[h=2]Baylor's Future/Realignment Endgame Thoughts?[/h]
Realignment talk has been going on alot lately, and while I find it fascinating I have seen few people talk about the worst case scenario for Baylor and what the future holds from there. That being, Baylor does not get a seat at the table, the BCS system folds to the power of the new superconferences and Baylor (along with others) now compose the new Div. II.
This is a LONG LONG post BUT I think alot about this stuff and I think this may be a good plan for Baylor protecting its future interests in not only the worst case scenario but in our current situation as well.
IF the Big XII and the current BCS system falls apart with the realignment to create a new power division in college football with the four 16 team superconferences. And IF Baylor has NO options to be apart of this new power league (through the creation of a 5th conference or otherwise).
I believe Baylor needs to start following plan of action:
Macro:
1. Accept the reality that the college football landscape has changed. It may not be all bad, the lower division would be more balanced than in the past with all the major state schools gone, and conferences might have a chance to start fostering regional rivalries and get back to the point of college athletics, that being STUDENT-athletes.
2. Be prepared to make this new division not only worth watching but arguably more entertaining by building up the schools, pagentry, and tradition in the new landscape. Baylor would be one of the Big dogs in the new division, along with old friends SMU, TCU, and Houston.
3. Encourage strong academic and athletic ties within the new division and conferences. That means schools should be pushing for more research dollars, AAU membership, and establishing new academic and research circles to rival the CIC.
4. Grow school alumni bases. While this isn't impossible this will take the longest to do. Slowly increasing size to something along the lines of 30k or 35k seems big now but will do wonders in the future. UT and TAMU can only hold and educate so many people before they have to start turning them away. There is no way for those flagship schools to meet the demand of higher education. And in a growing state like Texas, schools like Baylor and TCU can benefit by taking on those extra students to grow their student bodies.
5. Use new found influence and size, along with other member institutions, to help push for and cause a new realignment era.
Micro:
1. Baylor needs to go about creating a conference with TCU, SMU, Houston, Rice, and other geographic Tier 1 universities. Some like Baylor and TCU will be left out when the Big XII and Big East crumble, others can be drawn from the CUSA and MWC. It might be easiest for Baylor to join the CUSA (MWC is not what it was, and our natural geographic rivals are in CUSA already) and have TCU join along (MWC may still have some bad blood left over)
2. Continue expanding Baylor's reputation as an elite research and academic university and start looking into bids for AAU membership. Seek help with this from Rice and Texas and TAMU (if we can see the end is coming as inevitable and we cannot go anywhere no matter what, we could try to leverage this as a requirement from those two for being complacent in their leaving us behind)
3. Warning Controversy: Seek aid from the Baptist conventions for Truett and Religion departments, could be financial, could be in finding well learned professors, but the idea would be to make that aspect of Baylor paid for by the church and hopefully open up funds for other aspects of the university. (I know some don't like Baylor holding onto to its Baptist ties but I think its a great strength if played right, see Notre Dame)
4. Seek means and methods of reattaining the medical school. We already have a top notch law school and medical school to compliment would be all the better. Again all in the name of promoting Baylor as an ELITE University.
5. Continue expanding the campus and the dorms to accommodate larger student populations.
6. Consider opening branches of the university in other areas (ie Baylor-Dallas, Baylor-Arkansas, etc.). Create an identity for Baylor that moves beyond Waco, and Central Texas but one that is a national university with a flagship campus in Waco, Texas.
7. Build the on campus stadium for the future, IF the donations are exclusively for it. IE I'm only giving my money for a new stadium and nothing else. If the money is able to go toward renovating Floyd Casey, and bettering Baylor's academic programs and status, then put it toward that. Remember, the school will be getting bigger but we will also be getting smarter. And all that requires money. Also a new stadium is great for nowbecause we are trying to preserve, if everything changes, then we too must change our plans accordingly. There is no sense in building a monolith to the past like Rice's stadium if we are to be left out anyways.
8. Establish and continue community outreach programs for Baylor alums that promote the school and the schools identity to the general population. Baylor Awareness.
9. Work on a new tv network with the new confernces. Money won't be as good as it is now, but every little bit helps. Get BYU in here and we could stand to make more.
10. Refocus Baylor tradition to emphasize our heritage not only as a Baptist university (as we tend to do now) but also a Texas university.
11. Bury the hatchet with TCU. I realize this is a two part deal, and that Baylor was only protecting its own interests, and most Baylor fans don't care about the what happened. BUT all the same, if these two schools are to succeed in the future, they will need to cooperate.
12. Improve alumni donations (Baylor's alums suck at giving back and I don't want to hear the whole BAA vs. BOR thing. If Baylor is left in the cold, its time to think about the schools future and bury past differences). I'm talking by alot. You could do this incrementally, you could put student dorm deposits toward the senior class gifts, something. The school needs to ease off of federal student loans slowly, but surely, because that is a bubble waiting to pop, and when it does the more self sufficient Baylor is the better.
Endgame:
The goal of all this is to bring Baylor and college football into a new era. Right now Baylor and others are ignored due to their size, and lack of influence. By moving the new division to a point where there are enough teams around the country that can hang with the Big Boys, have schools of equal size as the Big Boys, and are in essence worth as much as the Big Boys, we will see change. This will be slow, and these schools will all be playing catch up against larger, wealthier schools, but it is not impossible. The idea is creating a group of schools that cannot be ignored. Money always talks, and eyeballs bring revenue, get your school to where it can start challenging the power system in terms of quality and revenue and change will happen. Baylor will be in a position to be a leader in this new format and to help bring about that change, but only through hardwork and dedication. Baylor and TCU could both be leaders in the new format, no one has a larger chip on their shoulder than TCU, and no one knows how to keep improving their situation better than TCU. These schools could be valuable partners in the move ahead.
This process would take, literally decades to pull off, but I take solace in the fact that the flagships can only get so big and that nothing is permanent. When they start reaching that point, hopefully Baylor and their new conference mates won't be just nipping at the heels of those schools, but hopefully kicking the door down.
TL;DR Baylor is boned if the current system collapses but can build itself to be a leader in the new football world.
Thoughts? Ideas? What else could be done to protect and foster the university we all care about?
