(12-26-2014 12:32 PM)nj alum Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 12:02 PM)Rocco Wrote:  If you're saying that UVA, UNC etc. are too good to be on our level these days, then by definition you're saying they aren't our peers. They're aspirational opponents.

Who do you want to see the Tribe play at Kaplan / Zable?

Richmond, Delaware, Villanova, Yale would be cool, JMU is fun. Kind of like where we are now.

In bb, Richmond, ODU, UVA and particularly Tech. I still think the last two are possible.

(12-26-2014 01:14 PM)nj alum Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 01:04 PM)BigTribe Wrote:  Academically our peers are schools like UVA, Duke, Michigan, Cal-Berkeley, Colgate, and UNC-Chapel Hill.

W&M has zero interest in being on a big-time athletic peer list...that all died, unfortunately,
when we turned down the ACC in 1975.

The great percentage of the very intelligent students at today's W&M have little to modest
interest in major college athletics.

The absence of big-time conference athletics at our College hasn't hurt W&M one iota; the
College's academic reputation and top-tier ability to get students into the best graduate schools, it's beautiful campus, Williamsburg location, and wide offerings of intercollegiate athletic and club teams on a non-big time level has never been higher and the school never more selective.

I agree with your first three paragraphs.

As for paragraph 4, the near-empty student section at football games is a problem.

Unfortunately, paragraph 3 portends the make-up of the alumni base on a go forward basis ... so to say it hasn't hurt ... I disagree. A lot of the very intelligent students at 1980 W&M had a modest to major interest in major college athletics.

Anyway, the decision was made, and the path forward was chosen ... just have to make the best of it.

The two weakest student section turnouts I have ever seen were Wake and at Vanderbilt. Reason, their teams stunk and were overmatched. That's where you are apparently proposing we should replicate.

Students aren't going to come out for losers.

Either above would love to have the turnouts we had for Villanova this year.

Of course, this seems to be a problem everywhere these days.

I'm a huge sports fan, and I closely follow a lot of college sports, both the Tribe and college football/basketball as a whole. If you could change nothing else about the school except make Zable seat 35k and have us in the ACC - or even the Sun Belt/Conference USA, I would do it in a heart beat. That said, there's no way for that to happen without drastic changes to the College. I don't think the perks of 1-A sports, ACC or otherwise, is worth expanding to 20k+. Even the smallest 1-A schools have thousands over us enrollment wise, and they still struggle to win games and get fans to show up.

If WM ever goes back to being private, which I wouldn't be entirely against, I think 1-A sports might be worth taking a look at.

(12-26-2014 02:26 PM)zablenoise Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 02:14 PM)nj alum Wrote:  We agree...the train has left the station and I'm not sure it can be caught. It was still a mistake not to get on the train.

Another train is getting set to leave the station as well. Will we be on it?

I'm curious what train this is. I've agreed with everything you've posted so far but here I'm not certain what you're talking about. There's not an ACC invite waiting for us anywhere in the immediate future.

The CAA is straddling the line between the P5 conferences, and those that have abandoned the field (Patriots and Ivies). The coming break away will put pressure on W&M to abandon the field. Either the CAA "steps up" to stay on the field (my preference), or W&M is going to need a new conference home to stay on the field.

The "another train is getting set to leave the station" is the coming decision to either stay the course, or drop down to the Patriot.

(12-26-2014 06:09 PM)nj alum Wrote:  The CAA is straddling the line between the P5 conferences, and those that have abandoned the field (Patriots and Ivies). The coming break away will put pressure on W&M to abandon the field. Either the CAA "steps up" to stay on the field (my preference), or W&M is going to need a new conference home to stay on the field.

The "another train is getting set to leave the station" is the coming decision to either stay the course, or drop down to the Patriot.

I can't tell if I'm misunderstanding you or if I just disagree. The CAA is nowhere near the P5. Hell the CAA isn't even G5 (It may be better than some but that's not the point). And the CAA's ability to step up as a conference to compete with the P5 is virtually nonexistent

This thread is officially derailed as a few of us were clearly railroaded by NJ's tunnel vision. If we could backtrack to the original post, maybe we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel instead of responding to NJ as he blows smoke up our butts and lets off steam about missing trains. I feel he's on the wrong side of the track but all he wants to do is chug along about what might have been. I'm tired of watching this trainwreck so, please, let this be the end of the line.

Thank you.

Dreaming of the P5 breaking away and letting everyone else reevaluate the money spent on athletics. Would be great if a few schools dropped out of 1A football and we could form a new conference of respectable sports with Academically-oriented schools.

South:
WM
Wake
Vandy
Duke
Richmond
Georgetown

North:
Navy
Army
Fordham
Penn
Harvard
Yale

(12-26-2014 07:19 PM)Tribal Wrote:  This thread is officially derailed as a few of us were clearly railroaded by NJ's tunnel vision. If we could backtrack to the original post, maybe we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel instead of responding to NJ as he blows smoke up our butts and lets off steam about missing trains. I feel he's on the wrong side of the track but all he wants to do is chug along about what might have been. I'm tired of watching this trainwreck so, please, let this be the end of the line.

Thank you.

C'mon Tribal ... It's Christmas ... trains and Christmas go together!

(12-26-2014 07:41 PM)nj alum Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 07:19 PM)Tribal Wrote:  This thread is officially derailed as a few of us were clearly railroaded by NJ's tunnel vision. If we could backtrack to the original post, maybe we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel instead of responding to NJ as he blows smoke up our butts and lets off steam about missing trains. I feel he's on the wrong side of the track but all he wants to do is chug along about what might have been. I'm tired of watching this trainwreck so, please, let this be the end of the line.

Thank you.

C'mon Tribal ... It's Christmas ... trains and Christmas go together!

"can't we all just get along?"
R King