Rice University History At 6100 South Main St.

[Ashikaga]

I've just taken an interest in Rice University. Has there ever been any year(s) that it won any championship? The only pro football player who comes to my mind who attended Rice was Tommy Kramer. When I attended the University of Arkansas from 1984-86, I remember that Rice University was in the same conference.

Edit: 

1891: The William M. Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art filed its state charter in the Texas capital May 19, 1891.

1912: The Rice Institute.

1960: William Marsh Rice University on July 1, 1960.

Present day, in short, Rice University.

[sevfiv]

i work there, and i never hear much about football, and i don't think it has ever made too many headlines...although apparently rice stadium was the site of super bowl VIII on Jan. 13, 1974...

[kjb434]

Is that why the stadium is so big?

It's kind of funny it's so big but they never fill it up.

[ToolMan]

Rice won the 2003 College Worl Series. I think it's great that a school of 6000 students can compete with the major universities.

[nmainguy]

This is from http://riceowls.collegesports.com/faciliti...ce-stadium.html

The Stadium has a storied history, borne from the University's football tradition. Fifty-three years ago, Rice fielded one of its greatest teams. The 1949 Owls, led by all-Americas Froggy Williams and Joe Watson, won the Southwest Conference championship and the 1950 Cotton Bowl with a 10-1 record. The Owls posted an 8-4 overall record, their best record since 1950. In that span, Rice was 5-0 at home.

However, old Rice Stadium (now the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium) seated less than 37,000 fans. Houston's civic leaders decided the old structure was not a proper venue for the SWC champions, much less a city with a future so bright. The idea for the new Rice Stadium was born.

Rice Stadium was also the site for JFK's famous moon speech.

http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/ricetalk.htm

[RedScare]

Is that why the stadium is so big?

It's kind of funny it's so big but they never fill it up.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is so big because it was built in 1949 to handle overflow crowds watching the Southwest Conference champion Rice Owls. It was a construction marvel, being designed and built in only 9 months.

Here's a good link on the stadium.

http://www.sfo.com/~csuppes/NCAA/WAC/index...?Rice/index.htm

EDIT: Sorry, nmainguy. You beat me to it.

[Saddleman]

Rice was talkin about nixing their football program a year or two ago. If they eventually do, I'm sure it will be torn down.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

Rice's football isn't going to go away. Rice U has more than enough $$$ to make sure that never happens; we're talking about the school that used to own Yankee Stadium.

All that being said, they're not a great team. More often than not they're an average-to-bad team. Now if they'd stop beating my alma mater, UH, everything in this world would be A-OK.

Go Coogs!

[Ashikaga]

Rice was talkin about nixing their football program a year or two ago.  If they eventually do, I'm sure it will be torn down.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When I was in high school, when someone would say that they knew someone who went to Rice University, other people would automatically say: "He/she must be smart."

[gnu]

and Rice Stadium is a GREAT place to watch a football game.

Really nice sightlines.

[nmainguy]

It is so big because it was built in 1949 to handle overflow crowds watching the Southwest Conference champion Rice Owls.  It was a construction marvel, being designed and built in only 9 months.

Here's a good link on the stadium.

http://www.sfo.com/~csuppes/NCAA/WAC/index...?Rice/index.htm

EDIT:  Sorry, nmainguy.  You beat me to it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No problem, Red...I seem to remember all the money was raised by some local Houston socialites who couldn't bear to have to share a stadium with those common Cougars

[YakuzaIce]

When I was in high school, when someone would say that they knew someone who went to Rice University, other people would automatically say:  "He/she must be smart."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What are you saying exactly? Most people still have to be very smart to get into rice.

[Saddleman]

Rice athletes' grade point averages tend to be some of the highest among college athletes accross the country.

[Saddleman]

There still is the possiblity of Rice axing football in the future. It wasn't about Rice having enough money for football. It was about whether there's a need for it at such a very small university, and it's lack of a great number of fans.

[arche_757]

Rice athletes' grade point averages tend to be some of the highest among college athletes accross the country.

Which is why they arent very good.

All the really good players (regardless of how smart they are) would rather play at a place they can atleast attempt to pass without much worry, Rice is a tough school and hence atheletes dont want to play there unless thats what is important to them.

[RedScare]

The Duke University basketball team, in addition to the Rice baseball players, both recent national champions, would be very surprised to hear that.

[kjb434]

Yeah, LSU's baseball team usually is full of 3.0 and 3.5 students. Some higher, and many of them aren't in a general studies course to be qualified as a college student.

People who put a lot into there school work can still be athletes, just as long as they can handle both.

[Ashikaga]

What are you saying exactly?  Most people still have to be very smart to get into rice.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's exactly what I'm saying. Rice University must have always been known for smart students. That's all that I know about that university. I graduated from Arkansas State with a 2.26 GPA, which means that I wouldn't have stood a chance of getting to go to Rice.

[Ashikaga]

That's exactly what I'm saying.  Rice University must have always been known for smart students.  That's all that I know about that university.  I graduated from Arkansas State with a 2.26 GPA, which means that I wouldn't have stood a chance of getting to go to Rice.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Has Rice University ever played in the Cotton Bowl or in any other bowl game?

[uncertaintraveler]

Has Rice University ever played in the Cotton Bowl or in any other bowl game?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good grief....read the thread before you post!

Post #5 answers your question.

[uncertaintraveler]

As an aside, I think Rice and other "elite" schools would be better off if they left their current NCAA conferences and formed their own. Schools like Baylor, Vanderbilt, et al, just can't compete with the likes of OU, Texas, Tennessee, Auburn, etc.

If the "academically-gifted athletic schools" would create their own conference (consisting of, say, SMU, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Rice, Tulane, et al), the games would probably be pretty competitive.

Then again, now that I think about it, I'm not sure there are even 8 qualified Division I schools out there that could justify creating a new conference! I mean, what other "smart" D-I schools located in the SE quadrant of the US have a football team?

[InnerLoopOnly]

Many of those small schools find ways to compete. Baylor for example has great baseball, tennis, and women's basketball. They are only weak in football and men's basketball. They are weak in basketball because of the recent scandal and subsequent sanctions to their program.

As far as these schools being "too smart" to compete they obviously can by Duke and Rice's example.

On another topic schools such as UT and A&M consistently rank ahead of SMU and Baylor in academic surveys. A school's committment to academics has nothing to do with their committment to athletics.

[RedScare]

As an aside, I think Rice and other "elite" schools would be better off if they left their current NCAA conferences and formed their own.  Schools like Baylor, Vanderbilt, et al, just can't compete with the likes of OU, Texas, Tennessee, Auburn, etc. 

If the "academically-gifted athletic schools" would create their own conference (consisting of, say, SMU, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Rice, Tulane, et al), the games would probably be pretty competitive. 

Then again, now that I think about it, I'm not sure there are even 8 qualified Division I schools out there that could justify creating a new conference!  I mean, what other "smart" D-I schools located in the SE quadrant of the US have a football team?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How about TCU, SMU, Rice, Baylor, Tulane, Vandy, Duke and Miami? Of course, Duke and Miami would never leave the ACC, and Baylor wouldn't leave the Big 12 unless they kicked them out for Arkansas, and Vandy would never leave the SEC, but there's 8 small, academically talented schools for you.

[kjb434]

Seems like several of these small schools have made places for themselves in other conferences that have mostly larger schools.

[Trophy Property]

There still is the possiblity of Rice axing football in the future.  It wasn't about Rice having enough money for football.  It was about whether there's a need for it at such a very small university, and it's lack of a great number of fans.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Everything I have heard on this subject concerns moving the football program to a different division so they can compete with similar size schools. Right now they are Division 1. By moving to Division 1aa, 2, or 3 they could compete better than they are.

[MidtownCoog]

Rice joined Conference USA for a reason - to save money and have regional rivals.

I think they will do well there. The western division reminds me of the old SWC.

C-USA West

Houston

Rice

SMU

Tulane

Tulsa

UTEP

C-USA East

UAB

East Carolina

UCF

Southern Miss

Memphis

Marshall

[Ashikaga]

As an aside, I think Rice and other "elite" schools would be better off if they left their current NCAA conferences and formed their own.  Schools like Baylor, Vanderbilt, et al, just can't compete with the likes of OU, Texas, Tennessee, Auburn, etc. 

If the "academically-gifted athletic schools" would create their own conference (consisting of, say, SMU, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Rice, Tulane, et al), the games would probably be pretty competitive. 

Then again, now that I think about it, I'm not sure there are even 8 qualified Division I schools out there that could justify creating a new conference!  I mean, what other "smart" D-I schools located in the SE quadrant of the US have a football team?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When I was in college, I was talking to a professor who attended Cornell. I asked him why Ivy League universities didn't have bowl games. He said that it was because it interfered with academics.

Do you think that Rice University would qualify as Ivy League? Then it would play only Harvard, Yale, Brown, etc.

[texas911]

Stanford fields a good football program, and they aren't exactly an average school. In fact, Stanford always wins out that award for most outstanding overall athletic program in the nation beating out UT Austin. So being smart isn't exclusive to having a good athletic program.

[Saddleman]

There was in article in the paper this weekend (still tryin to find it) about Rice football. Rice is playing schools like UCLA and Texas because they get $500,000 to lose. And that $500,000 may soon be going up to $800,000. Next year Rice will even play Florida State. These games are being played in an effort to have the football program pay for itself, and make some money.

[uncertaintraveler]

There was in article in the paper this weekend (still tryin to find it) about Rice football.  Rice is playing schools like UCLA and Texas because they get $500,000 to lose.  And that $500,000 may soon be going up to $800,000.  Next year Rice will even play Florida State.  These games are being played in an effort to have the football program pay for itself, and make some money.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This sort of deal has been going around for years. Why else do you think schools like Louisiana-Lafayette and the like play Texas? They do it (i) for the money, (ii) because Texas et al type schools need other "gimme" schools they can practice on early in the season, and (iii) if the "weak" schools can pull off an upset, or close to it, doing so instantly increases their profile for the year. Cases in point: University of Central Florida and Fresno State. They became "semi-famous" football schools by taking on the big guys and giving them a run for their money, no pun intended.

Also, at virtually every big school that has a football program, football is what keeps the school's entire athletic program profitable. For athletic programs to be successful financially, the key is to always have a profitable football program.