In a state like Texas, you would think that Texas State would be a big time name in football.
Anybody know the history behind this?
They DidâŠGreat Athletes!
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I liked their punter âŠ
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I am guessing because it is too close to UT and Austin
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Me too!
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That said, even with the players that do not attend the Power schools, there is enough left-over talent to field a decent team.
Yeah way too close to UT doesnât help.
I think they now have a great name that I wish we took but I like the houston name also.
What I think held them back is conference affiliation.
When we were Cusa and aac it held us back
Put Texas st or most any team in a p5 and they will prosper more in all ways from finding to popularity etc.Itâs why UT tried keeping us down.
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We should have taken the Texas State name when we became a public school, it was available.
I do like the Houston name but âTexas Stateâ name would have made it appear as if we were a flagship (and we might actually have been granted funding sooner) and might have appealed to more applicants across the state and out of state, as compared to being viewed as a City School.
Ohio State
Louisiana State
Florida State
PENN State
etc.
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Maybe because they were D2 until the mid-80âs? Just a guess. 
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I mean Southwest Texas State wouldnât have been that kind of name at the time
We have a Texas state, its called Texas A&M. In most states, the A&M school is actually the âStateâ school.
- LSUâs official name is Louisiana A&M
- Florida A&M is the HBCU
- Iowa State is actually Iowa A&M or Iowa Science and Technology (ironically, The University of Iowaâs official name is the Iowa State University).
Georgia has a University of Georgia, Georgia Technical University (Ga Tech) and Georgia State. Trust me, GSUâs reputation is not helped by its name. It would have taken Atlanta University but there is an HBCU that already took it. Is NYU better off as SUNY NYC or NYU? Is Boston University better off as UMass Boston? There is a U of Chicago and a University of Illinois-Chicago. Which is ranked higher? (TBH - UI-C is actually a great college. Solid business school).
Names mean nothing; its the quality of the teachers, education, students and alum that matter. We have moved up almost 100 places in the rankings since I started at UH.
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NYU and Boston University are both private schools.
Not quiteâŠ
Texas A&M was orginally called Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and was created as an All-Male All-White Agricultural and Mechanical specialty School which it remained until 1963 (with few exceptions for female students). Far from a state public school like the University of Texas.
They essentially were linked to the military, with 50% of their students serving in military service by WWI.
They really didnât become a âstate schoolâ until the mid 1960sâŠand their attempts to attract both women and minorities were slow and met with a lot of resistance.
They didnât even have a womenâs dorm until they were 101 years old, in 1972, and then they SLOWLY started to morph into the school we know today
Basically TAMU sucked until the late 1960s. They only had 7,500 students and were not equal to UT in ANY WAYâŠand then they started to become more prominent.
The history of Texas A& M perfectly mirrors why WE CAN become one of the BEST public schools in the United States. WE ARE FURTHER along than they were at the same age!
We just need to ditch the commuter working class/ part time/ transfer student reputation and TURN INTO a UCLA level Traditional Campus public school!
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Are you kidding? I would rather have our own identity and represent the largest city in Texas than be subservient to UT and be know as âUT Liteâ.
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Texas State? Weâre talking about Texas State?
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Is Ohio State, Ohio LIte?..no, they are THE Ohio State University and they distinguished themselves from the older Public School of the state, Ohio University, when they took the STATE name
Stop acting scared of UT
I think youâre lacking some history. All of the schools you named are products of the Morrill Land Grant Act, as well as Kansas State, Miss St, Mich St, NC St., Wazzu, OR St., Iowa St, and a bunch of others including TA&M. The federal government passed funding in 1862 for one land grant school in each state and they were originally created as military, agricultural, and engineering colleges. A lot of these schools adopted the -State moniker.
So when you think of the traditional âXYZ Stateâ schools, its typically the Morrill Act schools youâre thinking of. One exception is Florida State, but that oneâs a little complicated. Changing our name to ride the coattails of those schools is weak.
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Only thing is a name is good like Texas st but they have Georgia st ,Alabama st Florida A&M , univ of Louisiana Fla tech and those donât mirror bama, A&M, UT , Texas tech etc
So fans etc still look at the school first to see if itâs flagship and then also what athletic conf etc then judge.
Houston has a city name like auburn, Miami , Pitt and we had to become p4 before we were thought of as sorta equal overall.
Iâm partial to Illinois, another land grant school.
Actually, not all land grant colleges adopted a âStateâ name, though many did.
Certainly aTm, Illinois, Florida, and Georgia did not.
Interestingly, MIT and Cornell are also land grant schools.
MIT is private and Cornell is a unique public/private hybrid.
We couldnt. For decades, the Texas State name was reserved for Texas A&M if they ever wanted it. Once they officially said no, it was up for grabs and SWT got the green light
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