[qwerty49]

The stark contrast of a Top 25 football school with MIT / Cal Tech misses the significant number of highly-rated academic schools which play Division 1 football and are not consistently in the Top 25.

Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, Tulane, and Rice for example.  At least so far, they seem to feel that Division 1 scholarship football is a net positive to their institutions.  That may change in the coming years, but Stanford has nore resources to devote to athletics than these other schools.  As such, it is fear-mongering to suggest that Stanford must expect to play football consistently at the Top 25 level in order to maintain a high-performing, diverse athletic program.

At the same time, Stanford stands for excellence in all things.  Should that not include football?

Stanford ostensibly also has principles, or so we would like to believe.  What happens when those principles conflict with the pursuit of excellence?

BC

Ha ha, welcome to the world of NIL and transfer portals.  Stanford hasn't learned how to incorporate those realities into its principles.  Hence our view of excellence is dated.  It's that Hamiltonian moment when you miss your shot and feel obligated to stand there and let the other guy take his aim.  I don't have the answers but I'm just thinking we need to be somehow more institutionally adept if we are to survive this new universe.

[qwerty49]

The stark contrast of a Top 25 football school with MIT / Cal Tech misses the significant number of highly-rated academic schools which play Division 1 football and are not consistently in the Top 25.

Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, Tulane, and Rice for example.  At least so far, they seem to feel that Division 1 scholarship football is a net positive to their institutions.  That may change in the coming years, but Stanford has nore resources to devote to athletics than these other schools.  As such, it is fear-mongering to suggest that Stanford must expect to play football consistently at the Top 25 level in order to maintain a high-performing, diverse athletic program.

At the same time, Stanford stands for excellence in all things.  Should that not include football?

Stanford ostensibly also has principles, or so we would like to believe.  What happens when those principles conflict with the pursuit of excellence?

BC

Ha ha, welcome to the world of NIL and transfer portals.  Stanford hasn't learned how to incorporate those realities into its principles.  Hence our view of excellence is dated.  It's that Hamiltonian moment when you miss your shot and feel obligated to stand there and let the other guy take his aim.  I don't have the answers but I'm just thinking we need to be somehow more institutionally adept if we are to survive this new universe.