FB: Liberty League

[thebear]

Many of you know that Union has a D1 ice hockey team with a new rink. So what happened to the old rink, the round Achilles/Messa center that's next to the football field? Here's the answer... https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HaWo49XSA/

That building [Achilles] was built in 1974-75, Union had hired Ned Harkness to develop a D-I program.  I was doing my master's at Union at the time it opened.  Harkness had been coaching in the NHL after winning an undefeated NCAA title with Ken Dryden as goalie. There was some sort of kerfuffle at Union over academics vs. hockey and he moved to Glens Falls where he founded the very successful AHL franchise.

[Jonny Utah]

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.

[Caz Bombers]

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.

RIT men's lacrosse playing for another national championship tomorrow against mighty Tufts as well.

[Bartman]

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.

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.

[Bartman]

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.

[Jonny Utah]

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.

I always take a look at these once a year.  Ithaca had been in the top 30/20 for a long time.  Track and Field, rowing, swimming always gave them a boost if I remember correctly.  Having more sports helps as well.  Hobart just added a bunch so that's good and they have some niche sports as well the succeed in. 

[IC798891]

The 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.

[Bartman]

The 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

[Jonny Utah]

The 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

Yea Ithaca has the advantage with the school size for sure.  Although we have heard rumblings (see Syracuse now) that finances are getting tight.  The "liberal arts" degrees are the ones that are gonna take the hit first.  IC has put some focus on their business programs for sure, but I have no idea how that music school is funded or how many liberal arts degrees are an issue.  Ithaca still does well with the Heath and Sciences Program as well as the Communication school although IC98891 will know much more about that than I do. 

I just see that Ithaca is 75K a year? That is an "estimate" by google. That same estimate has Hobart at 88K and Union at 91k.  I'm guessing these schools just raise those final numbers to whatever they want, hoping x% of students pay the whole thing while they can give aid to the other y%. 

Tough times for sure.  This was discussed here before.  If you want to be a teacher, do you go to IC with 100K in debt after you get out?