Follow up to Nebraska's AAU outing... it's Michigan's fault!
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/32091/report-two-b1g-schools-v…
Remember back in April when Nebraska was voted out of the AAU? Apparently Michigan and Wisconsin were both responsible for that!
September 5th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^
Should be interesting to see if a big deal is made of this by the B1G.
September 5th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^
Does Nebraska realize that research in football science doesn't count?
September 5th, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^
I don't have the details, but I'm supportive of MSC. There had to be a valid reason, plus there clearly were others that agreed. I love the spin though.
September 5th, 2011 at 1:14 PM ^
I'm sure there is a reason why, I just find it interesting that all schools unanimously approved Nebraska as a B1G member, but there were votes against them for AAU status, which helps the B1G to say all their member institutions are members of.
September 5th, 2011 at 2:52 PM ^
Dear Nebraska, don't air your greivances publically, this isn't the Big XII.
September 5th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^
Their biggest issue is that the UN Medical Center, which has an appreciable amount of NIH/NSF research dollars, is a separate entity than UN-Lincoln and is thus not counted towards the University's research portfolio.
September 5th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^
This should be a non-issue. They needed 21 votes out of 60 universities. They fell 3 votes short. Which means, what, 40 other schools opposed Nebraska too? Even if UM and UW votes for them, they still wouldn't have retained it. AAU is completely separate from athletic conference alignments. The university isn't going to vote for someone kist because their ADs decided to play in the same conference.
September 5th, 2011 at 12:43 PM ^
Michigan hazing Nebraska out of the AAU because UM is just that much richer and smarter and cooler, how awesome is that.
September 5th, 2011 at 12:55 PM ^
So the votes are secret and no one actually knows if Michigan or Wisconsin voted against Nebraska...but Nebraska's president decided to complain about it anyway? Great start guys.
September 5th, 2011 at 1:00 PM ^
This is Nebraska's fault - not Michigan or Wisconsin's fault.
Nebraska was in and previously had more than enough votes and this time they fell 3 votes short. If Nebraska was performing better with their academics and research they would have maintained enough votes to stay in.
Multiple schools from the last vote changed their opinion and came to the conclusion that Nebraska didn't belong. That said, I like them in the conference anyways.
September 5th, 2011 at 1:03 PM ^
One of the other problems going on with the AAU is that schools that bring in more private research dollars than federal are discounted. There will be more schools being voted out, and resigning to avoid doing so, in the future.
Can't blame Michigan or Wisconsin as they're increasing the benefits they get from the AAU by accentuating the area that they clean up, which as large state universities, is federal research dollars.
But based on this new direction, it seems that AAU membership won't be as important in the next round of expansion.
September 5th, 2011 at 1:20 PM ^
I can understand why UNL has a problem with research at the med school not being included, but what I can't comprehend is why agricultural research is not considered by the AAU to be included in research dollars.
As far as voting them in or out, they either meet the requirement to remain admitted or they don't.
September 5th, 2011 at 2:12 PM ^
As a Michigan alum and current Nebraska grad student this is all interesting to watch, but ultimately few people in these parts seem to mind. The AAU is a nice prestige factor to have, but the professors on campus are much more excited about being in the CIC than being in the AAU since the CIC actually provides real benefits to research and academic cooperation. The only thing I've ever heard on campus about the AAU is that Texas was the main driving force behind trying to get Nebraska kicked out.
September 5th, 2011 at 3:53 PM ^
Any legitimate sources? Would be interesting if proven true.
September 5th, 2011 at 4:26 PM ^
No, just your standard unsubstantiated rumors at this point. But there is an easy line to draw given that when Nebraska announced their intention to join the Big Ten they were an AAU member and the meetings and voting took place afterwards. Include the nonsense with the Big 12 failing to deliver Nebraska's Big 12 North trophy and a pattern begins to emerge. There are 5 current Big 12 schools in the AAU (Texas, A&M, Kansas, Iowa State, Mizzou) and I would guess that most (if not all) of them were more than willing to kick Nebraska out and support anoyone's attempt to do so.
September 6th, 2011 at 9:38 AM ^
I think Iowa State should be worried about the warpath that the larger state schools are on with downsizing the AAU.
September 5th, 2011 at 4:23 PM ^
is always Texas's fault.