Potential MWC Expansion

[Nacho]

http://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal ... -utep-rice

rice just stole half of our name.
tamu would't put up with this.

[SoCal_Pony]

Not sure why every thinks rice is such a good replacement for anyone. They draw worse than us in both sports, and are smaller, and care less. They don't have big money behind sports (very much so behind the school - but not sports). Just because they used to be in the SWC does not mean they have a future. I wouldn't be shocked if they drop football altogether. Their students and alums might not notice or even care.

I've been telling that to my Rice friends for a few years now. SMU provided the roadmap. Drop FB and make a huge push in BB. Endgame for them could be BE membership.

Seriously, what are the benefits of Rice maintaining FB? Whatever their issues, it will only get worse with time.

Drop FB? Put down the pipe

Not for us, them. The roadmap I speak of is Moody Madness.

We have Gerald Ford, Paul Loyd and our circle of champions to bail us out. Rice doesn't appear to have such a group, plus they are a Tier 1 academic school. It's much easier to lift academic restrictions for 7 or 8 athlete students as opposed to 70.

Just looked at Rice's home schedule this year. Wagner, W Kentucky, Army, LA Tech, So Miss and Charlotte. How do you possibly sell that?

[fan]

Well when Houston goes to the Big 12 Rice should replace them

'Horns are never going to allow that to happen.

Just wait

Any thoughts on odds on this? Or dependent on championship issues?

Sucks for us.

[Pony Boss]

[quote="gostangs"]Not sure why every thinks rice is such a good replacement for anyone. They draw worse than us in both sports, and are smaller, and care less. They don't have big money behind sports (very much so behind the school - but not sports). Just because they used to be in the SWC does not mean they have a future. I wouldn't be shocked if they drop football altogether. Their students and alums might not notice or even care.

I've been telling that to my Rice friends for a few years now. SMU provided the roadmap. Drop FB and make a huge push in BB. Endgame for them could be BE membership.

Seriously, what are the benefits of Rice maintaining FB? Whatever their issues, it will only get worse with time.

Drop FB? Put down the pipe

Not for us, them. The roadmap I speak of is Moody Madness.

We have Gerald Ford, Paul Loyd and our circle of champions to bail us out. Rice doesn't appear to have such a group, plus they are a Tier 1 academic school. It's much easier to lift academic restrictions for 7 or 8 athlete students as opposed to 70.

Just looked at Rice's home schedule this year. Wagner, W Kentucky, Army, LA Tech, So Miss and Charlotte. How do you possibly sell that?[/quote]
Ok I agree. Their baseball is very good...they just need basketball to get better.

[PoconoPony]

At some point a school like Rice might take a chapter from the U of Denver who realistically understood that football was a loser. The money and time was not worth the effort and they could never catch up or capture the history and tradition of the big programs. They have made a concerted effort to be top 10 in hockey and lacrosse and have succeeded. Their expansion will be in the "minor" sports. Perhaps, this is the direction for Rice starting with baseball where they have developed a great tradition the past 15 years. Were it not for the hope given to us by Morris, I would have started advocating this for SMU as football has become outrageously expensive. Some time just look at the staffing and compliance numbers just for football.

[eastexSMU]

Rice is one of the richest schools in the country and one of top two in wealth in Texas. The cost of football means nothing to Rice. Believe me, ending football at Rice believe it or not is not an option. Rice will have football long after most of the schools in their conference have given it up.

[CalallenStang]

Rice is one of the richest schools in the country and one of top two in wealth in Texas. The cost of football means nothing to Rice. Believe me, ending football at Rice believe it or not is not an option. Rice will have football long after most of the schools in their conference have given it up.

They had discussions 10 years ago or so about dropping to D-3. Clearly those discussions went nowhere

[eastexSMU]

Quite frankly, being that Rice will not give up football and considering their wealth, I never understood why they just don't go independent, play a lot better group of schools, and attract more fans of interest in bigger games ? They would definitely recruit better than playing in a weak conference, and maybe get a better TV Contract playing half P5 schools. Some of those teams would want to come to Houston and play for recruiting purposes.

[SoCal_Pony]

Rice is one of the richest schools in the country and one of top two in wealth in Texas. The cost of football means nothing to Rice. Believe me, ending football at Rice believe it or not is not an option. Rice will have football long after most of the schools in their conference have given it up.

Not certain size of endowment is any guarantee of retaining FB.

Rice is 20th in the nation with an endowment of some $5.5B. Half the schools above them in endowment don't play FB at the level Rice does, if they play at all.

I went to their equivalent of PFs to see some pics of their games this year.

http://www.ricefootball.net/15wkupix3.html

http://www.ricefootball.net/15wagnerpix6.html

http://www.ricefootball.net/15unccpix4.html

Crickets. If the fans don't care, don't know why they would continue.

[Mexmustang]

I have two friends closely involved with Rice. The school made the decision to keep football, but realize who they are. As part of that discussion, it came to light that the giving levels by former student athletes has been significantly higher than typical graduates--apparently rocket scientists aren't as loyal or financially successful as ex-jocks.

Don't second guess their decision without checking out their record against our favorite university for the past 30 years.

[smupony94]

@ralphDrussoAP 37m37 minutes ago
The Mountain West announced at the conclusion of its presidents' meetings the conference has no plans to expand.

[MustangStealth]

@ralphDrussoAP 37m37 minutes ago
The Mountain West announced at the conclusion of its presidents' meetings the conference has no plans to expand.

In other words, they looked at the options and vomited into a trash can.

[Comet]

MWC makes perfect sense for UTEP though they do love hitting up North Texas and the San Antonio area. Tons of alums.

[LA_Mustang]

I'm not sure why but I want Rice to get serious about athletics. I liked playing them almost as much as I like playing TCU. The big difference is I respect Rice.

[MustangStealth]

I'm not sure why but I want Rice to get serious about athletics. I liked playing them almost as much as I like playing TCU. The big difference is I respect Rice.

Until 2013 they were our most played opponent. Now TCU is up by 2 since we haven't played Rice since joining the AAC.