re: Rice could field a really good football program, if they wanted to.

They've been very good at baseball before, and I've always been a bit surprised they were never all that good at basketball.

The only sport Rice should focus on is baseball.

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I think admission standards will always tie hands behind the back.

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They could do what Tulane did. Create a place for the athletes. Tulane athletes do not go to Tulane itself, they go to Tulane University college, which has lower standards.

I wish Rice was really good, I enjoy going to games at that pit of a stadium, it sucks but it's a throwback. Realistically though Rice would probably get rid of football before they made major attempts at being a top program. I bet they'd kick arse at cricket though.

Universities can't just move endowment money around as they wish. Almost all of that money is earmarked for specific programs, initiatives, and facilities due to donors' directives. The relatively tiny amounts that aren't earmarked keep libraries subscribed to resources and dorms from falling apart.

Beyond that, endowments aren't a measure of a university's willingness or capacity to fund football. That's why some institutions are investigating the desperate measure of private equity and considering spinning off their athletics as a for-profit entity.

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Tulane athletes do not go to Tulane itself, they go to Tulane University college, which has lower standards.

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Great to see what has become of higher education in America

Except for the service academies and Rice

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Rice Stadium has character

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Well it has great sight lines, there's not a bad seat in the stadium. Old timers will remember the pee walls

I started going to games in 71. I saw Tommy Kramer and Earl Cooper. Trevor Cobb, Dillard, Casey


Saw Rive beat the ags , horns, every other SWC foe

Sure Rice isnt a football powerhouse, never will be, but we still have true student athletes, something we all are beginning to miss

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Most of the wealthier alums don't really care about sportsball though (I can't say that I blame them)

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Rice has an undergrad enrollment of 4,776 undergrad and roughly 20% of that enrollment is from India, China or South Korea.

The undergrad portion of that is important because graduate students don't really carry the school affiliation with them as sports fans.

End of the day, I'm actually surprised that Rice actually keeps Division 1 programs, because there is little alumni fan base and not much brand presence. Also with so few alumni, even if they are wealthy, the raw numbers don't really support the kind of infrastructure you'd need to find sustained success.

same with Stanford, we choose not too