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Post by Petes on Jan 26, 2022 12:02:26 GMT -6
If Twitter rumors are true, Southern Indiana is going to the OVC, and the OVC said no to Chicago State. Chicago state is rumored to be heading to the MEAC. |
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Post by Petes on Jan 26, 2022 12:02:37 GMT -6
If Twitter rumors are true, Southern Indiana is going to the OVC, and the OVC said no to Chicago State. Chicago state is rumored to be heading to the MEAC. |
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Post by PantherU on Jan 26, 2022 14:26:44 GMT -6
If Twitter rumors are true, Southern Indiana is going to the OVC, and the OVC said no to Chicago State. Chicago state is rumored to be heading to the MEAC. Like really or are you pulling that out of your ass? |
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Jan 26, 2022 17:26:51 GMT -6
If Twitter rumors are true, Southern Indiana is going to the OVC, and the OVC said no to Chicago State. Chicago state is rumored to be heading to the MEAC. I saw a rumor that that was Chicago State’s most likely destination. Geography-wise, it’s a tough fit, but the MEAC needs teams just as much as Chicago State needs a conference. It’s still geographically way better than the WAC, where their nearest league opponent is UTRGV, if I remember right. And when it comes to level of play, the MEAC, in its current state and for the foreseeable future, will be a consistent play-in team come tournament time. That fits Chicago State, and maybe they’d be able to make noise in that conference. |
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Post by aldalumni on Jan 27, 2022 21:18:53 GMT -6
Let's be honest, UIC going to MVC is no big deal. Having lived for a number of years within blocks of the UIC campus, there is little if any interest in UIC sports. I went to numerous UIC basketball and soccer matches and I say this for certain. Further, as an Milwaukee alumni who lives in Chicago, UIC gets hardly any press and eyeballs on TV.
MVC tried to make a push in Chicago with Loyola and that went nowhere. Other than mens basketball with Wichita State and SIU plus Missouri State for soccer, MVC is no better/worse than Horizon. A few years ago, MVC had to scrape by with (6) teams for men's soccer.
If anything Milwaukee should move themselves to a conference that is at least academically on par. Milwaukee is no Harvard yes but our degree vs Northern Kentucky, Cleveland State, or Robert Morris. No comparison.
The MAC could make sense for Milwaukee. Academically the schools are closer to us. Our attendance at sports, while not the greatest overall, is similar to MAC Geographically it makes sense. I'm not sure about the fact that we don't have football.
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Post by aldalumni on Jan 27, 2022 21:30:15 GMT -6
One other things about Chicago State....Summit makes more sense for them geographically (Kansas City, Western Illinois, etc...). I know they were in it a long time ago. The school is broke and to be flying all over the place to the east coast or like now, all the way out to the west coast doesn't make any sense.
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Post by BBFran on Jan 27, 2022 23:28:49 GMT -6
First, without football we have no chance at the MAC, ever.
Second, the problem with losing UIC has nothing to do with their profile in Chicago. It’s that they were our closest league rival. And other than Green Bay, our only rival within a FOUR hour trip. They were an easy trip for fans and family to an attractive destination. And they were an inexpensive trip for a program sucking wind financially because of the collapse of attendance and support in men’s hoops.
And on top of all that, they were our closest peer institution in prestige, size and mission in the league. Losing them sucks. Getting left behind by them going to a MUCH better league while we are orphaned in a sinking league that is clearly shifting its focus ever eastward sucks even worse.
And one thing to add. Without a league rival In Chicago, OUR profile in that area takes a massive hit. Chicago is a key recruiting area for UWM — and I’m not just talking about sports. At a time when the University is fighting enrollment decline, that is really bad.
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Post by Duct_Tape_Pounce on Jan 27, 2022 23:43:08 GMT -6
One other things about Chicago State....Summit makes more sense for them geographically (Kansas City, Western Illinois, etc...). I know they were in it a long time ago. The school is broke and to be flying all over the place to the east coast or like now, all the way out to the west coast doesn't make any sense. If I remember correctly, the Summit League kicked Chicago State out a while back when they reduced the size and footprint of their conference to try to improve its profile. The Summit League is doing pretty well right now, and if the OVC said no to Chicago State, the Summit would almost certainly say no as well. And as with Milwaukee, Chicago State isn’t a great fit anyways. After Western Illinois, I think Omaha would be the next closest school. They’d have to take long trips to Tulsa and Denver as well, and they’d probably have less success in that conference that they’ve had in the WAC. Given the needs of both the school and the conference, the MEAC is probably the best fit for them, even if it’s not a good geographic fit. |
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Post by aldalumni on Jan 29, 2022 20:26:30 GMT -6
First, without football we have no chance at the MAC, ever. Second, the problem with losing UIC has nothing to do with their profile in Chicago. It’s that they were our closest league rival. And other than Green Bay, our only rival within a FOUR hour trip. They were an easy trip for fans and family to an attractive destination. And they were an inexpensive trip for a program sucking wind financially because of the collapse of attendance and support in men’s hoops. And on top of all that, they were our closest peer institution in prestige, size and mission in the league. Losing them sucks. Getting left behind by them going to a MUCH better league while we are orphaned in a sinking league that is clearly shifting its focus ever eastward sucks even worse. And one thing to add. Without a league rival In Chicago, OUR profile in that area takes a massive hit. Chicago is a key recruiting area for UWM — and I’m not just talking about sports. At a time when the University is fighting enrollment decline, that is really bad. BBFran makes a couple of good points. I agree that the Horizon is a continually diminishing league. I figured as much about the MAC and football. West Virginia is not a member and played soccer in the MAC (although they are moving out this fall). Wrestling is the same. Perhaps we'd be a member but without football?! We'd replace UIC with NIU in a rivalry. We already play them yearly with the LaWang Cup in soccer, basketball, and baseball. I guess wishful thinking... When I moved to Chicago, Milwaukee would get confused with Madison or Marquette. Over the years, most everyone knows Milwaukee. I see and hear more and more about Chicago area kids who are going to Milwaukee. I see quite a few billboards in the northern burbs. Efforts like this plus working the school counselors will continue to help. Dropping the UW-Milwaukee and going with University of Milwaukee will help more than anything. Illinois is digging its own grave anyways as most kids want to go out of state for college. I went on Milwaukee's web site and 81% of current students enrollment of 24K are from WI. My guess is that Illinois and Chicago take up the large share of the remaining some 4,500/19%. When I was a student, almost all of my friends were from WI. I still hold firm that UIC is no big deal. Milwaukee will get more recruiting on its own merits. UIC athletics gets almost zero publicity. Match UIC to Milwaukee academically and overall is no match, except for perhaps Nursing and Architecture where it might be an even match (although I don't think UIC has a PhD program in Architecture). |
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Post by PantherU on Jan 29, 2022 21:30:47 GMT -6
I went on Milwaukee's web site and 81% of current students enrollment of 24K are from WI. My guess is that Illinois and Chicago take up the large share of the remaining some 4,500/19%. When I was a student, almost all of my friends were from WI. I still hold firm that UIC is no big deal. Milwaukee will get more recruiting on its own merits. UIC athletics gets almost zero publicity. Match UIC to Milwaukee academically and overall is no match, except for perhaps Nursing and Architecture where it might be an even match (although I don't think UIC has a PhD program in Architecture). Put it this way: when I was doing PantherU.com, UWM's admissions office asked me to write about the connections with Chicago so they could have something to highlight in recruiting students from Greater Chicago. It's a lot. And in this time when there are fewer and fewer potential undergrads, we need to be proactive about recruiting from the 3rd-largest metro in the country because it's a short drive away. |
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Post by skrapheap on Jan 30, 2022 6:43:56 GMT -6
UWM has been successfully recruiting students from Illinois thanks to the Midwest Student Exchange Program, a multistate agreement to charge discounted tuition to students from participating states (the MSEP tuition rate is more than the resident rate, but significantly less than the full nonresident tuition rate). The State of Illinois dropped out of MSEP last fall. UWM sought and got permission from the Board of Regents to continue to offer the same tuition rate as the MSEP rate to residents of Illinois.
Tuition dollars are the major source of income for UWM, and all the UW System institutions have suffered significant budget while the Legislature has frozen tuition rates for most of the last decade. Declining enrollments, which are driven largely by demographics, have increased the pressure on campus administration to figure out how to keep the university running to a far greater extent than anyone on this board seems to recognize. The Covid pandemic has only made the situation worse.
As bad as the situation in the Athletics Department is, I can understand why it is lower on the list of concerns of an administration that is merging thirteen schools and colleges into five in order to ensure the long term survival of UWM.
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Post by DunneDeal on Jan 30, 2022 9:50:18 GMT -6
Sadly if they really looked at historical data. Athletics boosts enrollment.
The Sweet 16 run was the catalyst to building new dorms because they couldn't fit all the new incoming freshman
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Post by BBFran on Jan 30, 2022 11:09:40 GMT -6
That’s what many of us here have understood for years. A great athletic program led by a popular, relevant basketball program is an extremely valuable marketing tool for the University, both for attracting students and generating financial support.
I agree with skrap that there are many challenges for the University. But that’s not an excuse for the neglect we have seen. Instead of supporting the program so it can be part of the solution, our University administration has apparently abandoned it as a nuisance they don’t want to be bothered about. It’s profoundly foolish.
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Post by digmke on Feb 4, 2022 21:05:35 GMT -6
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Post by JG Panthers on Feb 7, 2022 8:11:18 GMT -6
Agree wholeheartedly with his assessment. He correctly points out baseball and distance to a major airport as criteria for HL expansion. Encourage everyone to take a look at this video. His top candidate for HL expansion is a name some of us have been talking about since 2013.
In a previous video, he had Milwaukee as #7 amongst candidates for the MVC (Murray State and UIC were #1 and 2). Another conference realignment cycle nearly complete. Another blown opportunity for the university and its supporters.
It's far past time for a clean slate at AD and Head Coach and a commitment from the Chancellor and the university's decision-makers to our flagship athletic program.
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