LHU Relieves Kelling of HC Duties.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Job posted

https://ncaamarket.ncaa.org/jobs/rss...medium=twitter

Help Wanted: Captain of Titanic

[Bart]

Wasn't Southern Columbia High School coach Jim Roth a candidate for that job once upon a time?

Right. That was a long time ago. I don't remember who they picked over him.

[CC_BU]

Wasn't Southern Columbia High School coach Jim Roth a candidate for that job once upon a time?

[Bart]

Job posted

https://ncaamarket.ncaa.org/jobs/rss...medium=twitter

[iupgroundhog]

My guess he was pushing for more scholarships and a bigger slice of the athletic pie. I've read some say he was fighting for the players and the administration didn't care. It's interesting that their football page had headlines stating a D2 Scholarship Program and players were tweeting they were offered and accepting scholarship offers to attend LHU, when they have so few to offer.

If that's the case I think he should have understood the financial situation when he took the job. Plus, the scholarship situation is now his responsibility to deal with, right?

The program is definitely spinning its wheels. As I recall, they had an interim coach before they hired Kelling. The guy was an assistant coach and I believe had been named D2 Asst. Coach of the Year or some such national honor. He had been in charge of recruiting and seemed like a great candidate to inherit the program but they hired Kelling.and the interim guy went elsewhere.

[Bart]

Hopefully, for LHU's sake, there isn't some kind of violation involved. It makes me wonder, though.

My guess he was pushing for more scholarships and a bigger slice of the athletic pie. I've read some say he was fighting for the players and the administration didn't care. It's interesting that their football page had headlines stating a D2 Scholarship Program and players were tweeting they were offered and accepting scholarship offers to attend LHU, when they have so few to offer.

[iupgroundhog]

Will be difficult to find a head coach to take this job, especially with the lack of scholarships.

I don' know if it's the lack of scholarships or the losing tradition. Maybe Bloom's Sheptock can coach both teams. They share a President.

[ShoNuff]

Will be difficult to find a head coach to take this job, especially with the lack of scholarships.

[Matt Burglund]

As LH plays 'up' in two sports ... could they play 'down' in football (and move to D3)?

I don't think so.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

As LH plays 'up' in two sports ... could they play 'down' in football (and move to D3)?

[iupgroundhog]

There is a difference between making statements and taking action. You could say that the coaching change itself is "moving in a different direction", which is just a standard, meaningless phrase.

[Fightingscot82]

Exactly. And in these small markets, who is ever going to put the president or AD on record answering that question? Or even having them publicly outline their vision for the program? If the answer is to just have a stabile program regardless of success (and reap the annual reward in tuition revenue) then they should have kept Kelling. Or Taynor. Or Klacik.

[CALUPA69]

By choice, according to your model, LHU has 4 if you include Women's Field Hockey , also D1. Luckily, there is something called diversity in the world and all athletic programs are not the same. Trust me, as someone who grew up in LH and has been a fervent Bald Eagle Wrestling fan for over 50 years, LHU isn't going to give up having a major wrestling program in exchange for a couple more wins in football each year. That's not who they are.

As for FH, that D1 program is a legacy from the overall strong women's athletics they have had in many sports for decades (actually going back to before the Ms. Taylor era). Generally, there is a lot of pressure from the women's side, e.g. the boys have their D1 program so the girls should, too. And that's the way it is. Just like the difference between D1 and D2 in football, that difference exists in these other sports, too. I have no problem with LHU's athletics being structured the way it is. They are the only D2 affiliated school that has two D1 sports. They don't want to give that up. Now, who knows how the triad evolves and what it will mean for athletics.

I like the fact that LHU plays D1 FH as opposed to the sham D2 version. A college sport with 36 teams should not be eligible for a so called National Championship. Of the 36 teams in D2 field hockey 11 are PSAC and 11 in the NE10. Winning the league title is impressive and rewarding. Having a NC tournament between two leagues and assorted others shouldn't be a thing.

[Matt Burglund]

By choice, according to your model, LHU has 4 if you include Women's Field Hockey , also D1. Luckily, there is something called diversity in the world and all athletic programs are not the same. Trust me, as someone who grew up in LH and has been a fervent Bald Eagle Wrestling fan for over 50 years, LHU isn't going to give up having a major wrestling program in exchange for a couple more wins in football each year. That's not who they are.

As for FH, that D1 program is a legacy from the overall strong women's athletics they have had in many sports for decades (actually going back to before the Ms. Taylor era). Generally, there is a lot of pressure from the women's side, e.g. the boys have their D1 program so the girls should, too. And that's the way it is. Just like the difference between D1 and D2 in football, that difference exists in these other sports, too. I have no problem with LHU's athletics being structured the way it is. They are the only D2 affiliated school that has two D1 sports. They don't want to give that up. Now, who knows how the triad evolves and what it will mean for athletics.

[Fightingscot82]

By choice, according to your model, LHU has 4 if you include Women's Field Hockey , also D1. Luckily, there is something called diversity in the world and all athletic programs are not the same. Trust me, as someone who grew up in LH and has been a fervent Bald Eagle Wrestling fan for over 50 years, LHU isn't going to give up having a major wrestling program in exchange for a couple more wins in football each year. That's not who they are.

As for FH, that D1 program is a legacy from the overall strong women's athletics they have had in many sports for decades (actually going back to before the Ms. Taylor era). Generally, there is a lot of pressure from the women's side, e.g. the boys have their D1 program so the girls should, too. And that's the way it is. Just like the difference between D1 and D2 in football, that difference exists in these other sports, too. I have no problem with LHU's athletics being structured the way it is. They are the only D2 affiliated school that has two D1 sports. They don't want to give that up. Now, who knows how the triad evolves and what it will mean for athletics.

Totally agree. In the mid-80s when Edinboro decided to go D1 in wrestling, it was to the detriment of men's basketball and baseball. When Bruce became AD and elevated them even more, he cut sports & pushed resources from football to boost wrestling. I'd rather be back on the level Edinboro football was in the 80s and 90s, but I can't say it would increase Edinboro's profile the way wrestling has. Its also something somewhat unique to Edinboro. Rural PA does love their wrestling, especially NWPA. I still meet a lot of people who tell me their only time on Edinboro's campus was for a wrestling camp.

My hope is that the four schools with D1 wrestling (all coincidentally involved in mergers) can figure out a way to preserve solid D1 wrestling while also finding additional resources for football (and basketball). The IUP & Cal model doesn't exactly work as effectively because you're splitting 3 ways instead of 2 (what I was trying to get at before). There are a lot of bitter alumni at schools that have cut wrestling (understandably) but those schools have also significantly increased their profile in other sports. Cal - football, IUP - basketball, SRU - football and at the D1 level, Duquesne - football, Miami U - hockey.