tute79 wrote:
Hi Hamburger _
Welcome to the board.
Where are you getting this about UMSL ? I live about 5 miles from there and my kids occasionally use their swimming pool, which is one of their incredibly under-utilized facilities.
My son just sttarted Freshman year at UM-Columbia (SEC, huge athletics budget).
There are 3 satellite campuses - UM-Rolla (now known as Missouri University of Sciennce & Technology (or S&T)) - D-2 (decent athletics at that level, including football)
UM-KC (no football, bottom rung of D-1, left the Summit for the WAC, theory goes that it was because they couldn't compete in the Summt)
UM-SL (no football, D-2, really not much buzz about athletics there.
When you are in / around UMSL's athletics facilities, it seems just a little more vibrant than the St. Louis Community College System).
They had a hey-day about 20-30 years ago, when St. Louis was the soccer mecca of the US.
Since then, not much of anything in the trophy case. I get the vibe that their atletics budget is rather lean.
10 miles east into the city of St. Louis is St. Louis U. I liked your summary of the Catholic Colleges on the other thread.
SLU is indeed a Jesuit college, and they are headed up by a Priest - Father Lawrence Biondi.
He has been a big promoter of SLU Athletics and brought in (the late) Rick Majerus.
He has been single-mindedly pursuing getting SLU reunited with old rivals (Marquette, DePaul, Dayton, etc.) in the Big East.
We'll see if it happens - they'll need to maintain a high profile fo r their BB program in the post-Majerus era.
SLU has a healthy athletics budget, and any recruit would much rather attend SLU than UMSL, if they can handle the academics.
SLU gets moderate coverage in the St. Louis media. UMSL get virtually none.
Hi Tute. I get my information as a graduate of UMSL and a former coach at Mizzou. When I grew up in Rolla, it was the Missouri School of Mines. I am pretty educated about the UM system, lol. There is actually quite a backlash in the Missouri Division II Athletic Community to Lindenwood moving to Division II. Most schools want to distance themselves from the whole For-Profit model. (just read up on all the backlash from Grand Canyon moving to Division I - also for-profit). UMSL isn't alone....