Quote from: IC798891 on June 17, 2026, 10:39:41 AMCost of attendance is kinda a "would you rather?" type thing. You do have some people who will pay full price, or close to it.

Our men's wrestling coach told me once that you're always going to have a type of family that *wants* their child to go to the expensive school, and pay for it, because it's as much social currency as anything. So cutting too much off the sticker price lowers what they give you.

But the flip side is, while it's easy for us to understand that the sticker price is just that, there are a lot of families who simply don't get that, and see a $75,000 price tag and say "No thanks"

It's why Hartwick just knocked like $35,000 off of tuition. They're looking at the types of students they're bringing in, and those who are saying no, and have decided that the lower price tag will get people in the door and not to worry about those who may pay the higher price.

It's a game of moving sliders for sure.

IC, some good points here. I know Hobart has really invested in grants to make the net price more affordable. I grabbed this interesting stat from Collegesimply:

The typical actual cost that students pay to attend (average net price) is less at Hobart William Smith Colleges than Ithaca College ($33,172 vs. $34,297)

It is a war out there for a shrinking student population and the product as well as the cost are under lots of scrutiny by 17 year olds and their families. While Hobart had a "good" admissions tally this year, it is a struggle every year.

Quote from: IC798891 on June 15, 2026, 01:13:10 PMThe two things that set Ithaca apart tended to be rowing and wrestling, simply because there weren't that many schools that offered them. When wrestling was a top 10 program, those two sports were an easy 100+ points.

They had plenty of other strong programs as well, but those were two that a lot of other colleges did not offer. I wish Ithaca had started ice hockey during the halcyon days of 7,000 students and massive budget surpluses.

I've always felt Ithaca had an edge in Sports based on size and tradition.I played my first Freshman football game against Ithaca and almost got double teamed by two studs into Cayuga lake.  I know when HWS looked at deficits a few years ago , we decided one solution was to expand the sports program offerings. This has yielded a steady increase in admission yields with this year reaching 560+ , and with higher retention rates(athletes tend to stay). HWS is getting close to our 2200 target ( this was way down during the Covid years for various reasons) . We have also made investments in business/economics/entrepreneurship and the broad category of science that seem to attract more athletes and gen pop than the traditional liberal arts these days( don't worry you can still do bi-disciplinary/independent studies on social justice/gender/alternative universe stuff).
We are also starting women's flag football next Spring and have recruited a coach(Rusty Verkler , ex WR from Hartwick) from Owego Free Academy that is already bringing players from his high school team.I'm looking forward to the first cross over receiver from the women's flag football team to the Statesmen varsity in the future. I heard a couple of them are really fast and have good hands and great moves

Interesting to see final Learfield Cup rankings for 2025-26 D3 Sports. NESCAC was the #1 overall ranked conference and Liberty League was in the top 5. Here are individual Liberty rankings based on NCAA Championship results for all sports(out 0f 318 colleges nationally).

48.   HWS (#2 in (M)Hockey, made NCAAs in soccer(M&W), (W)lacrosse, baseball,and #3 in (W) rowing
71. Ithaca
78. RIT
85. Vassar
93. RPI
138. Union
139. SLU
238. Skidmore

The few D1 sports the LL participate in don't count, as well as non NCAA Championship sports.

Quote from: Jonny Utah on May 23, 2026, 01:09:10 PMSo I live near the Curry campus and drive by their field 1-2 times a week.  After graduation 2 weeks ago they have now peeled the turf back and are putting in that purple drank turf we all know and love. 

Ithaca lacrosse had a good year ending up losing to the Dutchmen in the playoffs.  Oh no, not the Union College Dutchman though, the Hope College Dutchman.  (Ithaca actually did lose to Union in the LL tourney though).  LL probably the 2nd best lax league in the country behind the NESCAC.

Hobart baseball also made the tourney and has brought a new program to great heights this year. 

Hobart's hockey team got upset in the National Championship game though, losing 2-1 to Hamilton. It was Hobart's only loss of the year.  Hobart is 116-6-2 over the past 4 years with 3 national championships in that time.

Johnny, Thanks for the shout outs to Hobart baseball( cut 30 years ago due to Title 9 math,  and returned to the NCAAs after only 4 years starting back up.)
Hobart hockey lost in OT of the Championship game  and almost had 4 National Championships in a row. We play in the Geneva community rink but the players love Coach Taylor and each other.
Last but not least, the William Smith Heron Lax team won the Liberty League, made the auto NCAA bid...and the William Smith rowing team finished third in the National Championship . The Winter Spring sports had some nice seasons.
Some good recruits this year for football, and we have the favorable 6 home game "even year"schedule ( Home against Union, Ithaca and strat out the season with Alfred and Brockport ). The odd year schedule is tough starting on the road and having away games against Union and Ithaca are always tough. Hopefully the Statesmen will bounce back this year having ended last year with a bowl win.Lots of new coaches behind DeWall this year as our DC was offered the HC job at Gettysburg. Ex Hobart assistant coaches are at quite a few HC jobs in D3. Most were from the coaching tree of Mike Cragg who was succeeded by DeWall.
have a great summer and see you guys in the banter before the Fall.

Good luck to Vassar. Feeling good with the consolation that Hobart was the last LL team to beat the Brewers.

HWS has their Athletic Day of Donors and raises over $ 1.3 MM with over 3600 donors for all men's and women sports. This is 30% more $$ and 50% more donors than last year. These events are great for the sports teams as they supplement the college athletic budget.

I now realize based on the tiebreaker, Hobart never had a chance to make the tournament this last weekend given that they had fewer wins above them in the standings than either Ithaca or Skidmore, so beating Vassar on Friday felt good, but meant nothing for the tournament. Oh well, that eight game losing streak was a killer. I do think they will be better next year as Bergeron , although a solid performer and captain, is our only starter we lose. Everyone needs to get better and be more consistent as I really thought this team was at least a LL playoff team. Good luck to everyone in the LL playoffs. Although RPI has the defense, I think Union should prevail with one of those last second shots in the final.

Quote from: Caz Bombers on February 21, 2026, 10:48:01 AMIthaca has to beat Vassar to get in, Hobart couldn't lose to Bard even if they suited up the soccer team instead.

I almost always say good luck, but for the Bombers tonight, I'd rather say .....may the best team win.BTW, the Bard soccer team is very athletic, I'll take our chances with basketball team as planned.

Quote from: stlawus on February 20, 2026, 10:22:38 PMRPI clinches the #1 seed by virtue of tie breaking results against Vassar.  Since RPI split with Union you compare results from the top down, and RPI swept Vassar while Union split. A Union loss tomorrow and a Vassar win results in Vassar finishing in 2nd. 

SLU puts up another atrocious shooting performance that puts their home playoff game in even more jeopardy.  A loss tomorrow and Skidmore win will send them on the road to Skidmore.  Under no circumstances should you be shooting 1-22 from three at home.  If they were mostly contested that is one thing, but SLU rebuilt Rome with the amount of open bricks they laid. Two games against RPI SLU has overcame 2nd half double digit deficits to tie or take the lead while losing in the end.  SLU tied it with 3 minutes left and went into masonry mode immediately after.

Hobart has life, as a win tomorrow and Ithaca loss results in Hobart getting the 6th seed by virtue of tiebreaking results against Vassar.

Alex Moesch scores the winner with 1.8 seconds remaining and Fitzgerald carries Vassar on his back all night until he misses the last shot giving Hobart a chance to make the tournament.Hoping Hobart can beat the Raptors and the Brewers snatch a road win in Ithaca. I'm thinking the Bombers will be playing a mad Brewers team that does not want to go into post season with 2 losses this weekend.

Quote from: UfanBill on February 16, 2026, 12:02:55 PMNot sure if this is official as it's from an X post but Union has announced their 2026 football schedule. They will be fulfilling the home and home commitments started last year so non conference opponents have not changed. Susquehanna will be visiting on September 5th, Cortland on the 12th and the Garnet are at Morrisville on Sept. 19th...Liberty League play begins on Sept 26th hosting Buffalo St. Trips to St. Lawrence and Hobart are followed by an Oct.17th bye week. Ithaca visits Schenectady on Oct. 24th then a road trip to play Hilbert on Halloween. The last home game is Rochester on Nov 7th and the Shoes will be contested at RPI on November 14th.

Same for Hobart starting with Alfred, Brockport and Utica followed by the LL schedule starting with RPI in Troy. Only a little over six months 

Looks like the tournament is set for 4 of 6 teams, with the final matchups TBD. Ithaca and Skidmore are tied and play each other for #5 or #6  slot. BUT, Hobart can make the sixth slot if they win both of their games (Vassar, Bard , both in Geneva), and either Skidmore or Ithaca lose both of their games this weekend. A long shot for the Statesmen, but at least they are playing for a chance this weekend. The eight game losing streak ended with a win over Clarkson Saturday, amazing we even still have a chance.

This weekend is the last chance for Hobart to have any chance to make the LL tournament. SLU tonight in Bristol .Hope the Statesmen can break the 7 game losing streak and start a 7 game win streak. You gotta believe!GOBART!

Quote from: stlawus on February 12, 2026, 09:09:53 PM

Quote from: UfanBill on February 12, 2026, 07:02:29 PM

Quote from: stlawus on February 11, 2026, 05:18:02 PMWhy am I not surprised to see Frank Rossi be quite literally the only person defending Flo Sports on social media.

Not sure if you are aware of this but Frank in addition to his role with "In the D3fb Huddle" podcasts with James Baker, Frank also refs flag football and serves as Mayor of Ballston Spa, NY. I believe he can handle himself quite well since he's also an attorney. I respect and admire the guy.   

Pretty much everyone is against the Flo Sports model and putting d3 sports behind a paywall.  So far he's the only voice of "authority" I've seen that non ironically defends it. It has nothing to do with his credentials.

D3 Sports should not be behind a paywall, it will only reduce the number of eyeballs the athletes deserve and would add a small amount to offset budgets. As far as Frank Rossi, he is entitled to his opinion and his very clownlike sartorial choice he made at the last Stagg Bowl

Quote from: UfanBill on February 07, 2026, 06:41:30 PMUnion 75 - Hobart 68 ... Union coach Chris Murphy, seemingly concerned about getting little offense from his bench, found a way to get the subs involved early. He started them, leaving his three best players Jack Plesser, Tanner Tedesco and Matthew Garside sitting for the first 3 minutes. Did it work? No...Hobart took advantage and went out to an early 10 point lead...In reality it was senior night and Murph started his four seniors. The Garnet scrambled back, took a lead but trailed the Statesmen 34-31 at the break. In the second half Hobart grudgingly allowed the Garnet Chargers to take control and put it away late...A day after scoring his career high 37 points Plesser had only 6. Foul plagued and frustrated he played only 17 total minutes before fouling out. Hobart seems to have the answer for Plesser, holding him to only 12 and 6 points in the two league meetings, both won by Union none the less. Tedesco 21, Dufort 19 and Garside's 11 got it done. For Hobart Monty Nedd had an impressive 26.

Congrats to Union on doing what has become familiar result for Hobart, get a lead and lose the lead and then lose the game. This Hobart team has not played to its potential since the break. A small miracle needs to happen in order to leapfrog Clarkson and/or Skidmore to secure the last spot in the LL tournament.They could be a dangerous #6 in the tournament, but they need to get there. Union, and RPI seem to be headed to crash in the finals, with Vassar a strong third. I really thought Hobart was going to be one of the top three , but we lost our bench coach  to a HC job, who seemed to have really added value at the end of close games the last few years.

Congrats to the top three, Union,Vassar and RPI. It looked like Hobart was going to break their 5 game losing streak with some healthy leads, good shooting , defense and rebounding, but after 30 minutes they let it slip away again, this time against RPI making it 6 consecutive losses. I hope the team shrink can talk to them before the Union game and they can play a full game. They are tied for the last spot for the tournament and have no chance for a home tournament game now. Hopefully they can pull off an upset tonight against a great Union team. If not, they'll likely need to win out, but at least they are finishing the season at home. Not giving up, but "it is what it is".