FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

Started by admin, August 16, 2005, 04:58:09 AM

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formerbant10

The Presidents of the NESCAC schools agreed to keep the football schedule the way it is, with no contests against outside competition, this past spring.  Trinity would never think about pulling out of the NESCAC, the AD and President love being a part of it and are now enjoying winning the league title.  So all we can do is dream about it.

Jonny Utah

A Trinity coach told me last year that the only way the nescac football teams would ever go to the NCAA playoffs, is if the IVY league teams go to the NCAA playoffs.

and Trinity would never leave the nescac...the nescac would drop them before Trinity would ever leave.  I think only one amherst trustee wants to throw trinity out of the league though...that guy also wants to drop football as a whole from the conference as well.

Longtooth


dirtybirds8-0

What a great start to the season....lot of good scores and even better finishes.  I always wondered why Trinity, or the best NESCAC football team could not earn a shot at the playoffs. However, I wont waste my time arguing that fact, but was really interested about the 10 game schedule.  Maybe D3football.com can run a page about the issue to see if there is any national interest.  I bet if there was enough pressure, there could be a change.

Jonny Utah

Longtooth, I played at Ithaca in the early/mid 1990s, but Ive been a part of some nescac schools in other ways including having family members at several nescac schools, and some coaches that I talk to a lot.

The nescac to the playoffs issue is not a new one on this website.  And Ive talked about it before as well, but from what I can gather I can say this....

The nescac is a league that wants to be like the Ivy league for obvious reasons.  Nescac schools, like Ivy league schools are the top in the country, just smaller liberal arts schools.  Ivy league schools dont want to make the national playoffs because that would mean even more pressure from alumni than there already is to win.  The alumni in a sense, has huge influences on Ivy league coaching staffs.  At all levels of college football today, schools must lower the academic bar to let athletes into those schools.  With a national playoff in question, teams/schools would be competing even more with trying to lower that academic bar to get the best players in.  The Ivy league and Nescac leagues dont want that to happen.

Also, you go to Ivy and nescac schools for different reasons.....academically to be at one of the best schools in the counrty....and for football to be a part of two leagues that are very competitive and have some of the best traditions of all sports.  Its a great thing to be a part of competing for an Ivy or nescac league title.


frank uible

bomber: You have the essence of it  It's all about alumni management by the administrations of the NESCAC colleges!

Jonny Utah

Frank, at Harvard after the Yale game certain alumni gets to  meet with the Harvard coaching staff and watches film and asks direct questions about playcalling, decisions that are made or not made, and other important game questions that alumni feel should be adressed. 

Thats just not right, but I guess its a fact of life in the Ivy league.

Trin9-0

Bomber: Though I cannot argue with your explanation of why NESCAC football remains ineligible for the Division III playoffs, I still cannot accept the thought process behind the decision.  I would agree whole-heartedly with the rational used to explain why NESCAC schools are excluded from the NCAA playoffs if not for one glaring issue... EVERY other sport in the NESCAC is eligible for post-season competition.

This self-imposed ban of football is a blatant case of academic elitists perpetuating the stereotype of football players as big dumb jocks.  Why should the baseball, softball, field hockey, men's and women's basketball, soccer, ice hockey swiming, diving, cross country, track and field and wrestling teams etc. all be eligible for the NCAA playoffs when in some cases NESCAC football teams have not only a higher GPA but also a higher graduation rate than other sports. 

Maybe the NESCAC should stop trying so hard to be "as smart as the Ivies" and start acting with the common sense we should expect from the some of the nations most prestigious academic institutions.
NESCAC CHAMPIONS: 1974, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023
UNDEFEATED SEASONS: 1911, 1915, 1934, 1949, 1954, 1955, 1993, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2022

frank uible

Trin: No matter the validity of what you say, in the minds of college administrators football is football, and those other sports are not football.

dirtybirds8-0

Alumni have power over a program, there is no disputing that.  However, it is the older alumni, the individuals that played when the d3 playoffs were not so visual to the nation that are controlling the actions of the IVY and NESCAC schools.  Does anyone think as the older alumni begin to dilute, that the younger alumni (the players that have grown up in a different football atmosphere) will be able to change the rules by putting pressure on their athletic programs?  In other words, could this just be a generational problem? 

Longtooth

Boston-
     What number did you wear, as not to give it away for those Non-Bombers!

LT

Jonny Utah

tooth, Id rather not say as there are some NEFC guys out there that might stalk me if I say......and a long time a go other people posted under my name and I really dont know what they said, not that anyone remembers anyway.

frank uible

dirty: My take on this matter is that in NESCAC the College Presidents are in control and have it their way. As time passes the alumni bodies of these Colleges are becoming and will continue to become more and more female and more and more international, increasingly reflecting two groups which tend to be indifferent about, if not hostile to, football. Consequently the Presidents will continue to have it their way but more so.

Jonny Utah

true frank, but I would also say that most nescac coaches like the league the way it is.

frank uible

bomber: I do not have an opinion on that proposition. However, I suspect that most of the NESCAC non-football  coaches approve of post-season play in their respective sports. If that is true, what distinguishes NESCAC football  coaches from non-football in this regard?