PAC 10 is the best option

would kill our athletic budget

those sports already lose money, this move would just increase the red ink

why do we care about the academics of the other schools in our conference? We didn’t care about them in the Big 12.

… that are as solidly rooted in ignorance as those, but I will try.

The SEC, aside from it’s current reign in Football, is an awful conference.

I see no possible way any rational, objective examination of the facts could reach this conclusion. But on to the details…

It’s academics are so far below the current PAC-10 schools it’s a joke.

This is a widely-quoted fallacy about the SEC and the PAC 10. (And by the way, academic genius, “it’s” means “it is.” The possessive form of the word is spelled “its.”) Ok, everyone knows that Stanford is a superior academic school. Just because Stanford is as good as an Ivy League school, though, doesn’t mean Washington State or Oregon State fall into that category, as well.
Many people would tout the SEC’s most recent academic advancements and emphasis on academic achievement, and those accomplishments are certainly not to be ignored. If you exclude Stanford, however, the SEC has had more Rhodes Scholars all-time than the rest of the Pac 10. (150 for the SEC, 134 for the Pac 9. Stanford has had 82 all-time, with the next-highest being Washington at 35 and Arizona at 23. The SEC’s highest is Vanderbilt at 26, followed by Ole Miss at 25 and Georgia at 21.). AAU membership is all about research money, but Texas A&M is already a member of the AAU, and I don’t see how being in a conference with a greater number of AAU members (as opposed to “only” 2 in the SEC) will automatically guarantee more research money.

Alas, though, if you’re hard-wired to only worry about being in a room with the schools that have the absolute highest academic reputation, you’re going to prefer the Pac 10. My point is that academics are not “a joke” in the SEC.

It’s success, compared to the PAC-10, in the other major sports of Baseball (PAC-10 has 26 titles, SEC has 7) and Basketball is very small.

Hey the Pac 10 is great in baseball, and in the past they’ve been the dominant conference, but the SEC’s largesse is equal to that of the Pac 10 in this sport. Eight SEC teams made the 2010 NCAA tournament (the same as the almighty Pac 10), and the SEC had each of the top 4 schools in terms of average attendance this year, and 5 of the top 6. By comparison, the Pac 10 school with the highest attendance was Arizona State at 13th, and the next was Oregon at 27th. Tulane, East Carolina, Southern Miss, and Wichita State all averaged higher attendance per game this year than every Pac 10 school. So, I guess my question is, “If you’re the most dominant baseball conference in the country, but nobody’s there to see it, does it still count in your favor?”

The women’s sports in the SEC aren’t even a blip compared to how successful the PAC-10 women’s teams are.

Pat Summitt and Suzanne Yoculan would like a word with you, ihavethemelody.

The SEC currently sponsors the following womens’ sports:
- Basketball – If your name is not UConn, you’re not better than the best 4 or 5 teams in the SEC. (Stanford last year was an exception, but that’s exactly what it was… an exception.)
- Softball – Equal numbers of Pac 10 teams and SEC teams made it to this year’s Womens’ College World Series. The Pac 10 obviously has the trump on championships won, but the playing field is far more level today than it has been in years past.
- Soccer – While only winning one national championship, many SEC soccer programs consistently make the NCAA tournament. At this point, though, one must admit that the Pac 10 is slightly better at this point.
- Volleyball – Ok, you got us here. The Pac 10 totally whips the SEC’s ass in womens’ volleyball.
- Athletics (Cross country, Track & Field) – I don’t have time to argue this point, but the SEC is a world-class athletics conference.
- Swimming & Diving Georgia’s and Auburn’s swimming and diving programs are second to none, and Florida just won the 2010 NCAA championship.
- Tennis – The NCAA tennis championships have been held at a Pac 10 location only twice in the past 10 years (5 times for the SEC), and 3 times in the past 15 years (6 for the SEC). The Pac 10 Stanford has dominated the championships (7 of the last 10, 9 of the last 15), but the SEC has won 4 of the 6 championships that the Pac 10 hasn’t won in that time.
- Golf – Many SEC programs are strong, but the Pac 10 has won far more championships than the SEC here.
- Gymnastics – Please. The SEC has more than twice the number of national championships as the Pac 10. 5 of UCLA’s championships (out of 6 total) have come in the last 11 years, but that is balanced out by Georgia’s 5 championships (out of 10 total) and Alabama’s 1 championship (out of 4 total) in that same time.

Now, if you think one of the most important things for Texas A&M is to be in a place that has strong, Womens’ Rowing, and Womens’ Wrestling, and Womens’ Volleyball programs, knock yourselves out.

Overall, I think the net of this is that the Pac 10 and SEC are two fantastic conferences from an athletic and academic standpoint. There are areas in which both conferences have an advantage over the other but as a whole, both are excellent. Your disparagement of the SEC as vastly inferior on all non-football fronts is just plain incorrect. The key part of this whole issue, however, is that the SEC is having the same amount of success, but is doing it while earning a far greater profit… and that has to count for something, too.

(Not that I’m saying, as an SEC person, that I really want A&M anyway. Personally, I’ve gone from being excited about expansion, to concerned, to a point where now I’m skeptical that the SEC should expand at all. I’m just defending the SEC’s honor here)

Then don’t join it – if anyone asks you to join, that is.

But I can promise you that Texas A&M is not going to get a single additional dollar in research grants because it joined an athletic conference that happens to have another member school that has produced 82 Rhodes Scholars. And keep in mind: We’re not choosing sides to play Quiz Bowl.

Baseball, one of my passions. The Pac 10 plainly has a terrific, but somewhat aged, resume in college baseball. As vineyarddawg pointed out above, the SEC and Pac 10 both put 8 teams in the NCAA regionals this year. What he did not point out is that 5 of the 8 SEC teams advanced to Super regionals, while only 2 of the 8 Pac 10 schools are still playing. This is not a new phenomenon. While it is true that the SEC has only 7 CWS titles [but I’m from the SEC so I can’t count], all 7 of those were won since 1990. Since 1990 the Pac 10, in contrast, has won only 3 CWS titles – and 2 of those were won by Oregon State. I don’t think anyone here is in favor of joining the Pac 10 so that the Aggies can play baseball before 117 screaming fans in Corvallis every other year.

I personally hope A&M is invited to join the SEC and that it accepts the invitation. You have great sports teams with great traditions. Most of you would like it over our way. The rest of you shouldn’t find it necessary to slander us to make you feel better about joining the Pacific 10.