What's In A Conference - Yet Another Long-Winded Thought from DCDuck

Seriously? That's the level you are stooping to?

I don't have to prove anything to you. I have no reason to lie about my experience just to try and "win" a debate on a sports forum. You're entitled to your opinions but when you do something like that you turn a discussion about college athletics into a personal attack.

The fact of the matter is that there are dozens of articles on the web about students not being able to take required courses because faculty hours have been furloughed. Look them up.

My experience may not be "typical" but it's certainly not unheard of, and it's a problem that is growing more and more common with every passing term. You yourself acknowledged a problem among universities nationwide, so why wouldn't it happen at a large public school with more than 30,000 undergraduate students? Aren't you also forgetting how Governor McDonnell decided to "appropriate" money from VCU as some sort of reprimand for the school raising tuition?

Because not all Top-50 teams are the #1 team in their BCS conference? Like most things in life, scheduling parity and leverage are matters of degree. There's some light between the Duke's and Towson's of the college basketball world. Somewhere in that gradient are good teams that need, and get, good OOC opponents. It's not all #1 seeds and cupcakes and scheduling isn't binary.

Which is why I brought up the examples of Arkansas and Virginia Tech. I could go look up the non-conference schedules of other middling Power Six schools from this past season if you'd like.

I am not sure if it because UR is in the A10, but the Spiders have played Wake every year and have had recent series with Seton Hall, UVA, VaTech, Miss. State and Providence. As well they have played games with Kansas, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia Tech, UCLA, and Arizona State. UR also tends to play in one exempt tourney a year to play others like Missouri, Purdue, Syracuse, Cincinnati, and Memphis. A10 teams seem to be able to schedule more power six teams than many conferences.

Clearly I wasnt really asking you to snail mail me a hardcopy of a years old transcript. Relax a little and enjoy this lovely spring evening, my good Duck

No need. Just compare the OOC and SOS averages for the A10 over the last decade to the CAA's. Their cupcakes are better than ours, yet they and their top tier get better non-conference opponents than their respective CAA counterparts. It's a perfect case study!

First, Virginia Universities can't spend money on sports that comes from tuition. If they found that a tuition payment was transferred to the athletic department Rao would most likely be fired that day. The only way a public university athletic department can get money is from student fees, donations, ticket sales, and sponsorships. Second, the students who are gradating that semester have priority at classes to the point where there are classes with more than "capacity". This is because gradating students having priority and getting overrides. That said, I do see bottle necks in the 200/300 level non major classes that are required to give you a broad view. Also, students not knowing who to talk to with the power is the big reason why I see students not get what they need to move ahead. Last, Governor McDonnell move was pure political grandstanding that really hurt students that he was claiming to help.

Ramcounter's post translated: Duck. Pwned.

First, I understand, but I was referring to student fees to begin with (which are included in tuition anyway).

Second, it's not that I needed an override to get into a 200-level class. It's that the ones that fit into my schedule were over-registered to start with (enrolled beyond capacity). I spent about two hours a day in the offices of various advisers and administrators trying to work out where exactly the holes were in my transcript and it took a good two months before I got a straight answer from anybody.

Third, grandstanding or not, it was still a move that cost the university millions that could have (and should have) gone towards hiring teachers to solve the bottleneck at the 200-level classes.

Fair enough with the fees deal and I am sorry if I came off too harsh. Trust me I have dealt with the black hole of bureaucracy at VCU. As for the over enrolled classes, I wish they would give more options for non major classes when it comes to electives. I don't get why every freshman needs to take almost the same class to met their prerequisites for their major.

Having studenting experience at multiple institutions, it's not just VCU. I don't know if we noticed due to good times with VCU basketball, but the economy has been going through some stomach pains these past few years. It's tough times for all, and it has NOTHING to do with the CAA, the A-10, conference realignment, VCU, Richmond, Virginia... you get my point.

Actually, I take that back. It has a lot to do with Richmond - more specifically the General Assembly. But conference realignment isn't going to change the business cycle and it's patently absurd to equate the two.

Tom, I have always enjoyed our relationship. You always take time to talk with me (and my wife). We are just fans, but you treat us as if we were staff members of the Department of Athletics. It must be tough reading some of the comments on Ram Nation Forum. In the heat of our discussions, we sometimes make personal attacks rather than objective comments. This is something that has always bothered me about Ram Nation Forum. I love good discussions with valid comments. It is the essence of critical thinking. It is the heart of a good debate. Thanks for taking the time to send us a personal note.

I'm pretty sure that isn't actually Tom Yeager.

No!?! Next thing you'll be telling me, there is no Easter Bunny.

I think DC Duck is full of it.

Sincerely,
Bernadette McGlade
Commissioner, A-10