Nice win for CNU over Hopkins. I had great courtside seats. I caught a ball in the first half and a Hopkins player in the second half! 

A couple of the assistant coaches at Hopkins, including the DC, are CNU Captains for life!

Quote from: Ice Bear on December 11, 2025, 01:38:12 PMCurious what an average D3 football salary would be. I'm guessing maybe between 60-90k?

The 20% that are public schools, probably have the salary information available on line. I know Virginia has all of the salaries for employees of state entities, including universities posted as of 2024.

I heard that CNU All-American Jahn Hines headed over to Portugal this week to play for Estoril.

I bet a lot of folks would enjoy Homefield Apparel. It all depends on the school. Smaller schools may find a partnership like this very useful.

CNU does not have an on campus bookstore. All books are purchased on line. They took the bookstore and converted it to a Spirit Store. It has a wide selection of CNU gear. My wife says they could do a better job with Women's apparel.

Also, you can get a ton of cool stuff on line. CNU partnered with these folks for some great stuff. On Line CNU "Stuff"

We started out slow against a very good team and after spotting them 14 points, we tried and kept the score even after that but we were the ones trying to keep up. Their QB was elusive. We put a lot of pressure on him and he would escape and keep his eyes downfield and make plays. Impressive. They are just too good to try come from behind. I hope they go far.

The team summary post on D3Football.com nailed it on the head.

You know CNU is playing well if: The O-line protects Barry. -- He was pressured all game.
You know CNU is playing poorly if: The defense can't get off the field on 3rd down.  -- Susquehanna was 13-18 on 3rd down conversions.

Whoever wrote these comments was spot on.   

And more importantly, because we fell behind 14-0, we gave up on the run too early. We came out running in the 2nd half. We should have probably kept running it in the first half. Hindsight.

I'm excited about the CNU program. Coach Crowley has brought back old CNU football. He has built a program again! This was his fourth year, so these were his guys. The seniors were 31-11, the most prolific 4 years of CNU football. I looked at the roster and the 2 deep. We lose some key players but we have a ton of guys coming back.

We also missed our junior DE Connor Estrella. He was injured in the TCNJ game with 49 seconds left on the clock. While one guy usually doesn't dominate a game, I'm convinced he would have wrapped up the QB a few times.

On to the hoops boards where I'm still trying to figure out CNU's identity on the court.

This was a fun year to be a Captains football fan!!

Nicely said. And congrats to all. I know you shouldn't look ahead but I have to say I don't really want to play Susquehanna again and really really really do not want to play Salisbury again. We played them both this year. That's enough! This is like running a gauntlet.  Yuck.    

Quote from: Ron Boerger on November 13, 2025, 09:06:00 AMThe school's finances seem to be in good order, with assets of $275M and liabilities of $56M (as of June 2024). 

I'm curious as the liquidity of the institution. If the majority of the assets are fixed assets and the bulk of liabilities current, then there could be a short term liquidity issue. Do you know how much cash they have? Current ratio?

I think the game last night was an excellent way to start the season. Both teams were tested in all aspects of their game. Both teams will take away something from this that should help them the rest of the season. I predicted an 8 point CNU loss. I was close. We lost our All-American and only have 1 senior. We're good. But RMC is loaded. Good luck the rest of the way.

Also - when RMC won the national championship, they went 33-1 with the lone loss to CNU. The following year CNU won it all with a record of 30-3, with one of the losses to RMC. So, statistically speaking, the loser of this game each year has a better chance at a Natty!! 

Thanks MCScots. I appreciate that input. I like looking at stuff like this. I'm a numbers nerd. (Hence, I was an adjunct Finance professor for several years). I used to serve on the CNU Education Foundation which oversees the endowment but my 3 terms ended a few years ago. Now my only official involvement is serving on the Athletic Advisory Council.

Just about all of my money to CNU goes to athletics. The President's Suite for football games has my name on it. Also, I started the QB Club 3 years ago to help the football team as much as possible.

I do provide funds for an annual scholarship in my daughter's name. And sometimes I will make a special donation for the arts at CNU. But mostly it is athletics.

Thanks again and feel free to send me fun stuff like this anytime!

Quote from: IC798891 on November 11, 2025, 04:10:33 PM

Quote from: MCScots2013 on November 11, 2025, 11:48:45 AM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on November 11, 2025, 10:47:45 AMSurprisingly, CNU's admission rate is somewhere in the mid-80s (86% for the class that entered last year per CNU itself).  Of that 86%, only 18% actually enrolled.

Admitting 6300 freshmen with a total student body of 4500 seems a little crazy. Can't be a common practice, right?  Would probably run into issues if more students decided they wanted to live near the water.

No, this is standard practice. You have your estimated yield rate, and work from there to get the size you want.

Yes, if one year you unexpectedly get 20% instead of 18%, you're going to end up with an extra 126 students. Not only is this something most colleges would kill for, you make it work. Singles turn into doubles, doubles into triples, people stay in lounges, you loosen your off campus housing policy.

I think in the past 15 years or so, Virginia Tech ran into an issue when more accepted than they predicted with the yield. They were putting 3 to a 2 person dorm room and renting hotel rooms nearby.

Quote from: MCScots2013 on November 11, 2025, 02:54:48 PMCNU85, don't take this the wrong way--it helps to have a $200 million from the state.  Of course, the University has to be great stewards of the money to keep the level, and it sounds like CNU as stepped up.  As a Virginia taxpayer, I am glad you are able to boast on your alma mater!

2025 Budgets:
CNU: $201m
W&M: $469m
GMU: $1.5b
JMU: $784m
Longwood: $175m
Norfolk State: $240m
ODU:$585m
Radford: $285m
Mary Wash.: $175m
UVA: $2.2b ($68m for UVA-Wise)
VCU: $1.5b
VMI: $104m
Tech: $1.8b (gotta pay for a new coach...)
VSU: $234m

I didn't take it the wrong way at all. Facts are what they are. I appreciate it. And you are correct in that CNU is a good steward of what is received. It is also difficult (for me) to always understand what is truly paid by the state. I'm interested in knowing your source. I looked at Budget Bill HB1600 and get $115 Million for FY 2025 and that dropped to $109 Million for FY 2026. Still not chump change.

Also, none of the building costs came from the state appropriations budget. They are all funded by bonds. And as you are most likely aware, in Virginia, zero state money goes towards athletics.

Allow me to boast about my undergraduate alma mater.

With some exceptions, CNU students are required to live on campus their first three years. Many students prefer to live on campus for their senior year. My daughter opted to live in a house nearby for her senior year (not my house!). The dorms are amazing and I can see why some would opt to stay on campus. My daughter's sophomore and junior year dorms were 12 month dorms. She never moved. The 12 month dorms do not have to leave during breaks. There were 4 bedrooms in her dorm (apartment). Each bedroom has a private bathroom. There was a full kitchen, dining area, living room and washer/dryer. Residents halls in the latest rankings (take rankings with a grain of salt) have them at #1 in Virginia and #4 in the nation.

Science labs at one point were highly rated. Up there with Stanford if I remember correctly. The Biology program is ranked #8 by Study.com. The MAT was ranked #1 in nation a few years ago. I could go on....but that's enough to make the point.

Starting around 1997, when former US Senator Paul Trible became the CNU President, there has been somewhere close to $1.5 Billion in improvements. There is a ribbon cutting on a brand new Science and Research building in January. Here's a live video feed of the construction. CNU Science. Our new President, Bill Kelly (retired Rear Admiral) is continuing the excellence in not only buildings but in academics. He previously was the head of the Coast Guard Academy and is a former D3 student-athlete.

The leadership program just won it's third consecutive Global Leadership Conference in Prague. The Marching Band has performed in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin and in the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day parade.

The business school recently won the Bloomberg Trading Challenge.

We have 3 coaches with over 600 wins in their sport.....Field Hockey, Baseball and Softball. All 3 are former CNU student-athletes. I did an analysis in February on currently active CNU coaches. 7 of them are in the top 10 in their sport of Active coaches in D3 based on winning %. Those 7 are also in the top 11 of coaches all-time in D3. Another coach is on top 20 active coaches and the women's soccer coach will be on the list once he gets enough seasons under his belt.

Currently Field Hockey is ranked #1. Football #7, Women's soccer #14, Men's soccer #22, Men's basketball #9, Women's Basketball #20 (d3hoops)/#7 (Coaches). Men's Lacrosse was #4 for most of last season.

Our head groundskeeper is phenomenal.  A few years ago he won an award for best D3 Softball field in the nation. CNU only D3 school honored As mentioned in the last football podcast, we play football on grass. The field is immaculate. Chris is a VT graduate (multiple degrees in turf management) and was the top assistant groundskeeper for the Nationals.

We recently built a chapel on campus. Imagine that. A state school building a non-denominational chapel. We have added a fine arts center to go along with the performing arts center. The "Ferg"

The campus is beautiful. Live Cam - Great lawn

I hope this post doesn't put people off. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in a particular sport that we forget that we are talking colleges and universities which is of greater importance at this level.

And the story I just presented about CNU is not an outlier. I'm sure others could do the same about their alma mater. The research institutions of the UAA. The prestige of the NESCAC schools. The national championship dominance in certain sports by particular schools.

D3 tells a great story in general. I hope the challenges being faced by many are overcome and we can continue experiencing what all d3 student athletes bring to their respective sports and institutions.

My apologies. The CNU SID sent me a still shot of SU lining up to kick the PAT after that last TD with 19 seconds left in the game. The snap was bobbled and it became a broken play. SU was indeed attempting the PAT.

The NJAC is improving.  2 ranked teams. Rowan getting votes which means some people think they are top 25. TCNJ having a winning season. I believe both CNU and SU are better teams having played that game. Other than extra points and trying to make up for it, that game was a tie. Turnovers were the difference. SU will be tough in the playoffs. I hope the NJAC makes some noise in the coming weeks.