# Most ridiculous "directional schools" in college sports **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 4, 2020, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190 "2020-12-04T09:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stuccosuperstar2020](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@stuccosuperstar2020](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuccosuperstar2020)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/1 "2020-12-04T09:08:20Z")
“Western” Illinois. At its width, its 210 miles. “Northern” Kentucky. 185 up to down. Don’t get me started on East, West and Central Michigan. Or Middle Tennessee State. And don’t forget North Florida’s recent entry into March Madness! Then there are are Carolina Three: East Carolina, West Carolina and Top 25 ranked COASTAL Carolina. I am assuming these are all legitimate colleges, but how many of these are highly regarded by employers? And how long have many of these “directional” colleges have been around? I’m not here to mock, I attended a Division II school that will never attain the level of these schools, but we also never tried to shoot above our weight in either football or basketball and rename ourselves “Eastern Central Pennsylvania” to try and get a cheap look at a Big Dance spot. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/2 "2020-12-04T12:48:32Z")
I know about the Florida ones. For the state university system in Florida, Florida State and University of Florida are the top of the tier. Research universities that are well known and respected. As far as sports, they both recruit nationally. FSU football has been a disaster lately, but basketball and baseball are both excellent. UF had their rocky years with football in the past. The second tier is made up of the ‘directional’ schools such as University of South Florida and University of Central Florida, they’re still mostly commuter colleges serving the large population of the metropolitan areas. They’re fine schools, you can get a good education there. It’s also not that hard to basically skate by and get a diploma as a piece of paper credential since so many jobs demand it. As far as sports, Florida has so much talent that the second tier schools still can compete. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/3 "2020-12-04T13:09:32Z")
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. > [@stuccosuperstar2020](#): > > but we also never tried to shoot above our weight in either football or basketball and rename ourselves “Eastern Central Pennsylvania” to try and get a cheap look at a Big Dance spot. In 2019 the “Big Dance” had Syracuse in the West Regional and Oregon in the South. Geography went out the window a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/4 "2020-12-04T13:24:12Z")
I’m confused by the criticism. When I lived in West Philly, I never heard anyone suggest that I was being ridiculous to suggest Philadelphia (smaller than Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan or North Carolina) could have a “west.” My university had a south campus and a north campus. It was much smaller than a state. Why is it weird to name your school based on where it is? How does doing that get you into the NCAA tournament? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/5 "2020-12-04T13:46:36Z")
Middle Tennessee State University annoys me. The fact that you happen to be located in the middle of your state shouldn’t qualify as being part of your name. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/6 "2020-12-04T13:52:47Z")
> [@stuccosuperstar2020](#): > > West Carolina Actually “Western Carolina”. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/7 "2020-12-04T13:53:06Z")
> [@stuccosuperstar2020](#): > > I’m not here to mock, I attended a Division II school that will never attain the level of these schools, but we also never tried to shoot above our weight in either football or basketball and rename ourselves “Eastern Central Pennsylvania” to try and get a cheap look at a Big Dance spot. I’m baffled why and how you think that a school having a direction in its name would have any bearing on whether it’s considered for a place in the NCAA tournament. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/8 "2020-12-04T14:08:55Z")
Yeah I’m confused by the point of this thread also. Where I live the two big schools for sports are the University of Washington and Washington State University (and for basketball there’s Gonzaga University). We also have the smaller schools Western Washington University, Eastern Washington University, and Central Washington University. They don’t play on the same big stage. Those names roughly correspond to their relative locations in the state (though Western should be Northern, not only is it the northern-most university in the state but it’s the northern-most university in the contiguous USA). I’m not sure what the problem is with the way they’re named? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/9 "2020-12-04T14:52:40Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. I went there, and the reason for the name was never explained. It’s not even explained on the Wikipedia page. The story I’ve always heard and seen repeated is that it was part of the Northwest Territory when it was founded, hence the name. The correct explanation surely is that it was named after the Northwest Terrirory but, when NU was founded (1851), Illinois had long been a state (1818), and all the rest of the Northwest Territory were states. So that’s my educated guess, unless I’m missing something. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/10 "2020-12-04T14:57:03Z")
> [@stuccosuperstar2020](#): > > I am assuming these are all legitimate colleges, but how many of these are highly regarded by employers? And how long have many of these “directional” colleges have been around? They’re all fine public universities. Why would you think otherwise? Just because you aren’t familiar with them? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/11 "2020-12-04T15:04:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It’s not even explained on the Wikipedia page. That’s what I get for just searching for “name” and “naming” on the Wikipedia page. It says thus (second sentence even): “It was founded in 1851 by nine men whose goal was to establish a university that would serve the former Northwest Territory.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/12 "2020-12-04T15:07:28Z")
I always figured that Northwestern University was named because, at the time it was founded, it was in the northwestern United States. It’s an odd anachronism now. As for the other complaints about the OP, I think I can see what he’s getting at. It’s like if someone said they come from “western Chile”. Look at Chile on a map; it’s like a spaghetti noodle. When I start thinking of how the country might be divided into regions, “west” and “east” are not the first things that spring to mind. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/13 "2020-12-04T15:14:41Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I always figured that Northwestern University was named because, at the time it was founded, it was in the northwestern United States. True. It would still have been the US northwest at the time of founding. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/14 "2020-12-04T15:21:12Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > It’s like if someone said they come from “western Chile”. Look at Chile on a map; it’s like a spaghetti noodle. True, and that’s what I thought of when I read the OP. Then I looked at a map. Western Illinois is about as far west as you can go in a state that has a substantial east-west dimension. Northern Kentucky is as far north as you can get in a state with a substantial north-south dimension. The names are descriptive and accurate. I don’t get the OP. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/15 "2020-12-04T16:12:45Z")
> [@stuccosuperstar2020](#): > > I am assuming these are all legitimate colleges, but how many of these are highly regarded by employers? And how long have many of these “directional” colleges have been around? My suspicion is that most of these were the “normal colleges” intended to train teachers back in the late 19th/early 20th century before teaching required a bachelor’s degree, and at some point became fully accredited institutions and dropped their “normal college” name, but kept the geographic designation part. I’m not sure why the normal colleges were geographically designated- maybe the idea was that they didn’t think prospective teachers could travel too far to get their training or something? For example, the University of North Texas was originally “North Texas Normal College” and trained teachers. Same for Texas State- it was originally “Southwest Texas Normal School”, then Southwest Texas State, and now Texas State. Generally speaking the “directional universities” are second/third tier institutions behind the main state funded universities, and that’s usually evident in the conferences they compete in as well. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/16 "2020-12-04T16:28:27Z")
I read somewhere, “The longer the school name, generally the less respectable it is.” Harvard, Yale, Stanford - all keep it simple and short, all are highly respected. (academics-wise, that is, not sports-wise.) Whereas if someone has some Northeastern Mountain Range New Mexico Desert University degree… ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/17 "2020-12-04T16:31:43Z")
Don’t get me started on West Virginia University. It’s mostly north of the University of Virginia! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/18 "2020-12-04T16:40:17Z")
> [@bump](#): > > My suspicion is that most of these were the “normal colleges” intended to train teachers back in the late 19th/early 20th century before teaching required a bachelor’s degree, and at some point became fully accredited institutions and dropped their “normal college” name, but kept the geographic designation part. According to Wikipedia, this is indeed true of Western Illinois University. The state of Illinois has a Western Illinois University, an Eastern Illinois University, a Southern Illinois University, a Northern Illinois University, a University of Illinois, and an Illinois State University—all separate, legitimate public universities. I gather that in some states, all or most of the public universities are all part of the same [system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_system), but this is not the case in Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/19 "2020-12-04T16:49:10Z")
The state of Tennessee is divided into three Grand Divisions - East, West, and Middle - which are represented by the three stars on the State Flag. Each Grand Division represents roughly a third of the state and each differs from the others because of the regional topography. East Tennessee is the mountainous region from the Appalachian Mountains at the eastern border to the Tennessee River Valley. Middle Tennessee runs from the Cumberland Plateau through the Nashville Basin and to the Highland Rim. West Tennessee is mostly the flat, level, farmland of the Mississippi River basin. There is an East Tennessee State University and a Middle Tennessee State University, and the University of Memphis was originally established as West Tennessee State before undergoing a series of name changes over the years. All three colleges were originally founded as a result of the General Education Bill, enacted by the Tennessee Legislature in 1909. So while Tennessee is only approximately 120 miles tall north to south, it is over 440 mile wide east to west and differs dramatically by region. The directional schools in Tennessee were purposefully created to serve those differences. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/20 "2020-12-04T16:54:09Z")
This is definitely true for East TN State University, Middle TN State University, and the University of Memphis. Each was originally established as the State Normal School for their respective region before becoming State Colleges and ultimately State Universities. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190.md?page=2)