Scholarship table
What exactly did dropping football cost Marquette? The university has a healthy enrollment, a good endowment, a successful basketball program, etc. I understand the medical college thing, but the football thing? It would have been a second class program and a drain on resources - playing in the AAC or the MAC at best.
Yeah, football was not a good fit for this urban university. There was little interest and was a cash drag which would only have gotten larger. Keeping FB would have ultimately kept MU at a low mid-major level and BB program would have suffered and never gotten to the levels it has achieved over the decades. This has always been Packer and Badger country for FB.
The only comparable example is BC having football right?
And is one of 2 D1 programs, and the only P5 program in New England. And they’re not very successful. Again where do you think Marquette football would be right now if they kept it? What conference would we be members of? Easy to Monday morning quarterback that decision but I think it worked out great.
We would have stayed elite, if we hired Denny Crum, who was interested, that would have put us into the category of teams that were elite beyond just one coach. I consider that mistake among the three big strategic mistakes of MU history.
Medical school: MistakeFootball: Meh. As mentioned elsewhere, the list of successful football programs at private, urban universities is remarkably small.
MU had a very good and dynamic football team in 1936. Made the Cotton Bowl . Showed the potential was there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXoX6zbQ9ZI