UNC Charlotte Football

[southslider]

The existing Blue Line would also become the Green Line, not just the BLE.

[Third Strike]

Just a question, but has there been any recent examples for a public university changing its name?

 

Also, I see University of Charlotte thrown around, but for some reason, I like Charlotte State University. Sound prestigious.

[kermit]

Just a question, but has there been any recent examples for a public university changing its name?

 

 

SUNY Buffalo became The University at Buffalo sometime in the past decade.

[Niner National]

Just a question, but has there been any recent examples for a public university changing its name?

 

Also, I see University of Charlotte thrown around, but for some reason, I like Charlotte State University. Sound prestigious.

Southwest Texas State changed their name to Texas State-San Marcos relatively recently and then this year officially just changed it to Texas State University.

[nowensone]

Just a question, but has there been any recent examples for a public university changing its name?

 

Also, I see University of Charlotte thrown around, but for some reason, I like Charlotte State University. Sound prestigious.

Er, please, no "State", and University of XXX sounds more prestigious than XXX University IMHO.

[Niner National]

Memphis and several other schools have dropped the state from their names. Middle Tennessee State University has also stopped using the State portion in their marketing.

 

"State" only works if your school is actually named after the state. If you are "City State University" it sounds second rate in my opinion.

[AuLukey]

I once had the "distinguished" pleasure of being Philip Dubois' go-to guy at the now defunct Circuit City while I was in college (in fact, the university location closed the same month I graduated from Charlotte.)

 

In my many encounters with the chancellor, I managed to drum up a couple conversations about football, the research institute, a (at the time) hypothetical med school, and the university's name.  As mentioned before, he originally was not in support of a football program as he did not see it as being a priority for the college or its students.  The financial ramifications of a failed athletics program does not bode well for any institution and can be a massive drain on growth in turn.  However, I believe his opinions seemed to waver as support drummed up.  The school took an official poll of the entire student body during a student body election (although it is possible my memory is fading and the poll was a completely separate event) of whether students would support an increase in tuition to fund a stadium and team.  While the poll was of course not unanimous, it sent a clear message to the board that the support structure was indeed there.  It wasn't until pledges for seat licenses arose that the change was essentially imminent.

 

In terms of the proposed name change, one statement still rings clear as day in my head.  While addressing the BOT voting in favor of adding football (only after his recommendation, might I add,) I asked him about the name change and what his apprehension to the idea was all about.  He replied "One thing at a time." and left it at that.  Whether this meant he was not "unofficially" opposed to the idea remains to be seen.  There are a lot of toes to be stepped on for him to demean the "UNC" brand.  I never found out what he really meant as Circuit City closed a month or so afterward.

 

Of course it is important to the identity of the institution and its students, but is it HUGE, game changing, or relevant at the moment?  The football team has garnered so much media attention lately that support for the school is resounding.  It literally is all in a name though.  The media isn't confusing the school, and, therefore, neither is the general public.  The University is growing, Chancellor Dubois has done so many amazing things for the university at large during his term.  To discredit the man for not wanting to support a cause that would definitely anger a few of his benefactors is purely absurd.  There are so many amazing things that the school is dipping its toes into right now outside of athletics, he has enough on his plate.  Yes, the man can have an opinion, but it is clearly cautiously biased.  And I can't blame him for that.

 

Because, since 2000, the entire athletics program has used "Charlotte" 49ers in lieu of using "UNC-Charlotte," I can't imagine there would be any additional NCAA ramifications to changing the name of the actual institution.  I, as many of you, haven't used the phrase "UNC" while telling people where I went to school since I graduated.  I can't recall a single situation where I was questioned.  Prior to graduation, I did get a lot of confusion from people as to which school I went to, lesson learned.

 

At the time of the athletics name change, the athletics director was quoted saying "We're proud to be members of the University of North Carolina university system. But, frankly, we are tired of being confused with other institutions or having our own identity misused and misconstrued. It's harder to make a name for yourself, when your name keeps getting confused. Not only will this logo simplify matters, but it gives the program an exciting new look that better captures our essence."

 

The momentum of the student body and alumni is strong, maybe this will become their new focal point.  There will be a time for this decision to come to the forefront; but as long as the athletics program keeps the "Charlotte" logo and namesake, I believe that the commonly mistaken UNCC name is all just on paper.

[kermit]

^ great post.

 

Thanks!

[cltbwimob]

My ultimate hope for the University, more than a name change, is that it creates, for itself, an identity as a top tier research institution. I would love to see a name change, because I think that branding is important (my wife has a degree in marketing so I get it from her). However substantive strides toward becoming a major center for thought and research are much more important than a name change. I would much rather see degree programs in Aerospace, Nuclear, Biomedical, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering as well as nuclear physics as part of the offerings. I would also like to see a law school, medical/ dentistry school, veterinary school, and pharmacy school or some combination of maybe 2-3 of the 4 listed. I would like to see the research institute and URP become hubs of advances in aeorspace, energy, and defense technology sectors much in the same way RTP is a center for computing technology. If we could somehow manage to take these steps, then I think name recognition will come with or without a name change.

[Niner National]

My ultimate hope for the University, more than a name change, is that it creates, for itself, an identity as a top tier research institution. I would love to see a name change, because I think that branding is important (my wife has a degree in marketing so I get it from her). However substantive strides toward becoming a major center for thought and research are much more important than a name change. I would much rather see degree programs in Aerospace, Nuclear, Biomedical, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering as well as nuclear physics as part of the offerings. I would also like to see a law school, medical/ dentistry school, veterinary school, and pharmacy school or some combination of maybe 2-3 of the 4 listed. I would like to see the research institute and URP become hubs of advances in aeorspace, energy, and defense technology sectors much in the same way RTP is a center for computing technology. If we could somehow manage to take these steps, then I think name recognition will come with or without a name change.

Most of the things you want to see are things that pretty much everyone wants to see, but they cost big money.

 

It is easier for us to get approval for smaller engineering niches. I don't see us every getting any of those engineering programs except maybe environmental.

 

A vet school would be awesome (my girlfriend is trying to go to vet school right now), but they're super expensive to run and there are only about 3 dozen that are accredited in the U.S. in the entire world!

 

I think we missed the boat on a law school with Charlotte School of Law now in the market. The law profession is over-saturated as it is with crazy high unemployment levels for new grads.

 

Chapel Hill has already decided to put a branch of their medical school here instead of giving Charlotte their own. The CEO of Novant wanted to partner with UNC Charlotte and CMC to create a med school in Charlotte, but the CMC CEO preferred the UNC-CH branch campus (He's a UNC-CH alum, so no surprise there).

 

I think a pharmacy school is the most realistic, but we've already let a few other schools in the state start those programs in the last 10-15 years.

 

Charlotte has ZERO representation on the NC BOT. NC State has a couple reps on the board and ECU & App have 1 each I believe, but the board is overwhelmingly run by Chapel Hill graduates and they look out for themselves at the expense of everyone else.Until this changes, don't expect Charlotte to add much in the way of professional programs.

[Niner National]

I'm sure the people up the the Triangle area aren't too happy to see this. They've always tried to tell us nobody in Charlotte cares about UNC Charlotte.

 

 

Crushed UNC in TV ratings for the same time slot (and only one channel apart). We crushed NC State in TV ratings last week too during the same time slot.

 

There is still a novelty factor of course, but listening to ACC fans leading up to the season you'd think nobody in town cared at all.

[AuLukey]

I still firmly believe that the Chapel Hill med school is ludicrous.  It infuriates me that the UNC-BOT and CMC pushed for UNCCH to get their place in Charlotte instead of letting Charlotte (which is still just as much a part of the UNC system as Chapel HIll is) continue to grow.  Charlotte unfortunately has to grow in some pretty big shadows.  NC State, Duke, Chapel Hill, Clemson, and USC are (inter)nationally known institutions outside of just sports.  For Charlotte to ever grow out of that shadow, it will have to venture into fields that they are not already strong in.  Otherwise, it will be impossible for the school to make its name.  I'm glad to see Energy being a major focus of the research institute.  I am still a little apprehensive about CRI being named anything other than UNC Charlotte (or Charlotte, given a name change.)  The CRI name is used much more than I feel it should be and it tends to take a little recognition away from the university as a whole.

[Third Strike]

^On a similar note, I noticed that UNC Charlotte is pretty close to overtaking East Carolina as the third biggest school in the system (according to the UNC System website) in student count. Makes me wonder how much of a boom the school will get in admissions when they get the light rail (I think the only school in the Southeast with this), and when their football team joins Conference in 2015.

[kermit]

^ UNCC is not hurting for student applications. The school received more that 14,000 apps for this years freshman class of 3,100. Applications are up from 8,600 in 2005 based on last week's CBJ article. In short, the supply of applications is not the limiting factor to growth (the state budget is), but more applications should help improve student quality.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2013/09/06/phil-dubois-has-plan-for-unc.html?page=all

 

While I was a football skeptic I do agree that playing division I football will dramatically change prospective student views of the university. On the other hand, light rail will certainly  improve the student experience but I really don't see it being featured prominently in the school's marketing or in the minds of most incoming students.

 

FWIW Georgia State (a peer institution) is has had its own MARTA station for 25+ years and Clark, Spelman, Morehouse, Olgethorp and Agnes Scott colleges are not far from MARTA stations. Old Dominion will almost certainly be a stop on the Norfolk Tide LRT extension a couple of years after the BLE gets completed. Local funding is also in place for LRT connecting Chapel Hill and Durham via Duke (the East Campus at least).

[Third Strike]

^ Yeah, I knew about Georgia State, but I guess I meant specifically with light rail. NC State is also planned to get connected via light rail, but it looks like that won't happen until after Durham gets their line built, whenever that happens.

 

But still, it's amazing as how far the school has changed within the past decade.

[Niner National]

^On a similar note, I noticed that UNC Charlotte is pretty close to overtaking East Carolina as the third biggest school in the system (according to the UNC System website) in student count. Makes me wonder how much of a boom the school will get in admissions when they get the light rail (I think the only school in the Southeast with this), and when their football team joins Conference in 2015.

I think we'll actually overtake Chapel Hill first. ECU is growing at roughly the same rate as Charlotte and I believe has already overtaken Chapel Hill in # of undergrads. I think Charlotte is <1000 away from overtaking Chapel Hill for undergraduate enrollment.

 

The plan is still for Charlotte to be the largest institution in the state eventually though. As the state continues to grow, we'll eventually see several 40,000+ student institutions just like we see in Florida and Texas.

[nowensone]

^ Thats interesting, and like FL and TX that will likely mean a huge football stadium eventually, they should have oriented the U in the opposite direction if they had expansion intentions.

[vassago]

Watching the game today and during halftime UNCC had a "Stake Your Claim" commerical and I couldn't help but notice that their version of our skyline has what looks like the old Trump Charlotte project. 

 

[AuLukey]

My my my, what a difference some scholarships can make!  It was like night and day...

[ah59396]

^ Wait till you have to see JMU and Coastal.  As an App fan, I've seen them both.  NCCU has nothing on the Dukes or the Chanticleers.  Good luck.

[Niner National]

My my my, what a difference some scholarships can make!  It was like night and day...

Well, Chowan had scholarships too, just less of them. I think the bigger difference is age. We start 16 freshmen. NCCU has a lot of upperclassmen.

 

We had a lot of bad turnovers that made NCCU look better than they are. When you have a RS Freshman QB, those kind of days happen.

 

I expect to lose to JMU this weekend, but I'd be surprised if we have another game with as many turnovers as we had on Saturday.

[AuLukey]

I mean, it's really to be expected.  Scholarships withstanding, I'm surprised we did so well the first two weeks in general.  Not that I'm complaining

[AuLukey]

Stadium Journey posted a rave review of Jerry Richardson Stadium in their latest edition.  Even University City got a few props (albeit they were immediately followed by remarks about poor walkability and complex transit/access.)  The only down side to their review was the cost of tickets for them being a FCS team right now.  According the review, the tickets for Charlotte games are higher than any other FCS team in the state.  Yet they're still selling out...

 

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/jerry-richardson-stadium-s1735

[Niner National]

Even with the move to CUSA our tickets will be on the high end. Many CUSA programs offer tickets for less than we do, but they are also seats that are farther from the field, so I guess that makes up for it.

[rugger62]

Even with the move to CUSA our tickets will be on the high end. Many CUSA programs offer tickets for less than we do, but they are also seats that are farther from the field, so I guess that makes up for it.

 

Right now student tickets are free. I can't imagine that student tickets are free at other schools, what is everyone's experience? I did freshman year at Notre Dame, and we had to buy season tickets in addition to standing in line before they were all sold.