PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Fightingscot82]

IUP is expected to around 8900 students. The freshman class is bigger than last years.

https://www.wccsradio.com/2022/08/21...-begin-at-iup/

That's better than I had heard - rumor was 7,900 but I felt that was low.

[IUPNation]

IUP is expected to around 8900 students. The freshman class is bigger than last years.

https://www.wccsradio.com/2022/08/21...-begin-at-iup/

[Ship69]

I work at universities but there's still a lot of elitism. I've met a lot of really unintelligent people who went to D1 and "name" schools. I've been complimented many times that I exceeded the expectation for a PASSHE alum.

I certainly knew a lot of people attending Penn State in the '60s who were no smarter than the average PASSHE student. My roommate at Ship went up to Penn State to take some summer courses and got better grades than he did at Ship.

[IUPNation]

Locally, Duquesne people all think they are in the Ivy League. They are probably the worst of the local 'name' schools. Pitt people tend to think PASSHE schools are part of CCAC.

[Fightingscot82]

Locally, Duquesne people all think they are in the Ivy League. They are probably the worst of the local 'name' schools. Pitt people tend to think PASSHE schools are part of CCAC.

I agree. People who could never afford sending their kids to Our Lady of the Yinzer Neighborhood have their kids take out crazy debt and hold it up like little Braden is going to Notre Dame.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I work at universities but there's still a lot of elitism. I've met a lot of really unintelligent people who went to D1 and "name" schools. I've been complimented many times that I exceeded the expectation for a PASSHE alum.

Locally, Duquesne people all think they are in the Ivy League. They are probably the worst of the local 'name' schools. Pitt people tend to think PASSHE schools are part of CCAC.

[Fightingscot82]

I work at universities but there's still a lot of elitism. I've met a lot of really unintelligent people who went to D1 and "name" schools. I've been complimented many times that I exceeded the expectation for a PASSHE alum.

[IUPNation]

Congrats on being able to retire early. It seems like we overlapped a few years on campus.

You are right about the kids being programmed to go to big schools. The University of Jawja just welcomed its biggest freshman class in its history. Winning a foosball title can do that.

[IUPTrackMan]

[Fightingscot82]

From the rumor that was going around it was 2 head coaching jobs. Very interesting for sure.

Yes very. Lafayette was open. So was Delaware. Alot of Pioneer and low level jobs. Probably some truth in the rumor. I wouldn't be surprised if he was called and asked to apply or consider applying. A lot of the openings are state schools who can't make outright offers.

[IUP PSAC Fan]

Coordinator jobs or head coach? Tort makes about $138,500 with great benefits and unlimited time off. Plus I believe he's a yinzer so his family is here. I think it would take gonzo money to move him. The PSAC is a place to get comfortable.

From the rumor that was going around it was 2 head coaching jobs. Very interesting for sure.

[Fightingscot82]

Coordinator jobs or head coach? Tort makes about $138,500 with great benefits and unlimited time off. Plus I believe he's a yinzer so his family is here. I think it would take gonzo money to move him. The PSAC is a place to get comfortable.

[IUP PSAC Fan]

Tort is young enough he should be here another 10 years. He has to keep winning, obviously. His career record is strong (and if they could've punt protected he'd have two more wins).

The program currently has a good support structure, donor-wise (although it could be better).

The home side just keeps getting older by the year. Hopefully the next wave of supporters starts to emerge.

[Fightingscot82]

Tepper cleaned up a similar situation at Edinboro in 2000. Players, alumni, and community members walked away when Tom Hollman was fired.

[Matt Burglund]

The program needed a change at the end of the Frank era. His last team was bad and his recruiting seemed to really fall off.

President Tony Atwater made two big hires. He totally flopped on THE Lou Tepper, but he hit a grand slam with Joe Lombardi. I don't think there's any question Joe has the premier program on campus.

I think you have to really go back in time and consider the culture of the administration at the time TLT was hired. Many inside Sutton (academic types and admin not pro-football) were sick and tired of the constant blackeye coming out of the football program. Frank's teams had a ton of excitement on the field in the 90s and early 00s -- and, well, they also had a hell of a lot excitement off the field. It is my belief Atwater got heavy influence to hire a 'Mr. Perfect' type coach who could really clean up the culture of the program. TLT did accomplish that much.

However, the product wasn't very good. The heavy brass here doesn't like losing and eventually pulled enough weight to pull the plug on TLT.

There was that big brawl in the spring of 2005 that a ton of players got caught up in. I believe if it hadn't happened, Tom Rogish would have been the next HC at IUP. But the administration made the decision it did to clean up what it saw as a mess. I get it. Lou Tepper came in with a plan and a clean reputation.

The problem for Tepper was in scholarships. The lowest total IUP has had this century came in 2005, Frank's final season. Tepper got 17, 18, 18, 21, and 20 during his tenure, well below what was needed at the time to compete with Cal (35 schollies in 2009, 2010, and 2011). There were stories about prominent alumni who stopped giving when Rogish didn't get the job, and Tepper admitted that fundraising wasn't his thing. So he spent money in the best way he thought of to offset the lack of scholarships. He went the JUCO route on a lot of guys, most of which were busts.

But if you look at the 2012 team, the one many consider the best IUP team in the past 20 years or so, a huge number of the key players were recruits or transfers from the Tepper era (Pat Smith, Tuck, DiPasquale, Matha, N.Carnicella, Dovales, Thornton, Akeem Smith, J.Franco, et. al.)

A lot of people think Tepper was a failure at IUP. I think if he had more scholarships and didn't have to rely on guys like Bo Napoleon, he would have fared better. For the image of the program, he was the right hire. But he entered an unwinable situation because he was not part of the IUP Family and his things like the mission statement and "Tough and Classy!" just came across wrong. Great guy. Great example of class and compassion. But those years just didn't feel right for anyone. I think he was uncomfortable and found land mines that he had been told didn't exist.