PSAC WEST

[Fightingscot82]

you are so funny
the Fla school is a Masters & Doctorate program
does burro even have a doctorate?
oh yes everyone who heard of it knows its bsket weave & clay pottery school

Again, Gannon is only afloat financially because of Florida. They found an area with a need and filled it. That also allows them to charge typical private university tuition.

All of Edinboro's degrees flow through Penn West. Prior to PennWest, Edinboro had a DNP. After the merger they picked up Doctor of Criminal Justice, Doctor of Education, and Doctor of Health Science.

Funny you bring it up, Edinboro is a fantastic pottery (sculpture) school. They've had a dedicated sculpture building for 40 years. And its not some BS program you assume since your intellectual capacity for sculpture ends at Kindergarten pinch pots and rolling PlayDough worms.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

About this time every summer I make my West predictions (the sight-unseen edition). We know most of the new players by now. This is by far one of the hardest years to date. Stability is gone.


The Usual Suspects

I'll call this 1-3 (in no order).

Gannon - Fresh off an out-of-nowhere Regional title, well, Gannon is starting over. Jordan Fee is gone. Their best returning player now plays for Robert Morris. The others graduated or left. So, the new HC pretty much had to start fresh. Fee hit the portal jackpot a year ago. Can it happen again? The lingering question (in my mind) is why did all the players leave when they simply promoted from within?

IUP - Redshirt Joe has an interesting roster. It's bigger and faster. Star PG Garvin Clark returns. Two key guards are coming back from ACLs. Overall, IUP has guards galore. The post got a big addition in July but is still a question mark. They at least have actual post players this year (in theory). Let's see who can crack Joe's 6.5-man rotation. Some think this team is loaded up. Some think it's not.

California - The Vulcans took some heavy graduation losses -- and a major transfer loss. But, a lot also returns. Danny recruits as well as anybody, too. It's doubtful Cal is as strong as its past few teams, but it should still be pretty good. The Vulcans' post will be very good.

Sleeper

Seton Hill is on the rise -- headlined by stars-in-the-making at PG and PF. The Griffins took some losses, but should settle in to the 4 hole.

The Rest

UPJ was incredibly young a year ago. Most returned, and, shockingly, Rukavina even added a couple transfers (exceptionally rare). This likely isn't a team that will contend for the West title, but, as always, it will be a team that will pull some upsets.

Clarion - Things were really looking up for the Golden Eagles. Then, the season ended. Three key starters are gone. The PG grad-transferred to Edinboro. The star PF left for Virginia State. The star SG now plays for Niagara. The cupboard isn't bare, but those were big losses.

Edinboro - The Scots got hit hard by outbound transfers. But, they also did well with inbound transfers -- including several experienced Atlantic Region players. This should be a scrappy team.

Who Knows

Slippery Rock lost some players to graduation and to the portal. But (we think) two key players return in Austin and Herster. Replacing players isn't anything new to Ian Grady. But, until the roster is revealed there are too many questions here.

[Sec10-A-14]

Edinboro is the only of the 3 campuses with any positive momentum. They're expecting an increase for the fall enough to open up one of the mothballed dorms.

Gannon should close. They were outgunned by the sisters of mercy up the road. Move operations to Florida and just be a second rate health professions school

you are so funny
the Fla school is a Masters & Doctorate program
does burro even have a doctorate?
oh yes everyone who heard of it knows its bsket weave & clay pottery school

[Fightingscot82]

Edinboro needs to be closed. $52 M for a dieing school is a waste of money.
Just turn the school into a homeless shelter for veterans and ship the illegals back to where they entered the US.

Edinboro is the only of the 3 campuses with any positive momentum. They're expecting an increase for the fall enough to open up one of the mothballed dorms.

Gannon should close. They were outgunned by the sisters of mercy up the road. Move operations to Florida and just be a second rate health professions school

[Sec10-A-14]

Penn West trustees have submitted as their #1 funding request a $52 million renovation of McComb. This on top of many signs pointing to new football turf this summer. This all sounds like they anticipate continuing athletics at least at Edinboro.

Edinboro needs to be closed. $52 M for a dieing school is a waste of money.
Just turn the school into a homeless shelter for veterans and ship the illegals back to where they entered the US.

[IUPalum]

Some men's scheduling news:


UPJ, Virginia Union and Shaw will open the season at the Slippery Rock Tip-Off


USCB (Ron Fudala's team) will play at UPJ in mid-November

UPJ will not play in the IUP Thanksgiving event this year (for the first time in forever). The Mountain Cats will spend that weekend playing in Puerto Rico.

I wonder if UPJ was tired of starting 0-2

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Some men's scheduling news:


UPJ, Virginia Union and Shaw will open the season at the Slippery Rock Tip-Off


USCB (Ron Fudala's team) will play at UPJ in mid-November

UPJ will not play in the IUP Thanksgiving event this year (for the first time in forever). The Mountain Cats will spend that weekend playing in Puerto Rico.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Former Mercyhurst guard Jonathan Anderson has signed with Edinboro.

[boatcapt]

The bathrooms are commercial sized versions of all those great early 70s pastel tiled bathrooms your family had growing up. My favorite part is that the downstairs doesn't have AC, so in the summer, they use garbage cans to prop open exterior doors and run a commercial grade fan pulling in cool air. I went downstairs to visit a coach and felt like I was going to melt like the Nazis viewing the Ark of the Covenant.

Friends house in HS had avacodo green appliances with gold faucets and brown and white tile. It was more than a little scary!!

[Fightingscot82]

I always enjoy the yearly trip to McComb. It's kind of like going back in time.

But, yes, a renovation is certainly needed.

The bathrooms are commercial sized versions of all those great early 70s pastel tiled bathrooms your family had growing up. My favorite part is that the downstairs doesn't have AC, so in the summer, they use garbage cans to prop open exterior doors and run a commercial grade fan pulling in cool air. I went downstairs to visit a coach and felt like I was going to melt like the Nazis viewing the Ark of the Covenant.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Penn West trustees have submitted as their #1 funding request a $52 million renovation of McComb. This on top of many signs pointing to new football turf this summer. This all sounds like they anticipate continuing athletics at least at Edinboro.

I always enjoy the yearly trip to McComb. It's kind of like going back in time.

But, yes, a renovation is certainly needed.

[Fightingscot82]

The two triads are the unknown. Will 'one school' continue to have three football teams, etc. Granted, I fully understand nobody looks at those threesomes as 'one school' -- despite whatever the hell the name is.

One thing to keep in mind is closing down a state-owned school is going to be very difficult. You're talking layers and layers of politics, bailouts, etc. Look at Cheyney.

The weak link of the West triad is Clarion (although Cal and Edinboro are also struggling). Clarion just turned Tippin Gymnasium in to a mini Taj Mahal. So, Clarion is going to continue having varsity sports or it will have the nicest intramural facility in the country.

Could we see another Mansfield (a school drop football)? Absolutely. But, I don't think we'll see an athletic department vanish as a whole anytime soon. Remember, football is keeping another 100 male students enrolled. These days at many of our schools that's a big chunk.

Penn West trustees have submitted as their #1 funding request a $52 million renovation of McComb. This on top of many signs pointing to new football turf this summer. This all sounds like they anticipate continuing athletics at least at Edinboro.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Given all of the PASSHE realignment, conference shifting and division switching, what does the PSAC look like in 2030. Is it even called PSAC ? Are there as many private and OOS schools as PASSHE schools in the conference ? IMO, it's going to be a very erratic and changeable period.

The two triads are the unknown. Will 'one school' continue to have three football teams, etc. Granted, I fully understand nobody looks at those threesomes as 'one school' -- despite whatever the hell the name is.

One thing to keep in mind is closing down a state-owned school is going to be very difficult. You're talking layers and layers of politics, bailouts, etc. Look at Cheyney.

The weak link of the West triad is Clarion (although Cal and Edinboro are also struggling). Clarion just turned Tippin Gymnasium in to a mini Taj Mahal. So, Clarion is going to continue having varsity sports or it will have the nicest intramural facility in the country.

Could we see another Mansfield (a school drop football)? Absolutely. But, I don't think we'll see an athletic department vanish as a whole anytime soon. Remember, football is keeping another 100 male students enrolled. These days at many of our schools that's a big chunk.

[CALUPA69]

Valuable as in every network has a streaming service with 24 hours a day that needs filled with #content. WFMJ out of Youngstown has a PAC football game of the week. If PSAC extended into Pittsburgh it's hard not to imagine something like IUP-Cal in the Coal Bowl on KDKA+'s game of the week sponsored by UPMC presented by Giant Eagle hosted by Mark Madden.

Second point: Conference realignment is everywhere in D1 so what's stopping some conference from offering, say, West Chester a new home because the PSAC East stinks? Or the MEC goes after UPJ after 10 years in the PSAC. If IUP somehow left the PSAC, that could be the start of some dominoes.

Given all of the PASSHE realignment, conference shifting and division switching, what does the PSAC look like in 2030. Is it even called PSAC ? Are there as many private and OOS schools as PASSHE schools in the conference ? IMO, it's going to be a very erratic and changeable period.

[WarriorVoice]

Steve Murray gets a lot of crap on here but the guy's ethical. He's not going to do to another conference what was done to the PSAC. They'll announce with probably a year's notice.

He's not the only one!!