in this latest census.

Agree. And we've had a very micro outlook on our potential student pool by really focusing marketing efforts on the 901. When we view that as our only source of incoming students, and it's stagnated, guess what happens? This is another thing Rudd seemed to get and put efforts in expanding throughout the state (Nashville marketing, Lambuth campus, etc.).