Is it odd to aspire for GW to have the kind of institutional support and enthusiastic attitude that our newest A10 peer has?   

Regardless, a truly welcome addition to the league. 

https://theathletic.com/3355659/2022/06/13/loyola-chicago-atlantic-10/?amp=1

With the additions in the last 20 years or so of Ricihmond, Mason, VCU, Davidson and now Loyola, the A-10 has done an excellent job of re-tooling and maintaining its status as one of the best non power-5 conferences.   I am still a bit  uncomfortable with the odd number of teams in A-10 howerver.  Hopefully that will be fixed soon, either by addition or even subtraction.

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (6/14/2022 7:47 am)

I think adding Loyola-Chicago is a great move both in terms of the level of athletics at the school as well as the expansion in to a good market (better than the Charlotte exurbs or double-teaming Richmond, VA).
But before we get to self-agrandizing about the recent additions, let´s just remember that the A10 has lost: West Virginia, VATech, Penn State, Rutgers, Butler, and Temple. 
As for GW, we are an original member and the academic standard-bearer for the conference. Sometimes, we even field competitive sports team. We are not a Mega State U (URI, umASS) and we are not Church-affiliated (LaSalle, Loyola, SLU, St Joe´s, etc...). So we are a bit of an outlier.

Free Quebec wrote:

Can you say more about decisions to prioritize students going off campus over on-campus life? First I’ve heard of that.

I should preface this by saying I don’t have any insider information about a deliberate strategy but I can say from my experience and from speaking with my peers as well as current students that there is an atmosphere of “choose-your-own-adventure” at GW.  One of, if not the biggest selling points of GW, is that students get the opportunity to work at internships throughout the city.  From the moment you start as a freshman, you are sort of thrown out into the city without much of a safety net from the school.  It’s a few years old now but here’s a youtube video of a student asking other students about “what they wish they knew about GW.”. Lots of comments on here about not knowing what opportunities existed for student organizations, not knowing how to manage an independent lifestyle, that there’s a lack of school spirit, etc.  These are all complaints that would’ve existed back in 2005 when I started.  Because these complaints are 10-15 years old now, I must assume that GW thinks the “choose your own adventure” critique is a feature and not a bug.





I’ve also spoken with peers that basically view GW as a means to an end, meaning, they were grateful for the location of the campus and being able to do internships at the same time as class work, but they do not credit GW for anything more than that.  All the success in life was self-made.  There are also no “fond memories” of campus life.  More times than not, it’s snarky comments about UNhelpful GW was.  There was a comment in that youtube video above where a student said that they felt more affinity with their student org than with GW as a whole.   That’s not a recipe for strong alumni giving.

I was fortunate that the 05-06 team was so good because by 07-08 going to GW games was not seen as THE thing for freshman to do on campus.  Current students cannot fathom having to wait outside to get into a game.  We could’ve been Davidson or Loyola Chicago had we taken that energy from 04-07 and actually made GW basketball the premier social activity on campus.  Instead, GW was happy to promote all the things students should be doing away from campus. 

It wasn't always that way with Davidson.  Under Lefty, they were a juggernaut during the 1960's.  5 regular season championships.  3 conference tournaments.  4 seasons finishing in the top 10 in the country.  That 27-3 record that rings so familiar to GW fans?  Davidson had that identical record during Lefty's final season there.

On GWAA's point regarding who the A10 has lost, it's hard to control schools who have left to join bigger, superior conferences and subsequently, more money.  What is within a conference's control is which schools you choose to bring in and on this point, the A10 has had many more hits than misses.   So much so that I'm convinced the A10 could have far more resembled the Patriot League than the Big East by now if it hadn't chosen its replacements so astutely.

Finally, on the subject of off-campus vs on-campus life, I wonder if this is symptomatic of big city schools in general?