Quote from: Pat Coleman on June 09, 2025, 05:46:24 PMI feel like UMFK has been talked about for more than a decade.

Yup.  I think the thing that changed for me was when I started hearing it from people connected to UMPI. 

There have been some rumors kicking around Maine D-3 circles that UMaine Fort Kent may attempt to move over to D-3 from the USCAA and would likely be looking for NAC membership.  That's not going to help with lax, but it's a number.

That's all the boilerplate for every job Colby posts, for example here's the posting for a chorale director: https://www.higheredjobs.com/state/details.cfm?JobCode=179152370&Title=Chorale%20Conductor

Think their president summed it up nicely:

"It was the liberalization of the transfer portal a few years ago," Van Tassell said. "It was our inability to compete with the name, image and likeness scheme. That's just out of our reach. Plus the uncertainties that go along with being a small Division I institution. In a perfect world, we would have stayed in the Northeast Conference. There were a lot of factors that were really stacked against us that kind of forced us into this position."

"We were looking at it from a student welfare point of view," he said. "We don't want to be a farm team for larger conferences. We want to attract students who will be here for four years, who we can develop into really fine professionals and into fine athletes. Unfortunately, because of the transfer portal, that environment, sadly, doesn't exist anymore or the way it once did."

https://sfuathletics.com/news/2025/3/25/inside-athletics-saint-francis-university-announces-move-from-ncaa-division-i-athletics-to-division-iii-athletics.aspx

I don't know that this is the first of MANY, but probably won't be the only one.

Quote from: jumbomumbo on February 16, 2025, 11:10:55 AMCoach Linton got his 100th career win over Bates last night.

That's a lot of wins over Bates!

Uhoh: https://penobscotbaypress.com/articles/latestnews-castinepatriot/mma-football-coaches-resign-midseason/?pubid=castinepatriot

It seems like the message is you are based in Massachusetts or you can pound sand.  Not sure why you go through the motions of booting PSU and UMD if you just wanted to get rid of WCSU and Castleton, unless they were all operating under a group contract or something.

Any word on what's happening with the MASCAC and their affiliates?

Anna Maria leaving for the MASCAC.  Alfred State to E8.  Dean to MASCAC.

https://www.mascac.com/news/23-24_News/Anna_Maria_Announcement

https://empire8.com/news/2023/10/10/alfred-state-college-to-join-empire-8-as-football-affiliate-member-in-2025.aspx

https://deanbulldogs.com/sports/football

Lights out for the ECFC.

New England College is adding football, are they headed to the CCC?

https://athletics.nec.edu/news/2023/6/15/new-england-college-adds-football-to-its-athletics-playbook.aspx

It's going to be interesting to see how things work out at Hartford.  The existing Hawks fans, donors, and alumni who have been involved with Hartford athletics all have stated that they have zero interest in the D3 Hawks, or the school at all at this point.

Maine Maritime hires a head coach: https://marinersports.org/news/2023/2/20/maine-maritime-names-calvin-powell-as-next-head-football-coach.aspx

Maine Maritime to the CCC for 2025-26: https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/01/09/sports/maine-maritime-academy/maine-maritime-varsity-football-revival/

All three non-NESCAC Maine programs will be in the same conference. 

Quote from: BeTheMan on October 31, 2022, 10:16:30 AMOver that past 3 years that I have seen them when they play us, it is clear that their culture has changed under Cos. Their defense is definitely nasty, but their offense has certainly held them back. I think there are two problems there: 1. QB play is not good. Lack of arm strength, panic in the pocket and is happier to scramble than let the ball fly. 2. Play Calling: Do they have a simpler playbook because of #1 problem above? Their offense has been in the bottom of the league for the past few years. They need to fix this asap if they are to be an upper tier program.

As a University of Maine alum, you could swap out the school and type the exact same description of Cosgrove's teams in Orono.  A defense with a mean attitude and a chip on their shoulder, plus a very vanilla offense that can't take advantage of it.