Conference changes

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

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Gregory Sager

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 13, 2019, 09:57:33 AMI doubt they anticipated losing two members this year, but it's certainly been a good move competitively.  Almost every sport has been near the top of the conference, which is a welcome change.  One of the prior coaches once told me he only recruited kids from outside New England, because he knew he could get them from the airport to the school and back and they wouldn't be close enough to see how much better all the other facilities were.

That's a depressingly familiar story. Back before North Park finally built a competitive, state-of-the-art weight room in the new Helwig Rec Center a decade and a half ago, North Park's weight facilities weren't even up to typical high-school standards. The weight room was a dank basement chamber that was like something out of an old black-and-white horror film, and it was all strictly barbells and benches. Rather than show football prospects the weight room or the stadium, the football coaches used to bring them into the dining hall so that they could take a gander at all of the pretty Swedish-American coeds, figuring that the possibility of dating attractive blondes was probably the best selling point that the coaches had to offer as far as recruiting was concerned. I'm not kidding; there were a few times during my student days when we'd look over at the dining room entrance and see a bunch of burly teenaged strangers with mouths agape. The joke among North Park football coaches was that if a prospect asked to see the weight room, the best use of your time and effort would then be to take the road map out of your back pocket and show the kid the way to Rock Island and the Augustana campus. ;)
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 13, 2019, 01:01:38 PM
Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 13, 2019, 09:57:33 AMI doubt they anticipated losing two members this year, but it's certainly been a good move competitively.  Almost every sport has been near the top of the conference, which is a welcome change.  One of the prior coaches once told me he only recruited kids from outside New England, because he knew he could get them from the airport to the school and back and they wouldn't be close enough to see how much better all the other facilities were.

That's a depressingly familiar story. Back before North Park finally built a competitive, state-of-the-art weight room in the new Helwig Rec Center a decade and a half ago, North Park's weight facilities weren't even up to typical high-school standards. The weight room was a dank basement chamber that was like something out of an old black-and-white horror film, and it was all strictly barbells and benches. Rather than show football prospects the weight room or the stadium, the football coaches used to bring them into the dining hall so that they could take a gander at all of the pretty Swedish-American coeds, figuring that the possibility of dating attractive blondes was probably the best selling point that the coaches had to offer as far as recruiting was concerned. I'm not kidding; there were a few times during my student days when we'd look over at the dining room entrance and see a bunch of burly teenaged strangers with mouths agape. The joke among North Park football coaches was that if a prospect asked to see the weight room, the best use of your time and effort would then be to take the road map out of your back pocket and show the kid the way to Rock Island and the Augustana campus. ;)

ENC's campus is barely a square block.  Usually the recruiting highlight is the ten minute walk to the subway and the twenty minute ride to downtown Boston.  That sells a lot of prospective students.
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Gregory Sager

Yep. Same deal with North Park. Five-minute walk to the el, a half-hour of viewing the North Side cityscape through the train window (including a glimpse of Wrigley Field), and then a tour of the Loop, the Mag Mile, and Millennium Park. It's the best sales pitch NPU has, athletics recruit or not.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

CNU85

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 13, 2019, 02:51:42 PM
Yep. Same deal with North Park. Five-minute walk to the el, a half-hour of viewing the North Side cityscape through the train window (including a glimpse of Wrigley Field), and then a tour of the Loop, the Mag Mile, and Millennium Park. It's the best sales pitch NPU has, athletics recruit or not.

My story of Chicago.....My daughter lived in Roscoe Village several years ago and became a Cubs fan. Then she moved to TN and lived in same complex as most of the Cub's AA farm team. She turned down a date with a player because he seemed "sketch". Said sketch player went on to play for Cubs with the name "Contreras" on his uniform. And now because of her decisions, I'm not retired!

Gregory Sager

Quote from: CNU85 on March 13, 2019, 04:54:37 PM
Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 13, 2019, 02:51:42 PM
Yep. Same deal with North Park. Five-minute walk to the el, a half-hour of viewing the North Side cityscape through the train window (including a glimpse of Wrigley Field), and then a tour of the Loop, the Mag Mile, and Millennium Park. It's the best sales pitch NPU has, athletics recruit or not.

My story of Chicago.....My daughter lived in Roscoe Village several years ago and became a Cubs fan. Then she moved to TN and lived in same complex as most of the Cub's AA farm team. She turned down a date with a player because he seemed "sketch". Said sketch player went on to play for Cubs with the name "Contreras" on his uniform. And now because of her decisions, I'm not retired!

Ha! That's hilarious! Just wait until Willson Contreras becomes arbitration-eligible and is no longer making "peanuts" at the $605,000 major-league minimum!
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

jaller

I coached at ENC and was a big proponent of the move to the NECC. We simply were not going to be competitive in the CCC. We originally applied to the NECC in 2011 when it looked like the CCC was going to dissolve with the 9 schools breaking off to form a new conference (and Colby Sawyer, Regis and NEC moving to other conferences). At that point, we had nowhere to go, but fortunately for us, those 9 schools decided to bring us back and keep the CCC name. Crazy times.

FCGrizzliesGrad

I know they're basically a catchall placeholder conference, but how long will the ACAA continue to exist?
Of the 6 teams they had this year, three are leaving (Thomas More to NAIA, Alfred St to AMCC, SUNY Delhi to NAC) leaving them with just Finlandia, Pine Manor, and Valley Forge. There isn't much in the independent ranks to try to bolster their numbers as New Rochelle is closing leaving just UC Santa Cruz and Maranatha Baptist as the only options (and I don't see either joining).
Are there enough schools in the pipeline still working out a permanent conference to keep the ACAA going for the near future?
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Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)

Quote from: FCGrizzliesGrad on March 20, 2019, 03:37:00 PM
I know they're basically a catchall placeholder conference, but how long will the ACAA continue to exist?
Of the 6 teams they had this year, three are leaving (Thomas More to NAIA, Alfred St to AMCC, SUNY Delhi to NAC) leaving them with just Finlandia, Pine Manor, and Valley Forge. There isn't much in the independent ranks to try to bolster their numbers as New Rochelle is closing leaving just UC Santa Cruz and Maranatha Baptist as the only options (and I don't see either joining).
Are there enough schools in the pipeline still working out a permanent conference to keep the ACAA going for the near future?

I believe you have to have seven full-time members to be a conference.  I believe there's a two year grace period, if a conference falls under, to get back to the right size.  I suspect it's more likely the members will join other conferences or go back to being independent.  Pine Manor and Valley Forge have logical conferences near them - if they get their administrative houses in order.  Finlandia has been trying to get into the UMAC for a while; I suspect they'll keep at it.
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Inkblot

Pratt is already a member, but since they'll only become an active D3 member in 2023–24, that doesn't help the ACAA at all.
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Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

ACAA was only going to be a placeholder in the first place. I don't think anyone expected it to survive or be an AQ anyway.
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jeffconn

For what it's worth, there's always Trinity Washington University!  ;D

Seriously though, since there's zero chance of the NCAA making the ACAA official, why not just say "to heck with it", and join up with the undersized hybrid USCAA/NAIA conference in the area, the Northeastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference?
http://www.niacsports.com/

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

Quote from: jeffconn on March 21, 2019, 03:48:54 PM
For what it's worth, there's always Trinity Washington University!  ;D

Seriously though, since there's zero chance of the NCAA making the ACAA official, why not just say "to heck with it", and join up with the undersized hybrid USCAA/NAIA conference in the area, the Northeastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference?
http://www.niacsports.com/

Because those games won't count. Better to be in a conference in DIII than to waste games. Don't have to go that far to see how it affected Nebraska Wesleyan for many years.
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Ralph Turner

Quote from: KnightSlappy on March 12, 2019, 07:48:04 AM


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, Lindenwood-Belleville, Warren Wilson
*Games against Year 3 and 4 provisional members count the same as games against full-members for regional-ranking and tournament selection purposes


Are Bob Jones (Greenville SC) and Warren Wilson (near Asheville NC) plus Brevard and Pfeiffer enough for the USA South to split into 2 conferences in about 5 years?

Mississippi University of Women is isolated (in Columbus MS) and will be the only public university in D3 in this part of the country.  Would "New South D3 Conference" would want them for Pool A consideration?

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

I think the USA South will split sooner than five years. From what I can tell, and heard, there is talk about a split. The question becomes when and who (though, it sounds like the "who" might be known).

The USA South seriously has to split sooner rather than later because it is getting too difficult in it's current structure.
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Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)


Don't forget that Christopher Newport is a big player in this discussion.  The CAC is probably not long for this world and they're not really in a place to join any existing conference.  You can bet they're at least reaching out to the D3s in NC to see what they can do.*


*I'm not reporting this with any insider knowledge, just stating the obvious.
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