Help settle 'TitleTown' argument w/ a Vol

Knoxville-Horn

Knoxville-Horn

1,000+ Posts
Yeah. I know ESPN sucks and I shouldn't care.

That being said, I made the mistake of saying that there are plenty of college towns that could make a claim to "TitleTown" if Knoxville could. I was told to list some. I started w/ Austin.
It got ugly from there.

Problem is... I was going from memory and couldn't give hard stats or facts. I have a hard time believing that TN has more championships than TX. I know they have women's basketball, but we have baseball. I think they've got a good track team but, so do we --- and, we have swimming.

Anyway, does anyone know where I stand in this argument? I am correct, aren't I?
 
Cal has over 40 National Titles...thank you Rugby, Water Polo and other miscellaneous lesser sports...
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The problem with these kinds of smack arguments is an apples v. oranges thing.

I mean, come on, does anyone seriously put women's basketball titles up even with a mythical men's national title (i.e., football, so oftenly referred to as the MNC)?

Wrestling, water polo, golf, .... the list goes on as many schools don't participate or give it much interest.

IMHO, there are 2 major college sports that dominate the general sports fan's perspective of whether a university is in the mix: 1) football, 2) men's basketball.

Period.

And football doesn't even have an NCAA sanctioned national title.

Men's baseball SHOULD be in the mix, if the money folks and networks would give it the same pumping as they do women's basketball
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. It's a good game (men's baseball), with athletes that could easily be pro with the drop of a hat, many of which DO wind up there.

Burnt orange blood/burnt orange glasses here, but if it were me trying to claim a "title town" boast, I'd lean more to something like "Well, we win a national title fairly often --- recent MNC in football, a couple of recent basball titles, a load of swimming national titles in the last couple of decades, every once and a while a tennis or golf or track and field individual title, and our programs, those in which we compete, are almost ALL ranked in the top 25 nationally, almost every year.

But counting anything else than the big money sports is just something to argue about over a beer at the local bar.

2 cents.

Hook 'em
 
What Blonthang said...yes its great to win titles in all those other sports but the main 3 sports are probably what determine it...ie see ND who have only won titles in Football but would considered a Top 10 Titletown college...
 
That was part of my argument. I don't want to hijack my own thread, but 90% of Knoxville even being remotely considered with this title is women's basketball. Women's basketball?!?!? Might as well throw in dynasties at other schools in field hockey, lacrosse, wrestling, ice hockey, etc...

I guess the same kind of apples and oranges argument applies to the fact that the next stop is Green Bay, WI. Personally, I would at least weigh the results to focus more on modern stuff and not what happened over 40 years ago.
 
And, wow, I went to Wahoo's link and this is TN's list:

women's basketball: 7
men's cross country: 1
men's swimming & diving: 1
men's indoor track & field: 1
women's indoor track & field: 1
men's outdoor track & field: 3

I honestly thought they were much more well-rounded and had many more championships than this. What the hell is ESPN doing counting them in their list? To put it in perspective, here are the Top Ten overall programs:

UCLA: 100
Stanford: 94
Southern California: 84
Oklahoma State: 48
Arkansas: 41
LSU: 40
Texas: 39
Michigan: 32
North Carolina: 32
Penn State: 32

Now, how does a school with 14 even make the list? Stupid assed ESPN.
 
Ever think about adding that there are already a guaranteed 18 former/current longhorns going to Beijing for the Olympics? Hell.. you'd think that "titletown" should consider athletes that are playing for "world-wide" titles. Not school titles, state titles, or even country titles. We're talking about COMPLETELY international titles for who is the best in the world.

Again.. 18 Longhorns (at least) will be going to Beijing. Anyone ever think about mentioning THAT to ESPN for titletown!?

EDIT: Make that 22 longhorns..
www.texassports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=68&url_article_id=9245&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2
 
I took a closer look at the link where NCAA titles by school are listed.

There is a pull-down where you can look at the specific titles that each school has won that comprise the totals that they use to rank the schools.

Something jumped out at me pretty quickly.

No men's tennis titles, either double or singles were indicated for Texas.

What in the Wide, Wide, World of Sports is going on here?

Being on the 40 acres from 1973-1990, I distinctly remembered that Kevin Curren won the men's NCAA singles title, c. 1979, and Bryan winning in 1990. Curren went on to play in a Wimbledon final, losing to Becker,Lendl?

Soooooo, I found this, an overview of Texas tennis history:

The Link


and...... VOILA, with a quick look at this interesting biographical info, looks like Texas has won 5 men's NCAA titles and a number of men's NCAA doubles titles.

Take a look at Stanford --- there are a bunch of men's tennis titles (e.g., John McEnroe), but I guess Texas' titles don't count?

The list is apparently ********.

Regarding the "titletown" argument, if anyone refers to this list, the argument would be specious.


Hook 'em

P.S., upon further reflection, there is a possible technicality that exludes Texas' mens tennis singles and doubles titles. It's possible that singles and doubles titles are not included as "NCAA team" national titles, such as the list suggests that it represents.

I'm not sure if Texas' TEAMS have ever won a national NCAA title; would seem strange that with 5 singles titles, a number of doubles titles, that it would NOT have won the "national team title" as well, assuming that there even is one.

If this is the case, then no individual national titles in other sports should be included, such as individual athlete titles in golf, wrestling, track and field, boxing (LSU, e.g.), etc.

Again, if this is the case, then just MORE fodder for the "titletown" claim as being crap.
 
I don't know. I kind of think L.A. has the edge. In addition to the professional teams that measure up decently with Boston, you've got USC (football, baseball) and UCLA (basketball). And, out of those two, I think each has many, many other MNCs in the minor sports whereas Boston has, what, Boston College?
 
Please see thread on Texas topping the Big 3 rankings. That makes Austin title town as far as I am concerned. No equestrian, no water polo, no goat raping, just the big three, nuff said.
 
They have Cal with 26 National Titles and that's not even counting the Rugby titles which would put them over 50...

but in reality I only count the Football, baseball, BB...so Cal really has less than 5....
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Clearly I'm biased, but Green Bay, WI is Titletown from a traditional point of view.

- Titletown, USA is on the city seal
- titletown.org is the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce's website
- If you do a google search of titletown, the first seven hits refer to Green Bay
- a wikipedia search for titletown redirects you to Green Bay, WI
- Green Bay has had that nickname since the days of Lombardi.

I understand not much has happened there in the last decade and the Packers are the only team of any notoriety, but I still throw Green Bay's hat in the ring to retain that nickname.

If GB doesn't get it, then I think LA would get it based on their combination of pro and collegiate athletics. I just plain don't like Boston.
 
Not that I'm a big fan of their school or their teams, but I think Florida can lay a pretty good claim to being the current Titletown. The Gators recently held the Football *and* Men's Hoops titles at the same time -- that's pretty damn impressive any way you slice it.
 
IMHO, these ESPiN "Titletown" segments are crap. Much like U of Oregon calling themselves "Track Town" during this past weekends Olympic Trials.

While my school, Arkansas, is far far far from "Titletown" in Football, Baseball, and Basketball...........Fayetteville is home to the most successful college coach in NCAA history and of the 63 Championships contested since 1984 in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, Arkansas has brought home 42 national titles. No other school has earned more than five during the same time span.

Is that a big deal? Probably not to most but the amazing feat has been completely ignored in ESPiN's latest debates over titletowns.

Again, I'm not saying Fayetteville is "Titletown" but I'm throwing my two cents in on what is hands down the most dominant program, in any sport.

42 NC's
5 Triple Crowns (only one other school, Texas El Paso (3), has a Triple Crown)
27 consecutive conference titles
82 total conference titles
13 consecutive NCAA indoor titles
34 consecutive conference cross country titles
54 individual NC's

(The image doesn't reflect the 42nd title but you get the idea where the titles are going)
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You're right piggie. That is pretty damn impressive, I don't care who you are. While it won't get you very far in the Titletown discussions, those numbers are simply mind-boggling.
 
Texas sets the standard when it comes to success in the combination of the big 3 sports. No denying that.

And Knoxville damn sure isn't even close to being titletown.

I was just throwing out some stats that gave credit where credit is often never given.
 
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