MBB: NESCAC

[ThumannsOwn]

The accolades keep rolling in for Coach Hixon.  Amherst has announced that Coach Hixon will receive an honorary degree during Commencement on May 25.  This will also mark the 50th anniversary of Hixon's own graduation from Amherst. Very fitting indeed!

https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2025/march/internet-pioneer-hall-of-fame-basketball-coach-and-four-others-to-be-honored-at-amherst-college-s-commencement-on-may-25

Well deserved and probably long overdue. And more accolades/accomplishments coming in for Coach Hixon's former players/assistants. Matt Goldsmith to Middlebury is apparently a done deal according to several trusted hoop gurus - no bologna here.

Anyone hearing Marlon Sears to NYU?
 

[Middfan]

Matt Goldsmith named Head Coach at Middlebury

https://athletics.middlebury.edu/news/2025/5/8/mens-basketball-matt-goldsmith-named-russell-l-reilly-head-coach-of-mens-basketball.aspx?utm_medium=sidearm-email&utm_source=athletics.middlebury.edu&utm_campaign=Matt+Goldsmith+Named+Russell+L.+Reilly+Head+Coach+of+Men%27s+Basketball&utm_content=311f88be-2b8f-4ee5-b5e0-8ba806f040a2

[nescac1]

Great hire for Midd (and would have been a great hire for his alma mater ...). 

Speaking of which is the Sears to NYU thing an actual rumor, because why the heck would NYU, probably a top five D3 job at this point, do that??

[ThumannsOwn]

Great hire for Midd (and would have been a great hire for his alma mater ...). 

Speaking of which is the Sears to NYU thing an actual rumor, because why the heck would NYU, probably a top five D3 job at this point, do that??

Apparently, Sears put his name in the hat and was in the mix for the NYU job back in the spring of 2022 - ultimately, NYU made a really good choice with Dave Klatsky.

[WUPHF]

Speaking of which is the Sears to NYU thing an actual rumor, because why the heck would NYU, probably a top five D3 job at this point, do that??

This would be in the running for the craziest hire since Dagan Nelson, ironically.

[SpringSt7]

Repeating a little but Middlebury made a great hire and will really enjoy watching the irony unfold when one of the 2-3 best candidates for the Amherst job immediately outperforms his alma mater. Really great hire by Midd

[y_jack_lok]

Middlebury seems to be in a bit of turmoil: https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/05/hundreds-attend-faculty-staff-led-walkout-to-protest-budget-cuts

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/05/let-them-eat-cake

[ThumannsOwn]

Repeating a little but Middlebury made a great hire and will really enjoy watching the irony unfold when one of the 2-3 best candidates for the Amherst job immediately outperforms his alma mater. Really great hire by Midd

Wouldn't be surprised if a few of these candidates ultimately find their way back into the NESCAC, including the Amherst job if and when it is available next. Also hearing from a few New England hoops gurus that another NESCAC HC job might be available as early as next week.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Middlebury seems to be in a bit of turmoil: https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/05/hundreds-attend-faculty-staff-led-walkout-to-protest-budget-cuts

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025/05/let-them-eat-cake

This has been ongoing for several years now.  I was on campus there a year and a half ago, maybe - most of the student newspaper was devoted to faculty/staff/housing issues on campus - I had a lot of conversations that weekend.  Definitely doesn't seem like the kind of existential financial issue troubling other schools - much more about how resources are being allocated and different visions of priority.

Not that it isn't a thing.  I know the percentage they're pulling from endowment affects academic rankings and such, which is, of course, very important in NESCAC world.

The housing piece seems to be adjacent, but separate, too.  They've been over-enrolling for a while on a campus and in a town with a HUGE housing crunch, which isn't going to get better with the current economic climate.

I do wonder if it's a similar kind of issue to things schools deal with on a regular basis (especially with staff and junior faculty concerns), but the Middlebury folks have done a better job with media coverage.  I'm curious to see how it plays out.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ There seems to be an issue over resource allocation between the Vermont campus and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

^^^ There seems to be an issue over resource allocation between the Vermont campus and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA.

I mean, they acquired an institution that wasn't making money and they seem to be trying to make it worthwhile.  I'm sure a difference of opinion on that is inevitable.  Always more difficult to admit a mistake (if it is indeed a mistake) than to keep trying to make it work.

[nescac1]

The combination of: the declining domestic application pool (a very steady and significant drop over the next two decades in the pool of 18-year-olds, which is unlikely to ever recover absent massive immigration into this country); likely cuts to federal financial aid and student loan programs making college effectively more expensive; a likely recession looming which will destroy middle-class incomes; massive cuts to federal research dollars flowing to colleges (most significant at the D3 schools with grad programs); a likely significant decline in international student applications (why would you want to come to an American college if there is a very real risk of being sent to prison); too many colleges and universities which have endlessly expanded their administrations and physical plants (both extremely expensive to maintain and difficult to quickly reduce); and endowments taking a hit from the anemic stock market is going to make today's financial pressures for colleges, especially smaller and generally more expensive D3 private colleges, look like small potatoes in just a few years from now. 

Within a decade the huge pressure on enrollment and endowments will cause a slew of D3 schools to close, at a far more rapid pace than we've already been seeing, and others to cut back significantly in various ways, which could include some of the less popular and/or more costly athletic programs.  Pretty much everyone including some schools that seem safe thanks to massive endowments are going to have to change their approach to how they spend money - not entirely a bad thing given the endless and often needless inflation in operating costs, but certainly a lot of worthy parts of campus life will suffer massively as well. 

D1 schools face an entirely different set of obstacles as there have to be a lot that simply won't be able to compete in the NIL era and may decide like St. Peter's that D1 athletics simply aren't worth the cost.  So maybe as some D3 schools close some D1s drop down to compensate ...

[jumpshot]

NESCAC1, your points are all valid, confirmed by those of us knowledgeable about operating higher education. In addition, Mid's strategy mentioned in the articles of adding students is a delicate solution, as the financial marginal contribution of each incremental student equals the revenue received per student minus the variable costs. Aspirational growth rather than rightsizing has damaged numerous educational institutions... and other enterprises. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The reality is, though, the only way any NESCAC school is in real danger is if they try to keep pace with richer peers beyond their means.  Middlebury is still working with a huge endowment and a 14% acceptance rate.  For elite institutions, there will always be students out there who want to attend - they just need to be smart about what they can offer as the landscape changes.

[WUPHF]

Mid's strategy mentioned in the articles of adding students is a delicate solution, as the financial marginal contribution of each incremental student equals the revenue received per student minus the variable costs. Aspirational growth rather than rightsizing has damaged numerous educational institutions... and other enterprises. 

The Thomas Sowell aphorism that there are no solutions, only trade-offs applies to Middlebury.  They absolutely can grow themselves out of any financial crisis, but everything comes at a cost. 

More well resourced Chinese students in exchange for a less economically diverse student body, for example.