Quote from: lefty2 on October 20, 2025, 11:27:08 AMI am pretty sure that this season doesn't have anything to do with financial aid or faith.

Never said that it did

Quote from: lefty2 on October 20, 2025, 11:27:08 AMI am pretty sure that this season doesn't have anything to do with financial aid or faith.

Never said that it did, Lefty. I'm just happy in general.......as you should be given the horse that you back and what they stand for. As far as Financial Aid packages, you are speaking about something in which you know very little about. The wrestling coach at Eastern is the former coach at DelVal and he has discussed how the football team's packages, especially for "target players" eclipses anything that (in speaking with folks on the DelVal side) they have done in the past or have the capability of doing in the current. So yes, there are about 13 players (9 impact) on the current Eastern roster who wanted to play at DelVal, but the Aggies package couldn't compete. So yes Lefty, nothing to do with Faith (again, although loving it on a macro level) and much to do about packages........and a practice bubble.

Quote from: kate on October 19, 2025, 09:51:27 AMjm, I really like you, especially since you love Del Val and Doylestown, but how about we leave 'faith' off the boards.  It's a truly personal aspect of a person's life here on earth - unless of course you're a pastor, priest, you get the idea.  Nothing wrong with a quick prayer for the safety & health of our favorite teams, but this does need to be personal.  I remember years ago, on here, somebody from Messiah was saying 'this is God and please save a seat for me' (for a basketball game obviously )!  A poster from our dearly departed Wilkes (now scooped up by that landmark league), said something like God has far more important things to take care of than determining the outcome of a sport's contest!  How true!  Heck, I am FAR from a non-believer, but I do get annoyed even when I see the 'He gets Us' commercials while I'm watching certain baseball games!

Kate,
I really like you as well and respect you a lot, but couldn't disagree more. As "FAR from a non-believer", you absolutely know what each and every one of us are called to do, not suggested to do, not asked to do, but told to do.......and not in a closed environment with other believers, like in Church. What good does that do? Nothing that I stated has anything to do with "God determining the outcome in sports". It was a general comment about the renaissance in sports (and admissions) at Misericordia......and I could add Eastern (a third year football program) as well as many similar schools across the country. As a believer, I love the 'He Gets Us" commercials because if everybody believed and lived accordingly, it would be a MUCH different country and a MUCH different world than the one we live in today.

Rant over, no more comments on the subject, so "Let's Go Sports"!!!!

Quote from: lefty2 on October 15, 2025, 06:02:58 PMMisericordia football featured on front page of d3football.com in a story by Brian Lester:  https://d3football.com/columns/features/2025/misericordia-not-satisfied-at-4-1

Lefty on the football board? Now I've seen it all Misericordia had nowhere to go but up and they are putting together really nice financial aid packages, especially to impact players. Who said that all non-elite, small schools are hurting financially? With the way the world is headed, it's great to see Christian schools thriving as more and more younger people are leaning back into Faith!

Quote from: jmcozenlaw on September 12, 2025, 04:25:25 PM2025 MAC Predictions (without records):

1. Eastern - Youngest team in the conference last year, lost just about nobody and crushed the portal
2. Stevenson - Very young team last year with some impact transfers
3. King's - Lost a ton but did a great job with incoming impact players
4. Widener - Brought a lot back and grabbed a few impact portal players
5. LebVal - Lost a few key pieces but bring a lot back
6. DelVal - Lost a motherlode and did a brutal job reloading everywhere except for WR. Defense is a sieve
7. Misericordia - Second youngest team in the conference last year but still missing players in key areas
8. FDU - Lost a lot, bring back a few key players, but will fall back from last year
9. Alvernia - I don't get it. They built a wrestling national powerhouse quickly but can't get this right
10. Albright - School almost closed last year and not out of the woods. Can't help with recruiting

In an above post, I cited how many players (33 out of 44) that DelVal lost from their two deep roster to open the season last year. More discouraging, most of the starters on both sides of the ball this year are seniors so this might be a multi-year rebuild.

If they can come out of the box and beat King's tomorrow, maybe the season isn't nearly as bad as I think it might be. If they lose, they might have the worst season on record in the last 20+ years and the next recruiting cycle will be paramount.

This game is 90% recruiting (as Jimmy Johnson once famously said, "it's the Jimmy's and the Joe's......not the X's and the O's) and 10% coaching. The program has had coaches who were recruiting masters over many years. This staff might get one more chance this offseason. Nobody wants to be at the helm when a 20+ year powerhouse hits the crapper!

Hmmmmmm.......the Aggies at 6th looks just about right at this point. The program is bereft of talent. They need their best recruiting class in more than 20+ years this offseason!

Quote from: jmcozenlaw on September 12, 2025, 04:25:25 PM2025 MAC Predictions (without records):

1. Eastern - Youngest team in the conference last year, lost just about nobody and crushed the portal
2. Stevenson - Very young team last year with some impact transfers
3. King's - Lost a ton but did a great job with incoming impact players
4. Widener - Brought a lot back and grabbed a few impact portal players
5. LebVal - Lost a few key pieces but bring a lot back
6. DelVal - Lost a motherlode and did a brutal job reloading everywhere except for WR. Defense is a sieve
7. Misericordia - Second youngest team in the conference last year but still missing players in key areas
8. FDU - Lost a lot, bring back a few key players, but will fall back from last year
9. Alvernia - I don't get it. They built a wrestling national powerhouse quickly but can't get this right
10. Albright - School almost closed last year and not out of the woods. Can't help with recruiting

In an above post, I cited how many players (33 out of 44) that DelVal lost from their two deep roster to open the season last year. More discouraging, most of the starters on both sides of the ball this year are seniors so this might be a multi-year rebuild.

If they can come out of the box and beat King's tomorrow, maybe the season isn't nearly as bad as I think it might be. If they lose, they might have the worst season on record in the last 20+ years and the next recruiting cycle will be paramount.

This game is 90% recruiting (as Jimmy Johnson once famously said, "it's the Jimmy's and the Joe's......not the X's and the O's) and 10% coaching. The program has had coaches who were recruiting masters over many years. This staff might get one more chance this offseason. Nobody wants to be at the helm when a 20+ year powerhouse hits the crapper!

I had Eastern a smidge too high, Misericordia way low, Albright way low........and the Aggies just about spot on. This IS the worst Aggies roster since about 2001-2002 and the cupboard is pretty bare. We'll always have that 20+ year run of dominance, but that feels like light years away from this roster and the current state of this program!

Great point Gordon. You know what they say about predictions/opinions. They are like you-know-what's......everybody has got one and everybody is entitled to them. I would say after yesterday that DelVal might be somewhere in the Top 3 of the MAC. I would make Stevenson the favorite. I've heard a lot from the inside of the program and I mean the very inside. I based my predictions in large part due to what I'm hearing. The coaches across the MAC, who should know a lot more and a lot better than me picked King's to win the MAC. Unless yesterday was a one off, bad day......I don't see that happening with their QB play and that porous pass defense. I yearn for the days of the Aggies scary defenses and not one that has to be as insane as 2022. I don't see the studs, the playmakers on the DL, at LB and in the secondary that the Aggies have had over the past 20 years. Think about the killer safeties since you have been covering the team. I don't see anybody on this team who would start on not just the 2022 team, but on most teams over the past 20 years. The Aggies best bet this year is a weak MAC, getting playing time for some underclassmen and crushing recruiting going into 2026. The bar is too high for this program to fall back to mediocrity. I don't think it happens this year as I don't see any unbeatable teams in the MAC, including the Aggies.

2025 MAC Predictions (without records):

1. Eastern - Youngest team in the conference last year, lost just about nobody and crushed the portal
2. Stevenson - Very young team last year with some impact transfers
3. King's - Lost a ton but did a great job with incoming impact players
4. Widener - Brought a lot back and grabbed a few impact portal players
5. LebVal - Lost a few key pieces but bring a lot back
6. DelVal - Lost a motherlode and did a brutal job reloading everywhere except for WR. Defense is a sieve
7. Misericordia - Second youngest team in the conference last year but still missing players in key areas
8. FDU - Lost a lot, bring back a few key players, but will fall back from last year
9. Alvernia - I don't get it. They built a wrestling national powerhouse quickly but can't get this right
10. Albright - School almost closed last year and not out of the woods. Can't help with recruiting

In an above post, I cited how many players (33 out of 44) that DelVal lost from their two deep roster to open the season last year. More discouraging, most of the starters on both sides of the ball this year are seniors so this might be a multi-year rebuild.

If they can come out of the box and beat King's tomorrow, maybe the season isn't nearly as bad as I think it might be. If they lose, they might have the worst season on record in the last 20+ years and the next recruiting cycle will be paramount.

This game is 90% recruiting (as Jimmy Johnson once famously said, "it's the Jimmy's and the Joe's......not the X's and the O's) and 10% coaching. The program has had coaches who were recruiting masters over many years. This staff might get one more chance this offseason. Nobody wants to be at the helm when a 20+ year powerhouse hits the crapper!

Quote from: jmcozenlaw on September 06, 2025, 11:04:34 AMI looked at the two deep from the DelVal vs. Hampden-Sydney game this weekend last year and the Aggies have lost 33 out of that top 44 (HS has about 72% of their top 44 back). This should be an interesting game as a result.

As far as the MAC is concerned, the Aggies lost their top 2 QB's, top 3 RB's, 5 out of their six top WR's and 2 of their starting OL. On the defensive side, they lost all of their defensive line, their two stud LB's (one moved up to D2 Assumption) and both safeties.

As I predicted the Aggies MAC streak to end last season, this is another year for a handful of teams to be able to pick them off. I think the Aggies will always be in the hunt, but the days of undefeated MAC seasons for a handful of consecutive years is over in my opinion, for many reasons.

I'm looking forward to a great year and hope to see a few people on the board in addition to Kate.

I'd say that I had a good call above regarding the HS game...........but quite a bit of the information has come to me from the inside of the program. From those who have been around for close to 20 years, this might be the worst Aggies roster since before the turnaround under G.A. Mangus in 2003. The scariest part is that most of the Aggies starting 22 yesterday are seniors. While this is a young team overall, it's not young with offensive and defensive starters. If you are going to be average or worse, play the young guys and see what you've got heading into the recruiting season and dominate the portal.

I'll make my MAC prediction during the week, but suffice it to say, it will be the lowest I've predicted the Aggies to finish since 2003.

I looked at the two deep from the DelVal vs. Hampden-Sydney game this weekend last year and the Aggies have lost 33 out of that top 44 (HS has about 72% of their top 44 back). This should be an interesting game as a result.

As far as the MAC is concerned, the Aggies lost their top 2 QB's, top 3 RB's, 5 out of their six top WR's and 2 of their starting OL. On the defensive side, they lost all of their defensive line, their two stud LB's (one moved up to D2 Assumption) and both safeties.

As I predicted the Aggies MAC streak to end last season, this is another year for a handful of teams to be able to pick them off. I think the Aggies will always be in the hunt, but the days of undefeated MAC seasons for a handful of consecutive years is over in my opinion, for many reasons.

I'm looking forward to a great year and hope to see a few people on the board in addition to Kate.

Albright is on life support. I've heard nothing regarding how Alvernia is fairing. Two schools that close to each other in Reading, PA make one tough situation. It's a smidge different than the situation in Wilkes-Barre with King's and Wilkes sharing a library, they are that close, and Misericordia only about 15 minutes up the road......in a part of PA that is not exactly booming. I believe one of the Reading schools and at least one of the NE PA schools (and I'm not including Keystone, which id also right in the area) is not here in 2-3 years. Sad times for higher ed and it's only going to get worse over many years to come.

Quote from: jmcozenlaw on May 23, 2025, 03:25:16 PM

Quote from: Inkblot on May 23, 2025, 01:24:07 PMNot having to go through the waiting period 26 years ago is a fair point, but I don't see any problems with the current setup.

Agree with this 100%! The MAC is also looking to grow and there are several institutions lined up and waiting. A couple are obvious, natural fits. A couple, not so much. There is also a very slim chance that if this planned growth to a magic 20 teams occurs, if a couple of the schools that are deep in the evaluation process of adding football make the decision to do so, the MAC could also become a 12 team, 2 division football conference and could really insulate themselves (as is the plan) from losing a couple of schools due to closing/merger or even dropping athletics.

With what is going on with the Conference Carousel/Conference Roulette across the country, the MAC could set themselves up beautifully, to be able to afford some attrition. In football, a 12 team, 2 division conference could easily revert to becoming a 10 team (like now) conference. Look at how many conferences are a school or two away from losing the AQ and/or their conference evaporating. The MAC could set themselves up for years to come with nary a worry if they can get to 20 institutions.

Marywood is the latest domino to fall in the MAC's quest to become a 20 team conference with the two divisions. The conference is trying to get ahead of the continued purge and making the conference somewhat bullet proof in the process for years to come. There are a few UEC/AEC schools that have decisions to make.......and sooner than later. A school or two will be left holding the bag in my opinion (I was going with the bride left at the altar but that hits too close to home).

By the start of the school year/end of the calendar year, we might very well see a few more schools make the move to the MAC, an existing school or two announcing their demise, a possible (getting smaller every day) merger/takeover with one long time institution and the additions of football by as little as one (or zero) or as many as three schools. A couple of the schools evaluating the football situation have looked at Misericordia, Eastern and Alvernia, from top to bottom and have studied the impact on enrollment (much more than success on the field).

The MAC was one of the largest, if not the largest conference many years ago. Could that happen again?

Quote from: Inkblot on May 23, 2025, 01:24:07 PMNot having to go through the waiting period 26 years ago is a fair point, but I don't see any problems with the current setup.

Agree with this 100%! The MAC is also looking to grow and there are several institutions lined up and waiting. A couple are obvious, natural fits. A couple, not so much. There is also a very slim chance that if this planned growth to a magic 20 teams occurs, if a couple of the schools that are deep in the evaluation process of adding football make the decision to do so, the MAC could also become a 12 team, 2 division football conference and could really insulate themselves (as is the plan) from losing a couple of schools due to closing/merger or even dropping athletics.

With what is going on with the Conference Carousel/Conference Roulette across the country, the MAC could set themselves up beautifully, to be able to afford some attrition. In football, a 12 team, 2 division conference could easily revert to becoming a 10 team (like now) conference. Look at how many conferences are a school or two away from losing the AQ and/or their conference evaporating. The MAC could set themselves up for years to come with nary a worry if they can get to 20 institutions.

Quote from: KnightSlappy on May 16, 2025, 04:39:47 PMThe MAC should not have 2 automatic qualifiers.

You say tomato, I say tomato......they have them and I believe it will never go away, especially with the expansion plans on tap.

When each of the MAC's two divisions are as large or larger than several conferences with AQ's, I have zero problem with two automatic qualifiers.

When the MAC expands to 20 schools with two, 10 team divisions, even more so, especially with the number of conferences that are shrinking for many reasons.

I look forward, a couple of years out, in comparing the size of one, 10 team MAC division (with an AQ) to the number of conferences with 10 or fewer teams......and an AQ.

That's the beauty of opinions (vs. facts), we all have ours, are entitled to them and nobody's carries any more or less weight.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on May 16, 2025, 08:16:46 AM

Quote from: jmcozenlaw on May 15, 2025, 05:00:24 PM1. The MAC might very well end up, in time for the Fall of 2027, as a 20 team conference, with two, 10 team divisions. This would put an end to the "MAC should not have two automatic qualifiers" noise once and for all.

The issue with the grandfathered two AQs is not about number of teams, but that the MAC participates as one conference for some sports and two conference for others.  Nobody else gets that flexibility.

I agree Ryan. I remember way back in the day, the MAC was a massive conference, with several of today's conferences eminating from the <AC over many years.

Three potentially juicy MAC rumors that might or might not (especially #3) come to fruition by the end of the summer:

1. The MAC might very well end up, in time for the Fall of 2027, as a 20 team conference, with two, 10 team divisions. This would put an end to the "MAC should not have two automatic qualifiers" noise once and for all.

There are at least seven schools that have reached out to the MAC, anticipating more fallout with their current conference(s) from closures/mergers and the elimination of sports, in addition to a weak conference, made a bit weaker with the latest round of moves.

The interesting thing that I am hearing is that the MAC has a list of schools that they would bring aboard, a pecking order so to speak, BUT, the conference wants to know what is happening with at least two, and possibly even three existing members in terms of their future viability. One school in particular is getting close to life support and is in an all out begathon from alums.

2. Two MAC schools are very seriously looking at adding football, while one just very quietly shot down the idea as unnecessary from an enrollment perspective (hint: think Dorney Park).

3. This last one sounded way off to me, but I have heard that the mothership in State College is not the only school looking closely at the beautiful, bucolic Doylestown area, for a possible satellite. I have heard from extremely reliable sources that Rowan has been sniffing around as well. I know that Rowan has massive plans for growth over the next decade, but I can't quite figure out the how or why with this one. I know that DelVal's wheelhouse in the sciences and research might tuck in very nicely, but it sounds more like disparate parts vs. a seamless fit.

Things have changed across the landscape over the last few years.........and I think that we are only in the second inning when we look back 10 years from now.