The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[ERCougar]

This is quite possibly the most bizarre thing you have ever posted.

Not even close.

[Babs]

That's seems overly harsh. To compare Utah and UVU (even tangentially) is absurd.

Utah is not in the same league as Cal, Standford, UCLA, USC, but they are a good school with some excellent programs, strong research, and a bright future. Other than the rivalry thing, I wouldn't have a problem sending a child there.

I'm guessing nikuman wouldn't send his kids to the flagship schools of about 30 of the states.

[NorthwestUteFan]

No its utah

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk

I am glad to hear Utah is doing it too. I will keep that one in my back pocket. We have plenty of excellent options here in the state but that would be an excellent choice if my kids want engineering, chemistry, physics, or medicine careers. BYU is great for the price but of tuition but brings some other baggage.

Ironically WASSU is more expensive for in-state tuition than UW right now. Plus UW would be an easy commute.

[Coach McGuirk]

Both this thread and the other thread are so far off topic. I'm not one to discourage threadjacks but with thsee threads I really like clicking to see news of what is happening with expansion and it gets old debating how bad Utah sucks.

[LA Ute]

That's not what I said, amigo. I said you are scared to death of being put in an 8-team division with OU and Texas. Most of the posts that followed my comment have confirmed that, including yours.

Babs said it. She was kidding/smacking and so was I.

But now that you've brought it up, I'll repeat that I am persuaded by Jarid's post. If Utah wants to keep climbing the totem pole of college football, being in a league with OU and UT would be a good thing. For many reasons, primarily selfish enjoyment, I really prefer being part of a West Coast league. But if the PAC-16 comes to be (I remain skeptical) that will still be a very good thing for my favorite school. I just hope the Utes come to California to play often.

[Hsaru]

Hard to believe Pac-16 won't happen after Oklahoma's President came out with his statements, those were incredibly destabilizing comments to the Big 12 both for current and potential future members.

I don't know why he made the comments, if he had any thought they may stay in the Big 12 he destroyed any chance the Big 12 can survive with those comments, and if you are going to Pac 16 I don't see the point of the comments as well, just wait it out. I think he made them for the rabid fans who were hating looking like Texas' lap dogs, and the Big 12 is paying the price.

[Babs]

Hard to believe Pac-16 won't happen after Oklahoma's President came out with his statements, those were incredibly destabilizing comments to the Big 12 both for current and potential future members.

I don't know why he made the comments, if he had any thought they may stay in the Big 12 he destroyed any chance the Big 12 can survive with those comments, and if you are going to Pac 16 I don't see the point of the comments as well, just wait it out. I think he made them for the rabid fans who were hating looking like Texas' lap dogs, and the Big 12 is paying the price.

Boren, like many politicians, is mostly loco and completely blinded by ego. I was once at a dinner where everyone in attendance had to wait for over an hour due to a standoff between Boren and the governor over who would get to enter last. (Traditionally, the highest-ranking guest of honor gets the final entrance.)

This is also the guy that wanted a congressional inquiry into the Oregon-Oklahoma game. He's a really smart guy, but he doesn't think through what he's saying/doing a lot of the time.

[Babs]

Babs said it. She was kidding/smacking.

Not really.

[Viking]

Hard to believe Pac-16 won't happen after Oklahoma's President came out with his statements, those were incredibly destabilizing comments to the Big 12 both for current and potential future members.

I don't know why he made the comments, if he had any thought they may stay in the Big 12 he destroyed any chance the Big 12 can survive with those comments, and if you are going to Pac 16 I don't see the point of the comments as well, just wait it out. I think he made them for the rabid fans who were hating looking like Texas' lap dogs, and the Big 12 is paying the price.

I thought the OU prez comments were a little too obvious to be completely sincere

[LA Ute]

Let me put this in a different context. As a parent with a kid looking at college choices already (no, really!), I can't think of one good reason to suggest the U as a destination. Not one that has to do with something other than Utah's nature, anyway, and UVU would be sufficient for that.

So Utah doesn't even register on my schools to look at as an out of stater. BYU at least has reasons for me to look at things, although I have qualms there.

So if I'm in any way representative of people generally, it is a fair claim to say that Utah is tied very closely to the culture of it's namesake state and is otherwise not noteworthy. It is irrelevant. I'll resist playing the Summon FMCoug card at this point. At least BYU has special relevance, for better or for worse.

On the flipside, I can think of a bunch of reasons to consider a lot of the old PAC-8 schools.

Another perspective:

Now that BYU is no longer an "automatic" admission for LDS kids (especially RMs) from Southern California - it hasn't been that for at least 15 years, maybe more - lots of parents are interested in finding an alternative school that will give their kids a chance to go to college with a strong LDS church environment, even if that's off-campus. One reason for this is to have a larger pool of potential marriage partners. (Often the kids are the ones thinking of this factor as much as the parents do.)

UVU (in its various iterations over the years) has long been considered BYU Lite. So has USU. Dixie College was seen as a way for kids to get their feet wet in college. SUU has become popular. For parents and kids who are quite serious about school and want the best graduate school options, USU and the U of U seem to be the top options in Utah apart from BYU. Three kids from my ward have ended up at the U in the last 6-7 years. (The alumni "legacy" tuition break there has helped an awful lot to make that choice more acceptable.) The U is not the right choice for every LDS kid from out of state, but the extremely strong Institute program make it attractive.

It is, after all, the flagship university in the Utah system of higher education, much like Oregon, Arizona, Washington, and Colorado are. Interestingly, I am mainly aware of those universities because of their athletics programs, and although I wouldn't necessarily have them on the list for my kids to attend, if those school's names were suggested to me as possibilities, I'd at least recognize them favorably as PAC-12 institutions. I think that recognition is one thing the U hopes to gain from membership in that conference.

[Red Legger]

One point of view.

Boren, like many politicians, is mostly loco and completely blinded by ego. I was once at a dinner where everyone in attendance had to wait for over an hour due to a standoff between Boren and the governor over who would get to enter last. (Traditionally, the highest-ranking guest of honor gets the final entrance.)

This is also the guy that wanted a congressional inquiry into the Oregon-Oklahoma game. He's a really smart guy, but he doesn't think through what he's saying/doing a lot of the time.

From the Kanzas perspective, he is, you know, an Okie.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Beat Mizzou

[LA Ute]

Not really.

I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Fine. You're just wrong, then, for the reasons I gave infra. Or supra, depending on how you've set up your page.

[Babs]

It is, after all, the flagship university in the Utah system of higher education, much like Oregon, Arizona, Washington, and Colorado are.

Where's Seattle? Perhaps he can comment on the Utah/UDub equivalency.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Boren, like many politicians, is mostly loco and completely blinded by ego. I was once at a dinner where everyone in attendance had to wait for over an hour due to a standoff between Boren and the governor over who would get to enter last. (Traditionally, the highest-ranking guest of honor gets the final entrance.)

This is also the guy that wanted a congressional inquiry into the Oregon-Oklahoma game. He's a really smart guy, but he doesn't think through what he's saying/doing a lot of the time.

Wow. Interesting.

[Babs]

From the Kanzas perspective, he is, you know, an Okie.

Yes, I like to think of Okies as Rhodes Scholars, too.