Comments about ‘Athletics, academics make University of Utah a perfect fit for the Pac-10’

25 years from now, after 2-3 real NC's, 6-8 rose bowls, and a host of other awards TDS will still be praying to leave the #3 stop in the MWC, all while watching big brother reach the pinnacle of college sports.

Oh, it's good to be a UTE

Do we have to keep trying to sell this? Enough. It's done, so let's move on. Why keep rationalizing what the U did?

I agree--this is good for everyone in the state of Utah. Many people don't realize that the PAC-10 and the BIG-10 are academic alliances that have sports under the PAC-10 / BIG-10 brands (similar to how the Ivy League runs; although not quite as academically elite but much better in sports). I didn't understand this until I earned one of my degrees at an elite PAC-10 school and saw the huge affiliation benefits with joint grants, joint programs, co-research, hiring each others Ph.D. students, shared software projects, shared seminars, shared library resources, etc. The athletics benefits will be very big, but the academic benefits will be enormous.

For the U and its stakeholders, it's a great time to pause and celebrate your accomplishments. However, you've got to keep improving--especially in programs where you're not ranked. What you're doing benefits not just the U but all the citizens of Utah and all the universities therein--if not through healthy competition, which is extremely healthy. Good job Utes! Now go work even harder :) (From a "recovering" BYU fan).

It will most likely be good for academics but it is going to be horrible for athletics (except for women's gymnastics).

The basketball team is going to get slaughtered even worse than we did in the MWC.

The football team should fare well for a year or two until USC rebuilds then it will be 5th or 6th place every year if we can beat ASU and WSU.

The crimson colored glasses will only last for a few years...

Chris B you are making all Utah fans look like clowns. You must really be a cougar that is trolling the boards. No reasonable fan thinks that Utah has even a small chance of 2-3 NC's. In the MWC, Utah has only won 3 conference championships in 10 years. Now jump to the Pac-12 and you think they are going to get into 8 Rose Bowls?

I'll have some of whatever Chris is having...

Great to see input from the Chairman of the Utah State Board of Regents.

As a long time fan of a Pac10 school and a student at the U, I couldn't be more excited for the future.

II share the new chairman's excitement, but he has much work ahead. The UoU ranks just below the University of Arizona and far below most of the other PAC 10 schools (in the rankings list he used). Utah is a small population state, and he will have to convince the legislature to focus resources. The recent legislative end-run around the previous chairman to initiate a Weber State engineering program (a weak program that may fail ABET accreditation as true costs become apparent) is an example of the difficulty of the chairman’s leadership challenge.

By the way, I believe academics and sports are linked. State schools tend to be better in the more pedestrian academic fields such as engineering. For example, the Big 10 leads in top ten engineering rankings with the PAC 10 second and the ACC third.

Life long republican points are point-less. Utah has 4 conference championships and most important 2 BCS Bowl wins to say it can not be done in the Pac is ignorant and naive. USC has been hit by major sanctions which will cripple their program for years to come.
Utah barley lost to Oregon at home the same Oregon who went on to win the PAC last year. Utah is 7-3 against PAC-10 schools. During the same period your cougars are 5-6 and barley escaping a 1-10 Washington program.

Ute basketball is the 11th winning-est program in the nation and is only behind UCLA in the PAC. Boylen will turn the program around. The future looks bright for Utah. Where as BYU will not be invited to the party.

@Chris B - If Utah has 2-3 national championships and 6-8 Rose Bowls in 25 years I will come to your house and wax your car. I'm sure all the Arizona and Arizona St boosters were chanting the same tiresome diatribe back in the 1970s.

It may be good to be a Ute today, but I don't envy your tomorrow or next year.

Now, can we finally stop reporting this non-story?

Chad, you are so-o-o correct.

The REAL stories [as opposed to those non-stories about the U of U] are those such as that riveting account of the 120,000 water balloon fight held in Provo. What a cute little story [ad nauseum] about the very productive cute summer activities of those cute little Cougars.

I'm happy you don't envy our tomorrow or next year. Just keep your efforts focused on the next cute little story about BYU. The newspaper has to print something to make the Cougars feel relevant about now.

And, by the way, it is -- and always will be -- a good day to be a Ute.

Many of Utah's athletic programs are mediocre and second rate. The PAC-10 (12) prides itself on total athletic excellence. Will the U. step up and has its supporters and administrators looked beyond football. At any rate, as a fan of baseball, I'm looking forward to a very, very, very long year on the diamond for the Utes though fans should get to see some quality teams clean up on them.

@ Another neighbor

What do you mean they rank well below the other pac 10 schools. There are many rating agencies, but if you picked the US News rankings for instance the U is a tier 1 school just like 9 of the ten existing pac members (Oregon State is tier III) and I think 126th nationally for public universities vey close to schools like Oregon, ASU and WSU.

I agree that Utah is a perfect fit for the PAC-10. They led the Mountain West in arrogance and that is exactly what the PAC-10 is....arrogant... Yea the PAC-10 is SO much better than everyone else. Well, we'll see.

Dear "blue dot!"

I was referring to the Academic Ranking of World Universities as mentioned by the author, Mr. Jordan.

Indeed there are many alternative rankings, and no ranking system gives a complete picture. You should draw your own conclusions about the relative merits of each institution in meeting your family's needs. In any case, we should all be very excited about the future the PAC 10 promises for everyone in the state of Utah.

[PS, I prefer to reveiw rankings differently: US News rankings by graduate department, by number of Nobel Laureates and by AAU membership. These statistics yield similar results to Mr. Jordan's choice of rankings but with benefit of added fidelity. As I recall, the US News overall best colleges rankings included some questionable items such as alumni donations.]

What many in Utah do not seem to realize is that without the academic and research credentials UofU would not have been invited to join the PAC10 conference. They qualify. BYU does not. It is just that simple.

Many great people laid the ground work and lifted the University of Utah to a point where it could easily be identified with Pac 10 caliber schools. Two names not mentioned frequently are James Fletcher and David P. Garner. Both were presidents of the University of Utah. Fletcher was twice named director of NASA the second time by Ronald Reagan to rebuild NASA after the Challenger disaster. NASA needed someone they knew and could trust. David P. Gardner became the president of the University of California system overseeing both UCLA and California-Berkley. Both of these past presidents obviously made many friends and contacts with leaders of the schools in the Pac 10. The Utes are one of the top basketball programs in NCAA history, winning three national titles (1916, 1944, 1947) and ranking in the top-15 all-time in wins, winning percentage, and conference championships, while producing 17 All-Americans and a National Player of the Year. It is the only University to produce a number one draft pick in the NBA and the NFL in the same academic year.