UT, A&M Petition Big10 for Inclusion

[Husker Runner]

I'm now wondering if the Big 10 has any desire to accept all three Texas schools. That's probably what it would take to run the political traps here in Austin and make a Big 10 merger happen.

There is absolutely zero chance that the Big Ten would accept Texas Tech. TT comes nowhere near the realm of merit to the CIC, which is worth much more than the television contracts to member universities, and the CIC money is much more important to us in the Big Ten then television money. I am still mystified at how few in the media get that we are an academic as well as an athletic conference-- and the money rolling in for the academic part dwarfs the amount from the athletic part, as lofty as that may be. By all accounts the Big Ten split around $220 million in television money, more than any other conference per team or overall. We also split $6 BILLION in research money for the CIC.

And yet ignorant talking heads dicuss such ridiculous schools without a chance in the wind at the CIC as West Virginia. . .

The Big 10 is indeed a prestigious academic conference; however, the CIC is more hype than anything else. Yes, CIC institutions do receive $6 billion in research money, but almost all of that money--if not every single penny of it-- would have been awarded to those schools anyway, CIC or not. These schools developed their funding stream over many years by doing excellent research and being premier academic institutions.

If you look at CIC's website, you will see that what they really do is save money for member institutions by facilitating a way to share services like libraries and IT. The savings are maybe a million or two per year per school. It's not like there is some $6 billion pool of money given to the CIC to divvy up among the schools. These schools were already receiving money before the CIC and they would continue to receive money if the CIC ceased to exist.

Don't get me wrong, I think from an academic standpoint, moving to the Big 10 will be a great thing for Nebraska. But that has nothing to do with the CIC, it has to do with the fact that these are some great universities.

 

[muffler dragon]

Oh, and Muffler Dragon...Chip Brown did indeed throw out a large cowchip with that line about them not being in contact. But that doesn't blow the rest of his credibility. I'm now wondering if the Big 10 has any desire to accept all three Texas schools. That's probably what it would take to run the political traps here in Austin and make a Big 10 merger happen.
But then...what happens to OU and OSU?

As Kinch said, the Big Ten's interest would only be UT and A&M. That includes OU and OSU.

The Big 10 is indeed a prestigious academic conference; however, the CIC is more hype than anything else. Yes, CIC institutions do receive $6 billion in research money, but almost all of that money--if not every single penny of it-- would have been awarded to those schools anyway, CIC or not. These schools developed their funding stream over many years by doing excellent research and being premier academic institutions.
If you look at CIC's website, you will see that what they really do is save money for member institutions by facilitating a way to share services like libraries and IT. The savings are maybe a million or two per year per school. It's not like there is some $6 billion pool of money given to the CIC to divvy up among the schools. These schools were already receiving money before the CIC and they would continue to receive money if the CIC ceased to exist.

Don't get me wrong, I think from an academic standpoint, moving to the Big 10 will be a great thing for Nebraska. But that has nothing to do with the CIC, it has to do with the fact that these are some great universities.

I understand your reserved enthusiasm; however,

1) $6,000,000,000 can't be considered hype. Sure, there are different perspectives; but never hype.

2) It's not just a matter of sharing services like libraries and IT. It's a complete cooperative amongst ALL member schools. Students learn at other institutions as well as their initial graduate program.

I was never a Big Ten student nor involved with the CIC; however, I have been educated on the matter by those who have been.

 

[ladyhawke]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

The hits just keep on coming!

http://www.kctv5.com/sports/23860558/detail.html

 

[ladyhawke]

This was an interesting piece not from a reporter but from someone who went through the break up of the SWC. It seems that there was alot more going on than just sanctions!

NolanForAD:

The SWC had a rule that forbid any referee that lived in the State of Arkansas from working a game involving the University of Arkansas. Understandable, except there was no rule forbidding a ref calling a game involving his alma mater. As a result, Arkansas played every conference game against a team from Texas with refs from Texas, often with refs that graduated from the school Arkansas was playing against. In football, we had a winning record against every school but UT and in basketball we absolutely dominated. They didn't like it and they cheated against us. We suffered numerous "questionable" calls that cost us huge games, the most notorious of which was the one that nullified a TD against UT in 69. It was a phantom call made by a graduate of the University of Texas. The old SWC schools other than Arkansas are among the most notorious NCAA violators. SMU, Tamu, Houston, and Texas Tech took turns being convicted of the 'most infractions ever.' Texas and Baylor were also no strangers to the NCAA infractions committee. Some SEC schools (Bama) are also known for cheating but none compare to what was going on in Texas. The Governor of Texas was caught paying players at SMU - top that!

We were SICK and TIRED of dealing with a band of outlaws that treated us like the proverbial red-headed stepchild. When we got thw chance to move to the premier conference, knowing full well that the SWC could not survive after losing one of the big three (AR UT and Tamu). We left them to die and we knew it and liked it- they had it coming. UT Tamu Baylor and TT eventually got lucky and got into the Big12. Old school Arkansas fans only want them and the other four to suffer and certainly don't EVER want to associate with them again. The youngsters that want to join the Big12 need to study the history of those programs so they can understand how offensive that suggestion is to those of us who were around in those days. Those cheaters cost us at least 2 nc's - 78 and 69. Never forget!

***This person sounds as passionate about his football as we do here in Nebraska. I'm just angry that we have to leave OUR HOUSE! I wonder if Osborne saw this day coming. It's sad. All the tradition traded for what? Money? Money has ruined sports. (Getting off of my soapbox now)

 

[Husker Runner]

I understand your reserved enthusiasm; however,

1) $6,000,000,000 can't be considered hype. Sure, there are different perspectives; but never hype.

2) It's not just a matter of sharing services like libraries and IT. It's a complete cooperative amongst ALL member schools. Students learn at other institutions as well as their initial graduate program.

I was never a Big Ten student nor involved with the CIC; however, I have been educated on the matter by those who have been.

Here are the concrete collaborative functions of the CIC, as listed on their website:

Library Collaborations: The Center for Library Initiatives focuses on three key objectives--optimizing student and faculty access to the combined resources of our libraries; maximizing cost, time, and space savings; and supporting a collaborative environment where library staff can work together to solve their mutual problems.

Technology Collaborations: Information technology (IT) has never been so important to the future of higher education. In fact, virtually every academic function depends to some degree on IT. For that reason, the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of the CIC universities have made it their priority to build IT capacity while reducing costs.

Purchasing and Licensing: By joining forces, member universities are able to negotiate better licensing terms and gain significant price advantages on products with relatively high margins. To date, CIC has saved more than $19 million on commodity purchases.

Leadership Development: In order to remain viable and competitive, universities must continually invest in their faculty and staff. By leveraging resources and drawing upon the expertise within the member institutions, CIC is able to offer professional development opportunities that are highly relevant and effective.

Sharing Access to Courses: CIC institutions have a long tradition of sharing faculty expertise by making specialized courses available to students from member universities. Three different programs increase student access to courses including the newest program, CourseShare, which offers courses delivered via technology to students at all CIC campuses.

Study Abroad Collaborations: Providing high quality study abroad opportunities and increasing student access to those opportunities are top priorities for CIC universities. CIC collaborative study abroad programs are customized to expressly meet the academic standards of CIC universities while also remaining cost effective for CIC students.

These are all worthwhile goals, but they have very little to do with directly increasing funding to member institutions. When research money is being distributed, CIC affiliation simply is not a factor in what schools do or don't get funding, and rarely comes up in review panels. In multi-institution collaborations, the only concern is whether an institution can handle their part of the project.

It's not like by becoming a CIC institution, Nebraska will automatically get some special cut of $6 billion. NU will have to earn it just like they would have without CIC affiliation, and they will often compete against other CIC schools for projects. Frankly, the CIC schools would rather share their football playbooks than share research revenue.

The CIC has been mentioned far more on football messages boards over the past several months than it ever is in the research community.