The thing about Stanford is they pile up alot of points in the sports that many schools don't participate in. UT is better in basketball, football, and baseball. The three that MATTER...
Where it counts? Like beating the mighty Oklahoma St. Cowboys at home for a spot in the Big 12 championship?
Right now, but these things fluctuate and there have been times were Stanford was better at those sports. The thing about Stanford is that they are constantly good at all sports and is there really a better SCHOOL. I mean, the top notch education of an Ivy League school and replace the old money/elitest attitude with west coast fun. I have a friend there and his stories always make me wish I was a student there. Same thing goes for UT, damn, I really need to make a serious effort to transfer.
From SI (the table was difficult to make readable): Sports Illustrated combined a variety of factors in arriving at its 2002 rankings of Division I schools, including performance during the 2001-02 school year in the big five sports (baseball, football, hockey and men's and women basketball); position in the '01-'02 Sears Cup NCAA all-sports standings; number of varsity, club and intramural sports; range of recreational facilities; and whether or not spirit-boosting events like Midnight Madness were held. 1. TEXAS 2. STANFORD 35,206 Undergrad enrollment 6,637 19 Varsity teams 34 42 Intramural sports 8 40 Club sports 17 $50 million Athletic budget $45 million 2nd '01-02 Sears Cup all-sports rank 1st 1st ' 01-02 SI major-sports rank 3rd (tie) 56% Athlete 90% (170th) Graduation rate (3rd, tie) 11-2 ( 5th) 2001 football 9-3 (16th) 22-12 (18th/Sweet 16) '01-02 basketball 20-10 (Round of 32) 24-10 (13th/Sweet 16) '01-02 women's basketball 32- 3 (8th/Sweet 16) 57-15 (1st) ' 02 baseball 47-18 (4th) 2 NCAA team titles 4 6 NCAA individual titles 18 3. OKLAHOMA Sooners made men's and women's Final Fours and just missed BCS berth (football team finished No. 6). Gymnastics won NCAA title, wrestling was No. 3 and softball No. 8. School is on the rise, with rec facilities being upgraded (OU already has a top 10 golf course) and hot coaches in Bob Stoops (football) and Kelvin Sampson (basketball). 4. FLORIDA Loss of Steve Spurrier to NFL one of few setbacks in year that saw 11 Gators teams (including No. 3 football) finish in top 25. Excellent women's programs and rabid student fans, who make the Swamp a loud, nasty place to devour gridiron foes. Campus is a rec-sports dreamland: 85% of students play intramurals. 5. SOUTH CAROLINA Gamecocks finished No. 1 in women's track, No. 2 in baseball, No. 6 in women's basketball and No. 13 in football. A $48 million recreation center will open in February. Insiders say: "It's an exciting time to be a Carolina student. Thanks to Lou Holtz our football game has finally caught up to our tailgating game." 6. LSU Tigers won men's and women's track titles, finished No. 7 in football and led nation in baseball attendance for seventh straight season. Alum Shaquille O'Neal had a decent year too. Few college arenas rock harder than Tiger Stadium and the Deaf Dome. Insiders say: "The worst part is recovering from all the football parties." 7. MINNESOTA No surprise that hockey team won its fourth NCAA title, but wrestling squad won its second straight and unheralded Gophers golfers were national champs too. Nine other teams made top 25, including men's and women's cross-country and gymnastics. "The U" has glorious football history, invented cheerleading and has alums ranging from Bronko Nagurski to Yanni. 8. NORTH CAROLINA In fall season alone Tar Heels won national title in men's soccer, finished second in women's soccer and made top 20 in four other sports. Football team produced two of first six NFL draftees (Julius Peppers, Ryan Sims). Overall, 22 of 28 teams made NCAA postseason. Did someone mention men's basketball (8-20)? Didn't think so. 9. TENNESSEE On top of usual success in football (final rank: No. 4) and women's basketball (No. 3), Volunteers made top 5 in men's and women's tennis and men's track (won NCAA indoor championship). Knoxville school is so flush with sports riches that it has two Olympic-sized pools--and excellent swimmers to put in them. 10. MICHIGAN Wolverines led the nation in football attendance for 27th time in 28 years, and team made top 20. Ann Arbor was nirvana for both kinds of hockey: women won national title in field version and men were No. 4 on ice. Insiders say: "The best place to see a game here is Yost Ice Arena. It's the Cameron Indoor Stadium of college hockey."
Ouch...A&M at 46...behind Rice and Baylor? I say again...ouch. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was from the same people that brought us the "Best Coaches in the NBA."
This is what's so impressive about Stanford: <B>1. TEXAS 2. STANFORD 35,206 Undergrad enrollment 6,637</B> The fact that they consistently compete in most sports with the big boys with such a small student body is amazing.
For the record Stanford BB has been much better than Texas's over the last 10 years. Baseball has been close to a wash, as these are easily two of the top 5 programs over a 20 year period. Football, now there is a no contest, despite the embarrassing game we had in Palo Alto there a few years ago. Personally, I think football should be weighted a 10 in the rankings, men's basketball a 9, baseball maybe a 4, and just about any other men’s' or women’s' sports a 1-2. The top 2 (football and men's basketball) just generate so much more revenue, fill up the stands, and capture the student body, alumni and often whole states' pride like no other college sports do. Further, Texas graduation rate of almost 60% is very, very good for a public institution. At Stanford the ratio of students to teachers, tutors, advisors, etc, whose jobs include keeping struggling students from falling into the cracks is much, much lower. Remember Stanford tuition for regular students is like 20K a year, totally unrealistic to expect a public institution to provide equivalent resources per student. Finally, I'll bet the Stanford men's BB grad rate isn't as high as there overall rate and this is probably true for the football team too. I don't think you could build a national power in football and basketball and have a 90% 5-year graduation rate, you certainly couldn't do that and have a 90% 4-year graduation rate. This is no knock on Stanford, heck, I think if anyone was offered a free ride there due to sports or otherwise it would be awfully hard to say no. As far as going to Stanford to get away from East Coast snottyness in the culture, well contrary to one of the posters I don’t think you would succeed in that, Stanford more typifies old money elitist East Coast culture than the West Coast (Bay Area, No Cal) culture IMO. Perhaps it is toned down a wee bit from the Ivy’s, but not that much.
It all depends on who wrote it. According to USnews, Boston College got the top honor. And UT is nowhere to be find in the top 20. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/sports/rankings/honor.htm
