If the SEC truly wants VT so badly, this could set up perfectly for everybody.

[chuckd4vt]

We could gain the support of the 5 AAU members in the acc, duke, UNC, uva, gt, Maryland, while making it known to the SEC brass that its what's holding us up. Mizzou, a&m, vandy, and Florida would certainly be behind us if they thought we would be future conference members. The SEC needs all the increased academic prestige it can get. Once we got AAU, it would be really tough to turn down an extra 20-30 million per year.

[Edgeman]

So exactly why would the ACC's AAU members help VT join that club if we were planning to leave for the SEC?

Better idea, have those 5 ACC AAU members help VT gain membership to drive up the academic rep of the ACC one more notch...

BTW, Syracuse is out (as of this year), but Pitt is still in the AAU.

[HOKIEGOBBLE]

Why is syr out. Reduced research spending, or what? Thanks.

[Byting Gobbler]

We could gain the support of the 5 AAU members in the acc, duke, UNC, uva, gt, Maryland, while making it known to the SEC brass that its what's holding us up. Mizzou, a&m, vandy, and Florida would certainly be behind us if they thought we would be future conference members. The SEC needs all the increased academic prestige it can get. Once we got AAU, it would be really tough to turn down an extra 20-30 million per year.

What are you smoking? VT gets enhanced academic credentials from other universities for athletic department reasons? Obviously better living through chemistry.

[chuckd4vt]

Listen, AAU members do the voting.

And whether you believe it or not, athletic conferences are the most public affiliations there is. Many conferences even take it way further, see thy Ivy League and Big Ten. Simply, you must be smoking something if you feel the academic prestige of a school carries little weight in these "conference wars." And VT, aint gonna want to do anything to tick off the people at UVA, UNC, Maryland, Duke, or GT because they have votes in this AAU deal.

[chuckd4vt]

So exactly why would the ACC's AAU members help VT join that club if we were planning to leave for the SEC?

What I was suggesting is VT could get the 5 or 6 AAU votes from the ACC, while BEHIND THE SCENES getting support from some of the 4 SEC schools. Just saying that if they leverage this athletic conference thing correctly, they could lock up support from 10 of the 60, or so, AAU schools. You know, make a call to the A&M prez and say, hey keep this between us, but if you help us with this AAU deal, we'll reconsider our conference affiliation.

I know I'm getting out there with this, but I'm sure a little politicking of this type goes on. This could potentially turn a NO vote from a Florida or a Missouri into a yes vote. That's all Im say'n.

[techman]

The AAU revised their rating criteria, making it more important (almost necessary) to have a medical school. SU used to have one, but now is affiliated with a SUNY med school in the city of Syracuse (but not on campus). So, SU probably does not now get AAU credit for federal resesrch funding at the med school. Anyway, SU's arrangements for a medical school were not good enough for the AAU; so SU quit the AAU.

More interesting is the case of U Nebraska. Soon after joining the B1G, they got kicked out of the AAU. But the B1G insists that its members are in the AAU, creating a little contradiction.

[Edgeman]

The AAU no longer values Ag research as highly as it did before, thus Nebraska was booted out. SU saw the changes and voluntarily withdrew from the AAU (to avoid getting kicked out like Nebraska). Hope VT will be able to count our Med School's grants (some rule about the HQ needs to be located on (or near) campus...or something). If we're good, then come on NIH grants! Feed it to me baby!

[techman]

The AAU no longer values Ag research as highly as it did before, thus Nebraska was booted out. SU saw the changes and voluntarily withdrew from the AAU (to avoid getting kicked out like Nebraska). Hope VT will be able to count our Med School's grants (some rule about the HQ needs to be located on (or near) campus...or something). If we're good, then come on NIH grants! Feed it to me baby!

Agree. Hope VT's med school qualifies under AAU rules. Evidently the rules are strict. I understand that Syracuse U had 2 problems: 1) their med school was not on campus and 2) SU no longer officially owned their med school because they had sold the med school to SUNY

[techman]

We could gain the support of the 5 AAU members in the acc, duke, UNC, uva, gt, Maryland, while making it known to the SEC brass that its what's holding us up. Mizzou, a&m, vandy, and Florida would certainly be behind us if they thought we would be future conference members. The SEC needs all the increased academic prestige it can get. Once we got AAU, it would be really tough to turn down an extra 20-30 million per year.

If VT is going to move to the SEC, I think it would have been closer to perfect if VT had moved to the SEC with Texas A&M. Then the ACC would have been somewhat destabilized, so that the SEC would have a better chance of later picking up UNC or whomever they want.