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OT: Permanent College Closing Tracker

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  • #31
    As I understand it, Pine Manor College is essentially merging with Boston College. Given their plan for the campus, I can't imagine they will continue to sponsor sports at the DIII level.

    https://www.wbur.org/edify/2020/05/1...or-acquisition

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    • #32
      Not closing, but Division I Akron has eliminated its men's cross country, men's golf and women's tennis programs



      Other recent Division I cuts were from Old Dominion (wrestling), Cincinnati (men's soccer) and Florida International (men's indoor track & field)

      Comment


      • #33
        The MAC is in an interesting situation. Due to normal lack of fans at games, and most revenue being supported by TV #MACtion for weekday games, the hurt should be a little less than schools who get a significant revenue from sales for seats on Saturday.

        Comment


        • #34
          Originally posted by wscsuperfan View Post
          Not closing, but Division I Akron has eliminated its men's cross country, men's golf and women's tennis programs



          Other recent Division I cuts were from Old Dominion (wrestling), Cincinnati (men's soccer) and Florida International (men's indoor track & field)
          Odd choices by Akron unless they just wanted to eliminate sports. CC, GOLF AND TENNIS seem like sports that could go on even with social distancing. WRESTLING and SOCCER certainly make sense. Truly weird decisions in some places.

          Comment


          • #35
            Blast me if you want, keep in mind we are all sports fans here but...

            I think that this whole mess shows a few things about college athletics:

            1) That college athletic budgets (even at the D-I) level are on razor thin margins.
            2) That many teams are D-I that shouldn't be, and maybe some D-II schools that should be D-III.
            3) That colleges will be forced to re-evaluate having athletics at all. Especially those private schools that offer football for partial scholarships and use the program to generate enrollment. (Those will be hurt the most by cancelling the season.)
            4) That higher ed administration lacks the foresight to save even small amounts of those ever increasing tuition dollars for a rainy day, despite the fact that everyone knows "it is going to rain." (Don't give me that declining state funding line, tuition increases still outpace that.)
            5) That the whole university/college model is economically unsustainable (I blame the ever growing bureaucracy for that. Seriously, do they really need whole offices for the international branch for the office of gender equity and enhancement of intersectionality.)

            We need systematic changes. Colleges put millions of people in tens of thousands of dollars in debt. While simultaneously going into debt going on building sprees (despite declining enrollment figures.) OU just had a newly minted president resign under pressure, and his only crime was trying to get the university out of $1 billion in debt. Or maybe I have been reading too much Dave Ramsey during this COVID situation.
            Go Bronchos!

            Comment


            • #36
              Originally posted by UCObluejay View Post
              Blast me if you want, keep in mind we are all sports fans here but...

              I think that this whole mess shows a few things about college athletics:

              1) That college athletic budgets (even at the D-I) level are on razor thin margins.
              2) That many teams are D-I that shouldn't be, and maybe some D-II schools that should be D-III.
              3) That colleges will be forced to re-evaluate having athletics at all. Especially those private schools that offer football for partial scholarships and use the program to generate enrollment. (Those will be hurt the most by cancelling the season.)
              4) That higher ed administration lacks the foresight to save even small amounts of those ever increasing tuition dollars for a rainy day, despite the fact that everyone knows "it is going to rain." (Don't give me that declining state funding line, tuition increases still outpace that.)
              5) That the whole university/college model is economically unsustainable (I blame the ever growing bureaucracy for that. Seriously, do they really need whole offices for the international branch for the office of gender equity and enhancement of intersectionality.)

              We need systematic changes. Colleges put millions of people in tens of thousands of dollars in debt. While simultaneously going into debt going on building sprees (despite declining enrollment figures.) OU just had a newly minted president resign under pressure, and his only crime was trying to get the university out of $1 billion in debt. Or maybe I have been reading too much Dave Ramsey during this COVID situation.
              I won't blast you but I think you oversimplify some of this. I'll assume you have the same concerns for the Auto industry, airlines, and other large corporations that have received huge bailouts but didn't have a rainy day fund if you expect not for profit universities to have the same.

              As an FYI, some (most?) schools have bond debt. Not sure what it's like for all schools but I've been told that in MO if a school has bond debt then they cannot have a rainy day fund by law. If there is extra money it is required to go to bond debt. I have no reason not to believe the source on that as I'm sure they've been looking for ways to lighten expenses during this time.

              Comment


              • #37
                Bowling Green eliminating baseball.

                Comment


                • #38
                  Originally posted by UFOILERFAN View Post
                  Bowling Green eliminating baseball.
                  Wow, they've been one of the more consistently good MAC baseball teams and also one of the original sports at BG, playing since 1915!

                  I'm a baseball fan but I always wondered why many of the MAC teams had baseball, half the season is travel to the south and home games are sketchy even into late March. With the growth of the sport and easier scheduling for early spring competition at home, I've always thought a lot of the MAC schools should swap baseball for men's lacrosse. (BG even had men's lax back in the 1960s and 1970s). On the D2 side, I have the same issues for the GLIAC baseball teams. Great Lakes area college teams must spend a lot more on travel than ones in the Southeast and Sunbelt. Plus the recruiting aspects of trying to compete for recruits with any of those southeastern teams.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Originally posted by D2Ohio View Post
                    The MAC is in an interesting situation. Due to normal lack of fans at games, and most revenue being supported by TV #MACtion for weekday games, the hurt should be a little less than schools who get a significant revenue from sales for seats on Saturday.
                    The conference, which relies heavily on funding from the ESPN contract, is not doing well financially in my opinion, or should I say the member schools are not doing well.


                    EMU just dropped several sports, and is in the midst of a legal battle regarding reinstating softball vs adding women's lacrosse.

                    The MAC just merged their wrestling conference with another conference and currently sits at 15 members, but that number will shrink as ODU I think announced they are dropping the sport. How many of the other 14 schools are actually MAC members? 4. Only 4 of 14 members are actually in the conference for wrestling. Men's swimming is the same way. Only two of the 5 schools are even MAC members, the other 3 are MVC schools.

                    What about the sports Akron just dropped. Men's cross country. The loss of the Akron program brings the conference down to only 8 schools offering men's cross country. That's only 8 of 12 schools. Women's tennis is down to 7 of 12 schools. Men's gold drops to 7 of 12 as well.

                    The press release from the AD at Akron mentioned right sizing with the other conference schools. They are reducing sports in which the costs are less significant, but also sports in which the number of athletes, and Title IX impact is less significant.

                    One of the other issues for the MAC schools is NCAA minimum number of teams. Some schools are actually limited in what they can cut at this point. The NCAA mandates a schools competing at the D1 level must sponsor

                    From the Wikipedia page (but verified from other sources): "Schools must field teams in at least seven sports for men and seven for women or six for men and eight for women, with at least two team sports for each gender."

                    Currently only Kent State and Miami (with 8 men's sports) are above the 7 minimum (and thus could easily cut a men's sports team other than football or basketball - required for MAC Membership).

                    6 schools are at the 7 sport minimum, Ball State, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Buffalo. Of these 5 schools, every single one could in theory cut a men's sport, because they offer at least the minimum 8 women's required to have only 6 men's sports.

                    The remaining 4 schools, Western Michigan, Akron, Ohio, and Toledo all are in a position in which they are not able to cut a single mens sport. They are already at the NCAA D1 minimum number of sports.

                    Why do I think the schools aren't doing well? I can speak best for the three schools in Michigan and specifically EMU. I just finished a Master's in Sports Management and EMU was a focus of several projects and papers.

                    EMU has been seeing a declining enrollment for years. This has lead to less state money going to the university. At the same time, the budget for athletes continued to grow, specifically, the football program budget in an effort to make the school relevant on the field, something that has happened in recent years.

                    The schools financial situation has lead to unrest across the university and the cutting of sports teams a couple years ago (including men's swimming, the most dominating program in MAC history). The attempted to cut farther, but have been rebuked by the courts and have added women's tennis back, and will add lacrosse back to appease a Title IX lawsuit.

                    EMU stated they would have around 2.2 million dollars by cutting those sports. The problem is many people don't think they took into account the additional enrollment losses they would suffer, meaning the savings are likely less than anticipated.

                    EMU is the school to cut sports, but CMU and WMU are not far behind in the financial trouble in my opinion. Why are they better off than EMU? Location. EMU sits in the shadow of Ford Field, Little Caesars Arena and the Big House. As a result EMU's attendance has been the lowest of any D1 school for football most years in the last two decades. CMU and WMU are at least far enough away from major areas to have a more local draw than what EMU can get. With that said, those schools are facing the same enrollment crunch that EMU is facing and along with it the same financial crunch. My worry, as a resident of Michigan, is that things will be getting much worse in the next two years. The K12 schools are looking at between a 10% and 25% cut in funding for the 20-21 school year. If they are cutting from K-12 funding I'm sure there will be a similar cut to the college budgets as well. I don't think Michigan is alone in this issue either. I think Ohio and Indiana , where the majority of the rest of the MAC schools (except Buffalo and the affiliate members are) are facing similar issues. New York may actually be in worse shape due to COVID-19, so Buffalo, which has also cut sports in recent years, may be in trouble as well.

                    In conclusion, I think the MAC is in for some real rough times ahead.

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Originally posted by sbkbghockey View Post

                      Wow, they've been one of the more consistently good MAC baseball teams and also one of the original sports at BG, playing since 1915!

                      I'm a baseball fan but I always wondered why many of the MAC teams had baseball, half the season is travel to the south and home games are sketchy even into late March. With the growth of the sport and easier scheduling for early spring competition at home, I've always thought a lot of the MAC schools should swap baseball for men's lacrosse. (BG even had men's lax back in the 1960s and 1970s). On the D2 side, I have the same issues for the GLIAC baseball teams. Great Lakes area college teams must spend a lot more on travel than ones in the Southeast and Sunbelt. Plus the recruiting aspects of trying to compete for recruits with any of those southeastern teams.
                      Good question. I think it is because it was a staple sport for so many for so long, schools have hesitated to cut the sport. Once that trend starts through, it might be like men's swimming or wrestling. It may snowball and you may see a lot of programs getting cut.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Originally posted by sbkbghockey View Post

                        Wow, they've been one of the more consistently good MAC baseball teams and also one of the original sports at BG, playing since 1915!

                        I'm a baseball fan but I always wondered why many of the MAC teams had baseball, half the season is travel to the south and home games are sketchy even into late March. With the growth of the sport and easier scheduling for early spring competition at home, I've always thought a lot of the MAC schools should swap baseball for men's lacrosse. (BG even had men's lax back in the 1960s and 1970s). On the D2 side, I have the same issues for the GLIAC baseball teams. Great Lakes area college teams must spend a lot more on travel than ones in the Southeast and Sunbelt. Plus the recruiting aspects of trying to compete for recruits with any of those southeastern teams.
                        Baseball at the D2 and D3 levels doesn't have the same issues as it does at the D1 level. Recruiting is largely localized, so those budgets are not that much different. You still can get decent recruits. The travel for D2 and D3 schools isn't as much of an issue either. With the later start than D1, and the schedule limits, most D2 schools only spend one week down south per season, on Spring Break. These trips are often fundraised by the student athletes as well. Additionally, those aren't the only sports that "go south" for training or competition. A lot of sports will have those trips, or long distance travel to events. A lot of swim programs will go to Florida or somewhere else "south" for a training trip in late December/January. Tennis, and golf teams will do the same thing. Even basketball teams will often have a long distance trip during the season for a tourney. Baseball's is most pronounced because they are playing more games during the week or so they are gone, but the trips are more common for other sports than people think.

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Originally posted by UCObluejay View Post
                          Blast me if you want, keep in mind we are all sports fans here but...

                          I think that this whole mess shows a few things about college athletics:

                          1) That college athletic budgets (even at the D-I) level are on razor thin margins.
                          2) That many teams are D-I that shouldn't be, and maybe some D-II schools that should be D-III.
                          3) That colleges will be forced to re-evaluate having athletics at all. Especially those private schools that offer football for partial scholarships and use the program to generate enrollment. (Those will be hurt the most by cancelling the season.)
                          4) That higher ed administration lacks the foresight to save even small amounts of those ever increasing tuition dollars for a rainy day, despite the fact that everyone knows "it is going to rain." (Don't give me that declining state funding line, tuition increases still outpace that.)
                          5) That the whole university/college model is economically unsustainable (I blame the ever growing bureaucracy for that. Seriously, do they really need whole offices for the international branch for the office of gender equity and enhancement of intersectionality.)

                          We need systematic changes. Colleges put millions of people in tens of thousands of dollars in debt. While simultaneously going into debt going on building sprees (despite declining enrollment figures.) OU just had a newly minted president resign under pressure, and his only crime was trying to get the university out of $1 billion in debt. Or maybe I have been reading too much Dave Ramsey during this COVID situation.
                          I am only going to reference the bolded statement from above. Yes, tuition does outpace the decline in state revenues, HOWEVER, it is not outpacing the decline in enrollment that many schools are seeing, combined with the increasing costs in terms of salaries, administrative costs, and benefits, plus the increasing costs of utilities and technology. Many Michigan higher education institutions are facing declining enrollment. This means tuition increases must keep pace with not only, the lost revenue from the state, but also the losses in tuition dollars from students not enrolling. Cuts at a school very rarely keep pace with the declines in enrollment for a variety of reasons. If you lose 500 students year over year, you may only lose 20 in each program. That doesn't allow the program to cut costs significantly, but 500 full time tuition allotments is a lot of lost revenue.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Could we see a few MAC schools drop to Division II?

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Originally posted by ftballfan View Post
                              Could we see a few MAC schools drop to Division II?
                              Which schools are you thinking about? Akron is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Originally posted by ftballfan View Post
                                Could we see a few MAC schools drop to Division II?
                                Wouldn't think so. The chance to make $$ in MARCH MADNESS is too significant and several are close to competitive there.

                                Comment

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