SalinasSpartan Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 11 minutes ago, StanfordAggie said: Well, I don't think it was geography as much as stability. Denver's move was motivated partly by the fact that the WAC was in danger of collapsing. But I can't find a link after a few minutes of googling, but the fact that they didn't want to be associated with GCU was a big part of their decision-making process. Liberty is ostensibly still nonprofit, and nobody wanted them in their conference until CUSA was fighting for survival. And GCU's reputation in the academic world is much worse than Liberty's. I find it very difficult to believe that any other D1 conference will ever invite GCU because it is more of a scam diploma mill than a legitimate university. No university president wants to be associated with that. Yea, I just don’t buy that the GCU thing really mattered and they just wanted to be in a better geographic fit that was (as you put it) also more stable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NevadaFan Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 How can you spot a diploma mill? When a “university” devotes an entire page describing how to spot one and reasons why it isn’t one of them! https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gcu.edu/blog/gcu-experience/grand-canyon-university-diploma-mill%3Famp 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewGuy12 Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 55 minutes ago, NevadaFan said: How can you spot a diploma mill? When a “university” devotes an entire page describing how to spot one and reasons why it isn’t one of them! https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gcu.edu/blog/gcu-experience/grand-canyon-university-diploma-mill%3Famp Nah I got to agree with everyone here tbh. If GCU can fix their academic standing then most likely they'll end up in the WCC or Mountain West. As of now the WAC is the best place where they can be at the moment in my view Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelado Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 59 minutes ago, NevadaFan said: How can you spot a diploma mill? When a “university” devotes an entire page describing how to spot one and reasons why it isn’t one of them! https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gcu.edu/blog/gcu-experience/grand-canyon-university-diploma-mill%3Famp Is there anything that could get a prospective student more excited about enrolling than knowing there's an on-campus Chick-Fil-A? Quote Founded in 1949, Grand Canyon University is the home of the Division I Lopes, The Havocs (often referred to as the best student section in college basketball), an on-campus Chick-Fil-A and tens of thousands of passionate students. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph90702 Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 UTEP and New Mexico State should be in the MWC. Hawaii should be out. Make them go Indy. How Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky got left out of the AAC is beyond me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSF Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 12 minutes ago, ph90702 said: How Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky got left out of the AAC is beyond me. Neither is in a major metropolitan area. That was the AAC criteria. Pretty simple. 1 Quote It gives me a headache just trying to think down to your level Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanfordAggie Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 12 hours ago, SalinasSpartan said: Yea, I just don’t buy that the GCU thing really mattered and they just wanted to be in a better geographic fit that was (as you put it) also more stable. You clearly have never worked in academia if you think that university presidents want to be affiliated with a for-profit quasi-diploma mill like GCU. I can't find a link after a few minutes of googling, but I believe that Denver made it clear to the WAC that they were leaving if GCU was invited because they wanted nothing to do with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgaucho Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 22 hours ago, SalinasSpartan said: Yea I would bet money that Denver’s primary motivation for joining the Summit was that it was a MUCH better geographic fit. I doubt GCU had much of anything to do with their thought process. You and StanfordAggie are both right. If Summit geography and stability was 55% the reason Denver joined, then the WAC bringing in GCU (and Chicago State and to a lesser extent, Utah Valley) were the other 45%. Denver's brass fancies themselves academically as a WCC or Big East-lite institution. Whatever the rankings are for St. Thomas, Oral Roberts, the Dakotas, they are better than GCU or Chicago State. Plus there's an added sports bonus via the hockey rivalry with North Dakota and UNO (Nebraska Omaha). Denver's brass obviously sees the WCC as a natural fit. But before settling on the Summit, they also engaged the Big West. Denver would have at least been okay with aligning athletically, and certainly academically, with five UCs and Hawaii. Denver was just not interested in GCU or Chicago State. So off to the Summit when it called. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalinasSpartan Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 8 hours ago, StanfordAggie said: You clearly have never worked in academia if you think that university presidents want to be affiliated with a for-profit quasi-diploma mill like GCU. I can't find a link after a few minutes of googling, but I believe that Denver made it clear to the WAC that they were leaving if GCU was invited because they wanted nothing to do with them. Well after 5 seconds of googling I found this: https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/troubled-wac-loses-denver-adds-grand-canyon So you are asserting that Denver was so outraged at, what? The thought that the WAC COULD add GCU that they got the Horizon league to poach Oakland from the Summit, creating the opening for Denver, BEFORE the WAC extended an invitation to GCU? And this all happened in the one year that Denver was in the WAC? Okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alum93 Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 19 minutes ago, SalinasSpartan said: Well after 5 seconds of googling I found this: https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/troubled-wac-loses-denver-adds-grand-canyon So you are asserting that Denver was so outraged at, what? The thought that the WAC COULD add GCU that they got the Horizon league to poach Oakland from the Summit, creating the opening for Denver, BEFORE the WAC extended an invitation to GCU? And this all happened in the one year that Denver was in the WAC? Okay. What really matters is NMSU is going to CUSA in 2023. Kidding aside, I don't see GCU going to the WCC or MWC unless there's multiple teams lost by either conference. My guess is they will be in the WAC for awhile. It's actually a decent basketball conference for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalinasSpartan Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 4 minutes ago, alum93 said: What really matters is NMSU is going to CUSA in 2023. Kidding aside, I don't see GCU going to the WCC or MWC unless there's multiple teams lost by either conference. My guess is they will be in the WAC for awhile. It's actually a decent basketball conference for them. Yea the WAC is pretty solid, and they won’t miss too much of a beat when you guys leave since Southern Utah is a good program. And speaking of CUSA, they will actually get better as a basketball conference. Yea they are losing UAB and UNT, but the bottom half of the conference is largely made up of schools leaving, who will be replaced with solid programs like NMSU, Liberty, and Jacksonville State. CUSA basically trimmed the fat in basketball. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfpack1 Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 4 hours ago, alum93 said: What really matters is NMSU is going to CUSA in 2023. Kidding aside, I don't see GCU going to the WCC or MWC unless there's multiple teams lost by either conference. My guess is they will be in the WAC for awhile. It's actually a decent basketball conference for them. I mean they are going to miss their best b-ball program, GCU is the closest to replace it but WAC is going to miss that as right now they don't have anyone to replaced GCU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanfordAggie Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 9 hours ago, SalinasSpartan said: Well after 5 seconds of googling I found this: https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/troubled-wac-loses-denver-adds-grand-canyon So you are asserting that Denver was so outraged at, what? The thought that the WAC COULD add GCU that they got the Horizon league to poach Oakland from the Summit, creating the opening for Denver, BEFORE the WAC extended an invitation to GCU? And this all happened in the one year that Denver was in the WAC? Okay. Huh? If anything, this supports what I said. Denver left the same time that GCU was invited, because Denver wanted nothing to do with GCU. Anyway, I give up. If you can't understand why a university president would not want their school associated with a diploma mill that will give a degree to anyone who will sign a tuition check, I can't help you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanfordAggie Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 16 hours ago, jdgaucho said: You and StanfordAggie are both right. If Summit geography and stability was 55% the reason Denver joined, then the WAC bringing in GCU (and Chicago State and to a lesser extent, Utah Valley) were the other 45%. Denver's brass fancies themselves academically as a WCC or Big East-lite institution. Whatever the rankings are for St. Thomas, Oral Roberts, the Dakotas, they are better than GCU or Chicago State. Plus there's an added sports bonus via the hockey rivalry with North Dakota and UNO (Nebraska Omaha). Denver's brass obviously sees the WCC as a natural fit. But before settling on the Summit, they also engaged the Big West. Denver would have at least been okay with aligning athletically, and certainly academically, with five UCs and Hawaii. Denver was just not interested in GCU or Chicago State. So off to the Summit when it called. No, the issue was GCU and only GCU. Chicago State and Utah Valley may not be Harvard, but they are both legitimate universities. That's an enormous difference from GCU, that exists only to maximize returns for its investors, which in practice means giving a degree to anyone who can sign a tuition check. I don't see any other conference wanting GCU unless they drastically change their practices because it is simply too damaging to one's brand to be associated with them. Liberty had a very difficult time finding a conference because they are using a similar business model as GCU even though they are ostensibly still a nonprofit. Sports fans don't seem to comprehend the fact that university presidents care a lot about their school's reputations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzagafan2021 Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 13 minutes ago, StanfordAggie said: No, the issue was GCU and only GCU. Chicago State and Utah Valley may not be Harvard, but they are both legitimate universities. That's an enormous difference from GCU, that exists only to maximize returns for its investors, which in practice means giving a degree to anyone who can sign a tuition check. I don't see any other conference wanting GCU unless they drastically change their practices because it is simply too damaging to one's brand to be associated with them. Liberty had a very difficult time finding a conference because they are using a similar business model as GCU even though they are ostensibly still a nonprofit. Sports fans don't seem to comprehend the fact that university presidents care a lot about their school's reputations. Speaking of Liberty university it's pretty funny that in 2018 the CUSA refused their application and now they were desperate for them to join in 2023. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph90702 Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 21 minutes ago, StanfordAggie said: No, the issue was GCU and only GCU. Chicago State and Utah Valley may not be Harvard, but they are both legitimate universities. That's an enormous difference from GCU, that exists only to maximize returns for its investors, which in practice means giving a degree to anyone who can sign a tuition check. I don't see any other conference wanting GCU unless they drastically change their practices because it is simply too damaging to one's brand to be associated with them. Liberty had a very difficult time finding a conference because they are using a similar business model as GCU even though they are ostensibly still a nonprofit. Sports fans don't seem to comprehend the fact that university presidents care a lot about their school's reputations. Chicago State nearly shut down a few years ago! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalinasSpartan Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 45 minutes ago, StanfordAggie said: Huh? If anything, this supports what I said. Denver left the same time that GCU was invited, because Denver wanted nothing to do with GCU. Anyway, I give up. If you can't understand why a university president would not want their school associated with a diploma mill that will give a degree to anyone who will sign a tuition check, I can't help you. An article that says GCU REPLACED Denver after Denver left that makes no reference to Denver wanting to leave because GCU might join “supports what you said”? Ok. Dude, I just don’t care about the shit you think you maybe remember reading online 10 years ago. Post an article or eff off with your condescending nonsense. Anyways, I give up too. If you can’t understand that the Summit League was just a flat out better fit and they would have made the move regardless, I can’t help you. Trust your imaginary 10 year old rumors instead, whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgaucho Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 4 hours ago, SalinasSpartan said: An article that says GCU REPLACED Denver after Denver left that makes no reference to Denver wanting to leave because GCU might join “supports what you said”? Ok. Dude, I just don’t care about the shit you think you maybe remember reading online 10 years ago. Post an article or eff off with your condescending nonsense. Anyways, I give up too. If you can’t understand that the Summit League was just a flat out better fit and they would have made the move regardless, I can’t help you. Trust your imaginary 10 year old rumors instead, whatever. Perhaps Denver was Summit League bound regardless. But before they ultimately joined, Andy Katz, at the time with ESPN, noted another possibility opened up for them. A side effect of Boise State's flirting with the Big East and Big West. https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7935087/big-west-reconsiders-boise-state-all-non-football-sports Farrell said the Big West was willing to stay at 11 when it added SDSU but that was because the Aztecs were within the state. When Pacific left for the WCC, the league was content to be at 10 members. Farrell said if Boise State were added the league would probably go to 12. Denver, Seattle and Cal-State Bakersfield would be interested, although sources said Seattle and Denver as private schools would rather be in the WCC but may not have a choice right now. Denver and the Big West talked. The league insisted on travel subs - which Denver was supposedly willing to provide - and for them to add sports. Denver was okay with either, but not both. If the league had been cool with just one option, Denver would have joined the Big West and likely would still be there today. It would have been a better fit than the Summit, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyobraska Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/murray-state-approved-as-newest-member-of-missouri-valley-conference-with-formal-decision-coming-friday/ Murray St to the MO Valley. MO Valley also likely to add UIC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Did I hear a WOOSH? Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 On 1/3/2022 at 8:24 PM, Pelado said: Is there anything that could get a prospective student more excited about enrolling than knowing there's an on-campus Chick-Fil-A? How prevalent are Chik-fil-a’s out west? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
