G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

[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.

[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]

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.

[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]

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.

[Bballfan]

Here is the latest regional map for ncaa d2 - https://ncaad2rules.blogspot.com/202....html?q=Region

I guess it depends on the sport too. I know football goes east, but the other sports are in the Midwest. And with Notre Dame closing, I don't think there is any association with the Atlantic region and Ohio schools except for football now.

[Bballfan]

The proposed Findlay/Bluffton merger is interesting. Sounds like their intent is to keep sports at both campuses (Findlay D2, Bluffton D3). That is obviously beneficial from an enrollment standpoint -as Bluffton's enrollment isn't much larger than their athletic dept. Either way, it sounds like Findlay would be the larger, controlling entity. I'm guessing most of the perceived savings would be in administrative expenses and salaries. Also, online classes and maybe a few in-person classes could be merged.

I know what they say, but ultimately I see athletics going away at Bluffton (along with everything else). Ultimately Findlay wants the endowment ($25 million) and I think they could care less about anything else. Give it time.

[WVIAC-F-EVER]

Here is the latest regional map for ncaa d2 - https://ncaad2rules.blogspot.com/202....html?q=Region

[BlueBlood]

The proposed Findlay/Bluffton merger is interesting. Sounds like their intent is to keep sports at both campuses (Findlay D2, Bluffton D3). That is obviously beneficial from an enrollment standpoint -as Bluffton's enrollment isn't much larger than their athletic dept. Either way, it sounds like Findlay would be the larger, controlling entity. I'm guessing most of the perceived savings would be in administrative expenses and salaries. Also, online classes and maybe a few in-person classes could be merged.

[Bballfan]

As we discussed, these schools that are using athletics just to stay afloat is part of the problem.. Here is Notre Dame College. A girl from FLA came all the way to Ohio to participant in a sport. Now she is like... why did I ever do this?!?!?

https://www.ideastream.org/education...ews-of-closure

Lake Erie does the same thing. Over 50% of their students are athletes. They have a little over 700 undergrads. Over 500 of those plays sports. Just not sustainable. Almost makes you wonder if the NCAA should require schools to have at least 50% non-athletes enrolled to be eligible for D2. But if they did, a number of schools will not survive.

[D2Rover]

Yet Lake County Commissioners are giving the college a $1.5 million dollar grant for an artificial turf soccer field. Seems like a huge waste of money for a school who isn't on financial footing.

I think I'd rather have a school take risks with investing in the future than try to fudge numbers to keep the thing afloat without ever improving. Also, I'm not in touch with the Lake County area, but a turf soccer field is an investment that I imagine feeds back into the community regardless of the College. It's not like they'll just tear the thing out if the Lake Erie closes.

[Bballfan]

I'm not sure how sustainable Lake Erie's model is. They are probably close to 85% + student athletes that make up their school, and have no way to keep those programs heading in a strong direction. Constantly changing coaches, they have worse facilities than most high schools in Ohio. I think they are now the only program in the GMAC that doesn't have at least one of football/soccer, baseball or softball field on campus. They use high school facilities. At some point that is not a sustainable product.

Yet Lake County Commissioners are giving the college a $1.5 million dollar grant for an artificial turf soccer field. Seems like a huge waste of money for a school who isn't on financial footing.

[unc4life]

More on Lake Erie College. Wouldn't be surprised if we don't start hearing more about their future (or lack thereof) shortly.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/...epay-bond-debt

I'm not sure how sustainable Lake Erie's model is. They are probably close to 85% + student athletes that make up their school, and have no way to keep those programs heading in a strong direction. Constantly changing coaches, they have worse facilities than most high schools in Ohio. I think they are now the only program in the GMAC that doesn't have at least one of football/soccer, baseball or softball field on campus. They use high school facilities. At some point that is not a sustainable product.

[Bballfan]

More on Lake Erie College. Wouldn't be surprised if we don't start hearing more about their future (or lack thereof) shortly.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/...epay-bond-debt

[Bballfan]

I think three football GMAC schools are definitely in jeopardy. I mean Lake Erie doesn't even have their own field. And we have seen what happens when the Catholic church drops their funding (Notre Dame College closed, Wheeling University on life support). Football is an expensive sport. But it brings a LOT of kids on partial scholarships to pay tuition. I mean a Lake Erie College....how many students are athletes? A lot. Not a good situation.

Davenport is a private school, but not in the best financial state. Fairly new to D2 too. Indy? Who knows. They are all over the map on what they want to do. I can't imagine all those schools in Indianapolis are going to survive in their current configuration.

Agree not to stress, but better be flexible. The GLIAC is bringing some awful NAIA school in the middle of Chicago to their conference. I can't imagine that will end well.