Topic: Liberty into C-USA

[Pinkerton99]

E, I got you.  But for me, I realized some time ago that during my 47 years of rooting for, and supporting Marshall the university world has changed around me.  Schools like UNCC, ODU, JMU, Liberty Georgia State, Coastal Carolina, Appy State...on and on, have grown by leaps and bounds while we've grown unsteadily and sporadically.  Heck, I used to go to the Coastal Carolina Community College baseball field to watch pro developmental league baseball, the Blue Jays...

While this is a challenge for us athletically, the fact is that great universities have grown up in our midst and are educating hundreds of thousands of people every year. They all have ambitions and money too; are based in population growth areas, and have missions that require them to recruit effectivelly too.

I wish MU had been on the same mission as these schools, but it wasn't. Whether it is the state making it almost impossible, or the lack of creative leadership, I don't know. But I do know the days of thinking we should roll over these schools because We Are Marshall is long past.  Think about it, we've got players who are the third generation after our plane crash. Some of their grand parents were only elementary students back then.  We have to live in today on today's nickel and have a pitch of / for today.   

I hate it, but I believe this is absolutely true. One of my sons often laments that although we are disappointed we do pretty well for being the "second thought" school in the third poorest state in the country. These aren't excuses to me, but they are true.

This should be a sticky for the forum... When the rest of the country is growing and investing, we (Huntington/Marshall community) have been treading water since the 80's.  Football in the 90's was the obvious bright spot.  I have mentioned many times that enrollment is the key to brighter times for Marshall and Huntington.  The problem is that honestly that is very difficult to do when our competitors have, from our perspective, unlimited resources.  I know Marshall wanst sto increase enrollment to what, 15,000 in five years? That's a start.  Huntington needs to make a goal of being the biggest city in the state within five.  You're either green and growing, or ripe and rotting.

[Herdmeister]

This should be a sticky for the forum... When the rest of the country is growing and investing, we (Huntington/Marshall community) have been treading water since the 80's.  Football in the 90's was the obvious bright spot.  I have mentioned many times that enrollment is the key to brighter times for Marshall and Huntington.  The problem is that honestly that is very difficult to do when our competitors have, from our perspective, unlimited resources.  I know Marshall wanst sto increase enrollment to what, 15,000 in five years? That's a start.  Huntington needs to make a goal of being the biggest city in the state within five.  You're either green and growing, or ripe and rotting.

I was told by someone at Marshall that the enrollment is actually down slightly to last year.

[JEP3rd]

Huntington needs to make a goal of being the biggest city in the state within five.  You're either green and growing, or ripe and rotting.

^^^ This, my sheeple, this...^^^

But until the Tri-State region gets all of its pols together for a real WV-KY-OH approach to expansion, and do really broad public-private partnerships, accomplishing that will be difficult. I'd love to see it happen, though. I can only hope the Huntington Innovation Project gets off the ground enough to get Huntington/Marshall to be the incubator of it all. I'm not sure Huntington could be the largest city within 5 years because of sufficient government infrastructure...maybe 10...but why not shoot for it?

[MarshallManiac]

This should be a sticky for the forum... When the rest of the country is growing and investing, we (Huntington/Marshall community) have been treading water since the 80's.  Football in the 90's was the obvious bright spot.  I have mentioned many times that enrollment is the key to brighter times for Marshall and Huntington.  The problem is that honestly that is very difficult to do when our competitors have, from our perspective, unlimited resources.  I know Marshall wanst sto increase enrollment to what, 15,000 in five years? That's a start.  Huntington needs to make a goal of being the biggest city in the state within five.  You're either green and growing, or ripe and rotting.

Marshall is investing a lot of money in recruitment. I'll be surprised if it doesn't grow at least a little bit by next year.

[saherdfan]

The HerdFans board has give Chuck a lot of article ideas.  Funny stuff! 

[saherdfan]

I see $$$ over other political values, or religious opinions.  C-USA needs money and you turn down money being thrown at you...  Just does not seem like a good business decision for the league.  We may get a better TV deal / coverage.  We could be on all the Christian network channels...  LOL.  At this point if C-USA could get a good deal with the Satan network i think they should take it.  I guess we already tried to get ESPN to pick our games up...  LOL.     

[Scottyo614]

As long as the city keeps electing politicians who have been in the Huntington system don't expect change.

[bighat]

I am glad I am from Marshall and that we are scrappier than other schools because we have to do much with less.  Our recently deceased university president gave a speech about Marshall University being a blue collar university that dealt with the needs of our state and the needs of the downtrodden.  I think it was the most defining speech of my university that I ever heard.  I am proud of Marshall University and that it never gave up on football or me.

[iherdya]

sun belt speaks out about rejecting liberty

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/9/21/16339764/liberty-football-fbs-conference-jerry-falwell-sun-belt

[QuickStrike]

Why is it okay to discriminate against Liberty because of their religious reviews on homosexuality?  Why can't homosexuals accept that you can accept them without believing that their lifestyle is approved by God?  Most homosexuals don't even believe in God, so why would it even be an issue?  Aren't homosexuals basically taking the same discriminatory position by saying that believing the Christian values that Liberty has is not okay?  Good grief.....all they want to do is join a conference and play sports.

[MUonium]

# members in G5 cons:
AAC 12
CUSA 14 (add or subtract or both ???)
MAC 12
MWC 12
SUN 12

idk, do any of the current above members speak out strongly/brashly/fervently on social, religious and political issues?

[coalherd]

Marshall is investing a lot of money in recruitment. I'll be surprised if it doesn't grow at least a little bit by next year.

Problem is, Maniac, is if you go walking around MU's campus the sounds of SILENCE are overwhelming.  Meaning that MU is right now, and for the immediate future, apparently, not investing ANYTHING in Capital improvements, repairs, renovations, etc.  Five years into its 10 year campus master plan approved in 2013, and the school has not undertaken, started, or even approved ANY new major capital projects.  First priority was to be a major expansion and renovation of the Memorial Student Center, a dated facility virtually unchanged since being built in the early 1970s.

When it comes to capital projects and improvements, Maniace, it is also true if you are doing nothing and standing still, you are in reality FALLING BEHIND contemporary and competing institutions!

[CoachSkip]

Im expecting colleges and universities in the near future to be almost exclusively , online . The actual brick and mortar institutions will be a thing of the past sooner than later . I would like to see MU embrace the changed and funnel money into online courses , with a solid plan for the next ten years to go even further away from actual campuses . I personally don't like that idea but I do think that's where higher education is headed. The only thing for students to actually see on a campus will be athletic events .

[MarshallGrad]

Im expecting colleges and universities in the near future to be almost exclusively , online . The actual brick and mortar institutions will be a thing of the past sooner than later . I would like to see MU embrace the changed and funnel money into online courses , with a solid plan for the next ten years to go even further away from actual campuses . I personally don't like that idea but I do think that's where higher education is headed. The only thing for students to actually see on a campus will be athletic events .

Online is a predominantly an "older" demographic. Out of over 50 million people enrolled in online classes, the average age is 34. The 18-22 demo will for quite some time be interested in partying, which is an essential part of what they are looking forward to. While some 18-22 years olds do take online classes, rarely are they interested in completing entire degrees online.  They want the campus experience and the rituals and I don't see that going away soon. Earning a degree is the secondary interest for many 18-22 students. It is the campus experience.

[CoachSkip]

Online is a predominantly an "older" demographic. Out of over 50 million people enrolled in online classes, the average age is 34. The 18-22 demo will for quite some time be interested in partying, which is an essential part of what they are looking forward to. While some 18-22 years olds do take online classes, rarely are they interested in completing entire degrees online.  They want the campus experience and the rituals and I don't see that going away soon. Earning a degree is the secondary interest for many 18-22 students. It is the campus experience.

If online degrees are the only thing available , they'll have to go that route . I just hope the campus experience will be there , I personally don't think it will . MU needs to get a foot up on all this online stuff , hope they think forward for a change . The way things are changing so fast , who knows what anything is going to look like in ten years .

[coalherd]

If online degrees are the only thing available , they'll have to go that route . I just hope the campus experience will be there , I personally don't think it will . MU needs to get a foot up on all this online stuff , hope they think forward for a change . The way things are changing so fast , who knows what anything is going to look like in ten years .

I don't see how any academic discipline that requires hands on activities, like lab work in various sciences, engineering, medical fields, etc., can be exclusively obtained "on line".  No doubt many "lecture" type classes can be on line but if the class then requires students to perform practical lab work, there are going to have to be brick and mortar facilities for the foreseeable future.

[Thunders]

Typical CUSA trash

[MarshallManiac]

Problem is, Maniac, is if you go walking around MU's campus the sounds of SILENCE are overwhelming.  Meaning that MU is right now, and for the immediate future, apparently, not investing ANYTHING in Capital improvements, repairs, renovations, etc.  Five years into its 10 year campus master plan approved in 2013, and the school has not undertaken, started, or even approved ANY new major capital projects.  First priority was to be a major expansion and renovation of the Memorial Student Center, a dated facility virtually unchanged since being built in the early 1970s.

When it comes to capital projects and improvements, Maniace, it is also true if you are doing nothing and standing still, you are in reality FALLING BEHIND contemporary and competing institutions!

Well, I do walk around the campus every single day. I'll grant you that that improvements and new buildings have slowed a bit but in the past ten years, the improvements and new buildings on campus have been overwhelming. Heck, since I was a student there are at least 10 new buildings and that has only been since 2001. In a state like West Virginia, I honestly believe Marshall has done a pretty daggone good job. I just hope that President Gilbert has the vision that Kopp did. So far, it seems that he will be pretty good.

[beau42m]

Why doesn't Marshall apply for membership in the Sun Belt, and leave the sinking ship of C-USA behind?

[QuickStrike]

Why doesn't Marshall apply for membership in the Sun Belt, and leave the sinking ship of C-USA behind?

C-USA and the SunBelt should disband then consolidate into 4 regional divisions with a playoff.  Would save schools a ton in travel costs, and a 4 team playoff for League Champion would be different. 

[herdgameplan]

Pinkerton99 you have your head on your shoulders correctly and Like the way you disect the problem!

[bighat]

When was the engineering building built?

[MarshallManiac]

When was the engineering building built?

It officially opened in 2015.

[jn330]

and where'd they get all their cash?  speculating; if CUSA surface investigated and followed the "earnings" they might have seen risk, potentially multiple conflicts of interest?  they have after all, taken strong political positions.   

which current member would be dropped to accommodate them?  is it to be supposed that CUSA would be OK with and odd number of members or two additions to total 16?  how far will $24M (tainted or not) carry CUSA in the big scheme?

I'm a Liberty Grad from the 90's.  In response to Academic Reputation, I think it's getting better all the time.  They are one of the top rated education majors in Virginia, have a legit engineering and law school, and their religion department is great and doesn't typically reflect the looniness of Jerry Falwell Jr.
 
In response to "where did they get the money"?  They have one of the largest online degree programs in the country, and have been doing distance learning for at least 3 decades I think.  Distance learning is their cash cow, and have been a huge blessing to military personnel and .  On campus tuition room and board cost around $28,000 a year.  Which is why my children will not follow in my footsteps to Liberty. That and the fact I'm not sure Jerry Jr. is an actual Christian. 

Total enrollment exceeds 110,000
Military Students: over 30,000
International Students: over 900

In regards to their athletic, it was always the vision of Jerry Sr. that Liberty would one day be the Notre Dame of the Evangelical World, in academics and athletics.  I'm from Huntingon and love Marshall, so I don't mean this as an insult, but I think in the long run there's a better likelihood of Liberty becoming a sustained football power than Marshall.  My preference would be for Marshall to be a football dynamo and Liberty to be known for Christians who legitimately change the world through the love of Jesus, rather than Huntington being known for heroin and Liberty having a chancellor who comes off as a stooge for the president.

[whf]

It's your impression that he's a stooge for the President, others feel quite differently and would give him credit for being able to speak up for conservative values from a university setting.