titansforever Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Interesting article on Liberty and their spending on athletics. www.catholicregister.org/home/international/item/18687-at-liberty-university-big-goals-and-big-money-for-sports Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EaglesFan Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Interesting quote from the article about their evolution to the big time, and the image that they are just a small bible college: "...One of the (Sun Belt) presidents made the comment, he said, "Yeah, Jerry, all you have to do is show people Liberty's not Oral Roberts; it's Baylor." We've moved toward the goal much faster than anyone thought." Much like ORU did in the 70's ... They moved quickly into the elite in Basketball, and made a big impact in Baseball and Tennis. Oh, for the days when the University leadership had the vision that Oral did that Athletics is really important, and it keeps your name in the paper and on people's minds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 ORU's athletic tradition >>>>>>>> Liberty's athletic tradition ORU's academic rigor >>>>>>>> Liberty's online diploma mill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coprau Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 ORU's athletic tradition >>>>>>>> Liberty's athletic tradition ORU's academic rigor >>>>>>>> Liberty's online diploma mill ORUalum, I don't know if that is supposed to be a "much much much greater than" sign, but I am afraid we are moving in the wrong direction and Liberty is moving in the right direction (or at least standing still). ORU is moving into the online diploma arena (much to my dismay). Our athletics are certainly not on the up-'n-up. Maybe I am just an overcritical alum... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOLO_Gold Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 ORUalum, I don't know if that is supposed to be a "much much much greater than" sign, but I am afraid we are moving in the wrong direction and Liberty is moving in the right direction (or at least standing still). ORU is moving into the online diploma arena (much to my dismay). Our athletics are certainly not on the up-'n-up. Maybe I am just an overcritical alum... Hopefully we're moving into the online diploma arena sooner rather than later. Even top tiered schools are starting highly regulated online education programs and as you can see with Liberty, it provides the financial stability to grow and invest in other areas. In a piece like this, it's hard to say what Falwell Jr.'s reaction was to the comment about ORU. You would hope he would defend Christian education and the value of it but if he did, it wasn't represented in the piece. If anything this highlights that our beloved university still has an unfair perception to overcome. Carry on, ORU. Carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 ORU's athletic tradition is much stronger than Liberty's. Their money hasn't helped them yet. Their online system has certainly generated a lot of money for the school. Not sure how that has impacted Liberty's academic environment, but ORU has stabilized and improved in the last six years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 I think the comment is comparing the athletic facility quality of various religious-affiliated universities. It may also represent a bias against a non-denominational university vs. mainstream baptist universities. It is somewhat unfair to compare ORU with around 3500 students to Liberty with 12,000 + 90,000 online and Baylor with 13,000 students. In college athletics anymore the size of the university and its' bank account is all that seems to matter. Who is the Sun Belt commissioner anyway to be taking pot shots at ORU? Look at what has happened to the once 16 team, football oriented WAC. It is now a conglomeration of geographically misplaced cast offs. If there is another round of conference realignment, he could very likely end up like Karl Benson, the WAC Commissioner, and be wishing a team like ORU would be in his conference. The smugness and arrogance in college athletics is amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 FYI - the quote is referenced to be coming from a President of an unnamed Sun Belt school, not the commissioner. Nonetheless, the arrogance is telling... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 ORU really needs to get back to the "OR way of thinking" back in the 70's when sports was a huge part of the ORU student experience....but i guess things have changed in the world with young students and the money train that Oral had is no longer running.....boy, those were the days.....ORU basketball was huge.....now it seems like very few people except for maybe a dozen on this board care any more..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 The damage done to ORU between the time that Oral stepped aside and the Green family coming along, was enormous, in more ways than one. Thankfully, we are back on the right track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 The damage done to ORU between the time that Oral stepped aside and the Green family coming along, was enormous, in more ways than one. Thankfully, we are back on the right track. i'm not trying to defend Richard, but he was dealt a pretty poor hand. it's not like the university was humming allong. --City of Faith failure --OR's climb into the prayer tower and the fundraising that ensued --OR asked to leave the Methodist denomination --ageing/death of OR's partners from the tent revival days --decline of the Full Gospel Business Men who had pumped millions into getting ORU built of course Richard took these major setbacks from the 80's and added gas to the fire in the next two decades. thank God for the Green family and the direction ORU's heading, but the university was in the wilderness for longer than just the tenure of Richard as president. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Well if the quote is from a Sun Belt school president, maybe it is just sour grapes from the UALR president. I noticed that they haven't renewed their contract with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Yeah....the glory days of ORU basketball ended about 30 years ago at least....and the monies from Orals' pals is long gone....it's a different playing field now in 2014.....the good ol days have come and gone.....it will never be the same.....big time basketball at ORU isn't returning because now the power conferences and bigger mid majors have all the $$$....but we all know this....life goes on.....TheEagleman is accepting of our role as a lower mid major most years...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacAlum Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 I too, would prefer that people not link ORU and Liberty, athletically or academically. And I kind of find it funny that Baylor is the goal. They have 3 outright conference titles in the last 90 years of tackle football. So, maybe, one day, you too can turn a century's worth of abject failure into a Fiesta Bowl loss to Central Florida. What is with all of these schools so eager to get into the money pit that is the bottom of the FBS? Did the latest 'Autonomy' ruling not make it clear that the most powerful of the Power Five schools want nothing to do with teams in their own conference, let alone the bottom of the FBS. And your new money won't buy you into that club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 True. Can't argue with you on ay of those points... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 I think the comment is comparing the athletic facility quality of various religious-affiliated universities. It may also represent a bias against a non-denominational university vs. mainstream baptist universities... I think this is a very large part of it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Yep: the Sunbelt president is juxtaposing public opinion of Oral Roberts vs. (Liberty founder) Jerry Falwell as controversial public figures, compared to Liberty vs. Baylor as mainstreem Baptist universities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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