So 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.

So Ithaca has still not announced the 2026 schedule, but Johns Hopkins has and they have Ithaca at home for the opening game.  This leads me to beleive that Ithaca will have Alfred at home the next week and the rest of the schedule is LL games and Cortaca. 

Quote from: Jonny Utah on February 20, 2026, 08:59:29 AM

Quote from: IC798891 on February 17, 2026, 01:34:37 PM

Quote from: unionpalooza on February 13, 2026, 11:54:10 AMI confess I have a hard time getting too fussed about PPV for D3... I don't see how it's any different than charging for a stadium ticket, which everyone has been doing for years without (much) complaining.

My main issue with it is from the perspective of a college.

We're in an age where we're all fighting for every high school student's attention, every alumnus/alumna still feeling connected enough to the college to make a donation, every parent living hundreds of miles away from their child and already writing a whole bunch of checks.

Putting athletics' content behind a paywall reduces points of contact between all those constituent groups and the college. Your goal should be the exact opposite. You want more points of contact, more exposure.

And that exposure isn't limited to the athletic teams. You're highlighting your campus facilities, your staff, the social life component of your college, heck even the quality of the student broadcasting opportunities.

All that stuff has value. The problem of course, is the difficulty in quantifying that value.

For budget strapped colleges, $30,000 a year, as insignificant as it is to any institution's bottom line, is in fact quantifiable. So they take the money and run.

From a completely anecdotal standpoint, they day Ithaca College goes to Flo is the day I stop contributing to their Giving Day campaign. Not out of some principled stand or anything. But I have a limited amount I can spend "on" IC, and the $108 Flo subscription comes from that pile, regardless of the fact that IC doesn't actually get that money.

Agree with this, and brings me back to my original question.

Local cable stations can produce high school football games and show them on the internet for "free" here in Massachusetts.  I assume this is the same across the country.  I get that local cable stations are funded and it costs something to do this.  Ithaca College also has a TV station with similar capabilities. 

1.  Are colleges going to FloSports and giving them a cut just to help fund the programming costs?
2.  Couldn't IC (if they wanted to) just cut out the middleman (FloSports) and do it themselves?

But yea, this is one of those things that simply puts a sour taste in your mouth if you have to pay tuition or loans and THEN have to pay more to watch these games.  If Ithaca asked for $100 donations to keep free broadcasting going I might even through in $100. 

Side note, anytime I hear one of my HS players say they are interested in Rochester, I tell them RPI and Union are much closer and are better schools for whatever they are looking for, especially if it is in Engineering or Business!

Ok so I haven't been paying attention but this has been a hot topic the past 3 years I guess.  Some of my questions have been answered or are questions everyone has. 

https://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=9545.495

Quote from: IC798891 on February 17, 2026, 01:34:37 PM

Quote from: unionpalooza on February 13, 2026, 11:54:10 AMI confess I have a hard time getting too fussed about PPV for D3... I don't see how it's any different than charging for a stadium ticket, which everyone has been doing for years without (much) complaining.

My main issue with it is from the perspective of a college.

We're in an age where we're all fighting for every high school student's attention, every alumnus/alumna still feeling connected enough to the college to make a donation, every parent living hundreds of miles away from their child and already writing a whole bunch of checks.

Putting athletics' content behind a paywall reduces points of contact between all those constituent groups and the college. Your goal should be the exact opposite. You want more points of contact, more exposure.

And that exposure isn't limited to the athletic teams. You're highlighting your campus facilities, your staff, the social life component of your college, heck even the quality of the student broadcasting opportunities.

All that stuff has value. The problem of course, is the difficulty in quantifying that value.

For budget strapped colleges, $30,000 a year, as insignificant as it is to any institution's bottom line, is in fact quantifiable. So they take the money and run.

From a completely anecdotal standpoint, they day Ithaca College goes to Flo is the day I stop contributing to their Giving Day campaign. Not out of some principled stand or anything. But I have a limited amount I can spend "on" IC, and the $108 Flo subscription comes from that pile, regardless of the fact that IC doesn't actually get that money.

Agree with this, and brings me back to my original question.

Local cable stations can produce high school football games and show them on the internet for "free" here in Massachusetts.  I assume this is the same across the country.  I get that local cable stations are funded and it costs something to do this.  Ithaca College also has a TV station with similar capabilities. 

1.  Are colleges going to FloSports and giving them a cut just to help fund the programming costs?
2.  Couldn't IC (if they wanted to) just cut out the middleman (FloSports) and do it themselves?

But yea, this is one of those things that simply puts a sour taste in your mouth if you have to pay tuition or loans and THEN have to pay more to watch these games.  If Ithaca asked for $100 donations to keep free broadcasting going I might even throw in $100. 

Side note, anytime I hear one of my HS players say they are interested in Rochester, I tell them RPI and Union are much closer and are better schools for whatever they are looking for, especially if it is in Engineering or Business!

I'm not sure I follow that whole issue, and I did see some of it on twitter.  My thing is this:  If local high schools can have local access cable live stream on youtube for free, how are d3 colleges any different?  In terms of cost anyway.

So longtime Ithaca assistant/OC (and SLU grad) Brian Angelichio  has been named the OC for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Great coach and guy all around.

Quote from: unionpalooza on January 03, 2026, 01:58:58 PMJeff Behrman moves on from his alma mater JCU after just three seasons, headed to Bucknell So much for the perfect dream job! His name was also in the mix for the UAlbany job that ultimately went to the Susquehanna coach.

In other news, just saw Matthew Parker commit to transfer to Alfred. Looks like Ithaca also lost a backup WR to SJF.

Anyone heard anything on the IC coaching search?

Haven't heard much but definitely a newer trend where d3 head coaches go right to the FCS level head coaching spot.  Just thinking how even Cignetti goes from WR coach at Bama and other d1 position spots to head coach at D2 then back up the chain again. 

Quote from: IC798891 on December 17, 2025, 05:01:32 PMEchoing what was said above, every gym teacher at Ithaca High School when I was a student 1998-2001 was either an IC or a Cortland grad.

There's nothing wrong with being a high school gym teacher and sports coach. But why on earth would you spend 3x-4x as much on the education that's going to eventually land you -- literally -- the exact same job? It doesn't put you on a different track or open different doors for higher level things.

My IC gym teachers were great. So were my Cortland ones. They were also good coaches. But some of them graduated with a lot less debt than others. As the disparity between the schools' costs grew, it just became impossible.

I think any teacher can say the same although it wasn't always like this. 

When I taught in the early 21st century  , teaching jobs were not easy to get.  For an open history, English or PE job you might get 500 applicants for one position.  For English or History teachers at a good Boston suburb HS the top 50 candidates often had Masters degrees from Ivy league schools or similar (BU, BC).  Others may have history degrees from NESCAC schools and the like.  Unless the Framingham State grad student taught and was able to show they could do the job, those applicants were simply put at the bottom of the pile. PE was similar to an extent as Umass and Springfield degrees carried a lot of weight as well. 

In 2025 there just aren't as many people looking for teaching jobs from what I am hearing.

And to add above and I think we all have seen this.  Ivy league grads and the like can be odd.  A PHD In education from Harvard means nothing if you can't talk to kids or teach to them.

Quote from: IC798891 on December 16, 2025, 12:30:05 PM

Quote from: Jonny Utah on December 16, 2025, 11:35:36 AMBut the days of finding someone who is going to be your coach for 40 years with 3 national championships are gone I think

I bolded this because I think this word is the schism.

For almost everyone, you get a choice. If you want a coach who sticks with you for 30 years, they're probably not going to be putting you in National Title contention for three decades.

The odds of a Butterfield-type lifer who basically has you as a national power just up to retirement is slim to none. Mike Welch was a lifer, but while IC scratched and clawed its was to the 2013/2014 E8 titles, it didn't end especially well*. After 40 years with no losing seasons, Ithaca had two in Welch's last six years, with a .500 season to boot, and an 0-6 record in Cortaca.

*At the risk of sounding like Frank, I mean strictly in the W/L column. Everyone loved Welch at IC. There's a reason he got carried off the field after his last home game

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Brad Spencer is going to stick around Naperville for the next 25-30 years. Maybe Dan Wodicka sees himself as a Hopkins lifer.

But when the bigger names come calling actively, I imagine you can only resist for so long. Especially with the money involved -- though obviously no coach ever says that publicly.

Look at Curt Fitzpatrick. He'd spent nearly two decades as a D3 guy. His success at Cortland basically assured he had a job for life, with a NY State pension waiting for him after retiring. But winning it all probably put him on a lot of radars, and he didn't stick around.

Yea I think chasing the money with your family is the question every coach has to ask themselves. At some point I think a lot of coaches realize their ceiling and base their decisions on that.

And I think it is impossible to predict who gets the IC job.  RPI and Union's coaches have backgrounds with zero ties to either school and Swanstrom was the same.  All three are good coaches.  Include Behrman in there as well. 

Quote from: ICAlum16 on December 16, 2025, 10:34:59 AMYea that totally makes sense and I agree. There are a lot of Bomber alum from the last 10-15 years out there in the coaching world starting to make waves so it would be interesting to see if any of them get a chance.

This is also the first time we are doing a coaching search with a new AD who doesn't have ties to the program beyond being the new AD. I tried to use chatgpt to get a list of Ithaca grads in the college coaching ranks but it wasn't able to pull anything substantial. We definitely need someone who focuses on the trenches and can make us tougher up front.

Quote from: IC798891 on December 16, 2025, 09:16:19 AMRe: Faggiano

Utica's always going to have an uphill battle in the E8. Their cost of attendance is about double that of Cortland and Brockport, and their most recent four-year graduation rate is 44%. They don't have a ton of football history to lean on either.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that like Boyes at Buff State, Faggiano is getting absolutely the most that could be reasonably expected out of them, and most other coaches would be much worse.

Still don't think Faggiano is going anywhere but I've noticed that he is a defensive coach, but Utica always has stud QB's and potent offenses.  Utica also ranked 16th in the nation in TOP 

But the days of finding someone who is going to be your coach for 40 years with 3 national championships are gone I think.  So get the quality person that can lead young men and win games at the same time and leave the program in a better place than you found it.  Hell, even d1 football is this way.  There are 10 prize jobs and eveywhere else is a stepping stone. 

Quote from: IC798891 on December 15, 2025, 03:13:29 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on December 15, 2025, 01:47:14 PMI don't remember where this falls in the Wingfield timeline, but the Toerper beef with Frank Rossi was in place by the time the Ithaca-North Central game took place in the 2022 quarterfinals.

I was not aware it was still persisting, but haven't talked to Frank much in the past 12 months.

That was pre-Wingfield's injury.

I recall Ithaca not being too happy with Frank's handling of Joe Germinerio coming to Ithaca, though the details are hazy.

Frank's got a lot of beefs though, so who can really keep track?

YES.  Then there was some "Nabi should start the game" and some TOP discussion which got me going.......oh how the wheels of d3football roll.....

Quote from: unionpalooza on December 15, 2025, 02:21:46 PM

Quote from: IC798891 on December 15, 2025, 02:09:23 PM

Quote from: UfanBill on December 15, 2025, 01:45:19 PM...Could Utica H/C Blaise Faggiano be interested in returning to his alma mater?

He strikes me as pretty content to be Utica's answer to Jerry Boyes -- though Boyes did apply for the job Mike Welch got.

I would also be very, very surprised if Ithaca did not look to bring in an offensive minded coach. No specific insight, except how the tea leaves seem to be reading on the last two years.

That sounds right to me.  Also, the Utica and Ithaca models are very different.  At Utica, the deal is that he brings in as many tuition-paying warm bodies as possible and in return he gets the flexibility and financial packages he needs to bring in talent to complete. (I mean, they had 75 freshmen this year!) That just doesn't work at Ithaca, where they are not simply trying to drive raw numbers, but instead build a particular kind of incoming class each year.

Yea.  Was talking offline with IC about this.  In the 1990s (and before) Ithaca's roster was made up of mostly education/athletic/Health/PT type majors for the most part.  5 of my teammates are doctors now.  There were a few (5?) business majors but that was it.  Looking at todays roster it appears that 75% of the roster are in business or finance.  I'm guessing Ithaca College as a whole is making this happen to attract students as "liberal arts" isn't getting the bang for its buck that it used to.  May also explain the lack of New England talent on the roster as well. 

Quote from: unionpalooza on December 15, 2025, 01:57:04 PM

Quote from: UfanBill on December 15, 2025, 01:45:19 PM

Quote from: Jonny Utah on December 15, 2025, 11:54:25 AMThis all stems from the allegation that Union targeted Wingfield 2 years ago and put him out for the season. 

Everything after that stems from this allegation. 

Even this year (although not discussed on the board) I heard Union people (not sure if it were players coaches or fans) acted unsportsmanlike after the game.  I didn't care enough to ask the Ithaca people I knew were there but I saw the comments on social media.

I'm guessing Frank got his info from Union sources who have a different version.  I've also talked to Union people who didn't know about the Wingfield allegation but did know about Toerper going off on Union players and staff last year.


Anyway that's all I know from the allegation standpoint. I do remember the play Wingfield got hurt on, you can't tell what really happened as there was a pile.

Speaking of being able to see what really happened...May I refer all to THIS year's Union vs Ithaca game when early in the game Bombers LB Henry Takacs took a cheap shot at Union QB Patch Flanagan. Launching himself and hitting Patch in face with what was rightfully deemed targeting. Could that have been on purpose and on Toerper?..Not accusing just adding it to the mix. 

...Could Utica H/C Blaise Faggiano be interested in returning to his alma mater?

That play happened right on the Union sideline, in front of the visitors stands, and I watched it live - that was just a kid playing with too much edge/emotion in a big game and making a mistake. It warranted a targeting but I really don't think there was any nefarious intent.   

And I stand corrected from my sources.  The accusation wasn't that Wingfield was targeted by Union players or it was a dirty hit, but how the Union players acted afterwards.  In either case that should be settled by a Toerper phone call to Poppe after the game and move on.  It seems like it didn't for some reason, and now it appears the Rossi/Toerper stuff is not related to that since that NCC game was in 2022, before the Wingfield injury. 

Not sure Faggiano will leave Utica at this point either, he seems to have found a home there. 

And yea these jobs being stepping stones are going to be like this forever I'm guessing.  Doesn't mean it puts Union or Ithaca in a bad spot though, as it seems they have done ok with the coaching changes so far.

Would have been interesting to see if Toerper would have left if Swanstrom was at Penn and not Cornell as Toerper has some family ties to the Ithaca area.

One thing about the Ivy Leagues I found interesting is that new head coaches seem to keep more of the old staff than you normally see.  Although I'm guessing swanstrom relieved Backus of his duties, he kept some of the old staff.  The new Harvard coach kept the entire staff after Tim Murphy retired.

Anyway I have no clue who Ithaca plans to get for the next HC.  I don't mind as much as I used to though if someone wants to move on.

(And to ICs point I don't think Endicotts coach would come to Ithaca, he's probably moving up or staying)

This all stems from the allegation that Union targeted Wingfield 2 years ago and put him out for the season. 

Everything after that stems from this allegation. 

Even this year (although not discussed on the board) I heard Union people (not sure if it were players coaches or fans) acted unsportsmanlike after the game.  I didn't care enough to ask the Ithaca people I knew were there but I saw the comments on social media.

I'm guessing Frank got his info from Union sources who have a different version.  I've also talked to Union people who didn't know about the Wingfield allegation but did know about Toerper going off on Union players and staff last year.


Anyway that's all I know from the allegation standpoint. I do remember the play Wingfield got hurt on, you can't tell what really happened as there was a pile.