News & Notes From Around PioNation

The Denver Post has an article on Jason Zucker's selection to the Team USA World Junior Tournament Camp. 
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The University of Denver Women's basketball team is now 6-2 after a thrilling one-point victory over Montana on Monday night.  The Denver Post has a game recap.
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Multiple news outlets are reporting that the University of Denver is considering adding a medical school.  Right now DU is doing a feasibility study. Denver Post, Channel 7 News & Channel 2 News.

5 comments:

Twister said...

Is anyone else surprised Nick Shore didn't make the cut? Hard to believe he wasn't good enough to get another look.

vizoroo said...

Surprised, but not totally shocked. Nick has been good, but not hot like Kyle Rau. Guess Blais is going with the hot hands. Somewhat surprised they picked Faulk since at least last week he was in the NHL.

Anonymous said...

A School of Medicine makes great sense, especially considering DU's proximity to Porter Hospital and the potential philanthropic upside. The obvious response to the criticismfrom CU's poo-bah is to include both an outpatient clinic and at least one teaching hospital in the initiative.

Glad to see DU thinking big...

Next, buy a football team so we can get out of the Sunbelt, jettison the WAC, and move into a real conference.

Anonymous said...

I am not sure that a med school and football are the answers for DU. Don't get me wrong - I like thinking big too, but I wonder if these are the right things for DU.

There is no doubt in my mind that DU can build the building and staff it with great medical minds. But DU would need a huge influx of cash ($100 million or more?) to do this right. One wonders how that might effect other programs at DU and who the donors/funders are that would cough up the money or does DU go deep into debt for it?

Football is another $100-200 million project that would require more big donors to pull off with any degree of D-I success. We're in a poor recuiting area, a low level of community sports support and an over-saturated sports market are huge hurdles before we even get to a lack of room for an on-campus stadium.

The existing D-I programs in the state (CU, CSU, AFA, UNC) don't even sell out as it is. The reality is DU would be like Rice is Houston - overshadowed by other sports, with 5,000-15,000 fans per game in Mile High Stadium, getting kicked around in the WAC. It would take 30 years and a huge investment to get DU to a BCS level program, and I am not optimisitic it could be done.

Personally, I like where we are in sports - top 10 hockey, top 10 lax, top 5 skiing, up and coming in mens and women's hoops. We're getting great bang for our $23 million sports budget abd the sports we're good at fit our student profile.

dggoddard said...

Raising money for university med schools is usually pretty easy compared to other forms of fundraising.

Since 1864, when DU was founded, Colorado's population has doubled every 20 years, so the need for a new med school is there.

This move would bring a ton of prestige to the university and even higher quality students. So if they think they can raise the money, they'll be doing this in a heartbeat.