I’ve already mentioned it in another thread, but there’s a very insightful and challenging solution to the Conference Alignment issue in the Wall Street Journal this past week, which may still be available online at Here’s How to Fix College Football (it’s still there at the time of this post).
These guys put some heavy thought into the answer they came up with, and I could get on board with it with no sweat.
just searched this thread about Pitt and Commuter Schools. Read posts 95 and 103.
I read the posts. I have mentioned and agree that Pitt is in an urban environment, as opposed to every Big 10 school I can think of (Wisconsin is in Madison, a large city in Wisconsin, but hardly NYC).
I also graduated from Pitt when they had a stadium on campus. So I think I have a good idea of what kind of school it is. I also had season tickets up until they moved to Heinz Field, so I know what kind of on-campus environment there was when Pitt played at home. The on-campus population is large. I’m sure a number of people commute from their homes or a rental property instead of living in campus housing, but Pitt wouldn’t meet my definition of a “commuter” school. Whether or not it meets the definition of what the Big 10 thinks a commuter school is is another matter entirely. I don’t know how they define what a commuter school is, but by Big 10 terms, Pitt may very well fall into that category. My definition is irrelevant.
Either way, I’m not sure what your point is. I’m not trying to argue with you.
From my perspective, any decision to expand will boil down to money, nothing more, nothing less. Pitt meets the academic requirements, and has one of the finest medical programs and facilities in the country. Pitt does not have a lot of green space, though. No denying that. It’s been around since 1787, so it is one of the oldest colleges/universities in the country. It has a great history. But you can’t compare its campus to PSU, for example. PSU is much more rural, is the biggest thing in State College, and no doubt has a larger on-campus student body.
My interest in Pitt joining the Big 10 is purely selfish. I imagine there are just as many people that would like Pitt to stay in the Big East, because the basketball program has been something special in the last decade. Pitt football, on the other hand, hasn’t made much of a splash since Dan Marino in the early 80’s. Moving to the Big 10 would be difficult for the football program in the short term, because Pitt has not played great competition in conference for a long time. But over the long term, I believe if Pitt could get into the Big 10, their football program would return to national prominence again.
Ohio State is in Columbus, the 16th largest city in the US (as per Wikipedia). Pittsburgh is down there at 60th. The campus is so large, it’s like a mini-city enclave in Columbus, but it’s only about 3 or so miles from downtown Columbus, and it’s all people the whole way.
I’m not sure if this helps your argument or hurts it. I didn’t even know there was an argument, really; just fighting ignorance about Columbus (which no one seems to know is much larger than Cleveland, not to mention Cincy).,
That’s a bit misleading. Pittsburgh (22), Cincinnati (24), and Cleveland (26) are all larger metro areas than Columbus (32nd). It is bigger than Madison (88), though.
Everything you said about Columbus is true, but I wouldn’t describe OSU as an “urban campus,” which I associate with schools that are housed in a downtown area in high-rises.
I’ve never seen Pitt’s campus, so I don’t know if that applies to them.
The only building on Pitt’s campus that would be considered a “high-rise” is the Cathedral of Learning, which is large building that has classrooms and some admin/professor offices.
There are some buildings that are 10 or more stories, but the CoL is clearly the highest point on the campus.
Pitt is in a section of the city called Oakland, so it’s not right “downtown”. It’s not even in what I would consider walking distance (although you can walk it). So to get from the Cathedral of Learning to Point State Park (where the three rivers meet, and one place most people who have seen a picture of Pittsburgh are familiar with), it would be a couple of miles (I’m guessing. I’ve never measured it, so I’ll do some research on this one). You ***could ***walk it, for sure, but the university is surrounded by housing, row homes, and businesses. So, it has a definite urban feel to it. The roads are also very narrow for the most part, which doesn’t help.
I’ve never seen OSU, but I figured it would be similar to PSU, in that the University and the town are intertwined, but they would “feel” rural.
Not really an argument here, quixotic78. I guess I’m just trying to figure out what the Big 10 means when they say “commuter school”. Also, I’ve never been to Ann Arbor, or East Lansing, but Columbus is definitely a city, and a fairly large one. I’ve been to Madison, and although it is a city, Pitt’s campus feels much more urban.
Just nit-picking, but Northwestern has a campus in downtown Chicago. However, it’s mainly grad students down there. The undergrads are all in Evanston, which is a decent sized suburb but not urban (although the El to downtown runs parallel to the campus).
