Our women's sports are maxed out at 25-40 nationally (still a great accomplishment) because, to get into the top 20, it's necessary to be in a P5 conference. Athletes want to train with, and compete against, the best. Conference USA just won't do it.

(04-07-2021 08:00 AM)Ranger Wrote:  Although I have never done a study, I suspect around 2/3 of the points Stanford earns toward the Learfield Cup are earned by its women's teams.

I'm not going to do a complete study, but I looked at 2018-19 scores, and in that academic year Stanford's women sports got ~55% of their Directors' Cup total. They were slightly behind the men in Fall & Winter (48% & 47%), but dominant in Spring (64%). Definitely short of 2/3, however.

(Note: Stanford's full season total (1,503.75) didn't equal the sum of the Fall/Winter/Spring subtotals (1,816), however. Maybe there was carryover from one season to the next? Also, Fencing does not have a men/women split.)

FTR, Rice women contributed 80% of Rice's 130 points.

(04-07-2021 12:28 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 08:20 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 08:00 AM)Ranger Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 01:07 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 12:13 AM)Intellectual_Brutality Wrote:  Very impressive indeed, and suggests that it's a structural thing, rather than idiosyncratic merits and demerits of coaches

Or, Rice has some great coaches for women's sports.

I think the academically oriented universities tend to be more successful in attracting top women athletes than men athletes because professional opportunities do not seem to be as plentiful and lucrative for women and the quality of the education might play a larger role for them. If you look, for instance, at Stanford, it seems that their women teams outperform the men's teams.

Although I have never done a study, I suspect around 2/3 of the points Stanford earns toward the Learfield Cup are earned by its women's teams.

I almost made a very similar post.

I think Rice might finally be recognizing its strengths when it comes to women's sports. There should be no reason we can't out-recruit the vast majority of schools across the country in most sports.

Sure, women's soccer will probably not be able to go toe-to-toe with a program like UNC, but I think we can do just fine.

This... and while looking for the first time I spoke of this concept on here, I did a search yesterday... and directly suggested this concept in 2005, and DIRECTLY to JK in 2013... amusingly AT a Rice Baseball game at Stanford.

I would say that being able to attract great coaches for women's sports is precisely and directly related to why it works... so while I'm not saying this is REMOTELY an EASY thing to do, it IS perhaps the EASIEST of the challenges we face here. I'd also note that I mentioned ADDING additional, low cost Olympic sports that fit our demographics or existing facilities back in 2005 in an effort to a) address title IX concerns that might help us do things like add men's swimming b) get more national notice through the olympics and b) create a more 'athlete' friendly culture on campus that would at least vicariously have a beneficial impact on the tougher lifts. I suggested sand volleyball using the old pool as an indoor weather court which would have made us unique.. which I suspect could have also helped women's volleyball. We could even have converted some of the old tennis facilities into outdoor, or build in the empty grass lot across Greenbriar from the stadium lot.

I'm not saying this to pat myself on the back... I'm saying it to note that these ideas seemed obvious to someone who knew Rice, but only SOMEWHAT knew the ins and outs of 'college sports administration' more than 15 years ago. During that time, we've had numerous ADs put forth their business plans, both internally and externally... so there were opportunities to articulate these desires, which obviously would have helped put them into action.

They WERE perhaps articulated to the coaches we hired (or FROM the coaches we hired TO the administration, and by admin I mean athletics, the Pres AND the board)... but they were never articulated publicly... nor were they implemented beyond our current athletic footprint.... which means if it WAS articulated, it wasn't articulated effectively (which is either an issue of articulation or support).

I am SO PROUD of the young women who accomplished these great things... They and their coaches have EMBRACED the greater challenge.... and in the case of Mulkey and Langley, they have TELEGRAPHED that message to us by accepting the NEXT great challenge. That's what Wayne told us when we hired him, and he PROVED it in 2003.... and for a decade plus thereafter.

Our goal now should be to make RICE the next greatest challenge for others... and THAT is by 'winning it all' from here.

Celebrate the LOFTY bar... and like ANY athlete, try and raise it from here!!

As someone has suggested before, a women's diving team could be a good investment. It would help immeasurably with the conference championship, and would not involve many athletes.

Soccer at #25 this week.
https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings...-di-women/

(04-07-2021 03:24 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  Our women's sports are maxed out at 25-40 nationally (still a great accomplishment) because, to get into the top 20, it's necessary to be in a P5 conference. Athletes want to train with, and compete against, the best. Conference USA just won't do it.

Agree.

Unfortunately for RIce (and those who support athletics, but not 'the big 3'), the primary driver of conference realignment is the big 3. That's specifically why I've talked about adding non-traditional sports to give us a toe in the door with p5 schools who sponsor these non-traditional sports... and being COMPETENT in 'the big 3'.

If we ignore the big 3 (especially football) as we did in the SWC, they will simply say 'same old Rice'.

(04-07-2021 05:39 PM)Ranger Wrote:  As someone has suggested before, a women's diving team could be a good investment. It would help immeasurably with the conference championship, and would not involve many athletes.

As long as it can be done with our current facilities, I agree 100%. I'm not certain that is the case though. I don't know much about it but I don't think we have a diving pool and I know we don't have the 'gymnastics' equipment for them to work on their mechanics. We certainly COULD have them... but you're probably talking a few million in investment. Things like Badminton and Fencing and Table Tennis andRifle and Jiu JItsu could probably be done in our current facilities with an even smaller investment. I mentioned beach volleyball because the old pool used as an indoor beach court would give us some uniqueness... at least initially.

I thought the pool was covered by the new locker rooms.

(04-13-2021 03:46 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  I thought the pool was covered by the new locker rooms.

probably... I suggested this years ago when it was still there.