Slipping On the Orange Shades

[kyyote]

I am afraid that I have become a bit cynical and my first and recurring thought while watching our energetic new coach was ?Just win. That is what I trust. Wins.
I still want that. But I think that perhaps he can do the thing I have been wanting and that is stop the player carousel. I have lost all use for the ncaa and have blamed them for making college the minor leagues. It is what drove Tim Floyd into retirement and what drove me nuckin futs with Terry. I think our new man may be able to build some loyalty and stability along with it and if he can bring the money and power of the city together with UTEP it could end up being transformational.
So while I am still waiting to see how it goes, I am waiting with a bit more of an open mind. And while my mind is only a bit more open, I am willing to throw it wide open if things go right. It is Glory Road after all.

[liebestraum]

You have touched on the point that makes the United States unique.  We use our colleges as minor leagues for the pros.  I do not know of any place else in the world (maybe Canada?) that does this.

In the rest of the world, universities provide advanced education and serve as platforms for conducting research.  Foreign NBA players come from club teams in their respective countries.  And it is element that has made college-level athletics such a sham.  Many of the schools in the Big 10, for example, are ground breaking academic institutions, but all most people care about is the sports programs.

And I see the same sentiment on this board.  UTEP may have a shitty reputation in football and (lately) basketball, but as someone in the academic world, I can tell you UTEP receives an enormous amount of respect.

I also understand that sports can serve as a vehicle for getting donor money.  But exceptions are notable.  One of my sons played soccer for Centenary College in Louisiana and now works there.  They have a whopping 700 students total.  And yet their endowment is larger than what we have at Sam Houston State.  This allows them to hand out multiple types of academic or needs-based scholarships.

Yes, I like watching winning teams and this makes me appreciate what Haskins did all the more.  But the fact is, the collegiate athletic system in the US has evolved into a de facto (and expense-free!) minor league system for professional sports.  And I have a hard time watching these games any more.

lieb

[kyyote]

First, let me say that I am very very proud of UTEP and the incredibly powerful it?s mission has been and is full filling in the region. If we were in an academic competition league we would be champs. But we aren?t. Remember the GE College Bowl?
Perhaps I am just a very shallow person for wanting wins instead of celebrating the spirit of the challenge the individuals and teams are participants in. I don?t think so. I think that wearing a jersey with UTEP on it changes it. Now they also represent so much more. Rightly or wrongly. Poorly or greatly. Overall, our teams in men?s basketball and football have done a horrible job of representing a very very fine institution and all that it represents. That is why I feel so strongly about the athletics. It is so damned wrong in what it tells the world UTEP is.  Every fricken  year some coach tells the world week after week that UTEP is a joke.  The losses and finding creative never before seen ways to look bad is what they tell the world what UTEP is and it is so fucking wrong it makes my blood boil.  And it is like they just don?t get it or don?t care.  That makes me insane!  I loved Natalicio!  I had more than a few reasons for coming into intact with her over the years and she was what made UTEP what it has become today. But, she is guilty of allowing the world to see a horrible representation of the fine work she did.
Ask yourself what winning football, playing in The All American Conference on real tv and showing the nation the UTEP campus in a winning light AND being able to boast of the academic greatness to boot would be like.  Instead of being known as the worst team in football.  Luckily for us, professors around the country think more highly of us than the rest of the three hundred sixty million. Where?s my foam finger? 
Am I asking too much to ask for fine academics and to actually win games too?  I do not ask for National Championships every year. I don?t ask for UTEP to be a damned pissy cusa champion every year. I ask for a team that is as good as the school. And right now the two are worlds apart and I personally don?t think they should be.

[SisyphusMiner]

... as someone in the academic world, I can tell you UTEP receives an enormous amount of respect.

I didn't know this. Do you think that's generally the case across the country or just Texas?

I don't really see us being perceived as a Rice, or even a Tech or UT by the population at large however, now or ever.  People have very preconceived notions about El Paso generally, and having a name that makes us sound like a directional emergency backup school doesn't help.  Honestly the only way 90% of people are ever going to hear about UTEP is when they do something good in sports.  I can go anywhere in the country and if I find a hoops fan I can tell them I went to UTEP and they're like "cool, they used to be a really good mid-major".  I try not to talk about football.   I have never encountered anyone that didn't come from the immediate EP/NM area that ever had any concept of or interest at all in the academics.

And to be fair, I think the only academically elite school the vast majority of people immediately recognize as such are maybe Ivy League, Stanford, Cal Tech, MIT.  Then the slightly less well known academic elites like Chicago, Tulane, Rice, Northwestern.  After that, no one knows.  Or cares.  Everyone knows who Duke is.  Because they are an elite academic school?  Or because of hoops?