Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

West Coast Football

Collapse

Support The Site!

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #46
    Originally posted by Brandon View Post

    I said this to someone last week. These are schools that mostly serve the region. They train teachers. They train accountants. They train people who will open small businesses. Administrators who want to believe their schools are Ivy League are doing everyone, including themselves, a disservice.
    My thoughts exactly.

    I don't mind if these schools offer liberal arts opportunities - there is some value to that. Small schools just need to be more realistic about the needs of the area they serve. The ones that are tend to be more successful as institutions, producing more successful alumni. Let the big schools have the fancy art departments and philosophy faculty, we need that money for more tractors on campus.

    I was once told that a previous administration's goal was to make SMSU the "Harvard of the Prairie." I laughed and said "SDSU is 60 miles that way, we already lost." Also - why Harvard? Why not Dartmouth? It sounds nice, but it means nothing. Let's be who we are, and do the best we can at it.




    Comment


    • #47
      Originally posted by tsull View Post
      Really good thread here, if any high level administrators are reading this they probably hate all of us right now but I don't care about that. Also, some nice trivia, I did not know Todd Graham played D2 ball in Oklahoma.

      I think Mustang is right about these schools losing their way. I never met one person during my college years that wished we were Harvard or that we were creating world leaders or anything like that. Most people stayed in the region or went back to their home towns and worked and are strong community members. On another note, a lot of my friends who went to bigger schools in the Northwest also stayed in their own regions and weren't thinking about Harvard, or world leaders.

      These administrators all went to grad school in basically administration and administrative speak, they have no freaking clue what students want.

      Well, yes a lot of first generation college students attend small regional state schools, and a lot of them have jobs outside of school, that doesn't mean they don't want to watch football on a Saturday, or they don't want to live in residence halls, or participate in the student life. Some president who hasn't been an undergraduate in 35 years telling students what he thinks they want is beyond insane.
      There is this irrationally romanticized ideology people have about what the purpose of college is supposed to be. I've struggled to find an accurate way to put that fantasy into words - but it's there.

      We were all there just to get a job. Sure, there was the occasional student that was there to "change the world," but there weren't many. I've met many professors on such an ego trip that believe they exist to "enlighten" people - they are the disciples of critical thought, and they are the only ones to bestow that power on the world. It's bizarre. I actually had one professor label me as a libertarian to our entire class because I challenged her on some of her ideas that I didn't like - when it had nothing to do with political ideas, directly anyway.

      It's a different world some of them live in. That's for sure. It's just intellectual gatekeeping. I learned more about my major from watching professional wrestling than I ever did sitting in class.

      Comment


      • #48
        Originally posted by SW_Mustang View Post

        My thoughts exactly.

        I don't mind if these schools offer liberal arts opportunities - there is some value to that. Small schools just need to be more realistic about the needs of the area they serve. The ones that are tend to be more successful as institutions, producing more successful alumni. Let the big schools have the fancy art departments and philosophy faculty, we need that money for more tractors on campus.

        I was once told that a previous administration's goal was to make SMSU the "Harvard of the Prairie." I laughed and said "SDSU is 60 miles that way, we already lost." Also - why Harvard? Why not Dartmouth? It sounds nice, but it means nothing. Let's be who we are, and do the best we can at it.



        There is one small school I support in becoming "The Harvard of the West", that is Whitman University in Walla Walla. Why? because that is is the type of college they patterned themselves to be for over 100 years. They offer sports more in the range of Rugby and Water Polo for contact sports and are happy being a small, private college that centers more on education and are nationally accredited even having a Nobel prize winner in physics.

        Comment


        • #49
          Originally posted by Wildcat Khan View Post

          There is one small school I support in becoming "The Harvard of the West", that is Whitman University in Walla Walla. Why? because that is is the type of college they patterned themselves to be for over 100 years. They offer sports more in the range of Rugby and Water Polo for contact sports and are happy being a small, private college that centers more on education and are nationally accredited even having a Nobel prize winner in physics.
          Interesting. I'll have to read up on them. I've heard the name before.

          I was referencing public schools specifically. I think they should focus on serving a defined geographical area - not their ambiguous concept of "the world." Private schools can do what they want too, generally speaking, in regards to who they choose to serve.

          Comment


          • #50
            Originally posted by SW_Mustang View Post

            Interesting. I'll have to read up on them. I've heard the name before.

            I was referencing public schools specifically. I think they should focus on serving a defined geographical area - not their ambiguous concept of "the world." Private schools can do what they want too, generally speaking, in regards to who they choose to serve.
            Academically the two top schools in the Northwest would be Whitman and hippy-dippy Reed College of Portland. Both have a good amount of Rhodes scholars, and super high future grad school enrollment, many skipping Master's and going straight to doctoral programs. Reed does not have sports, never has.

            Whitman used to have football up until I think the 70's. School is loaded with money, endowment, etc., very rich alums. They could re-start football on the interest of their bank accounts alone. They choose not to. They had a hot-shot men's hoop coach for awhile, took them to the D3 elite 8 and Final 4, really, really good ... he went to Redlands (Calif.) last year. I know of one D-1 school that should've hired him. Beautiful campus in a nice town.

            Wisely, they don't call themselves anything like Harvard of the West, and they aren't close to it unless they had a law school, a medical school, several doctoral programs, and a $50 billion endowment. That said, Whitman does a great job with what they have.

            Comment


            • #51
              Originally posted by tsull View Post

              Academically the two top schools in the Northwest would be Whitman and hippy-dippy Reed College of Portland. Both have a good amount of Rhodes scholars, and super high future grad school enrollment, many skipping Master's and going straight to doctoral programs. Reed does not have sports, never has.

              Whitman used to have football up until I think the 70's. School is loaded with money, endowment, etc., very rich alums. They could re-start football on the interest of their bank accounts alone. They choose not to. They had a hot-shot men's hoop coach for awhile, took them to the D3 elite 8 and Final 4, really, really good ... he went to Redlands (Calif.) last year. I know of one D-1 school that should've hired him. Beautiful campus in a nice town.

              Wisely, they don't call themselves anything like Harvard of the West, and they aren't close to it unless they had a law school, a medical school, several doctoral programs, and a $50 billion endowment. That said, Whitman does a great job with what they have.
              Whitworth in Spokane does have football. They're pretty high up there academically too.

              Comment


              • #52
                Originally posted by IronOre View Post

                Whitworth in Spokane does have football. They're pretty high up there academically too.
                Whitworth really cares, they didn't when I was in college but they sure do now. They are awesome in D3 basketball, been to some final fours and they really picked up their football program in the 2000s, I believe.

                Also, the Spokane newspaper gives them pretty good play behind Gonzaga and Washington State, and the people in Spokane don't view it as a joke just because they are not division one.

                Comment


                • #53
                  Originally posted by tsull View Post

                  Whitworth really cares, they didn't when I was in college but they sure do now. They are awesome in D3 basketball, been to some final fours and they really picked up their football program in the 2000s, I believe.

                  Also, the Spokane newspaper gives them pretty good play behind Gonzaga and Washington State, and the people in Spokane don't view it as a joke just because they are not division one.
                  We get their games on one of the local channels ran out of Spokane sometimes. More than CWU gets.

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Originally posted by IronOre View Post

                    We get their games on one of the local channels ran out of Spokane sometimes. More than CWU gets.
                    And you can sometimes here Tri-Cities HS games in Spokane too as KONA reaches there even during the day. I know I've also gotten SF Giants and Golden State Warriors games even in the Yakima Valley from radio stations in the Bay Area. The older radio stations really can travel far, but ironically the Mariners station out of the Tri-Cities being so new barely reaches Umatilla and Prosser.

                    Too bad KXLE gets overwritten by a station out of Pendleton here when it does travel that far.

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Originally posted by tsull View Post

                      Academically the two top schools in the Northwest would be Whitman and hippy-dippy Reed College of Portland. Both have a good amount of Rhodes scholars, and super high future grad school enrollment, many skipping Master's and going straight to doctoral programs. Reed does not have sports, never has.

                      Whitman used to have football up until I think the 70's. School is loaded with money, endowment, etc., very rich alums. They could re-start football on the interest of their bank accounts alone. They choose not to. They had a hot-shot men's hoop coach for awhile, took them to the D3 elite 8 and Final 4, really, really good ... he went to Redlands (Calif.) last year. I know of one D-1 school that should've hired him. Beautiful campus in a nice town.

                      Wisely, they don't call themselves anything like Harvard of the West, and they aren't close to it unless they had a law school, a medical school, several doctoral programs, and a $50 billion endowment. That said, Whitman does a great job with what they have.
                      I get the impression that some of those private schools just like going about their business. You either know about them, or you don't - but they don't try to appease the masses with those silly titles. We have Carleton here in Minnesota. They are one of the top-rated liberal arts schools in the country, but they don't parade it around. In fact I doubt most people here even knows it exists - or that it's way higher up the chain than the University of Minnesota is.

                      They have football, and a cross-town rival in St. Olaf. That would be a fun game to go see.

                      Then we have other private schools who like to parade around as being these remarkable programs, but don't offer anything you can't get elsewhere for cheaper.

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Originally posted by tsull View Post

                        Whitworth really cares, they didn't when I was in college but they sure do now. They are awesome in D3 basketball, been to some final fours and they really picked up their football program in the 2000s, I believe.

                        Also, the Spokane newspaper gives them pretty good play behind Gonzaga and Washington State, and the people in Spokane don't view it as a joke just because they are not division one.
                        That's always cool when the media genuinely cares about the small programs. It's one way to help create atmosphere.





                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Originally posted by SW_Mustang View Post

                          I get the impression that some of those private schools just like going about their business. You either know about them, or you don't - but they don't try to appease the masses with those silly titles. We have Carleton here in Minnesota. They are one of the top-rated liberal arts schools in the country, but they don't parade it around. In fact I doubt most people here even knows it exists - or that it's way higher up the chain than the University of Minnesota is.

                          They have football, and a cross-town rival in St. Olaf. That would be a fun game to go see.

                          Then we have other private schools who like to parade around as being these remarkable programs, but don't offer anything you can't get elsewhere for cheaper.
                          I work in education and always wonder why someone would fork out $60K year for an ed degree, when not only is a state school cheaper, some of our teachers went the fast-track online school and got the same job as the one who went to NNU and paid a fortune. But yeah, some private schools just do a good job going about their business. When I was in school, Willamette U., 15 miles away from WOU, were elitist snobs, man they looked down their nose at us.

                          What I don't get is the small college prof -- at WOU or Willamette or SW or anywhere -- thinking they're at Harvard and they're not. I like academic excellence, sure, but had a few profs play the elitist game. I had one wild guy who refused to play that game, he was crazy in a good way. He used to call Western Oregon the Harvard of the West just to get some looks from his class. Dude was controversial, but he could really teach. I learned a ton and he made me work hard.

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Originally posted by tsull View Post

                            I work in education and always wonder why someone would fork out $60K year for an ed degree, when not only is a state school cheaper, some of our teachers went the fast-track online school and got the same job as the one who went to NNU and paid a fortune. But yeah, some private schools just do a good job going about their business. When I was in school, Willamette U., 15 miles away from WOU, were elitist snobs, man they looked down their nose at us.

                            What I don't get is the small college prof -- at WOU or Willamette or SW or anywhere -- thinking they're at Harvard and they're not. I like academic excellence, sure, but had a few profs play the elitist game. I had one wild guy who refused to play that game, he was crazy in a good way. He used to call Western Oregon the Harvard of the West just to get some looks from his class. Dude was controversial, but he could really teach. I learned a ton and he made me work hard.
                            I think most people see private as automatically better than public - probably because they are more expensive, therefore more "exclusive" and more academically rigorous. In the modern day, most college attendees just need the degree to check off a box on the job application anyway, so why spend 4x more for the same credential? Just because the name sounds nicer? It doesn't make much sense to me. I can understand why someone would go to Carleton, Whitman, Brown, Duke - etc., over Regional State University - but I don't see why someone would go to the University of St. Thomas or any other random private school with an 80% acceptance in lieu of somewhere cheaper.

                            Some schools around here are notorious for their alumni looking down their noses at people who didn't go to their school - but their schools are usually less exclusive than local public options. People value really weird things in regards to higher ed.

                            In regards to your second point - that's the worst. I experienced some of that, mostly from career academics. I get annoyed when they demanded to be called "Dr." or "Professor." I always do it out of respect, but it's tacky when you put it in the syllabus. They are the ones who also keep flaunting their "experience," "accomplishments," and "credentials" at every opportunity - for the sake of bragging. My favorite professors often used that stuff constructively - but they also had the real-world experience to talk about, not just experience they got in their graduate or doctoral programs.

                            Funny thing is, I had one professor who did her undergrad at Harvard - she never spoke of it. I had another professor who went to Georgetown, he did mention it but just in casual class conversation (I think Nova beat Georgetown the night before or something). Then my favorite three - a big time lawyer, an upper level manager, and a successful career businessman - all used their experiences constructively. You can tell in their delivery and tone of voice what their intentions are. Two of them didn't even have PhDs, oddly enough.

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              Originally posted by SW_Mustang View Post

                              I get annoyed when they demanded to be called "Dr." or "Professor." I always do it out of respect, but it's tacky when you put it in the syllabus. They are the ones who also keep flaunting their "experience," "accomplishments," and "credentials" at every opportunity - for the sake of bragging. My favorite professors often used that stuff constructively - but they also had the real-world experience to talk about, not just experience they got in their graduate or doctoral programs.

                              Funny thing is, I had one professor who did her undergrad at Harvard - she never spoke of it. I had another professor who went to Georgetown, he did mention it but just in casual class conversation (I think Nova beat Georgetown the night before or something). Then my favorite three - a big time lawyer, an upper level manager, and a successful career businessman - all used their experiences constructively. You can tell in their delivery and tone of voice what their intentions are. Two of them didn't even have PhDs, oddly enough.
                              Ha, that crazy prof I had topped out at a Master's and other profs would get really mad when students -- mostly 1st generation from very small towns, who were just trying to be polite -- would call him Dr. I knew the difference, but chuckled at the other profs getting wound up by this. The crazy prof could teach, knew his stuff.

                              Life is a lot easier when you're not keeping score on your co-workers or harboring professional jealousy.

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                An undergrad degree is the same no matter where you go. Grad degrees depend more on quality of supervisor.

                                back to football. Athletics, especially football, are most often the window to the university of which the world sees the it. Makes no sense to close that window.

                                Comment

                                Ad3

                                Collapse
                                Working...
                                X