This is entirely from my impressions in conversation with Vanderwal and nothing he's specifically said, but as much as he and his family appreciated Marietta, the school and the town, and all the things they've done to welcome and appreciate him, he's still a Michigan kid at heart and if the right MIAA job came open, it always felt like he'd have a hard time saying no.

Now, couple that with the financial issues Marietta's been having and the fact that his kids are just getting to HS age - timing makes sense.  Trine is a better gig is pretty much every conceivable way, closer to home, more room for advancement, if he's still thinking about coaching at a higher level someday.

Heck, he's already had some success recruiting kids from NW Ohio down to Marietta.  Really, really tough to say no to that one - especially when it sounds like Trine went after him pretty hard.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on May 10, 2025, 03:19:03 PMhttps://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2025/5/9/the-thunder-mens-basketball-program-announces-seven-newcomers-for-the-2025-26-season.aspx

Wheaton announces their incoming class...all freshmen. Up to 10 now.

Maybe the AD allocated additional resources to MBB recruiting?

The reality is, though, the only way any NESCAC school is in real danger is if they try to keep pace with richer peers beyond their means.  Middlebury is still working with a huge endowment and a 14% acceptance rate.  For elite institutions, there will always be students out there who want to attend - they just need to be smart about what they can offer as the landscape changes.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on May 09, 2025, 09:43:57 AM^^^ There seems to be an issue over resource allocation between the Vermont campus and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA.

I mean, they acquired an institution that wasn't making money and they seem to be trying to make it worthwhile.  I'm sure a difference of opinion on that is inevitable.  Always more difficult to admit a mistake (if it is indeed a mistake) than to keep trying to make it work.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on May 09, 2025, 01:21:22 AMMiddlebury seems to be in a bit of turmoil: https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/05/hundreds-attend-faculty-staff-led-walkout-to-protest-budget-cuts

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/05/let-them-eat-cake

This has been ongoing for several years now.  I was on campus there a year and a half ago, maybe - most of the student newspaper was devoted to faculty/staff/housing issues on campus - I had a lot of conversations that weekend.  Definitely doesn't seem like the kind of existential financial issue troubling other schools - much more about how resources are being allocated and different visions of priority.

Not that it isn't a thing.  I know the percentage they're pulling from endowment affects academic rankings and such, which is, of course, very important in NESCAC world.

The housing piece seems to be adjacent, but separate, too.  They've been over-enrolling for a while on a campus and in a town with a HUGE housing crunch, which isn't going to get better with the current economic climate.

I do wonder if it's a similar kind of issue to things schools deal with on a regular basis (especially with staff and junior faculty concerns), but the Middlebury folks have done a better job with media coverage.  I'm curious to see how it plays out.

Quote from: nescac1 on May 06, 2025, 11:19:15 AMHampton Sanders transfers to Columbia - at least the fifth D3 to D1 transfer this year, including three from the UAA, which has really been hit hard by the portal after benefiting so extensively from it over the past few seasons. 

We assume its a done deal, but he's only committed to the admissions process.  You can never be 100% sure the Ivies.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on May 04, 2025, 09:36:27 PMBeen awhile. Any news on the 2025 edition? Teams, matchups?

I have no inside information on teams or matchups, but I believe you can expect an announcement pretty soon.  I think almost everything is finalized or close to it.

Quote from: Caz Bombers on May 01, 2025, 02:41:48 PMthis Saint Elizabeth addition will allow the AEC to keep its automatic berths for baseball and softball but does nothing to keep them afloat in m/w lacrosse, m/w tennis, or field hockey. They were in the grace period for those sports already (because of Cabrini's closure) before Neumann even announced they were leaving in 2026.

And I can't imagine Pratt is a forever member, especially with changes to the CUNYAC/Skyline potentially on the horizon.

The press release did mention the Catholic roots of the league.  I wonder if Notre Dame would also jump across?

AEC lost no time finding a replacement school for THIS fall!

https://d3sports.com/notables/2025/05/st-elizabeth-moving-east

I think he'll fit in very well with the culture that's been developed.  I overheard him pitch a recruit at the very first Great Lakes Invitational.  There was no pandering or selling involved.  Lots of "this is going to be the hardest thing you ever do.  We're going to push you.  You might hate me.  You're not going to enjoy all of it, but we're going to get the most out of you."  Not difficult to figure out how he actually tends to get the most out of his players.  Great hire.

Quote from: Gray Fox on April 30, 2025, 12:15:00 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on April 29, 2025, 07:07:02 PMLooks like the future of D1 athletics involves cutting or downgrading in status teams in a lot of non-revenue sports.  In some cases, D3 will be the beneficiary.

https://x.com/NILvsNLI/status/1916963013338534071

QuoteGrand Canyon University announced today that it is dropping its Men's Volleyball program to club status.

At least 183 NCAA Olympic sports programs have been slated for elimination or downgrading in just the past 5 months.

https://x.com/NILvsNLI/status/1917352259765314041

QuoteOne NCAA Division 1 non-revenue Olympic sports program has been eliminated or downgraded in status every 4-5 days, on average, since last November...

Grand Canyon is a for profit university.

Pretty sure they've reversed course on that.  I believe its still in the courts with regards to accreditation, but the IRS recognizes them as non-profit once again.  The for-profit years seemed to be a chance for the investors who saved the school from bankruptcy to recoup their investment (with profit) and now they're happy to be back operating as a "typical" college.

The difference is age.  Robinson was a d1 prospect before the HS injury and he left after one year in D3 to go to a Top 10 program, where he put in four years of work with full-time trainers and coaches to get his game to where it is.  A good shooter with size and mobility just isn't something we see much in d3, let alone one with the connections to make that kind of leap and to allow for the development time.  Totally unique scenario.  Unlikely to be replicated, especially in this day and age of immediate results.

Section 20.9 deals with conference membership in the NCAA - this is where the change from seven to six comes into play.  This only governs whether or not a conference is recognized as a member conference by the NCAA.  When it comes to membership, there's no sport specific or gender specific delineation.  Because Mount Mary has been a core member through 2024-25, the C2C grace period for membership doesn't start until this summer - with JWU-Charlotte and Regent coming on line, there's no danger of losing conference membership status.

However, Section 31.3.3 deals with eligibility for Pool A in individual sports.  This requires conferences to maintain six active member institutions, participating in the sport, that are eligible for the NCAA championship - which means Regent and JWU-Charlotte won't begin counting until they are full members, not once they achieve year 3 (that's only for conference membership in the NCAA).

There is one exception, though - conferences can avoid the waiting period for reinstatement (according to 31.3.3.1.1.1) if they have: 1) six core members sponsoring the sport, 2) each of those six has been in the conference for two years, and 3) all six are eligible for NCAA championships.

If nothing changes, the C2C is set to lose the AQ in men's sports in 2026-27 and in women's sports in 27-28 - however, if JWU-Charlotte and Regent progress to full membership in 2028-29, all the C2C AQs will be automatically restored.

The other scenario is simply to poach a school in the next 14 months for membership in 2026-27 and everything remains as it is now.

Neumann to the MAC in 26-27.  That puts the AEC down to 6.

https://d3sports.com/notables/2025/04/neumann-to-the-mac

From what we're gathering, a lot of the "merger" talk is politics and negotiation.  Kean's announcement was perhaps an attempt to set the expectation for what merger talks will look like.  It's likely NJCU's move here is something similar.  The only thing we know concretely is that the two schools will be discussing a merger with a tentative announcement by 2027 - nobody really know what that will look like and lots of interested parties are trying to shape the final result.