Sonoma State Dropping Athletics

[Tech Boys]

Spagna takes office as Sonoma State University president

Sonoma State's new president took over yesterday. Will he revive sports or stick with the status quo? The article states he was the interim president at Humboldt until their new president took over, also yesterday, who came from Valdosta State.

[tsull]

Spagna takes office as Sonoma State University president

Sonoma State's new president took over yesterday. Will he revive sports or stick with the status quo? The article states he was the interim president at Humboldt until their new president took over, also yesterday, who came from Valdosta State.

Presidents at Humboldt and Western Washington, didn't have the guts to bring back sports that were cut. So I'm expecting this person to keep with the status quo. There's not a lot of courage in higher education. Also, getting money for athletics means they would have to work a little bit more and a little harder. They don't want to do that. Remember there's absolutely no media pressure to revive things, they won't listen to their former athletes, and there's no booster pressure in division 2. The easy thing to do will me to keep the status quo. The hard thing is to challenge oneself and try to bring back athletics. College presidents don't do hard things.

[Anchorage]

Presidents at Humboldt and Western Washington, didn't have the guts to bring back sports that were cut. So I'm expecting this person to keep with the status quo. There's not a lot of courage in higher education. Also, getting money for athletics means they would have to work a little bit more and a little harder. They don't want to do that. Remember there's absolutely no media pressure to revive things, they won't listen to their former athletes, and there's no booster pressure in division 2. The easy thing to do will me to keep the status quo. The hard thing is to challenge oneself and try to bring back athletics. College presidents don't do hard things.

it’s also a tough spot to be in. Generally athletics get cut because of a budget shortfall. So unless you can raise a crap ton of money very quickly? Which isn’t easy obviously. Well then you have to propose other cuts to bring back sports. Now you are the college president who cut academics for sports and the academic side turns against you. There is no good answer for anyone walking into that position.

[Tech Boys]

Again, in July Sonoma State was gifted $45M in funding. $8M of that gift was designated for athletics; there are many D2 schools who run on a smaller budget.

[tsull]

Again, in July Sonoma State was gifted $45M in funding. $8M of that gift was designated for athletics; there are many D2 schools who run on a smaller budget.

Yep, and some do it with football. They just don't want to bring back athletics.

[Anchorage]

Again, in July Sonoma State was gifted $45M in funding. $8M of that gift was designated for athletics; there are many D2 schools who run on a smaller budget.

One time finding or annually? Does it make sense to bring it back for one or two years and end up right back in the same place? Are you going to be able to fully fund the program moving forward with just the money the program brings in and future donations?

I'm just playing devils advocate here and of course want them to have athletics. But there are long term finances to consider as well.

[Tech Boys]

And now the next chapter. Whatever they do they need to decide soon.

New Sonoma State president outlines vision, creates fiscal team to study athletics

[Tech Boys]

My glasses may have a little rose color tint to them but it looks promising at Sonoma State.

New Sonoma State president hopeful sports can return in 2027

Recommendations of the Athletics Task Force answers a lot of questions and has some interesting information. SSU gets the one-time gift of $8M only if they return to D2 and restart within 3 years.

[tsull]

My glasses may have a little rose color tint to them but it looks promising at Sonoma State.

New Sonoma State president hopeful sports can return in 2027

Recommendations of the Athletics Task Force answers a lot of questions and has some interesting information. SSU gets the one-time gift of $8M only if they return to D2 and restart within 3 years.

Wow pretty extensive report, that's for sure. Makes one wonder if the schools that cut football recently up and down the West Coast did similar reports. Doubtful.

[crixus]

I think it was in early 2023 when the then new President at Cal Poly Humboldt (formerly Cal State Humboldt) said he hopes to bring football back, but I haven't heard anything since, except fans on Reddit recommending them coming back as a D3 team in the SCIAC since Azusa Pacific decided to. I miss ol' Lumberjacks football.

[tsull]

I think it was in early 2023 when the then new President at Cal Poly Humboldt (formerly Cal State Humboldt) said he hopes to bring football back, but I haven't heard anything since, except fans on Reddit recommending them coming back as a D3 team in the SCIAC since Azusa Pacific decided to. I miss ol' Lumberjacks football.

Yep, and they averaged 7K a game and had a huge feature in the NY Times. It wasn't just a game, it was a community event for the Arcata/Eureka area. The east coast president, who was there 3 years, had no trouble eliminating it. She didn't care about the university, the community, the students, anyone. It was a very selfish, lazy move.

If they had to bring back football at D3, that would be OK, all sports would have to go that way. It's not like they're killing it in D2. They need to bring back football.

[crixus]

Yep, and they averaged 7K a game and had a huge feature in the NY Times. It wasn't just a game, it was a community event for the Arcata/Eureka area. The east coast president, who was there 3 years, had no trouble eliminating it. She didn't care about the university, the community, the students, anyone. It was a very selfish, lazy move.

If they had to bring back football at D3, that would be OK, all sports would have to go that way. It's not like they're killing it in D2. They need to bring back football.

I think the SCIAC would like to have Cal Poly Humboldt. That conference has had public universities as members in the distant past (UCLA, San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara) were all once members.

[Inkblot]

I think the SCIAC would like to have Cal Poly Humboldt. That conference has had public universities as members in the distant past (UCLA, San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara) were all once members.

They're pretty far from the SCIAC footprint.

[D2Rover]

They're pretty far from the SCIAC footprint.

They're pretty far from every footprint, except for being near Southern Oregon and Simpson, which are already a distant outpost in Frontier Conference Football. Not sure if there's any appeal to NAIA for them, but the Cascade Conference could just about do it's own Football if they came down.

I'd rather see Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon, and College of Idaho come up, help stabilize the GNAC, and bring back West Coast football. If Humboldt wanted to bring back football and join, they'd actually make a somewhat practical travel partner for SOU.

[tsull]

They're pretty far from every footprint, except for being near Southern Oregon and Simpson, which are already a distant outpost in Frontier Conference Football. Not sure if there's any appeal to NAIA for them, but the Cascade Conference could just about do it's own Football if they came down.

I'd rather see Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon, and College of Idaho come up, help stabilize the GNAC, and bring back West Coast football. If Humboldt wanted to bring back football and join, they'd actually make a somewhat practical travel partner for SOU.

All of this is true and I've talked about it for over a decade now and Eastern, Southern, College of Idaho, are never going to go division 2. Even if it saved them money they're just not doing it. They've dug their heels in and that's who they are. I also had hopes for Carroll College of Montana, they did a study and they decided not to go d2. I had hopes that Billings would bring it back, and they did a study and said they're not doing so.

There should be a division 2 Football League on the west coast but there's no administrative effort from the colleges to get this going. So in a nutshell those schools you mentioned would be good division 2 additions, but they are never, ever, ever going to go division 2 even if it was the last conference on Earth that they could join. I don't know why, but that's who they are.