Vanderbilt Has Slammed on The Brakes For Football Activities

[Remy]

How’d Vandy meet SEC criteria to begin with? We just as soon have Rutgers in this conference. Unbelievable.

You think Vandy is bad, how'd you like to have SEC Charter member Tulane still around?

 

[Volfan76]

Old news.....Vandy put the brakes on football activities years and years ago

 

[Purple Tiger]

I’m not going to argue with you but you are incorrect. The athletic department at Vandy is losing money and has been for years. You don’t have to believe me but I know this for a fact.

VU has no athletic department. Sports scholarships come out of the schools general fund, where proceeds from the SEC check are placed. If VU funded 175 (which they don't) full rides at $80k per year, that only equals $14 million. Not sure how you think they are losing money.

 

[Purple Tiger]

I Vanderbilt completely opts out of football for this season, the SEC absolutely should not provide any of the mill;ions of dollars of SEC funds that is collected and split between the SEC members.once per year....no play, no pay.

VU never said they were opting out of football in 2020. This suspension of activities isn't permanent and the team is supposed to resume practice ASAP.

 

[IPleadInsanity]

How’d Vandy meet SEC criteria to begin with? We just as soon have Rutgers in this conference. Unbelievable.

They were a charter member and used to dominate.

 

[05_never_again]

How’d Vandy meet SEC criteria to begin with? We just as soon have Rutgers in this conference. Unbelievable.

A better question than "how'd they meet the criteria to begin with" is "why didn't they leave when Georgia Tech or Tulane left?"

When the conference was born (1932), Vanderbilt was good. Totally different era, but they were good. They actually dominated Tennessee in football until the late 20s/early 30s. As they say, "General Neyland was hired to beat Vanderbilt."

 

[Purple Tiger]

No, Vandy like everyone else LIKES revenue. Their sports program, like all sports programs needs to generate moneys. Do you for one minute think the blue blood liberals that graduate from Vandy and send their youngsters down their path to the good life would stand for a goodly portion of their very high tuition to fund sports?!? I think not.

All this assuming Vandy is rock-solid liberal is a bunch of BS. Look at their Board of Trustees billionaires and millionaires and tell me which one is a liberal. Most of the students come from wealthy families who are Republicans. Some of VU's faculty might be liberal but not all of them.

 

[OldandStillaVol]

A better question than "how'd they meet the criteria to begin with" is "why didn't they leave when Georgia Tech or Tulane left?"

Georgia Tech made a horrible decision to leave the SEC. It had to do with a disagreement over signing numbers. I would argue that athletically, GT has never returned to the level they were at when they left.

Tulane decided to de-emphasize all sports in the 50’s. Can’t argue with that decision but when you compare them to schools like Northwestern or Wake Forest, it sure seems like staying in your conference is a better move.

As long as the payout to members of the SEC is high, Vandy will never voluntarily leave.

 

[05_never_again]

Georgia Tech made a horrible decision to leave the SEC. It had to do with a disagreement over signing numbers. I would argue that athletically, GT has never returned to the level they were at when they left.

Tulane decided to de-emphasize all sports in the 50’s. Can’t argue with that decision but when you compare them to schools like Northwestern or Wake Forest, it sure seems like staying in your conference is a better move.

As long as the payout to members of the SEC is high, Vandy will never voluntarily leave.

I think the key term to define in this conversation is "de-emphasize." I wouldn't say that Vanderbilt, just like Northwestern or Wake Forest, ever truly de-emphasized sports. Definitely not explicitly. However, they clearly have made institutional decisions over a long period of time to not emphasize them as much as the other schools in their conference.

It seems like among members of a conference, there should be some general level of emphasis on sports that is expected, if not required. If a school is unable or unwilling to do that, then they probably shouldn't be in that conference, especially if the conference splits a portion of its revenue equally among the member schools (which I think every conference does).

 

[OldandStillaVol]

Totally agree. I’ve always felt the SEC should have some minimum standards for football programs (since that is the lions share of the source of revenue). Things like seating capacity and average home attendance.

My opinion is that schools like WF and Northwestern that made the decision to upgrade their football programs as much as possible to compete have done better in the overall competition for students (not athletes) than Tulane and Rice.

 

[dobre_shunka]

Here in South Louisiana we’re staring down the barrel at back-to-back hurricanes. What a way to cap off the year, save 4 months. I am totally waiting for the California wildfires to make their way to our region as the proverbial “cherry on top”. This year has been a disaster on many levels. Not to mention the election in November.

 

[escapegoat2]

Here in South Louisiana we’re staring down the barrel at back-to-back hurricanes. What a way to cap off the year, save 4 months. I am totally waiting for the California wildfires to make their way to our region as the proverbial “cherry on top”. This year has been a disaster on many levels. Not to mention the election in November.

Lol! U mean a thunderstorm, and a possible mid level hurricane.