Matt Brown, one of the foremost reporters on conference realignment, responded to a rumor of Mercyhurst and several NE10 schools moving up by saying, "Mercyhurst is legit, but I don't think the other three are nearly as serious or far along in that process."
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Rumor: Mercyhurst to Division I?
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Originally posted by Ship69 View PostThey can't beat Shippensburg and several other PSAC schools in football, are a small school without a big following, and want to go Division I? Certainly would seem a stretch to me, but I suppose stranger things have happened.
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Looking at their facilities they'd need major updates especially to the football stadium & basketball arena. Not to mention discounting additional tuitions for scholarships. As it stands right now they'd have the smallest FB/BB facilities in all of Division 1. Only selling point would be hey we're division 1 you won't make the playoffs but you can play money games against big boys and get blown out lol. Don't see that happening. Now if you said WCU/IUP and they had alumni backing I'd see it more of a reality but they're tied to the state and won't ever get the opportunity.
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Originally posted by shipfbfan1 View PostLooking at their facilities they'd need major updates especially to the football stadium & basketball arena. Not to mention discounting additional tuitions for scholarships. As it stands right now they'd have the smallest FB/BB facilities in all of Division 1. Only selling point would be hey we're division 1 you won't make the playoffs but you can play money games against big boys and get blown out lol. Don't see that happening. Now if you said WCU/IUP and they had alumni backing I'd see it more of a reality but they're tied to the state and won't ever get the opportunity.
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Originally posted by Fightingscot82 View Post
I believe the NEC now requires 54 scholarships for football. There's no way IUP or West Chester can do that.
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Originally posted by shipfbfan1 View Post
If they charged an athletic fee I believe they would be able to with not being under the PASHEE umbrella. Is it smart no but with WCU having over 15k they could charge $100 per student and that's $1.7 million for the 54 scholarships for football and the additional ones needed for both M/W basketball. I see that IUP is well below the 12k students they had a few years back so I agree they are in no way ready for the leap even if they broke off from the PASHEE especially since they'd need upgrades to their FB stadium. At least WCU has a FCS ready stadium and has capacity to bring in a larger name school like Delaware, Nova as with standing room only you can have 8-9k there. Hollinger is a different story they'd have to move the game off campus if it was a large program traveling or play on the road.
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Originally posted by shipfbfan1 View Post
If they charged an athletic fee I believe they would be able to with not being under the PASHEE umbrella. Is it smart no but with WCU having over 15k they could charge $100 per student and that's $1.7 million for the 54 scholarships for football and the additional ones needed for both M/W basketball. I see that IUP is well below the 12k students they had a few years back so I agree they are in no way ready for the leap even if they broke off from the PASHEE especially since they'd need upgrades to their FB stadium. At least WCU has a FCS ready stadium and has capacity to bring in a larger name school like Delaware, Nova as with standing room only you can have 8-9k there. Hollinger is a different story they'd have to move the game off campus if it was a large program traveling or play on the road.
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Originally posted by ctrabs74 View Post
Compared to LIU and maybe a couple of other NEC schools, Farrell is probably the Taj Mahal by comparison.
Compared to, say, Central Washington or even Villanova, not so much...
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Originally posted by Fightingscot82 View PostKnowing what I know about Mercyhurst, I doubt it. The rumor or conversation likely started because they already play several NEC schools in D1 hockey. The travel costs would be insane for a school of their financial capacity.
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It was mentioned 'hurst could possibly consider dropping fb to move up to DI. They recently dropped a lot of money into their athletic fields so its very doubtful if that would happen. I could see the move but as a former coach, it is a long process to move divisions and there are several specific pieces that must be in place (or at least there was a while ago) such as enrollment size, facility size, sports offered, etc. It would be a financial investment and then finding a conference to let them in, then they'd only be provisional for a couple years at that. Hurst FB travels overnight even if the game is a couple hrs away.
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