OT: D1

[Bart]

Well, as of this moment, St. Francis doesn't really have a basketball team. It has a program, but no players. As expected about the entire roster is in the portal.

I'd have to guess the same thing is happening within the football program.

If I was a PSAC coach, I'd already be on the way up there.

Bloom lost two to St. Francis in the football recruiting wars; maybe they change their minds.

[IUPNation]

The NCAA basically gives The Nits home ice advantage in the Hockey tournament..seeding them 4th in the Allentown regional. They knocked off top seed Maine in front of a sold out Nits crowd.

[IUPNation]

The Nits defeat UConn in Allentown and advance to the Frozen Four.

[IUP24]

The NCAA basically gives The Nits home ice advantage in the Hockey tournament..seeding them 4th in the Allentown regional. They knocked off top seed Maine in front of a sold out Nits crowd.

I watch a ton of college hockey. They were placed there because Penn State had put in a bid years in advance to host the NCAA regional using that arena in Allentown. The NCAA selection process for the D1 hockey tournament mandates that "if" a host school makes the tournament, they will automatically be seeded in that regional. So they were placed there by mandated NCAA rules, not due to proximity or anything else. They were a host school so would always be playing "at home" so long as they made the tournament.

Penn State's played really good hockey the second half of the year. They are elite in nearly every sport they trot out. Money does that.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I watch a ton of college hockey. They were placed there because Penn State had put in a bid years in advance to host the NCAA regional using that arena in Allentown. The NCAA selection process for the D1 hockey tournament mandates that "if" a host school makes the tournament, they will automatically be seeded in that regional. So they were placed there by mandated NCAA rules, not due to proximity or anything else. They were a host school so would always be playing "at home" so long as they made the tournament.

Penn State's played really good hockey the second half of the year. They are elite in nearly every sport they trot out. Money does that.

Except, of course, Men's Basketball, which has always been an issue there.

I get it's perhaps been down the pecking order, but it is odd they've been so mediocre in it for so long. They aren't 'dumpster fire' bad, but they aren't that good, either. They've had some good years here and there, but certainly not to the level or consistency of their other sports.

[IUPNation]

I watch a ton of college hockey. They were placed there because Penn State had put in a bid years in advance to host the NCAA regional using that arena in Allentown. The NCAA selection process for the D1 hockey tournament mandates that "if" a host school makes the tournament, they will automatically be seeded in that regional. So they were placed there by mandated NCAA rules, not due to proximity or anything else. They were a host school so would always be playing "at home" so long as they made the tournament.

Penn State's played really good hockey the second half of the year. They are elite in nearly every sport they trot out. Money does that.

I didn’t know about the bid part. Interesting they picked Allentown instead of the Giant Center in Hershey…and where there are Penn State facilities.

Yes money does that..now imagine if they had a better foosball coach.

[iupgroundhog]

For the record, I am not a hockey fan. But I think that if IUP had any serious intent to use sports to promote the university brand and enhance its exposure, they would take their successful Hockey Club team and make ice hockey an intercollegiate sport at IUP.

I am guessing but I don't think the investment to upgrade would be that high. The club team has had tremendous success. According to IUPbigIndians, they draw a lot of enthusiastic fans from both the student population and the community. They also have a facility in place. It would be really cool and it would be a new addition to the local Indiana culture, which is starved for new things.

[Fightingscot82]

For the record, I am not a hockey fan. But I think that if IUP had any serious intent to use sports to promote the university brand and enhance its exposure, they would take their successful Hockey Club team and make ice hockey an intercollegiate sport at IUP.

I am guessing but I don't think the investment to upgrade would be that high. The club team has had tremendous success. According to IUPbigIndians, they draw a lot of enthusiastic fans from both the student population and the community. They also have a facility in place. It would be really cool and it would be a new addition to the local Indiana culture, which is starved for new things.

I think that would be cost prohibitive, especially given IUP's financial situation. Club hockey doesn't cost the university anything. Its entirely student funded either through fees, member dues, or fundraising. Any coaches are compensated by the club. There is no D2 hockey, so IUP would have to play up at D1 (can't play down). An NCAA team would cost anywhere from $1.5-2 million a year per team. Ice rental (significant), coaching salaries, and travel. I also think that it would be detrimental to IUP basketball. You pull sponsorships and donors away from the premier sport. Could also be catastrophic to IUP football.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think that would be cost prohibitive, especially given IUP's financial situation. Club hockey doesn't cost the university anything. Its entirely student funded either through fees, member dues, or fundraising. Any coaches are compensated by the club. There is no D2 hockey, so IUP would have to play up at D1 (can't play down). An NCAA team would cost anywhere from $1.5-2 million a year per team. Ice rental (significant), coaching salaries, and travel. I also think that it would be detrimental to IUP basketball. You pull sponsorships and donors away from the premier sport. Could also be catastrophic to IUP football.

Not arguing the dollars.

But, crowd-wise, I don't think much changes.

Hockey is its own animal - with its own following. Hockey people are extremely loyal. You're really in to that sport or you're not.

S&T Arena, while fine for Club, would be terrible for D1. It's not really an 'arena' at all. It's basically a basketball gym with bleachers on one side (think Lock Haven).

Make no mistake, the IUP D1 (club) team has a big following. The games are fun and can get quite exciting.

[IUP24]

I didn’t know about the bid part. Interesting they picked Allentown instead of the Giant Center in Hershey…and where there are Penn State facilities.

Yes money does that..now imagine if they had a better foosball coach.

It has nothing to do with Penn State. They mostly don't want games "on campus," although there are a few campus venues on the list. They have pre-selected venues all around the country that they rotate around. There are reasons for why they pick certain areas based on things with the arenas, location, etc.. They have windows where other facilities/schools can submit other potential locations for future sites. Allentown has been used by the NCAA for years, long before Penn State had a hockey program. Schools basically bid on locations in advance to "host" the event in advance. Typically a university may bid to be the host if they see a potential location as being conducive to being a good travel option for their team to avoid a long road trip because they can guarantee that if they reached the tournament, they would be placed there. RMU or Mercyhurst could have easily been the host of that regional, or literally any other school in the country. In that case, Penn State may have been sent to Fargo.

The Fargo regional, for example, was hosted by Minnesota Duluth at North Dakota's arena. Neither UMD nor ND make the tournament. But at some point a few years back, UMD saw that the potential to travel to Fargo was a better alternative than the potential to travel to Manchester, New Hampshire.

Have zero interest in discussing football, but whatever you think of the guy coaching there is irrelevant. You can buy a roster that will get you to the CFP every year now which is the gravy train. Because getting to the CFP will get more money for their athletic department. Rich get richer baby.

[Fightingscot82]

Not arguing the dollars.

But, crowd-wise, I don't think much changes.

Hockey is its own animal - with its own following. Hockey people are extremely loyal. You're really in to that sport or you're not.

S&T Arena, while fine for Club, would be terrible for D1. It's not really an 'arena' at all. It's basically a basketball gym with bleachers on one side (think Lock Haven).

Make no mistake, the IUP D1 (club) team has a big following. The games are fun and can get quite exciting.

I think you'll lose students. Granted, they don't pay to attend, but they are future paid attendees. Look at Robert Morris. Men's basketball averaged 1,231 a game this year. Most of that is adults. This year men's ice hockey is averaging 738 a game and fans almost exclusively are students - students who have to find a ride to the arena 5.5 miles from campus. Mercyhurst draws 1,150 for hockey and 551 for men's basketball.

[IUP24]

I think that would be cost prohibitive, especially given IUP's financial situation. Club hockey doesn't cost the university anything. Its entirely student funded either through fees, member dues, or fundraising. Any coaches are compensated by the club. There is no D2 hockey, so IUP would have to play up at D1 (can't play down). An NCAA team would cost anywhere from $1.5-2 million a year per team. Ice rental (significant), coaching salaries, and travel. I also think that it would be detrimental to IUP basketball. You pull sponsorships and donors away from the premier sport. Could also be catastrophic to IUP football.

They would have to join Hockey East (which is a murder's row of hockey factories in the New England states) or Atlantic Hockey which would involve trips to Colorado, New York, and New England.

There are a very, very small number of ACHA programs which run and operate like an NCAA Division 1 sport - UNLV, Liberty, and maybe 1-2 others. Those are ELITE programs within ACHA. UNLV is rumored to want to jump up, and they would be the first since Arizona State did it.

Penn State's hockey team was able to massively successful immediately due to the Pegula family funding the program and fans who would sell out a venue somewhere for a Penn State squash or badminton match. They will watch, support, and donate to literally any sport they field. I'm not throwing shade, it's just reality. People who are Penn State fans are obsessed with those teams and they pay money to ensure they compete at elite levels.

IUP doesn't have that. You beat me to the paying for ice time discussion. If they had an on campus rink, it would be a different conversation. I think the KCAC has capability to have an ice surface (I believe they have hosted Disney on Ice), but I don't know what the venue would look like regarding seating for hockey, what the size of the ice is when they've done shows there before, etc. The time to really consider that move would have been when they were building the KCAC, which was also a way different era of college sports.

[IUP24]

Not arguing the dollars.

But, crowd-wise, I don't think much changes.

Hockey is its own animal - with its own following. Hockey people are extremely loyal. You're really in to that sport or you're not.

S&T Arena, while fine for Club, would be terrible for D1. It's not really an 'arena' at all. It's basically a basketball gym with bleachers on one side (think Lock Haven).

Make no mistake, the IUP D1 (club) team has a big following. The games are fun and can get quite exciting.

I'm one of those loyal hockey people. I am a junkie. A degenerate for the sport. I watch all levels. I've twice gone to the Minnesota State High School hockey championships at the Excel Energy Center. I have season tickets here in Columbus for Ohio State hockey. I can't get enough.

When I was in college, I wasn't even aware they had a club team until spring semester of my sophomore year. Kind of shows, I guess, how niche of a following their club team has. It wasn't well marketed or advertised then.

[Fightingscot82]

This is an interesting strategy: https://goccusports.com/news/2025/3/...l-in-2025.aspx

[ctrabs74]

I didn’t know about the bid part. Interesting they picked Allentown instead of the Giant Center in Hershey…and where there are Penn State facilities.

Yes money does that..now imagine if they had a better foosball coach.

From a travel perspective from State College, GIANT Center makes sense. I mean, it's not like the PIAA stages high school basketball tournaments at that venue around the same time as the NCAA playoffs or anything...

Oh... wait...