What If... the Magnolia Conference was Formed?

When it comes to academics and athletics, one might point to the Ivy League's early string of dominance in the sport as the primary example of a conference of schools doing both at a high level at once. But a long time ago, there was a chance for another Ivy League-style of conference to be created: this time in the American South.
Of course, it was shot down---its potential member schools of SMU, Rice, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Duke, and the small Emory University in Atlanta decided it wasn't worth the academic investment. But what if they had decided to forgo their individual futures and move forward with their initial plans to create the Magnolia League?
Of course, as a hypothetical, there's a lot of "if"s and "maybe"s to sort out, and there's the distinct possibility that it wouldn't have succeeded anyway. But if we suspend our disbelief long and hard enough, we can see a potentially very disruptive change in the history of college sports as we know it.
No part of this video is content owned by me. All images, video, and music are used under fair use for the purpose of education.

[@lukeontheplains]

pe·nul·ti·mate /pəˈnəltəmət/ adjective last but one in a series of things; second last. ex. "the penultimate chapter of the book" ...would now be a good or a bad time to note that I have an English degree? 😂

[@Nohandleentered]

When EA brings the game back out, I’m shuffling some conferences and making a Magnolia League to see what happens. I’m gonna add Georgia Tech and UAB to it. I hope they have FCS so I can grab the other nerd schools

[@dnadefootball]

It will not have FCS at the start but they may add a add on pack or something at some point

[@worldsgreatestdude1784]

I want to be able to create a program. That’s what I’d be doing

[@theEWDSDS]

@@worldsgreatestdude1784 same. the offline stuff was really what people played for.

[@oddoperator3524]

Why UAB tho?

[@wesleyhunt7599]

I'd create Emory and add them.

[@griffinhays2053]

If Vandy and Tulane could've gotten Tech on board, that could've given their pitch a whole lot more weight

[@sabertoothbaseball3432]

Well thought out. Thank you to my friend Robert for sending me this link. I was a historian writer in the past and wrote a piece about this, and I have read and watched a lot of media covering this. Your video is right at the top. Up until the end of 2018, I followed Vanderbilt athletics, before totally divorcing myself from being a follower. I had a lot of inside sources with the school and studied at length the almost move to leave the SEC for a Southern Ivy. SMU was the biggest holdout, as their big money boosters were 100% against this. Vanderbilt looked into leaving the SEC again in the late 1990s. Then Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt commissioned a "Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics." At the time, the athletics department had an annual 4 million dollar deficit, and the school had received a PR black eye for failing to admit basketball star Ron Mercer. The Committee looked at something like 7 different issues, and one of them was whether to remain in the SEC, or to consider another situation. All possibilities were researched--remain in the SEC, try to move to another conference such as the ACC or Big Ten, dropping to what was then I-AA, or dropping to Division 3. In the end, there were only two choices that were financially sound and stable. The two choices were either remaining in the SEC and acknowledging that the playing field would remain terribly tilted against the school, or dropping scholarship athletics and going to Division 3. The panel was divided on this issue, as it was 50-50, with half believing that the school needed to align itself with other great academic institutions such as Washington U, New York U, and the U. of Chicago. Those other schools were members in what was then called the "Nerdy Nine" conference, and after Johns Hopkins left, it was known as the "Egghead Eight" conference. The real name is the University Athletic Association. That is where Vanderbilt athletics needs to go, and the football program should probably be discontinued, with the real estate involved re-used to boost the academic standing. I haven't been to a Vanderbilt football game since 2015 nor a basketball game since 2018. I used to be so involved with the program that players and their parents contacted me for advice. Today, I cannot name one player on the football or basketball team, and a large majority of sports fans living in this area have come to the same realization, that Vanderbilt is merely a sports prostitute in the SEC. They receive a lot of money to be screwed again and again by opponents that receive satisfaction for their payments. That's why the stadium is a home game for the opponent week after week. There are only a couple thousand Vanderbilt fans remaining, or about the same amount as there are at NYU, Washington U, and the U of Chicago. FWIW, old people like me are turning away from all sports because they have all been diluted. We are big into tabletop sports strategy games, especially with teams from prior to 1970. One small correction: You referred to the 1964 Magnolia League possibly having a bowl tie-in like the Peach or Citrus. Neither existed in 1964. There were just 8 Major College bowl games then: Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Orange, Gator, Sun, Liberty, and Bluebonnet. And, the Liberty Bowl was not yet in Memphis; it was played indoors at the Atlantic City Convention Hall. There would have been no bowl tie-ins for such a conference.

[@tarheel7406]

a) Apparently the IVY reconsidered its athletic situation in the early 80s and reached out to schools like DUKE & VANDY. Assuming true, VANDY changed its position after ~15 years? b) When FSU joined, the ACC paid the most of any conference, but the gap wasn't as wide as today. That expansion and those that followed were driven by the "football schools", so I doubt the ACC was a likely option for VANDY. The B1G was then unlikely to take a relatively vanilla private school. Deferring on the rest, VANDY would have had 2 options that were feasible, financially sound, and stable (whatever that means in context).

[@richardalvarado-ik9br]

Vandy has a good baseball program.

[@sabertoothbaseball3432]

@@richardalvarado-ik9br yes, and it operates at a sizeable loss. The football program has to make the money for the baseball program to exist. That's important only to keep operating a division 1 program. At D3, it would not be an issue.

[@lukeontheplains]

Hey guys! Sorry if my voice seems kind of off in this video---I've been battling allergies all month and it finally caught up to me this week. This is potentially the first video in a series of essays on potential bombshell moves in college football history. Of course, the whole point of "what-if" essays like this is to pose a question and theorize on outcomes, but given that it didn't happen, it's almost an empty video in that sense. I'd like to know if this topic of video is something you guys are interested in! There are plenty more video concepts to go from here!

[@mr.manto4845]

You’re good, get better soon

[@trhino3]

All good keep up the amazing uploads and me learning so much of the history of conferences.

[@nickzuehlke5874]

All good dude. Been looking for a channel like this for years and when I found it a couple of months ago I watched about 6 videos in a row! Keep up the great content.

[@huntersomerman1165]

Hope you get better soon

[@commodorezero]

Feel better. Very interesting content. And I think your idea is on the right track. College football history isn't something a lot of youtubers are doing. Given CFBs structure there's more "could have been" champs than any other sport.

[@mattries37315]

If you had gone with a point-of-divergence in the 40s, you could have added Washington University in St. Louis as they went from offering athletic scholarships to none around that time. A slight change could have had them keep them if they were in an athletic conference that was academic oriented like the Magnolia Conference. Great video. Looking forward to see any new what if videos you might decide to produce.

[@Kieran_JSL]

interesting fact is that William and Mary is one of the few pre-revolutionary schools and is older than a couple of the Ivy’s which kinda adds to their inclusion here

[@robertfarley7707]

William & Mary is older than all of the Ivy's except Harvard. It's the second oldest college in the United States.

[@voiceofreason2674]

Oldest private schools. The oldest public schools are uga and unc

[@TheNAMartyrs]

William and Mary is the oldest public university in the country.

[@nathanbrewer6781]

@@voiceofreason2674William and Mary is a public school

[@voiceofreason2674]

@@nathanbrewer6781 wow ur right William and Mary also claims title of oldest public university and it still operates within a public model that's admirable

[@calebstrout8894]

If Texas and TAMU would’ve left, I definitely see a Magnolia League add Baylor and TCU from SWC just to keep consistency.

[@danehammond5763]

Honestly, I think the end compromise here is probably the Big 8/Big 12 forming earlier by grabbing those schools

[@jthomashair]

Yeah i thought Baylor would come up there for sure

[@NorthernKnights]

As a Canadian, I’ve never had much of a gateway to college football. Your videos have helped me get legitimately into this sport and I can’t thank you enough for that. Keep up the great work! Sincerely, a newfound Washington fan

[@ashleymeggan]

BEAT OREGON! Sincerely, an LSU fan who needs Oregon to fkn LOSE.

[@ashleymeggan]

It’s a great sport though. I live for college football. Every aspect is excellent. Recruiting is amazing, it’s the sport behind the sport.

[@benjaminguzman3428]

I think the Magnolia League would have gone to I-AA due to its small size and varying interest in sports

[@theEWDSDS]

same. besides vandy and later Miami none of these teams are any good. if SMU got added the quality of play would definitely improve, but they would still be dragging the smaller schools behind them.

[@VastContent]

@@theEWDSDS TBF, most of these teams were pretty great during the mid 70's-80's... Granted maybe its different with this conference but its food for thought, Bar Davidson

[@theEWDSDS]

@@VastContent maybe fair in quality, but not amazing. SMU was good at football through cheats, Duke is... Duke, and Tulane does Tulane things but besides MAYBE basketball there isn't a sport that they are all even decent at. Does Duke even have a football team?

[@VastContent]

@@theEWDSDS I don't disagree with you at all, I really think at max positivity it would end up being like a Big East but its fun to think of the possibilities

[@maryland7586]

The Magnolia Conference would basically be a second Big 10 rather than a second Ivy League, unless they agreed to stop giving scholarships like the Ivies it's unlikely they'd just stop expanding and inviting new members. Either they - Stick to 8 and separate from other non division schools, maybe only playing the Ivies and working with them for scheduling (which would probably make them scorned in the south) - Expand and try to stay afloat, leading to a much weaker ACC/SEC as it'd basically act like a southern Big 10

[@notJCS]

You present an interesting idea with that first scenario. If they separate from the wider collegiate sports world, only playing the preexisting Ivies, then the Magnolia could've led to something much bigger. If that is what ended up happening, then it very well could've set a precedent for other academics-based schools in other regions, like the West Coast and Midwest. If Ivy-likes ended up forming in those regions, only playing each other and the Ivy & Magnolia, then we potentially could've seen a breakaway collegiate athletics association completely separate from the NCAA & NAIA, one that's inherently focused on academics first. If my theory is feasible, I think that would've been extremely interesting, and it may have had a chance at balancing out the talent levels between them and the other two associations, even if it didn't offer scholarships. Alas, I guess we'll never know.

[@lukeontheplains]

Absolutely! This is something I didn't even think about. This could have really disrupted college sports as we know it

[@tarheel7406]

Disagree. The B1G then as now is primarily large (if not uber) flagships with good but not elite academic standing, the opposite of a mostly private, more academic elite membership. This alternate history Magnolia Conference has a single public school (GATECH), which is a #2.

[@TheNAMartyrs]

William and Mary is public.@@tarheel7406

[@tarheel7406]

@@TheNAMartyrs Them William & Mary would be a bad fit. It certainly is not a flagship, much less an uber-flagship.

[@connorthompson8963]

Wofford, Furman, Presbyterian, Samford, Stetson, Gardner Webb, Mercer, Suwaneen, High Point, Liberty, as another one all the big southern relgious schools

[@AFNick]

UNC and UVA would have been interested in joining too. They are very well regarded academically nationally (top 30 US news) and would have wanted the prestige of being in such a league. They probably both are in and W&M is never admitted. Thus it begins its life as nine team league.

[@tarheel7406]

Doubtful. The ACC was then already an academics also conference. Travel was more of a concern then as well.

[@toughbutsweet1]

Would they be willing to ditch NC State?

[@scottbourret1190]

Agree with UVa. At that point in the schools history through today they choose to hamstring their recruiting capabilities due to academic standards, transfer requirements, limited investments in athletics and their honor code. The heads of the board are still heavily focused on Olympic sports and are totally comfortable with the football program being in a shambles. They've held off investing in football for decades and only recently slightly loosened the purse strings for middle of the road facility upgrades compared to others. With no TV money in play back in the day. They very well could have been recruited to this conference. If we look at current day trends the ACC is more likely to offer Tulane and Rice a place in the conference, and maybe consider Connecticut and the Service academies.

[@tarheel7406]

@@scottbourret1190 The then ACC (as it would be now) was likely a higher academic association than any feasible Magnolia League. Also, having public school members risks government interference on conference affairs. Finally, UVA & UNC have many ties going back to their similar founding.

[@mikebronicki8264]

With Miami, UVA and North Carolina gone, does the Big East eat the ACC instead of the other way around?

[@rangersking6699]

Considering how Hayden fry was the AD and head coach for SMU starting in 1964(and was the coach since 62)..I think they still push for integration at the same time, because he was the one who brought levias to the program anyway in 65

[@evanrozsa]

You are putting out fantastic content at an amazing pace lately. Thank you so much!

[@mrterp04]

Another great vid! Three more ideas: 1.) What if the Metro Conference stayed together (and sponsored football)? 2.) The history and future of the MEAC. 3.) the Great Midwest Conference-the important yet incredibly short-lived mid-major.

[@owen20821]

Exploring what you mentioned about a SWC collapse earlier and a UT-A&M switch to the SEC then- this could have opened the door for Baylor to join the Magnolia league, considering Baylor is a private college with a pretty good academic rap sheet, as well as them opening up the door for a rivalry with SMU. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Of course, this is also implying that the Big 12 doesn’t swoop them up first. Edit: Maybe also a TCU join, to save them from their G5 hell they went through before they joined the Big 12??

[@Sugarnaut]

Baylor definitely has a rap sheet. They commit felonies on and off the field. True Crime should be a major at Baylor.

[@trhino3]

The Goat back at it again with more conference history lessons:)

[@jdkingsley6543]

What a gem of a channel, I have doing a ton of research around school conferences. Didnt even know a channel for this specific interest existed lol.

[@primeconor]

You’ve genuinely become my favorite KZbinr

[@Caspin]

This was an interesting watch, I've never heard of the Magnolia Conference until now

[@aj1218]

Vandy Boy here, we like the fact that we raise the GPA in the SEC. It gives us great revenue in football and we put the money into other sports. I.E. Baseball and womens sports

[@toughbutsweet1]

But not softball for some reason, so there are no Vandy Girls.

[@voiceofreason2674]

​@@toughbutsweet1there arent many girls at vandy at all. Its a great place to send a kinda plain daughter. She will fetch that mrs degree real easy

[@toughbutsweet1]

Haha.@@voiceofreason2674

[@user-ov5ej3eo4g]

Had no idea this was an idea, fantastic video :)

[@JangoFett_2571]

Would love to see a video on the big 10 or the MWC/WAC history

[@paulhudson4254]

Great idea, or something like is needed! I still miss the old southwest conference! 🏈🤠🏈

[@TheWaveRolled]

Dalukes I think it would be cool if you made a video on Tulanes fall from a national powerhouse in academics and athletics, to almost moving down to D3, to where they are now

[@toughbutsweet1]

The demolition of Tulane stadium was a tragedy.

[@cleba76]

Awesome video. I already know what im doing for my next NCAA 14 franchise.

[@jeffy6903]

This is an interesting thought experiment. I feel like this conference's arc would have paralleled something like the Metro Conference from the 70s. The initial thing that bound these schools together would have eventually become less important than other factors. The bigger schools get picked off, smaller schools in-fill, and the conference is gone by the late 80s.

[@robertclark2240]

Emory is DIII for obvious reasons. They, like most mentioned are members of the prestigious AAU, which means they are highly respected research institutions. They are unlikely candidates to this project since getting fans in Atlanta to support two schools and their beloved Georgia Bulldogs are slim. Great article. Thanks!

[@waynetompkins3006]

I came up with a similar idea back in the 80s, but called it the Student Athletic Conference. It brought together the private schools across the South, from TCU, SMU, Baylor and Rice in Texas and Tulsa, Tulane, Vanderbilt and Duke.

[@jordank316]

I just gotta say that background music and perfect and completely fitting

[@Hund0368]

dalukes uploaded, it's a good day

[@LeeNobody]

Great video, as usual! Real question is will a national Magnolia Conference form in the remnant of the ACC in the 2030s.

[@toughbutsweet1]

I agree with some of the comments that adding Army, Navy and Wake Forest would have been great for the Mag. It would create established rivalries and travel partners. I don't think Penn State would be interested in the ACC because Joe Pa wanted an all-East conference with Syracuse, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Army and Navy.

[@tarheel7406]

The all-East was dead by the time PSU joined a conference.

[@slimphotog]

Penn State is never leaving the $ but they are at least competitive in their conference. Rutgers and Maryland though are going to be doormats. Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College plus West Virginia, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Louisville would make a regional conference of eastern schools of similar strength. Their athletes wouldn't have to fly across the country for conference games to play Stanford and Cal.

[@tarheel7406]

@@slimphotog PSU should have joined the ACC if that would have yielded a new peer media deal.

[@godzilla3h]

Another great video, I love what if conference videos and if I assume correctly this is your secret series you've been working on for awhile, right? I could see GT being the earliest dominant power in the conference with the Miami and SMU(with less Death Penalties) following in close pursuit in 80's-early 00's with small short surges from Vanderbilt and Tulane and a small sprinkle from Duke and Rice a season or two. Duke would still keep its dynasty in basketball due to the kept alive relationship with Tobacco Road(mainly UNC and NC State) with maybe a more intense in conference rivalry with GT or Tulane? Butterfly effect section I can see the SWC living with an odd injection by going to Ten Teams. With New Mexico, Arizona, Arizona State and Memphis State(Could Slot Houston in here instead, I just consider Memphis to be a better pick due to the short spurt of good seasons they had and to keep Arkansas happy). If not I can see the Big 8 going to 10 with UT and TAMU with Arkansas forced to stitch the SWC alive with Bubblegum and bootstraps with Ark, Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech, getting joined by Houston, Memphis State, New Mexico, Arizona and Arizona State. (Another 3 that could replace the Western 3 is Texas Western, Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech.)(P.S. if the Western 3 would of happened their replacements are Air Force, Colorado State, Utah State and Idaho.) And I could only dream of WVU and Pitt joining the ACC if Duke left. (The Gamecocks stay around aswell.) Then instead of FSU its Penn State in the 90's that's added.

[@tarheel7406]

a) Given that the concern was an academic association and that the ACC was/is a high academic conference already, I doubt DUKE joins this conference even under this liberal scenario. b) Assuming there would still be a push to get to 12 for a champ game, MIAMI and GATECH would have been poached by one of the majors. c) DUKE would not have likely built or maintained its dynasty without an annual home/away with UNC. d) WVU would still not have been "in brand" for the ACC.

[@austincosman2907]

I understand that Football pays the bills but as a college baseball fan I’d hate to see Vandy leave the SEC because that’s by far the best conference and Vandy historically has been the Alabama of c baseball

[@jamessimms415]

Vandy needs to stay in the SEC so other members can pad their 100%, no/low stress guaranteed ‘W’ column each year.

[@benjaminguzman3428]

Imagine being too good and putting your rep in danger

[@helo8859]

This makes me wish to be able to make custom confrences in the new NCAA game

[@pinedesertsports]

This is one of the best confernce ideas iv'e heard!

[@stevenkramer3431]

An outside possibility, since we are talking of hypotheticals, would be Mississippi State. Certainly they weren't up to the standards initially, in 1963; however, the mid-60s brought a renewed focus on academics at MSU. They were desegregated in 1965 and began an honors program in 1968. This is excellent stuff, by the way...well-researched and engaging.

[@tarheel7406]

Public and not even up to academic standard today.

[@jdeang3531]

@@tarheel7406I disagree. Have you looked at their academic standings over the last 10-15 years?

[@tarheel7406]

@@jdeang3531 MISS-ST isn't a public school? My reference for overall sports and academics is the graph found at the ~12-minute mark in the vide titled below, which uses a blend of different metrics. Per that graph, MISS-ST is the worst academic P5 member: "Big 12 Expansion Stats and Facts Breakdown | Conference Realignment | Tony Altimore x 365 Sports"

[@stevenkramer3431]

@@tarheel7406 Yeah, missed that about the public standing. As I said, I was a long shot, and quite hypothetical.

[@kemahmike8422]

There are some other Rice University sized programs that might step up and fit a Magnolia Conference, like an Elon University and Mercer. Would fit well with Navy at least with a service academy tie-in. Thought provoking video.

[@MetalGod999]

I love Lucas's take on the Magnolia Conference. I think if it had been formed and was successful, things in the world of college sports would have been very interesting...and perhaps even better than the current and often cacophonous world it is today. It would have been a struggle in the beginning, to be sure, but I think the Magnolia Conference could've been hugely successful and prosperous. And North Carolina (at Chapel Hill) and Virginia would've been great fits since they were -- and still are -- highly regarded academic institutions. The University of Virginia was, if I'm not mistaken, founded by Thomas Jefferson. And here's something else: Lucas talks about the Butterfly Effect in this video. If the Magnolia Conference exists, maybe there's no need for conference realignment and super-conferences. That means the Magnolia, Big 8, Big East, Southwest and Pac-10 Conferences are all still alive and peacefully co-exist with the ACC, SEC and Big 10. Who knows...

[@tarheel7406]

Public schools don't really fit the concept. Since the ACC would have already had peer or better "Magnolia" academics, why would any member leave?

[@dylanjwagner]

Shellacked is pronounced [SHUH-lacked] not [shell-icked]. Great vid, per the usual.

[@-GloryGloryToOlGeorgia]

I love the background music.

[@joshladd6048]

New dalukes video means a new comment asking for a yankee conference breakdown. As always, great video

[@danehammond5763]

I can tell you North Texas wouldn't be considered. SMU would block that. I saw an article a few weeks ago that SMU wanted to leave for the ACC so badly because they didn't want to share a conference with North Texas.

[@erichschaumloffel975]

Seems like a fun conference I have done something similar in ncaa maybe a school like navy would have liked the higher academics and joined

[@jamespyle777]

My inclusions into the Magnolia League: Southern Methodist, Texas Christian, Tulsa, Rice, Baylor, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Sewanee, Georgia Tech, Emory, Centre, Washington & Lee, Transylvania, Miami, Duke, William & Mary, Wake Forest and Davidson. Yes, a super conference Magnolia League with 18 members with a mix of everything.

[@tarheel7406]

How many of these are Ivy level or close enough? How many are in the Southeast proper? My reference is the Altimore graph, so at a glance and including public schools: DUKE VANDY UNC MIAMI FLORIDA UVA WAKE GATECH TULANE After that it gets questionable. Most of your referenced schools wouldn't make the ACC historical Top 100 requirement. Wouldn't some Magnolia threshold be even higher?

[@alexthomas5535]

I don’t see us have an ACC conference today if the magnolia league formed assuming GT, Wake, and Duke all join. I also don’t think we ever get a big 12 conference cause I can easily see Baylor and TCU joining if SMU, and Rice leave and at that time Texas Tech was still on its own I believe.

[@tarheel7406]

a) The ACC had already been founded with an academic focus, so I doubt any member would leave. b) Why wouldn't WAKE/DUKE just be replaced? c) BAYLOR and TCU are too far away and don't appear to have the academics.

[@davidsp5936]

I don't know if it's true, but the campus lore at Emory is that the terms of their endowment prohibited them from ever having a varsity football team.

[@MichaelDanger19]

LOVED this video

[@joshuatayloe8616]

I think in the 60's the laegue could have the potential to start with 12 if they could convince the academies and ND to join. The 60's is when the ND/B1G dynamic switched from ND trying to get in to the B1G sending invites so maybe another academic conference could pull a scorned ND. The academies just make sense for an academically focused conference plus the largest recruiting pool for the military is in the south. Edit: They would also have the potential to be the 1st national conference if they were able to make those additions because AF would be in a bridge state to potentially reach out for USC and Stanford.

[@craigrohn9938]

Doubtful, at least as far as the service academies go. There was a proposal for a coast-to-coast superleague in the 1960s that would have included the service academies, but Pentagon officials shot down the idea. It wasn't until those officials left that USAFA was able to join the WAC in the 80s

[@joshuatayloe8616]

@@craigrohn9938 I get what you're saying about AF, but you're not considering if there were a prestigious academic power that was wanting to add them. Army and Navy had both been in and out of conferences by the 60's so they could potentially add the 2 of them.

[@kyleorndorff1304]

I think you could possibly see this conference reach out to Baylor in the 80s when the next move of realignment began. I also think Navy could have been considered. Still I assume the league falls apart as the top half believes they can achieve greater success athletically in SEC or ACC. Bottom half falls to irrelevance. It would likely save Tulane from their falloff after exiting the SEC. Miami & GT would become powers and likely 1 of the Texas schools

[@ronrios7421]

I'm a simple person. I see a new video,and I click An NEC video would be cool btw

[@zanethecaneyt7108]

Is it a good day if you don't dabble in a bit of dalukes?

[@Christian-fn6yu]

Great stuff

[@TagzLabz]

What is the background song you use in the video called?

[@chumerranion778]

You wrote such a good script for this video that I thought you might like to know that at 0:46 "penultimate" probably isn't the word you want. Penultimate means "second to last".

[@lukeontheplains]

Completely forgot about that in my rewrite. Where I come from, it has the two meanings-what Webster identifies as the correct meaning, and then the "slang" (it sounds bad, but that's kind of how it is) where it means a sort of apex of something. I keep using it in writing as the way I learned it as a kid when it's really something else for 98% of the English speaking world.

[@jairojrnj]

The name and idea is awesome . The integration factor was interesting

[@terrytysinger6022]

Davidson was a NATIONAL power in basketball in the 60’s with Lefty Drisell and then former Davidson star Terry Holland as head coaches.

[@DobbyIsAGoofElf]

Do a video on a public university Ivy League. How would that look?

[@therealanonyomous]

What about Sewanee ?

[@adriafitzy6459]

Cool video! I gotta wonder if they'd have ended up in FCS tbh. It sounds inconceivable but also as we've seen, Ivies have had success in March Madness without even scholarships, so this seems reasonable. I'm also kinda shocked you didn't mention UNC potentially joining, especially with its proximity to duke and being a very northeastern university but in the south, I think they'd fit culturally despite being a public school. Now I don't know how that'd work with segregation, because IDK how a public university would've changed things or what not. But I'd still imagine they'd have to be a potentiality.

[@tarheel7406]

The ACC had already been founded with an academic focus, so I doubt any member would leave.

[@lukeontheplains]

@tarheel7406 The whole point of the video stands on the fact that it didn't happen for this exact reason, but the hypothetical exists as a point to wonder what would have happened if it did. I did say you'd have to suspend your disbelief.

[@tarheel7406]

@@lukeontheplains I get the belief suspension, but I'm trying to stick with your overall thinking. The SWC and SEC were not academic associations, so some schools were square pegs. The ACC was an academic focused conference and was likely better on that measure than any then feasible Magnolia. In the real timeline, schools wouldn't leave the established conferences due to money, but the then ACC offered money and academic branding. Travel was also a much bigger concern at the time, and public schools are contrary to a true southern ivy league. At a minimum, drop DUKE and GATECH and replace with southeastern schools. May need to drop SMU & RICE, as Texas isn't exactly "Magnolia".

[@irentyew4746]

Will you ever do the history of the SEC & BIG10?

[@lukeontheplains]

Yes sir, I'll put a vote up on Thanksgiving between the two and I'll do one for a long Christmas episode

[@mccarjl]

When the ACC inevitably breaks apart, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this actually happen. This time around, rather than falling behind in scholarships, these schools will unite in falling behind on NIL money.

[@tarheel7406]

Why will the ACC inevitably break apart?

[@jdabomb8064]

Well done

[@treycherie6236]

man, yale’s ego was so fragile in 1948 lol

[@user-ve4ck7si3n]

As a Davidson football alumn... Randomly seeing my tiny alma mater in this video swelled my heart

[@coachkj]

I think they could have formed a North division - School like U of Chicago, Washington of St. Louis, St Thomas, Couple of New York and Pennsylvania schools. Could have reached as far as MIT. As a MIami grad, glad for the video

[@tarheel7406]

That big, that wide, that culturally diverse in the time frame at issue?

[@tkingsley5761]

My hypothetical alternate history take is that if these schools were so smart (and I’m a fan of one of them), they would have integrated their student bodies and athletic team rosters much earlier, no later than after WWII, and well before the flagship southern state schools, and likely would have stayed competitive for longer provided the non-integrated schools would have been willing to play them.

[@ps2man]

Honestly, UNC is probably a better school than anything southwest of Vandy at least

[@jeremysmith7783]

I think what's really sad is that the comparison at 2:52 is still accurate today as it was back then. I

[@dougtube9870]

10:57 Just a note. Delaware is not in Virgina.

[@lukeontheplains]

Yeah, they're in Delaware. But they're a longterm rival of William and Mary's, and I figured they belonged up there anyway.

[@theraplawyer]

Consider the following schools, Baylor, Wake Forest, Tulsa, TCU and, Georgia Tech.

[@noviranger239]

I’m a Northwestern student and fan…

[@devilfrawg4953]

There are currently 18 private FBS schools... WEST: Baylor Brigham Young (BYU) Rice Southern Cal (USC) Southern Methodist (SMU) Stanford Texas Christian (TCU) Tulane Tulsa EAST: Boston College (BC) Duke Liberty Miami Notre Dame Northwestern Syracuse Vanderbilt Wake Forest ... If they formed a conf, it could be called the Big Ivy, and it would instantly become an autonomous conference.

[@kirknagy6253]

Is there any way, UNC Chapel hill leaves the ACC to join?

[@Alan-lv9rw]

Duke, Wake Forest, Miami, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Rice, Baylor, SMU, TCU, Tulsa.

[@robserrano8971]

VANDY, TULANE, RICE, SMU, GT, DUKE,.WF, DAVIDSON, W&M, MIAMI in 2023 might be gr8 academically not sure football wise. Ivy League of the a South aka Magnolia Conference.

[@andrewadcock6435]

I like the proposition, maybe add LA Tech as a similar punching back with relatively high academics and maybe North Texas or Baylor

[@h77127]

One school that probably would have joined or tried to at least would be UAB. UA has always tried to keep their football program down (Seen in shutting down the program in 2014-15 and never playing UAB even as a non-con opponent during Alabama's up and down 90's under Stalings and DuBose.) so I don't see much objection from the BoT to keep UAB a 1-AA program and even if the magnolia went down from division 1-A to 1-AA or D2 that would fit in as UAB didn't move to D1 until 1996 as an independent. And if the conference did move down due media rights and such in the 90's UAB would fit right in as they started football as D3 in the '91 and '92 seasons before moving up to 1-AA in '93 until '95 when they were approved by the NCAA to move to 1-A. Through all that time they were D3 and 1-AA independents and wouldn't move to a conference until C-USA in '99 where as the Magnolia might have taken them in earlier as a 1-AA Medical research school.

[@jasonjohns5774]

Interesting video. If Bobby Dodd's decision to steer GT out of the SEC was bad, this would've been worse.

[@momtyers1830]

that miami bombshell :o

[@FPSFanofAweasomness]

Navy would definitely be a great addition here.

[@EmperorPilaf04]

I think Tulsa and Wake Forest actually do join, along with USF to give Miami a FL partner, but W&M gets kicked out for poor athletics and geography. That brings them to 10 schools and keeps up with CFB as a whole.

[@tarheel7406]

a) TULSA isn't exactly in the Magnolia region, and I'm not familiar with its academic standing. b) Why would WAKE leave an academic and athletic conference that it helped found for a lessor association?

[@TheComputerCowboy]

As a Rice alumnus, I’m loving this idea. The Ivy League commands a lot of respect - it’s such marketable branding, and has become synonymous with elitism. They are great schools, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve also fired Ivy League grads before because they were arrogant, ignorant, and didn’t work hard (the individuals I’m referring to, not all Ivy grads in the aggregate); based on my anecdotal small sample, I hypothesize that we give the Ivy schools too much credit. There’s something about the name that helps instill the legacy; of course, we can’t discount the Ivy League schools’ wonderful heritage and lasting history. That said, the schools proposed here for a magnolia league are all equally excellent universities, and would all benefit from a shared brand which elevates their status as elite private schools. Frankly, I’d love to see it happen in reality. Especially because, as a Rice alumnus, I have vested interest in seeing them finally join a conference that would benefits their reputation. Because despite academics’ protests, the NCAA conference a university is in has affect on the school’s perceived value, and Rice has struggled to find their brand in this context since the demise of the Southwest Conference.

[@rangersking6699]

This is gonna sound crazy, but I prefer having had the death penalty and everything after that to being in this as an SMU fan. The main reason I think this conference would suck for SMU is that we’d lose our classic rivalries a couple decades early and, if we did decide to not pay players, we would have lost the ambition we had to compete for titles. Academics was already trending away from SMU as a school as it became more important to do research, because SMU cared more about business and law. I don’t think the magnolia conference survives in that iteration as whoever dominates it would want more tv money than can be provided by it.

[@robertfarley7707]

I think this could have been more acceptable to SMU if they could persuade the Magnolia to take TCU and maybe Baylor as well. That would preserve several of their SWC rivalries.

[@rangersking6699]

@@robertfarley7707 but would TCU and Baylor turn down cotton bowl money for an academic prestige conference

[@Sacchizzzle]

I think the ACC is the closest we’ll get to a non Ivy League conference that has high academic values. Some really smart schools like ND, UVA, UNC, FSU, UMiami, Duke and now the addition of Stanford, SMU, and UC Berkeley.

[@royalblackk]

4:34 "and the small emory univesity in atlanta georgia" *proceeds to place logo in birmingham, al*

[@mosinc7388]

I know a guy that played football for SMU just prior to the death penalty and he can't read or write.

[@elmoreglidingclub3030]

The Auburn - GaTech rivalry was an excellent one. Engineering schools, mutual respect, students attending the other school for grad school, etc., etc. The Ala - Tech “rivalry” you mentioned was nasty with Ala constantly bullying Tech. If you look deeper into Auburn’s history, they would have been as excellent fit for a Magnolia League. Auburn was losing interest in football in deference to rapidly improving academics before the state legislature stepped in and demanded the Auburn - Alabama game be resumed. Most legislators, of course, were Ala grads. Auburn was woefully under-funded by the legislature (compared to Bama) and felt it was their best opportunity to curry funding favor. Anyway, Auburn would be an excellent candidate. And it would allow their academics to flourish.

[@tarheel7406]

AUBURN isn't represented as an elite (or near) academic school on the Altimore Graph I reference. Has it declined since the time under discussion?

[@elmoreglidingclub3030]

@@tarheel7406 Having degrees from Auburn and an Ivy, and now teaching at a university, if you rely on some graph or subjective assessment it is essentially meaningless within, I’d argue, at least one standard deviation. And that covers 68% of schools being analyzed. The Ivy League schools have only two things others do not: a greater number of high performing students (which is not smarter students), and a lot of grant funding for research. The greatest value for a Magnolia League, in my view, would be to have athletics returned to amateur status being played by actual college students, and all the benefits derived from that. There are other benefits but I think this is supposed to be a fairly brief forum.

[@tarheel7406]

@@elmoreglidingclub3030 a) I have no reason to believe that the metrics used for that graph are overly biased. Surely more objective than your personal experiences, and a blend washes out a lot. b) Sometimes smaller difference are material in a smaller pool. c) I am fully aware that education, intelligence and wisdom are different things. d) If a then goal of a Magnolia League was to deemphasize sports, that would likely remove some of the proposed members. e) Isn't AUBURN a public school, making it a bad fit anyway? The referenced graph can be found at the ~12-minute mark in the vid titled: "Big 12 Expansion Stats and Facts Breakdown | Conference Realignment | Tony Altimore x 365 Sports"

[@elmoreglidingclub3030]

@@tarheel7406 Thank you for the graph reference; I’ll look it up. And Auburn is indeed a public university. As is Cornell.

[@tarheel7406]

@@elmoreglidingclub3030 This story has made me much more aware of how schools and conferences place amongst their peers in academics and overall athletics. I would have guessed that the PAC was the top academic conference of the P5 measured by rank/standing, but it was a clear #3 going into this realignment. Per Wiki, CORNELL is a private land-grant research university.

[@willinnewhaven3285]

In 1963, the University of Miami was one of the top _party_ schools in the nation.

[@Andrew-bd8dc]

My guess is that of the Magnolia League had formed it would have been pillaged by the ACC by the early-mid 80s leaving us with an ACC conference similar to what we have today, just decades earlier

[@solidfoundations7020]

Vanderbilt has always been lesser athletically due to Incredibly high admission requirements. Little bro has never been very successful in sports. I love the idea of a southern Ivy league for them

[@DSTRAZ98]

Basketball and Baseball stopped existing huh

[@solidfoundations7020]

@@DSTRAZ98 They are good at Baseball. Always trash at Basketball. Thats like 1 good sport out of 7 sports lol

[@sensonootoko9550]

I call this the Scholar 14: Duke, Vanderbilt, Stanford, North Western, Notre Dame, SMU, Tulane, Wake Forest, Purdue, Boston College, BYU, Southern Cal, Cal Berkley, Baylor

[@tarheel7406]

CAL is public. If including public schools, not even close to the top 14 outside of the IVY.

[@chasmeinecke4322]

Good and interesting video. Quite frankly, this whole conference realignment of late has gotten ridiculous. I’m in more favor of D1 football and basketball programs to form semi-pro leagues outside of the NCAA while keeping the brands of their colleges and let all the other sports return to their more traditional/regional conferences. What’s happening now (despite it being about $$$) makes very little sense.

[@nategz9875]

I got Baylor, SMU, Rice, TCU, Texas Tech, Texas, Georgia Tech, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Miami, Wake Forrest, Duke, Auburn and Ol Miss making up a southern ivy league. A westcoast Ivy would probably be USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Washington, BYU, Colorado, Air Force, St. Mary's and Gonzaga Midwest Ivy I got Minnesota, Miami Ohio, Norte Dame, University of Chicago, university of Illinois, Missouri, Northwestern, Michigan, DePaul and Wisconsin

[@tarheel7406]

a) What's "Magnolia" about the State of Texas? b) Travel would have been a big concern at that time. c) TXTECH, AUBURN & OLEMISS? d) The ACC had already been founded with an academic focus, so I doubt any member would leave.

[@nategz9875]

@@tarheel7406 you must not be from Texas. HOUSTON has magnolias too. As a matter of fact Magnolia Park is a legendary neighborhood here. We also have the city of Magnolia as well. Southeast Texas is just like the rest of the Gulf Coast.

[@tarheel7406]

@@nategz9875 I'm not from Texas, so okay. Nevertheless, based on my source for academics, TCU & TXTECH are far from close enough to "ivy" quality academics. Public schools wouldn't fit either. Lastly, travel was more of a concern during the timeframe at issue.

[@TheoSprinkles]

I like it. Maybe the best Baseball conference in the Nation

[@justinress2782]

What I would think would happen is: -FSU joins the SEC instead of the ACC -The SWC adds Houston a couple of years earlier or adds another team like UTEP -WVU joins the ACC -The Big East doesn’t sponsor Football

[@tarheel7406]

"FSU joins the SEC instead of the ACC" I would guess that ACC still adds MIAMI and 1 more or 1 less BIGEAST school. FSU does not win as much and doesn't make the same degree of academic improvement. UVA, UNC, DUKE and/or GATECH more likely to leave than was the case in actual timeline. "WVU joins the ACC" When?