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  • New Haven introduce a new Athletic Director.

    Here is the man:

    https://newhavenchargers.com/news/20...athletics.aspx

    And a press conference set to be steamed live at 10am today.

  • #2

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    • #3
      This hire puts New Haven in a very interesting situation. It says a lot for where the university is today to be able to hire someone who, even though he was fired from the job, was the AD at a Big 12 school for 7 years and 5 years as AD at a good Missouri Valley Conference school before that. Congratulations to Dr. Zenger and I hope his time at New Haven is filled with many great accomplishments.

      From reading the hiring announcement the "exploration" of a D1 move is mentioned but not much of substance was discussed during the press conference. My guess is you don't hire a guy who just did 7 years at KU and not make the move up and do everything necessary to make the move. I also don't believe Dr. Zenger would have come to New Haven if there wasn't going to be a move up. Just look at where he's been, he's definitely qualified to lead a D1 athletic program.

      The idea of schools moving up and whether they should move up is brought up a bunch around the various boards. New Haven's athletic department has had a good run since joining the NE10. One or more teams are in the NCAA playoffs nearly every year now and with the exception of one hiccup at the AD position, leadership has been strong. I also see how the university has changed since I attended. Next January will be 20 years since I earned my Master's from NH and the campus is hardly recognizable compared to back then. New buildings have gone up and will go up. The Biology department (where I was a student) has gone from 5 full-time faculty to over 30 now and performs really important research in areas like Lyme disease. Student enrollment was 1600 when I was there, it's 6500 now. Many of those changes have been for the better and were desperately needed.

      Maybe my views are obscured by the university's past, of which I am a part of, but possibly moving up to D1 is a real concern to me. Now, there are schools who are similar in size and even smaller than New Haven who have made the move and succeeded, but New Haven dropped football not all that long ago because the cost of competing as an independent was too great, and football was the university's best-known sport. While many of the facilities have been upgraded, the athletic facilities haven't expanded at the pace of the rest of the campus. I think it would take a Charger Challenge Part II to get it to D1-level for facilities.

      Then there is the question of who you want to compete against. There are a number of D2 programs who compete at a higher level than New Haven and could make the argument that they could move to D1 but choose to stay. Another question would be whether having a larger group of teams that could compete for national championships at the D2 level is more valuable than maybe getting one team to compete at a high level at the D1 level. Can New Haven have a big-time program like Quinnipiac does with ice hockey or Gonzaga with men's basketball, or North Dakota State with football? Would New Haven be OK with their women's basketball team getting obliterated by UConn like my cousin's team did when she was at Fairfield, instead of losing a nail-biter to, say, Grand Valley State in the final 8 of the D2 tournament? Would New Haven be OK if that, or similar playoff showings, were most of if not all that they had at the D1 level? Winston-Salem State and Savannah State both decided to move back down after trying D1 for a few years. I'm going to plead ignorance here, but are the financial gains from moving to D1 really going to offset the costs of new facilities, travel, sponsoring new sports, and scholarships?

      And above all that, retiring the Elm City Trophy is going to suck. Part of being a New Haven student and fan was knowing there was another school 5 minutes from you who is trying their hardest to beat you in everything. I know it isn't as famous as Duke-North Carolina, but NH-SCSU is special and I'm going to miss it if it ever comes to that.

      As far as a new conference is concerned - I'm sure the NEC would welcome them with open arms and New Haven would easily join in with old foes LIU, Merrimack, Bryant, and CCSU, but it's a low-major league. If they really wanted to go for it, build a bunch of new facilities now and see if the CAA was interested in a few years. But my opinion is to try to get to the level of Grand Valley State or Northwest Missouri. But, of course, I'll be the first one with my New Haven shirt on and trying to buy playoff tickets the minute the Chargers get invited to March Madness or the football team makes the FCS tournament, so my opinion could be read as a being quite hollow.

      OK, done being the grumpy old man - go Chargers and beat IUP!

      Comment


      • #4
        Nice post cwfenn, I don't know, maybe I should think about the location of the university also but one of two things should happen. One, just stay in the NE10 or two, move up to D1. So the big question is which conference would best fit for the university if they decide to move up. Like I have said, why going to the NEC if better conferences are in the same area? I am not saying the NEC is a bad conference, but I think many poeple would agree that if they decide to join the NEC then just stay with the NE10. So what are the advantages for New Haven to go to the NEC?

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by NewHaven Alum View Post
          Nice post cwfenn, I don't know, maybe I should think about the location of the university also but one of two things should happen. One, just stay in the NE10 or two, move up to D1. So the big question is which conference would best fit for the university if they decide to move up. Like I have said, why going to the NEC if better conferences are in the same area? I am not saying the NEC is a bad conference, but I think many poeple would agree that if they decide to join the NEC then just stay with the NE10. So what are the advantages for New Haven to go to the NEC?

          Comment


          • #6
            Ultimately, I guess it's all comedown to how serious and how much the university is willing to invest in the facility upgrades for all sports. At the end of the day, I am still gonna be one of UNH biggest fans regardless where they will be.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by NewHaven Alum View Post

              Ultimately, I guess it's all comedown to how serious and how much the university is willing to invest in the facility upgrades for all sports. At the end of the day, I am still gonna be one of UNH biggest fans regardless where they will be.
              Same here - I may be worried about moving up to D1, but I'm not going to stop pulling for the teams and the university since it has meant so much to me in shaping my career. Like I said, if they move up and make the playoffs, I'll be first in line to try to buy tickets.

              Maybe this was what Jim was referring to last year when he and his dad talked with AD Palmer?

              Sure hope Dr. Zenger sticks around for a while - there's been a lot of turnover at AD, and I'm a little concerned that if the D1 move is found to be impractical, that he will leave sooner than later. He's been in the big time, the university needs to take full advantage of his experience while he's there. It's an advantage no team in the NE10 has.

              Comment


              • #8
                I hinted at this last year but was specifically told not to mention it online, The idea of moving up to D1 was being pushed very hard by AD Palmer.

                When he left the program I was conjecturing that the idea of moving was squashed and that he left because he was only wanting to be around if big stuff was happening.

                So this move this week caught me be surprise. But that being said I know with certainty that the discussions of making he move to D1 has been ongoing for tow years.

                Having watch both LIU Post and Merrimack make the move as well as many schools outside of the NE-10 It is becoming very obvious that the trend is to move up or be left behind.


                I am personally very much in favor of upgrading and will absolutely be telling Dad to agree to increase our support in order to make this happen.


                I will be at the first home game and will certainly get a chance to meet the NEW Ad and to question various friends I still have in the Athletic department as to the skinny and will share what I am allowed to lol .


                J .

                . .

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by jim816 View Post
                  I hinted at this last year but was specifically told not to mention it online, The idea of moving up to D1 was being pushed very hard by AD Palmer.

                  When he left the program I was conjecturing that the idea of moving was squashed and that he left because he was only wanting to be around if big stuff was happening.

                  So this move this week caught me be surprise. But that being said I know with certainty that the discussions of making he move to D1 has been ongoing for tow years.

                  Having watch both LIU Post and Merrimack make the move as well as many schools outside of the NE-10 It is becoming very obvious that the trend is to move up or be left behind.


                  I am personally very much in favor of upgrading and will absolutely be telling Dad to agree to increase our support in order to make this happen.


                  I will be at the first home game and will certainly get a chance to meet the NEW Ad and to question various friends I still have in the Athletic department as to the skinny and will share what I am allowed to lol .


                  J .

                  . .

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Remember why New Haven shut down its football program in the '90s? Travel budget. That is the biggest expense for D1 schools is their travel budget. For football, you need to transport and get rooms for a traveling party of 100 or more. New Haven has made a commitment to athletics and that commitment will need to increase if they go D1. But it comes down to money. My daughter goes to Merrimack and we have been getting so many requests for donations before they moved up. They raised close to $40M for the move. They needed money to build the football stadium. They needed money to build a second hockey rink for their already D1 program. And now they need money to upgrade basketball, soccer, baseball, etc facilities. They raised tuition this year. I am an accountant and compared all of the line items on the bill to last year and last semester. All of them went up to cover costs including athletics. Money is always the driver for decisions. Either you have it or don't. But sometimes you need to spend it to make more and that is why programs go D1. It does help with recruiting of the regular student.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      From The Football Scoop website: https://footballscoop.com/the-scoop/

                      Former Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger will be introduced as the new athletic director, per a report from Erik Dobratz

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Paul Falewicz View Post
                        Remember why New Haven shut down its football program in the '90s? Travel budget. That is the biggest expense for D1 schools is their travel budget. For football, you need to transport and get rooms for a traveling party of 100 or more. New Haven has made a commitment to athletics and that commitment will need to increase if they go D1. But it comes down to money. My daughter goes to Merrimack and we have been getting so many requests for donations before they moved up. They raised close to $40M for the move. They needed money to build the football stadium. They needed money to build a second hockey rink for their already D1 program. And now they need money to upgrade basketball, soccer, baseball, etc facilities. They raised tuition this year. I am an accountant and compared all of the line items on the bill to last year and last semester. All of them went up to cover costs including athletics. Money is always the driver for decisions. Either you have it or don't. But sometimes you need to spend it to make more and that is why programs go D1. It does help with recruiting of the regular student.
                        You are very correct on that front for why football was cancelled

                        But our new President Kaplan has gotten UNH on am much stronger financial footing.

                        The 100 year drive has been wildly successful/. We now grow the endowment more in a year then the entire budget was back in the Day when my Dad
                        was on the Board.

                        There are still forces that do not understand the roll of Athletics in a university and the value of Athletics extends beyond the costs. How many people give to the university
                        because of the football.

                        But I believe this never would have happened with out President Kaplan being on board and he is too smart to embark on anything with out a careful review on the finances.

                        I believe that the costs are going to be something that the leadership takes a long look at but its also classic risk reward situation. The world is advancing and UNH if it wants to remain relevant in Sports the athletics must make the move to grow the sports programs or be left behind.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Paul Falewicz View Post
                          Remember why New Haven shut down its football program in the '90s? Travel budget. That is the biggest expense for D1 schools is their travel budget. For football, you need to transport and get rooms for a traveling party of 100 or more. New Haven has made a commitment to athletics and that commitment will need to increase if they go D1. But it comes down to money. My daughter goes to Merrimack and we have been getting so many requests for donations before they moved up. They raised close to $40M for the move. They needed money to build the football stadium. They needed money to build a second hockey rink for their already D1 program. And now they need money to upgrade basketball, soccer, baseball, etc facilities. They raised tuition this year. I am an accountant and compared all of the line items on the bill to last year and last semester. All of them went up to cover costs including athletics. Money is always the driver for decisions. Either you have it or don't. But sometimes you need to spend it to make more and that is why programs go D1. It does help with recruiting of the regular student.
                          Yes that was in the 90's and at the time New Haven football was, for the most part, playing teams away from West Haven, CT. Like Jim said, since President Kaplan has gotten to the university, the campus has changed dramatically compare to when I was there. Recently since 2016, President Kaplan also introduced The Charger Challenge and has been raising over $100 Millions. President Kaplan said that the goal for The Charger Challenge was increased to $120 million by 2020, and will focus on attracting additional resources for athletics and the new School of Health Sciences. NE10 has been a wonderful thing but I think it's about time the university should think a different strategy and I think it's a good move. As far as donations is concerned, I also get many requests from the university and I try to help out as much as I can. Financially, unlike the 90's, I believe the university is capable of making this move now.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            University of Kansas looks like they're going to get hit with some major NCAA violations...Is this something New Haven should be worried about?

                            https://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...6jq-story.html

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by cwfenn View Post
                              University of Kansas looks like they're going to get hit with some major NCAA violations...Is this something New Haven should be worried about?

                              https://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...6jq-story.html
                              Hummm, interesting to say the least! Wow.

                              Comment

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