Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

I agree in principal. But in practice, in the US or at least in central iowa, playing soccer is way more expensive even than tackle football if you’re going to do it at a competitive level.
It's more expensive because of the lack of infrastructure, but it's not inherently less expensive to play tackle football. It's like the people who say we shouldn't invest in public transportation because all of our infrastructure is currently built for cars. That doesn't mean it's right or logical.
 
It was more to do with that then being outright dumped. ISU and the AAU have had a tight relationship for a long time, and there was definitely a path to ISU maintaining membership. That path simply is not financially lucrative to ISU vs the current research focuses, methods, and sponsors. The corporate sponsors are also looked down on by the AAU, which ISU has had to employ as a financial resource given the drying up of state funds.


I believe based on some things I was told that AAU membership became less important once the B1G dream was dashed by USC and UCLA reaching out to the B1G.
You are probably right about the dashing of the BIG dream being the final reason to leave the AAU but it wasn't because of USC/UCLA joining. They announced that on June 28. ISU announced that they were leaving the AAU before that, in April.
 
They are weighting certain things like having a medical school far more importantly and we don't check those boxes obviously. Without huge new investments into certain areas, we no longer qualified in the current criteria, right or wrong.

I wouldn't say it was any sort of change with ISU Academics but rather a different focus on the part of AAU.

I don't want to cave this, but a lack of investment by the state government into higher education, and massive mismanagement by Leath are very much to blame here as well. Our academics have slipped, and those are the reasons.
 
You are probably right about the dashing of the BIG dream being the final reason to leave the AAU but it wasn't because of USC/UCLA joining. They announced that on June 28. ISU announced that they were leaving the AAU before that, in April.
Right, but the B1G knew about it before April. I think the B1G probably gave ISU and KU a heads up as a courtesy so that they would know to move on.
 
  • Disagree
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Right, but the B1G knew about it before April. I think the B1G probably gave ISU and KU a heads up as a courtesy so that they would know to move on.
You could be right. The timing was suspicious and, quite frankly, it's definitely not something that's worth researching and disputing.

I miss the optimistic days brought on by the mustachioed former football coach.
 
You could be right. The timing was suspicious and, quite frankly, it's definitely not something that's worth researching and disputing.

I miss the optimistic days brought on by the mustachioed former football coach.

I have a theory about the timeline and how things went down based on what I was told and then the actual events, but that would take a lot of typing.
 
Didnt we lose AAU status because we dont have a med school and that is their focus?
I think that was a lot of it. It's historically been one of their considerations but only recently have they seem to be focusing in more on that. I know for Nebby, they lost their AAU status because the med school is located in Omaha, not Lincoln, has a non-UNL administration, and so UNL can't count any of their research endeavors. They also got knocked because of their heavy focus on ag research, which isn't "peer reviewed, competitive" research and not viewed as highly by AAU, so that might also have been a factor for ISU.
 
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The Bigger Ten podcast the other day said that Iowa's AAU status was also becoming questionable. Although they didn't go into why.
 
I think that was a lot of it. It's historically been one of their considerations but only recently have they seem to be focusing in more on that. I know for Nebby, they lost their AAU status because the med school is located in Omaha, not Lincoln, has a non-UNL administration, and so UNL can't count any of their research endeavors. They also got knocked because of their heavy focus on ag research, which isn't "peer reviewed, competitive" research and not viewed as highly by AAU, so that might also have been a factor for ISU.
Basically it was an NIH circle-jerk, and basically crapping on USDA research because a decade ago alot of it was passed out by earmarks. The statement on ag research is idiotic and false. USDA research is almost all competitive, and has been for years. Ag research is published in peer reviewed journals just like everything else.

It's just schools weighing what they currently do more favorably, and coming up with some BS to justify it. But who cares. The employers that can't get enough ISU grads don't give two ***** about AAU.
 

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