History of Universities in Torland

Torland has 56 universities and colleges, comprised of 16 public, 15 private, 22 state, and 3 military schools. The history of universities and colleges in Torland is tied directly to colonization and independence efforts surrounding a rapidly growing population. Current collegiate athletics in Torland are organized under the banner of Universities of Torland Athletics Commission, which was founded in 1946. The governing body for higher education in Torland is currently based in Waterdee, Granago.

The Beginning

The first college of higher learning in Torland was founded in Kirlow in 1801 by European settlers which was named Wingate. Soon after, in 1805, a second college was founded in Portarra called Gavas. These schools were the early pioneers of higher education in Colonial Torland as European settlers began migrating to the new colony.

Other institutions of higher learning began to spring up as nations began to also attempt to colonize the island. Conover was founded in 1809 in Moriga under Spanish rule, along with such colleges as Templeton in Hilversale in 1823, Saint Serra in San Ferrio in 1825, Madford in Barleserta in 1828, and Pantoja in 1829. Meanwhile, French-Canadian and English settlers in northeast Torland founded two colleges in 1812 with Quebel on the Alrene Isles and Saint Clair in Chasonne in 1812. Robinette in Narva followed in 1820. Lecayne was founded in 1833 by French scholars and Catholic missionaries. The Russian colonies were loathe to commit resources to build infrastructure but Fulcher College was founded in Yubay in 1845, while Kimaesee was the product of local learning and grew in Kurohara in 1851. Part of the beginning of western Torland colonists seeking independence founded Bevin in Fort Bevin in 1849, which grew out of a frustration of Russian influence and the desire to train and arm the people. With that in mind, the Torland Military Academy (later called Renfro Prep) was founded a year later in 1850 in Vensessor.

Pre-War Colonial Era

The pre-war era saw an increase in public universities as more and more immigrants flocked to the island. The University of Abrieden was founded in 1830 by Swiss scholars. Cromwell University was founded in Perna by Welsh Protestants in 1836. Immigrants in Galapetra formed together to form a public school in Rosran in 1837 which was later called Howerton State. Swedish immigrants to Lismane founded Hemstrand in Newhall in 1850. A contingent of Spanish Catholic missionaries founded Rosa Nence in Alko in 1883. A large public university campus was established in Trowburgh in 1898, while a smaller privately-funded school was established in Dosa City in 1899 called Coulston-Dunlis College.

Torland Independence and the Formation of UAC

A significant arm of the Torland plan for independence was the establishment of new state universities. As such, with the 1903 declaration of independence, the plan allowed for charters of state schools. The first group to be established were Granago, New Dosa, Maienzona, and Solinza in 1903. By 1909 the war efforts were ending and the remaining charters were established as Forstana State, Granago State, and Isles State, originally called Alrene Isles State, but later shortened to Isles. Cabriga State, Lismane State, Pakola State, and Tamokeva State followed in 1910. The lone holdout in the state charter expansion was the state of Galapetra, who didn't want to expand and simply kept Bevin and Howerton State as their primary institutions. This allowed Granago to receive two state charters. With so many universities and colleges now running in Torland with a variety of sports and athletics clubs, a commission was formed in 1910 and simply called University Athletics Commission (UAC) to oversee athletic activities.

The Golden Years and Educational Advancements

Torland politician Malcolm Mury, a graduate of Rosa Nence who later became president in 1934, helped spur the growth of higher education in Torland. He personally helped found a public school in the Cabriga Isles city of Engor called Mitchlea in 1910, a combination of the names of his father and mother. The first state system to add a satellite campus was Pakola State with a huge new campus in Alko in 1911. Pak State later added another campus in Emerald City in 1917. The Solinza system followed suit with a large campus in Bancana in 1919 and a smaller campus in Antedon, called Pinkerton State, in 1923. The University of New Dosa also added two new campuses to their system with Cauldron Valley State in Kalper in 1915, and Dosa State in Dosa City in 1922. Isles State established a campus in Kirkenport in 1933, using local infrastructure from Kirkenport Academy which was founded in 1929 but was suffering extreme financial woes.

The Yusey Plan Expansion and Formation of UTAC

President Josef Yusey's plan for resurrecting Torland after WWII included an expansion of the university system in the country and heavily promoting sports and entertainment infrastructure. Yusey spearheaded the formation of new technical schools with Cabriga Tech, Guilden Tech, and Turnbull Tech in 1944 and the full charter expansion with the 1946 additions of Estas A&M, JYU, and Warrington Tech, adding six technical and mechanical schools to the Torland system.

With the growing formation of so many sports clubs and collegiate athletics, the UAC was becoming outdated and outgrown so Yusey proposed a plan to establish a new commission, called Universities of Torland Athletics Commission (UTAC), to better organize and promote a new collegiate basketball tournament to be held in March at the end of the regular season, part of his master plan (called the Yusey Plan) to help spur growth and rebuilding efforts in Torland after the war. All other sports including collegiate football were added to UTAC governorship. Later that same year the UAC was folded into the new UTAC and became the master governing body for all of Torland collegiate athletics. The old UAC would now only oversee club-level sports for universities under the UTAC banner.

The Foster Plan and University Reorganization

Just months before his tragic assassination, president Thomas Earl Foster had enacted a new education bill that infused several government and state subsidies to higher education in Torland, including a reorganization of the rapidly expanding UTAC. This included state systems adding more satellite campuses in the early 70's. Pakola State led the charge with Pak State Tangi in 1970 and Pak State Silkeboro in 1972. The University of Solinza added a Reto Bay campus in 1971. The University of Maienzona was expanded with additions in San Ferrio in 1970, which took over the previous San Ferrio State campus, formerly founded in 1960, and a brand new campus in Harpar which opened in 1972. The University of New Dosa expanded their footprint with a new campus in Prestonburg in 1972 despite the close proximity due to their cramped quarters in Vensessor.

Meanwhile in 1972, a handful of schools made status and charter changes with Cauldron Valley becoming a public charter away from UND and Dosa State deciding to relocate away from Dosa City into a larger campus based in Zeckley but keeping the same name. Pinkerton State College decided to privatize, leaving the Solinza system but also keeping their original name. The Emerald campus of Pakola State left the system to become a public institution called Emerald University. By 1972, Torland now had 56 universities in its system of higher education.

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Thanks! This will be a lot of historical information at first but we'll get to the fun stuff soon.

Super excited to see the teams! I love how in-depth you've been as well. 

A New Era of Football in Torland

It was during WWII where everything changed for collegiate football in Torland. Canadian troops stationed in Torland brought with them a “Hybrid” style of play for the sport that promoted more safety and organization in its rules and regulations, combining aspects of traditional American and Canadian football. Despite hockey being the dominant sport in Torland, with many ice rinks out of commission during wartime, football could be more easily played in any field at any time and the Hybrid style of football quickly became popular. Commander-in-chief Josef Yusey took great interest in the new version of the sport, which he had played briefly while enrolled at Fulcher before the war, and promoted its play between regiments and brigades in an effort to improve morale. Indeed, some of these military matches turned into huge spectacles with more than a hundred thousand observers in attendance. Even journalists and media outlets who had been staunchly against the sport before the war warmed up to this new version of Hybrid Football and actively reported on games and which squads and soldier-athletes were among the best of the best.

It was during this time period where President Josef Yusey developed his famous “Yusey Plan” which was a massive document with hundreds of bills to enact growth for the nation to heal and rebuild post-war. For Yusey, a big part of unifying a fractured nation was to restart and infuse the education system with new life and resume sporting events across the country. He held a summit in Vensessor in early 1944 where he gathered every university school president and athletic director along with key politicians and investors and presented his plan of action. The first motion was to create a new governing body to replace the outdated UAC which would allow for greater coverage of collegiate athletics, specifically the infrastructure needed to properly resume collegiate basketball (with a huge new spring tournament, later dubbed March Mayhem) and the new model of Hybrid Football with a unified code for every participating school program. The bill would also include increased support for more bowl games.

The new governing body was named the Universities of Torland Athletics Commission (UTAC, typically pronounced “u-tack”) and the old UAC was folded under the UTAC banner to oversee club-level sports. All 41 school programs from the pre-war UAC became charter members of the new UTAC. In addition, 7 new school programs also became charter members, with some campuses still being established at a future date. The two-year probationary period for football and other major sports programs would be waived for the new charter members as Yusey felt it best to give the new schools an early opportunity to get established as every school resumed operations post-war. This brought the total number of school charters members to 48.

Upon Yusey's recommendation, UTAC also voted to create a new trophy for the most valuable player each season, which was named the Legge Trophy after Everett Legge, former founding father of collegiate football and early Robinette coach. Previous versions of the MVP award from 1910-1941 would be retroactively applied to the new Legge Trophy by a panel of sportswriters.



UTAC Endorses New Conferences

The old conference structure saw a major overhaul as conference and school athletic directors sought to focus on regional rivalries and cut down on travel cost. The Lupine League membership was reduced from 12 to 9 as some schools were either voted out or left on their own accord. Conference headquarters were reestablished in Narva, Forstana.

The Western Athletic League (WAL) was renamed the Solinza-Pakola Conference, later shortened to Sol-Pak Conference, with membership focused on only those two states. Some schools chose not to remain in the new conference and the initial membership for the SPC was eight schools with a headquarters in Alko, Pakola.

The Northern Athletic League (NAL) saw serious disagreement in league direction and saw a split as more than a third of the conference members left and formed a new conference with eight charter members called the Mountain Coast Conference (MCC) with headquarters in Yubay, Tamokeva. The remaining members of the NAL rebranded and poached disgruntled schools from the Southern Athletic League (SAL) and other former conferences to form a new expanded conference which was aptly named the Super Sixteen Conference (S16) with two divisions each with eight charter members. The divisions, named East and West in an attempt to remove the natural North-South bias despite being populated with schools from the former Northern and Southern leagues, were essentially conferences on their own and even had their own vice presidents and directors, with the West having a headquarters in Trowburgh, Lismane, and the East having a headquarters in Waterdee, Granago.

The remaining members of the Southern Athletic League decided to also choose a state focus like the Sol-Pak and only allow schools from Maienzona and New Dosa, even voting out the service academies in a controversial decision. The SAL was renamed the South Sun Conference (SSC) and chose a league headquarters in San Ferrio, Maienzona.

60s-70s Expansion and a Second Major Shift

The UTAC operated in this format until the end of the 1971 season. The collegiate football landscape saw four new school programs join UTAC in the 60s and 70s, with the Sol-Pak, Mountain Coast, and South Sun conferences all seeing new additions.

It was the end of the '71 season that saw a major shift in UTAC conference philosophy as a group of the largest universities in Torland decided to form their own conference which was called the Big Six. The Super Sixteen was whittled down to ten schools, prompting a name change as well, now known as the Super 10 Conference, still with two divisions. Another big change was the three federal service academies leaving their conferences along with a fourth school to become Independents. Three new schools were granted charters and joined UTAC, bringing the number of schools to the modern total of 56.