All good questions, and one of the reasons why I think Barron's "manifesto" should have included a more detailed argument for academics than just "the faculty likes the ACC." If that's going to be one of your bullet points, you need to back it up a little more. Again, even a superficial discussion of the
ACCIAC would have helped, but he really needs to go deeper than that. For example, when Boston College moved to the ACC, its President at least acknowledged that part of the equation:
"First, from an academic standpoint, I believe that the ACC is a great fit for Boston College. It has five universities - Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Virginia, and Georgia Tech - that, like us, are ranked among the top 40 national universities, and it is a conference with a balanced mix of private and public institutions ... Finally and very important to me, the ACC is committed to a program of academic cooperation and collaboration that encourages faculty and student exchanges as well as sharing library resources, something not done in the Big East."
Of course, as noted by Guinness in an earlier post, a lot of the fans clamoring for this move didn't even go to Florida State, so such an argument is likely to fall on deaf ears anyway.
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Good points.
In my opinion, the issue isn't the ACC IAC at this point, though that could be an evolving program.
I see it as "branding 101"; the athletic program is a high profile PR program for many universities. However, how does it reflect on the school?
FSU obviously is a large state university, with a built in tuition advantage in recruiting students. However, they are recruiting faculty and students compared to other state and private schools and they have students graduating and alumni looking for jobs.
My guess is most alumni are located in Florida and along the Atlantic coast.
Association with Universities like UNC, UVA, GT, Miami, Duke and so on colors the "image" of FSU just as surely as do the subjective ratings of US News. And can influence/color how potential students, faculty, alumni, and even potential employers feel about a school.
From the perspective of SU, as a private and expensive University, my own belief is that continued association with UL, Cinn, Boise, Houston, Memphis, Temple and so on would be very damaging to the university's "brand".
For FSU, this is an issue of geography, finances and ultimately values: Tallahassee is within SEC country so perhaps association with the Big 12 or SEC schools is considered a positive along with the increased payout.
Clearly, Haggard sees no big deal or harm to associating with WVU and company. Barron clearly does.
Perhaps this opens an SEC option? Time will tell.
