<p>which universities have a good academic reputation and have at least a good basketball or football program? I'm trying to provide a recommendation for my friend and he wants a school where he will be returning to his alma mater to attend sporting events even after he graduates with a good degree on his back.</p>
<p>Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Michigan, UCLA, Wisconsin, Florida</p>
<p>THE Ohio State University - Columbus!! :)</p>
<p>I would remove Wisconsin and Florida from the list timetodecide12 posted at the undergraduate level and replace them with the University of Texas-Austin and the University of Southern California (USC).</p>
<p>Otherwise, those are the 10 schools you should be targeting in roughly that order for undergraduate academic excellence and elite college basketball or college football.</p>
<p>Duke, ND, Stanford. LAC’s-Williams, Davidson, Holy Cross, Colgate.</p>
<p>Without knowing your friend’s academic statistics or areas of major interest, I’d add Virginia Tech and UVA. VT is a bargain (even for an out of stater) and has a wonderful combination of excellent academics and athletics. Their alumni base is insane when it comes to remaining faithful to their teams after graduation. Nothing like being a part of the Hokie Nation imho. </p>
<p>Obviously, UVA has wonderful academics, but unfortunately their major sports like fball and bball haven’t been as successful as they could be and sadly their fans/alums have the reputation in these parts to be fickle when it comes to support. Maybe if changes come in the future, it could be different on that front. Best of luck to your friend in his search!</p>
<p>Add Georgia Tech, Indiana (business), and Georgetown</p>
<p>If Boston College still had Matt Ryan or they weren’t playing NIT in the past couple of years, I would add it to the list. There’s always college hockey though…</p>
<p>Also, Northwestern historically has a pretty awful football program, with the exception of this year.</p>
<p>Stanford, Washington, USC, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Miami, Wake Forest, Michigan, North Carolina, GA Tech, Wisconsin, , IL, Texas, Duke.</p>
<p>Penn State,
Ohio State,
Michigan,
Duke</p>
<p>Notre Dame, Stanford, Duke, Georgetown, USC, UVA, UCLA, UT-Austin, Michigan, UNC</p>
<p>Northwestern under Coach Pat Fitzgerald has been very good with multiple bowl appearances. NU also wnt to the Rose Bowl about 15 years ago.</p>
<p>Duke and Stanford.</p>
<p>Georgetown
Michigan
Duke
Stanford
UNC
Notre Dame
USC
UVa
Vandy
UCLA
Boston College
Northwestern</p>
<p>In this order…</p>
<ol>
<li>UCLA 108 NCAA Championships</li>
<li>Stanford 103 NCAA Championships</li>
<li>USC 96 NCAA Championships</li>
<li>Texas 39 NCAA Championships</li>
<li>UNC 33 NCAA Championships</li>
<li>Michigan 33 NCAA Championships</li>
<li>Cal (Berkeley) 32 NCAA Championships</li>
<li>Wisconsin 28 NCAA Championships</li>
</ol>
<p>I would also add Notre Dame and Duke.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would hardly call a 49-39 record “very good,” esp. when Fitzgerald’s Wildcats have yet to finish a season ranked (subject to change this year probably).</p>
<p>Also, 1 or 2 BCS Bowl games isn’t that impressive in the context of a 44% historical winning percentage and 9 consecutive bowl losses, which is currently active and tied for the longest losing streak of all time.</p>
<p>Below are the top academic schools that also have big time sports programs. I’ve included their academic ranking and their athletic conference affiliation. You can’t go wrong with any of these, although they are fairly difficult to get into unless your in-state at one of the state schools. After the top 30 or so schools, they are all pretty much the same. These are the only elite academic schools with big time sports programs:</p>
<p>Stanford - 6 - Pac 12
Duke - 8 - ACC
Northwestern - 12 - Big Ten
Notre Dame - 17 - ACC
Vanderbuilt - 17 - SEC
Berkeley - 21 -Pac 12
UCLA - 24 - Pac 12
USC - 24 - Pac 12
UVA - 24 - ACC
Wake Forest - 27 - ACC
Michigan - 29 - Big Ten
UNC - 30 - ACC
Boston College - 31 - ACC
GA Tech - 36 - ACC</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s not quite what you stated initially.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not quite correct either.</p>
<p>NU FB was a power at times during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, but the program was basically gutted when Strotz became President of NU during the 1970s since he thought NU should follow the Ivy League or UC model.</p>
<p>Since 1995, NU has won 3 B1G titles which is more than all other B1G schools aside from dOSU, UM and Wisc. - and more than Stanford in the Pac12.</p>
<p>And NU is going to its 5th bowl game in a row (bowl eligible 6 yrs in a row), so “awful” is far from accurate.</p>
<p>Also, after a couple of years w/ the program in a bit of disarray after the sudden death of Coach Walker, Fitz has the program on the upswing due to improved recruiting.</p>
<p>Most of the talent on this year’s 9-3 squad is young and thus should compete for a B1G title for the next few years.</p>
<p>
Maybe because this was addressing a completely different point? Lol?</p>
<p>
Sorry. I didn’t know a 56% all-time losing percentage, second worst in the B1G behind Indiana (which more than makes up for it with basketball), and a streak of losing seasons that spanned two decades, was above terrible. Perhaps “historically sub-par” fits better. Happy?</p>
<p>I do stand corrected on a few points though. '08 and '09 were pretty impressive seasons, though I wouldn’t brag about playing in the Ticket City (2010) and Meineke Car Bowl (2011). I did also forget about the Barnett years. I do believe that NU is posed to be a contender in the future, however.</p>
<p>TOSU average more than 10 wins a season (not counting the vacated 2010 season) in the last 10 years in terms of football. And 10 appearances in terms of Final Four in basketball. Certainly no weak sauce here in terms of big time sports!! Academically up-and-coming with 2012 Common App and 25% application increase thus far - part of 10 years strategic “excellence to eminence” academic plan under President Gordon Gee. Someone ought to run a calculation with average # of wins per season in football + # Final Four appearance in basketball + USNWR overall ranking and divide them by 3 in order to determine the universities with top-tier academics and sports. I would not be surprised if Ohio State ranked in the Top-5 in the nation. :D</p>