G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

[BlueBlood]

Strange he made the jump now as Thomas More finally achieved D2 status.

I'm guessing it's just when the perfect opportunity presented itself. It looks like he went from an assistant at NKU to the head coach at TMU and now back to NKU as the head coach. He moved up the coaching ladder twice and didn't need to change neighborhoods. That's pretty unusual in college sports.

[Bballfan]

Could be right about that. The Horizon League is tough to achieve consistent success just because so many coaches either (a) get fired or (b) have success and move on. It is a group of D1 schools that occasionally pop up with some attention (Oakland men this year, IUPUI women a few years ago, and Youngstown State was a football powerhouse in small school D1 but not because of the Horizon League lol). I think he will do well there though. Just tough for another good coach in the conference to leave. He will be hard to replace, just like Kate Bruce a few years ago.

[unc4life]

Thomas More has been a good addition to the conference, but their women's coach just got hired at Northern Kentucky. Has had an excellent record at Thomas More and will be sorely missed. Strange he made the jump now as Thomas More finally achieved D2 status. He should do well there.

Three GMAC schools are now without a women's basketball coach: Thomas More, Ohio Dominican, Lake Erie. Now two of those schools are pretty much train wrecks in all sports, but the conference is not headed in the right direction in terms of women's basketball when just a couple years ago the conference produced 4 regional qualifiers.

Its never strange to see a D2 coach go to a D1 job. The difference is very very big. Huge pay increase, better facilities, multi year guaranteed contracts. We have also seen over the years some very good D2 women's coaches go from D2 to mid level D1 to Major D1 in a short time. Glenville States Kim Caldwell went from D2 to Marshall to Tennessee in 3 years.

[Bballfan]

It is strange when a coach that is successful didn't make the move sooner is what I am saying. He is a very good coach, but to be at one place for over a decade and then make the move, just surprised he did. And not all D2 coaches aspire to be D1 coaches. More pay, facilities, etc. but the quality of life is awful. I know Caldwell made a huge jump in 3 years. Let's see what she does now at Tennessee trying to compete with the big dogs at a school where they have unrealistic expectations for womens' basketball in this day and age, just like Nebraska Football. It isn't the 90's anymore.

On a completely different note another D2 school who potentially would be a GMAC option is off the table. Mercyhurst is making the jump to D1. While a lot of schools are struggling to just survive, you look at Mercyhurst and say huh? The Mountain East is picking up Point Park to replace them. Another crappy NAIA school (like Roosevelt in Chicago) who is only making the move to get NCAA money I am sure and the conference was desperate to get a replacement, just like the GLIAC getting Roosevelt.

[BlueBlood]

This weeks baseball championship serves as the final Great Midwest Championships for any Trevecca Trojan team.

Appreciative of Trojan Athletics. They were truly a pillar of the early G-MAC. Fare thee well Trevecca.

[Bballfan]

Other than location, Trevecca had a lot of positives for the conference. The conference will be in a worse place without them. Feel the next exit from the conference will be a school shutting its doors. Just don't know which one will do that first. There are at least four schools in the conference I would question if they will be in existence 10 years from now. That's not a knock on the conference, just a reality of private institutions today.

[Bballfan]

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week just on how dire Lake Erie College's situation is. It is behind a paywall so I won't link it, but needless to say anybody that thinks this school is going to survive in the long-term is fooling themselves. They are in significant debt and pretty much used all the assets they have as collateral. Loan repayments will start again in the spring of 2025 and I would say at that point the college is going to close, if not sooner. They are only delaying the inevitable. Just a reality of the situation. Smoke and mirrors only works so long.

Next I would look at Ohio Dominican. If the Catholic Church drops their support, then I don't see them staying open.

Really tough times for private colleges now, and it is going to get worse before it gets better. Hopefully the GMAC has some contingency plans, especially when it comes to football.

[BlueBlood]

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week just on how dire Lake Erie College's situation is. It is behind a paywall so I won't link it, but needless to say anybody that thinks this school is going to survive in the long-term is fooling themselves. They are in significant debt and pretty much used all the assets they have as collateral. Loan repayments will start again in the spring of 2025 and I would say at that point the college is going to close, if not sooner. They are only delaying the inevitable. Just a reality of the situation. Smoke and mirrors only works so long.

Next I would look at Ohio Dominican. If the Catholic Church drops their support, then I don't see them staying open.

Really tough times for private colleges now, and it is going to get worse before it gets better. Hopefully the GMAC has some contingency plans, especially when it comes to football.

I've long been intrigued by a few of the schools that are in the Crossroads League (NAIA). Specifically, Indiana Wesleyan, Marian and Taylor. They would nicely fill in some of the real estate that exists North of KWC, West of UF/Cedarville/TMU and South of Hillsdale. Plus, they are institutions that appear to fit the G-MAC profile. Their current conference only has 10 schools, many of which would appear to be just as vulnerable as the ones you outlined. Maybe it's time to kick the tires.

[Bballfan]

I've long been intrigued by a few of the schools that are in the Crossroads League (NAIA). Specifically, Indiana Wesleyan, Marian and Taylor. They would nicely fill in some of the real estate that exists North of KWC, West of UF/Cedarville/TMU and South of Hillsdale. Plus, they are institutions that appear to fit the G-MAC profile. Their current conference only has 10 schools, many of which would appear to be just as vulnerable as the ones you outlined. Maybe it's time to kick the tires.

Absolutely agree with you. Those three schools are comparable, or even better, than Thomas More which has been a great fit. For whatever reason, there is very little D2 presence in Indiana. Outside of Purdue Northwest or Indianapolis, there just isn't. Southern Indiana was the last school that was D2. And I know Indianapolis has debated about going D1 (Can Indy support that many D1 schools?). A couple of these schools would be perfect to get and fit in the GMAC day one.

[BlueBlood]

Just realized that KWC has eliminated M/W Cross Country, M/W Bowling, and M/W Track & Field. I'm not sure how many student athletes that affects, but this sure seems to go against the recent trend of small institutions adding sports to help drive enrollment. It's also interesting, because none of these sports are ones where the teams need to travel a lot for G-MAC play. They are all sports that you can attend local meets/events and then show up at the G-MAC championships only.

[BlueBlood]

Update: per Dept of Education website - KWC had 97 track and field athletes and 20 bowling athletes.

[Bballfan]

There are less than 800 athletes in the whole school! These are not expensive sports like some others are. I would think football (ala Malone) would get cut first.

The GMAC needs to go after UIndy and Gannon. I don't have a lot of confidence in Lake Erie surviving long term, nor do I Ohio Dominican if the Catholic Church dumps them like what happened to Notre Dame College. The Mountain East has Wheeling and Davis and Elkins who are not healthy schools, poach Gannon!

[Uindy18]

I've long been intrigued by a few of the schools that are in the Crossroads League (NAIA). Specifically, Indiana Wesleyan, Marian and Taylor. They would nicely fill in some of the real estate that exists North of KWC, West of UF/Cedarville/TMU and South of Hillsdale. Plus, they are institutions that appear to fit the G-MAC profile. Their current conference only has 10 schools, many of which would appear to be just as vulnerable as the ones you outlined. Maybe it's time to kick the tires.

I have been on this side of GMAC expansion for a while. My GMAC expansion shortlist would be:

1. Uindy - No-Brainer
2. Marian - natural crosstown rival and travel partner with Uindy
3. IWU/Taylor - another natural partnership, and they are unlikely to break apart wherever they end up, much mike Walsh and Malone. IWU is a NAIA powerhouse as well in most sports.
4. Saint Francis (FW) - another strong football school in the Indiana/Ohio footprint

Wild Card: Rio Grande - They are adding football (just hired a coach), and are an NAIA power in most sports. Could be a Darkhorse candidate for either GMAC or MEC expansion.

[tuffeagle]

Rio is a good sports school. Had not heard they were adding football. Crazy. I could see them joining the GMAC as some of their former NAIA opponents are in it. Will they make the DII jump?

Indiana Wesleyan would be a good add. Similar to adding Thomas More I would say in terms of quality teams.

UIndy (if staying DII) would be the best add. They are on an island in the GLVC, sort of like Trevecca was in the GMAC. I could see the GLIAC wanting to poach them too. They were second in the Learfield Cup. Doesn't get much better than that.

[BlueBlood]

I looked Rio up on the Dept of Education website. They have 462 full time students. 316 of them are student athletes. No wonder they want to add football.