Conference Realignment: Let’s look at the numbers.
by olivernapier
It’s time to look at stats in this conference realignment game. College sports fans LOVE stats right? Bragging rights. Touchdowns. Yards. Well, it’s time to look at education stats and set some of these stories straight. I can’t sit back and watch WVU get slammed for academics.
Linked below is the peer institution list from West Virginia’s Higher Education Policy Commission. These are some basic statistics that everyone should consider before they make a claim. Conference realignment has little to do with the quality of academics or similarities between schools. It’s more about money and media markets, period. The conference realignment spectacle has shown the worst of college sports, higher ed administrators, and fans in all conferences. It’s ugly. It’s about money. It is a hijacking of the basic principles and values that institutions of higher education should uphold.
If you check the list you will see schools such as Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, NC State, Texas A&M, Missouri, and Virginia Tech, to name a few. Check it here: HEPC Peer List – WVU.
This list also does not include mission-based peers. WVU is one of 11 research universities in the nation that has a land-grant mission, arts and sciences, and comprehensive health sciences. Schools on that list include Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Arizona, and Minnesota, to name a few.
Just for kicks, you should also check out this press release about WVU’s rise in the U.S. News rankings. WVU is a top 100 public university.
Enough of the trash talk on schools around the country.
And for my Mountaineers … For there is naught to fear, the gang’s all here, so hail to West Virginia, hail! Beat LSU.
