Conference changes

Started by hopefan, May 01, 2008, 11:25:46 AM

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Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)

#720
It's that time of year:

https://csacsports.com/news/2019/6/5/general-csac-announces-addition-of-university-of-valley-as-core-member-in-2020-21.aspx


That leaves the ACAA with Finlandia, Mills, Mt. Mary, Pine Manor, Pratt, and Delhi.  Two of those schools are provisional, one doesn't have basketball, one doesn't have men's sports, and one is in the UP.  Quite a cavalcade of awesome.

I imagine Pine Manor and Delhi will be gone soon, too.
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nescac1

New England just has too many small, expensive private liberal arts colleges to be viable.  The NESCAC and NEWMAC schools aren't going anywhere.  But the NECC schools in particular seem to be in trouble.  Southern Vermont (which was the best hoops schools in that conference for a number of years) and Newbury both closed this year.  Several others have the types of profiles that will make it hard to survive in the current higher education landscape (namely, very small enrollments, very small endowments,close proximity to many other colleges and universities), in particular:

Eastern Nazarene, fewer than 1000 undergrads, 11 million endowment
Mitchell College, 800 students, 6 million endowment
Elms, 1200 undergrads, 12 million endowment

I could imagine a few more NECC schools folding over the next decade or abandoning athletics.  Eventually, it probably makes sense for GNAC to absorb the rest, especially since GNAC has a few members that will likely have trouble surviving, as well. 

WUPHF

I thought we would have seen more closures in Division III by now but for a variety of reasons, the vast majority of colleges and universities have persisted.

However, it is only a matter of time for many institutions as the demographics continue to decline.

hopefan

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on June 06, 2019, 10:21:58 AM
It's that time of year:

https://csacsports.com/news/2019/6/5/general-csac-announces-addition-of-university-of-valley-as-core-member-in-2020-21.aspx


That leaves the ACAA with Finlandia, Mills, Mt. Mary, Pine Manor, Pratt, and Delhi.  Two of those schools are provisional, one doesn't have basketball, one doesn't have men's sports, and one is in the UP.  Quite a cavalcade of awesome.

I imagine Pine Manor and Delhi will be gone soon, too.

As I have a family member employed at Delhi, I'm curious about this statement.... do you mean gone as in closing, or gone from D3 to NAIA or USCAA?  Please elaborate on anything you've heard...thanks

I've commented before that Delhi is a hidden gem in the Catskills... pretty little campus on a mountainside overlooking the very small town of Delhi.... the gym is on the top most section of the campus... from there you can see for miles in any direction, mountains and forests...
And while I've never seen Delhi play, they had a decent lower level team this past year..17-10 overall, 11 wins vs D3 teams (yes, weak D3 teams), and they won the ACAA 4 team post season tourney in what must have been thrilling fashion, a 1 point win and a 2 point win....
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Caz Bombers

SUNY Delhi is in the process of transitioning to the NAC, so they're essentially gone from the ACAA already.

Caz Bombers

Quote from: WUPHF on June 06, 2019, 11:26:19 AM
I thought we would have seen more closures in Division III by now but for a variety of reasons, the vast majority of colleges and universities have persisted.

However, it is only a matter of time for many institutions as the demographics continue to decline.

I have read that the real enrollment cliff is coming in 2026, 2027 due to a birth drop-off in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Ralph Turner

Quote from: WUPHF on June 05, 2019, 02:07:23 PM
That is crazy news about Simmons.

The Simmons student newspaper wrote an article about it.

https://simmonsvoice.com/9992/sports/simmons-ends-basketball-program-without-warning/

Here is more background info. Simmons can keep Swimming as their winter sport.


https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2019/04/sharks-shutter-program

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

Quote from: Caz Bombers on June 06, 2019, 12:08:32 PM
SUNY Delhi is in the process of transitioning to the NAC, so they're essentially gone from the ACAA already.

Yeah ... I'm surprised Ryan mentioned Delhi, but with all the changes he may have forgotten ... Delhi is off to the NAC. There will be more to join them in the near future.

Side notes: ACAA isn't as strong as the numbers presented indicate. I believe their numbers are lower, but I have to check my sourcing on that.

And, I am hearing of a few more schools interested in coming to DIII. We obviously have to wait about six months for that to be official, but my count I know of three or four that could be in the pipeline in the next year or two - maybe more depending on some other factors (sometimes, they seem ready and are not or don't see ready and pull the trigger anyway).
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Gregory Sager

#728
Quote from: Caz Bombers on June 06, 2019, 12:08:32 PM
SUNY Delhi is in the process of transitioning to the NAC, so they're essentially gone from the ACAA already.

Perhaps the ACAA's problem is its name. "American Collegiate Athletic Association" is so anonymous-sounding that it's practically institutional wallpaper.

It needs to rename itself "American Cavalcade of Awesome Athletics".

Quote from: Ralph Turner on June 06, 2019, 12:48:37 PM
Quote from: WUPHF on June 05, 2019, 02:07:23 PM
That is crazy news about Simmons.

The Simmons student newspaper wrote an article about it.

https://simmonsvoice.com/9992/sports/simmons-ends-basketball-program-without-warning/

Here is more background info. Simmons can keep Swimming as their winter sport.


https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2019/04/sharks-shutter-program

The real shame is the timing. This is what the Simmons press release in the first week of April said:

QuoteAs we have a responsibility to our current and incoming students, as well as to the 12 other teams in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference and to the Commissioner, who needs to schedule the upcoming season, we chose to act now to avoid canceling the program during the season.

That statement makes the Simmons adminstration look noble. But the article in The Simmons Voice said this:

QuoteThe decision to end the basketball program was made by "senior levels of the organization" after "analyzing years and years of data," according to Jeremy Solomon, the associate vice president of Communications and Public Affairs at Simmons, who sat in the interview with the athletic director. In the interview, Kantor said the decision to end the program was made sometime over the winter.

So the Simmons administration sat on this news for months, ostensibly to avoid canceling the season. But why would they have needed to cancel the 2018-19 season? Lots of schools that shut down an athletic program or programs, or which closed entirely, gave early notice and then played through a final season. It would've been the considerate thing to do on behalf of Simmons head coach Michael Williams, who instead got a pink slip via an April e-mail and cleaned out his office that day. It's a whole heck of a lot easier to start looking for a new basketball coaching job when you learn over the winter that you'll be losing the one you currently have than it is to start looking for one in April.

And then there's the recruits. As the comment from a parent of a Simmons recruit said in response to the story in The Simmons Voice, the fact that the school chose to announce this both to the coach and to the players in April leaves the incoming recruits in the lurch. As the parent said:

QuoteIf the AD and senior levels of the organization truly made this decision in the winter, shame on them. Many of the incoming recruits had basketball offers at other schools in in addition to Simmons, and having committed to Simmons, turned them down. For many, those offers are now gone with this news not being communicated until April.

One is left with the impression that Simmons either didn't care about those recruits, or that the Simmons administration actively deceived them into thinking that they were putting in their deposits at a school where they would be playing basketball next year, only to find out after Simmons had taken their money that the rug had been pulled out from under them.
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gordonmann

Bump...

Provisional Pipeline for 2019-2020
First year full members: (presume Belhaven)
*4th year provisional members: (presume none)
*3rd year provisional members:  (presume Brevard, Dean, Pfeiffer)
2nd year provisional members: (presume SUNY-Delhi, Johnson and Wales (Col.))
1st year provisional members: Pratt, University of St Thomas (TX), Mississippi University for Women.
Exploratory: Bob Jones, Warren Wilson; Lindenwood-Belleville was initially listed in this group, but announced it is ending most undergraduate programs after 2019-20.
*Games against Year 3 and 4 provisional members count the same as games against full-members for regional-ranking and tournament selection purposes

Conference Changes Starting in 2019-2020
Alfred State leaves the ACAA for the AMCC
Frostburg State leaves D3 for D2
Manhattanville leaves the MACF for the SKY
New Rochelle (IND) closes
Newbury (NECC) closes
Penn State-Harrisburg leaves the CAC for a return to the NEAC
Southern Vermont (NECC) closes
Staten Island leaves D3 for D2 (plays full D3 schedule. Not eligible for post-season)
Stevens leaves the E8 for the MACF
St. Elizabeth leaves the NEAC for the CSAC
SUNY-Delhi joins the NAC
Texas-Tyler leaves D3 for D2
Thomas More leaves D3 for the NAIA

Side note: Simmons discontinues its women's program

Conference Changes Starting in 2020-2021
Arcadia shifts from the MAC Commonwealth to the MAC Freedom
Eastern shifts from the MAC Freedom to the MAC Commonwealth
Franciscan leaves the AMCC for the Presidents' Athletic Conference
Keuka leaves the NEAC for the E8
Lycoming shifts from the MAC Commonwealth to the MAC Freedom
St. Norbert leaves the MWC for the NACC
Suffolk leaves the GNAC for the CCC
Valley Forge leaves the ACAA for the CSAC
York (Pa.) leaves the CAC for the MAC Commonwealth

Conference Changes Starting in 2021-2022
St. Thomas involuntarily removed from MIAC, will go to ???

Bengalsrule

Wow. The MAC has been busy!

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)


Brevard got to skip their third provisional year, moving right to year four.
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Inkblot

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gordonmann

Dean College is the third school in the provisional pipeline. I don't know if they got a waiver, but they did get a new conference.

http://www.deanbulldogs.com/general/2019-20/releases/20190710exsvv3

This reverses GNAC's loss of Suffolk but it also drops the NECC below seven teams for men's basketball. Pending future changes (which are almost a given at this point), the Conference will have seven members but only six men's teams starting in 2020-21 because Bay Path doesn't have men's sports.