IUP Football 2021

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Any new rumors floating around about a Spring season?

The interesting item to watch will the the conclusion of the D1 season and the transfer portal. The portal gets flooded in December by the non-bowl teams.

I'm also curious to see how teams treat this short season (if it happens). Do you risk your stars for a 4-game season?

[CALUPA69]

CAL U Pres Jones posted a letter to alumni indicating that a deal has been worked out that "has found a path toward financial sustainability that does NOT require a reduction in permanent faculty.
Instead the university will place some tenured and tenure track faculty members in an additional department within the APSCUF bargaining unit, so that all permanent faculty can continue with full time employment at CAL U".
I have only the slightest idea of the details of this finesse but it sounds positive. Or many it's a shell game. More details to follow.

[Fightingscot82]

Actually its admin people blaming Atwater - and its true that if IUP wouldn't still be on the hook to pay for empty dorms, the financial situation would be better. Its not anything to do with enrollment numbers, it's the loans for the buildings, and the contracts with the Foundation that own the buildings -Atwater way over bought. . Driscoll himself quoted the 1500 number, and with SRU losing many fewer undergrads, it seems like there was some more issues, beyond just the demographics. There is no doubt that cuts had to be made, and they are hard, but it could have been avoided, and the current cuts are IMHO being done in Panic mode.

Everyone but Cal and Clarion desperately needed a housing overhaul, but you're right, most overbuilt. I think they all thought they could outsell their sister schools. In the end they all lost.

I believe just a handful of professors I had at Edinboro are still there - and I graduated in 2004. Its sad because there are fewer and fewer familiar faces on campus and at events. But as being a lifelong Pirates fan has taught me, you're a fan of the team on the jersey. The painful cuts mean the schools that we love can continue for a bit longer.

[ironmaniup]

That seems to be a common APSCUF grumble: that somehow the enrollment peaks of 2010 were achieved through cooked books. At the very least, they're wasting energy lamenting decisions made a decade ago. That's life. Hell, they seem to forget that those 2010 enrollments led to some pretty sweet union contracts for their members. They make 90th percentile for faculty salaries. PASSHE presidents hover in the 40th percentile.

But if the cuts were easy, they would have been made by now. Regardless of timing, the right decision is rarely easy.

Actually its admin people blaming Atwater - and its true that if IUP wouldn't still be on the hook to pay for empty dorms, the financial situation would be better. Its not anything to do with enrollment numbers, it's the loans for the buildings, and the contracts with the Foundation that own the buildings -Atwater way over bought. . Driscoll himself quoted the 1500 number, and with SRU losing many fewer undergrads, it seems like there was some more issues, beyond just the demographics. There is no doubt that cuts had to be made, and they are hard, but it could have been avoided, and the current cuts are IMHO being done in Panic mode.

[Fightingscot82]

It looks like it will be a bit less than 128, probably because of likely retirements in the near future - why retrench if you expect someone to retire in a year or two,. The entire journalism department was retrenched. There are 2 other departments that were completely retrenched. Panic doesn't make for good decisions.

Around the university, many are throwing Tony Atwater under the bus, blaming him for the terrible deals he made when they built the new dorms, insuring income for the company operating the Dorms whether they were full or not. But even with that, if IUP had around 1500 more students, we'd be OK.- that should have been doable. Anyway, its a hard day at IUP today. .

That seems to be a common APSCUF grumble: that somehow the enrollment peaks of 2010 were achieved through cooked books. At the very least, they're wasting energy lamenting decisions made a decade ago. That's life. Hell, they seem to forget that those 2010 enrollments led to some pretty sweet union contracts for their members. They make 90th percentile for faculty salaries. PASSHE presidents hover in the 40th percentile.

But if the cuts were easy, they would have been made by now. Regardless of timing, the right decision is rarely easy.

[ironmaniup]

Among today's cuts is Randy Jesick -- one of the most popular and well-liked professors on campus. Randy is also IUP's longest-tenured professor. He's basically an institution within the institution.

It's tough to see one of your best be told to walk out the door. Randy is also an extremely loyal supporter of IUP football and basketball.

He's a first-ballot IUP professor Hall of Famer ... if such a thing existed.

It looks like it will be a bit less than 128, probably because of likely retirements in the near future - why retrench if you expect someone to retire in a year or two,. The entire journalism department was retrenched. There are 2 other departments that were completely retrenched. Panic doesn't make for good decisions.

Around the university, many are throwing Tony Atwater under the bus, blaming him for the terrible deals he made when they built the new dorms, insuring income for the company operating the Dorms whether they were full or not. But even with that, if IUP had around 1500 more students, we'd be OK.- that should have been doable. Anyway, its a hard day at IUP today. .

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Among today's cuts is Randy Jesick -- one of the most popular and well-liked professors on campus. Randy is also IUP's longest-tenured professor. He's basically an institution within the institution.

It's tough to see one of your best be told to walk out the door. Randy is also an extremely loyal supporter of IUP football and basketball.

He's a first-ballot IUP professor Hall of Famer ... if such a thing existed.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

From WCCS-1160:Struzzi Issues Statement on PASSHE, IUP Restructuring

[IUPNation]

Bloom came first, so technically I left Bloom for IUP. I drove to Indiana in a 72 Buick with over 100,000 miles and a piece of plastic serving as the driver side window. It has been all icing on the cake since. .

So IUP put you on the right trajectory in life!!!!

[Bart]

Your high point was going to IUP. Why you gave that up for Bloomsburg confuses me...LOL.

Bloom came first, so technically I left Bloom for IUP. I drove to Indiana in a 72 Buick with over 100,000 miles and a piece of plastic serving as the driver side window. It has been all icing on the cake since. .

[IUPNation]

I couldn't imagine picking a college sight unseen. Imagine being 18 and being delivered to Mansfield.

Each his own.

Hey...being left in Indiana, PA was not easy for someone from Norristown, PA. It was a major adjustment that took well over a few semesters to achieve.

[IUPNation]

I never visited any colleges. I applied to two, and ended up attending seven.

Your high point was going to IUP. Why you gave that up for Bloomsburg confuses me...LOL.

[IUPNation]

My wife enrolled at Edinboro sight unseen. She had originally chosen Clarion. After attending orientation, she was convinced it wasn't the right decision. She bumped into one of her favorite teachers. He told her how he played football at Edinboro, met his wife there, and rattled off a list of kids from her hometown going to Edinboro. That was enough and she did the work to change everything.

I applied only to IUP and Millersville. My parents took me to both. I was only given the option to go to a state system school since they were paying for it and that is what they could afford.

I wanted to go to Millersville because it was an hour from home. I got sent to IUP. Once again, mother knows best.

[IUPNation]

Temple is no different than Oakland (Pittsburgh). You have Pitt and Carnegie Mellon right beside each other. A couple miles over is Duquesne.

By and large, however, I don't think IUP is competing much with those schools (certainly not Carnegie Mellon). Of the 'state schools' IUP competes with for students, ... IUP is the one constantly getting bad press in Western PA. But, hey, if you have three stabbings, two shootings and a murder prior to Halloween ... you deserve some bad press.

Is it a major factor in IUP hitting the ice berg? Probably not. It's probably just one on a long list. But, every body counts at this point.

I will always believe if they can get a kid here, they should land him/her. The campus and town sells itself (compared to the immediate competition). I'd really put an emphasis on that 'first impression' tour of campus. You need sales people (of sorts) in many ways. People need to feel wanted here. Red carpet. The days of Johnny Frat having a part-time job leading tours around campus need to end. Let the campus sell the kids. Let the trained recruiters sell Mom and Dad.

A lot of us have been to many of the campuses we compete with for students. Que the bias but IUP should clobber them in what they have to sell. It's not even close in many comparisons.

We're losing kids to the PSU and Pitt bum-duck campuses. Has anybody every been to Penn State-Altoona or Pitt-Greensburg? Goodness. Close the freaking deal. I know they get that slightly fancier diploma ... but they also have go to 13th grade in the far corner of Greensburg.

You need, to an extent, the same tenacity recruiting 'students' today as when you recruit 'student-athletes'.

Oh Oakland is much nicer than North Philadelphia. Oakland is more like University City where Penn and Drexel are located.

It is odd that as the IUP campus has improved, the less students they have enrolled. I mean I have looked at Slimey on Google Maps Street View and I'm not getting the lure to be there. It looks boring and low energy.

I'm thinking IUP just doesn't have programs that students need to go out and get jobs anymore. Why doesn't IUP have a Physician Assistant Program...there is a flipping hospital within walking distance to the campus that they can hook up with.

Also...kids probably think that IUP isn't that much cheaper than schools with bigger names so they may as well go in full hock and get the bigger school diploma.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I couldn't imagine picking a college sight unseen. Imagine being 18 and being delivered to Mansfield.

Each his own.