re: Vandy is not carrying it's weight in Football

Vanderbilt isn't terrible. Pretty fair series overall with Ole Miss and they have a winning record vs Auburn (21-20-1).

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Is vandy stricter on student athletes Academics than other schools?

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They have to meet Vandy standards, but -- not speaking from first-hand knowledge, just reasonable assumptions -- I'm willing to bet Vandy gives them some leeway that they don't give the general student population. We're not saints, after all. The same goes for places like Duke and Stanford because we all want to be able to compete to some greater or lesser degree. Nobody believes that Duke's basketball team or Stanford's football team are completely free from the respective administrations letting a few things slide, academically-speaking, in order to get the talent onto the team. My guess is that we're willing to do the same. As I said, just a guess, but I think it's a fair one.

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Vandy is probably embarrassed to be in the SEC.

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I can't speak for all Vandy fans, but I'm certainly not embarrassed in the least. There are no schools in the SEC that I would consider academic lightweights, and I'd defend every single one of you from anyone denigrating your worth as institutions of higher education.

Yes, even that glorified kindergarten known as UTk.

I still see hope for Vanderbilt's FB program. What will make or break it is Mason and his staff's ability to coach and develop their players into a competitive team. But they are still bringing in competitive talent, even if it's not great talent.

Using Rivals as a reference, back in 2002 when they put out their first class rankings for FBS all the way to the 2006 class, Vanderbilt's classes were 95% 2* if they were even rated. Only a hand-full of 3* or better per class, with only 1 prospect 4* or higher (Marcus Dixon in 2003).

In the 2006 cycle, Vandy had a class with 25% of it being 3*, and none 4* or higher. In 2007 6 of their 14 that class were 3* or higher, with John Stokes a 4*. Bobby Johnson was a solid HC for y'all that built the program into a fundamentally sound executing team that gave great effort. His efforts culminated with a 7-6 winning season and a bowl appearance, which they won. He did this with mostly a roster made up of sub 3* caliber talent, the kind that mostly goes to mid-major FBS programs...or MAC-caliber players like you suggested....

Johnson would only coach Vandy for one more season after that in 2009, and interim Robby Caldwell coached 1 season before Franklin. The final recruiting class under Johnson - in 2009 - was a class of 18 commitments, but only 5 of them were below 3*. This was a fantastic class for Vanderbilt compared to the previous classes that had 4-5 3* or better at the most under Johnson. Under Caldwell the 2010 class was also a solid one of 25 commitments but only 7 of them were 2* or lower.

So Franklin actually took over at Vanderbilt with the previous 2 classes in house that were night and day better from the previous classes that were 80%-90% 2* caliber talent. I don't know if Rivals changed their rating system that made those prospects look better, or what but it was obviously much improved recruiting talent IMO. The winning season and bowl win no doubt paid huge dividends to the perception of the program.

Same thing with Duke these days: used to be they only pulled prospects that were nothing but 2* if even that. Cutcliffe has done wonders with the program and his staff are now regularly pulling classes full of 3* or better, with many 4* sprinkled in. IMO that's what a FBS program needs to compete for winning seasons. It may not get you to the CFB playoffs, but if your coaching staff is good and can develop players, y'all can regularly compete for winning seasons and bowl eligibility.

Southern Miss under Fedora was regularly pulling 3* or better talent for their program, with some 4* randomly sprinkled in. After he left SoMiss and Ellis Johnson's catastrophe as a HC, now the Golden Eagles are struggling to pull even 2*-rated talent, and it's now showing in their terrible win-loss records.

Franklin brought in classes that were mostly or all 3* or better, with some 4* talent mixed in. But Mason's last 2 classes (2014 & 2015) were also mostly 3* with 2-3 4* commits. His 2016 class is all 3* but 1 thus far, and he still could pull some 4* before it's all over. IMO his classes aren't really a major drop-off from what Franklin was pulling, and is still a huge improvement from what y'all used to pull under Johnson. If Mason can actually coach and get Vandy back to competing for bowl eligibility, I expect to see the recruiting rise back up close to Franklin's levels of talent, if not at those levels of melodrama...

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James Franklin could've taken y'all tithe SEC championship if he wasn't such an Urban Meyer.

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Could you blame him. You can only stay at Vandy for so long.

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Vandy is not carrying it's weight in Football

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In terms of titles it does. They also give the SEC academic cred

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you mean title? They only have one. And it's baseball, no one outside the sec cares

Only one in baseball though. But that bowling championship sure makes up for football being awful.

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Vandy is not carrying it's weight in Football

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Probably didn't need a thread for this.

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Vandy is probably embarrassed to be in the SEC.

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all that money helps comfort them from the shame