18th PSAC Member: Lackawanna College?

[IUPNation]

Not a fun winter road trip.

That can be said about IUP. I spent a few hours stuck in an IUP charter bus going back to Indiana on 422 on that hill valley of death in Revloc just outside of Ebensburg....there were cars stuck on the hill and we couldn't go anywhere.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That can be said about IUP. I spent a few hours stuck in an IUP charter bus going back to Indiana on 422 on that hill valley of death in Revloc just outside of Ebensburg....there were cars stuck on the hill and we couldn't go anywhere.

Altoona to Ebensburg is a total nightmare in the winter.

That mountain goes from normal to total chaos very quickly.

I've had some terrifying drives across there.

[Fightingscot82]

Altoona to Ebensburg is a total nightmare in the winter.

That mountain goes from normal to total chaos very quickly.

I've had some terrifying drives across there.

The hill on 22 at Blairsville, too. The year I was working at Penn State, I once made the mistake of driving back up in the evening during a snowstorm in my Mazda3 sedan. Fortunately it had the manual override transmission to lock it into first gear, but the whole time I thought I was going to die between two semi trucks. That same year got stuck in a van full of students on 22 at Ebensburg. The entire westbound of 22 was closed and we sat there for a couple hours. I'll never regain my lost time calming spoiled Jersey princesses who have never traveled by car in the winter.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The hill on 22 at Blairsville, too. The year I was working at Penn State, I once made the mistake of driving back up in the evening during a snowstorm in my Mazda3 sedan. Fortunately it had the manual override transmission to lock it into first gear, but the whole time I thought I was going to die between two semi trucks. That same year got stuck in a van full of students on 22 at Ebensburg. The entire westbound of 22 was closed and we sat there for a couple hours. I'll never regain my lost time calming spoiled Jersey princesses who have never traveled by car in the winter.

The never-ending ride up the mountain from Altoona up to the top ... that is a freaking wind tunnel in bad weather. You get that heavy snow and it's blowing like crazy ... can't see a thing. I followed two tire tracks one night the entire way up it. I was in a big SUV so the snow wasn't the issue (even though it was several inches) ... it was the dang wind. The visibility seemed like it was about 2'.

It is certainly the wildcard factor to me buying any JoePa tickets in November.

[shipfbfan1]

I just did a quick search and Lackawanna has a total of 333 beds for their students in the 3 dorms. If you have a 90 man football roster that's 223 remaining beds for the rest of the student population WOW lol. I'm curious to see the plans they have to grow the on-campus part of the college including the dorm situation.

[iupgroundhog]

I just did a quick search and Lackawanna has a total of 333 beds for their students in the 3 dorms. If you have a 90 man football roster that's 223 remaining beds for the rest of the student population WOW lol. I'm curious to see the plans they have to grow the on-campus part of the college including the dorm situation.

Upon some self-reflection, I am thinking I might not be as open to the idea if the new entry was in my division, i.e., the West.

[iupgroundhog]

The hill on 22 at Blairsville, too. The year I was working at Penn State, I once made the mistake of driving back up in the evening during a snowstorm in my Mazda3 sedan. Fortunately it had the manual override transmission to lock it into first gear, but the whole time I thought I was going to die between two semi trucks. That same year got stuck in a van full of students on 22 at Ebensburg. The entire westbound of 22 was closed and we sat there for a couple hours. I'll never regain my lost time calming spoiled Jersey princesses who have never traveled by car in the winter.

I, too, almost lost my life on one of those roads in the winter. I think it was Rt. 56 because for some iupgroundhogish reason I like Rt. 56 (because of the desolation of it). I was the only vehicle in sight and I ended up doing 2 complete 360's before regaining control. On my passenger side was about 30 foot embankment. But the topic of LH came up at the beginning of this. FYI, there is an area on I-80 about 15 miles east of the Lock Haven exit where people get killed every couple of years. Because of the lay of the land, these squalls come out of nowhere and drivers can't see anything, causing a semi accident. Drivers can't see what is in front of them so it ends up being a deadly pile up. Drivers say they are in it before they know what to do. You can't even pull off the road when it happens. So, be careful.

[Ship69]

I, too, almost lost my life on one of those roads in the winter. I think it was Rt. 56 because for some iupgroundhogish reason I like Rt. 56 (because of the desolation of it). I was the only vehicle in sight and I ended up doing 2 complete 360's before regaining control. On my passenger side was about 30 foot embankment. But the topic of LH came up at the beginning of this. FYI, there is an area on I-80 about 15 miles east of the Lock Haven exit where people get killed every couple of years. Because of the lay of the land, these squalls come out of nowhere and drivers can't see anything, causing a semi accident. Drivers can't see what is in front of them so it ends up being a deadly pile up. Drivers say they are in it before they know what to do. You can't even pull off the road when it happens. So, be careful.

I had a job for a few years in the '80s that took me all over the place in Pa. and New Jersey. One of the scariest drives I had was going north toward Johnstown on a slippery Rt. 56 with a coal truck filling up my rearview mirror on a downhill stretch. I was in a RWD van (fortunately loaded with books that gave me some weight over the rear axle). There was a large drop to the right of me, and I'd probably have been a goner if I'd lost control. Because of the conditions I couldn't hit the brake hard, and the van was going much faster than I'd have liked. Added a few gray hairs on that trip.

[iupgroundhog]

I had a job for a few years in the '80s that took me all over the place in Pa. and New Jersey. One of the scariest drives I had was going north toward Johnstown on a slippery Rt. 56 with a coal truck filling up my rearview mirror on a downhill stretch. I was in a RWD van (fortunately loaded with books that gave me some weight over the rear axle). There was a large drop to the right of me, and I'd probably have been a goner if I'd lost control. Because of the conditions I couldn't hit the brake hard, and the van was going much faster than I'd have liked. Added a few gray hairs on that trip.

Sounds like it might have been the same place. And no guardrails or anything on that side of the road, not that they would have stopped me.

[ESU Warrior]

I will try to give you guys some first hand information here.

Lackawanna currently has 3 dorms, 1 main academic building in downtown Scranton, a student union (the old catholic youth center), and a dining hall. Their student union is where their basketballl, wrestling, and volleyball play. They also have branch campuses, In Philadelphia they have Pierce, and north of us here in NEPA they have a campus for the students that want to study fracking.

They own quit a bit of land in the area, and have been sitting on it and waiting for the right time to upgrade (they have been trying to get into the PSAC for a couple of years. All the way back when CU got knocked out). Their footnball program is solid., They are one of the best JUCO's in the nation (last chance U actually waned to do their season 5 on them). Their baseball team just lost in the world series this week.

There was a coaches meeting on Tuesday night to explain this move, and I'll share what I was told. Since it has been in the works they may get the expediated 2 year transition. They will still play a JUCO schedule for 2025, but anticipate them on the schedules the following year.

Yes they share the local high school stadium, but to be honest those locker rooms are bigger and nicer than the ones most PSAC schools offer to their visitors. They are also planning on putting in their own turf field right near Memorial stadium as they own a bunch of the old warehouses in the area. They are also in negotiationis to purchase RIverfront Sports complex (its a indoor turfed facility with 3 soccer fields. Many of the local high school teams rent it out during inclement weather. There is also 3 indoor basketball courts, and a gym, so their sports teams can have their own "bubble" to use year round). They also own a giant medical building across the street from their main academic building, which houses their dining hall. Word is that is going to be possibly built into a big dormitory. They do acknowledged that their facilites do need upgrades, and they do have plans to build a new athletic faciltiy too (where I do not know).

As far as scholarships; I was told "they want to compete and offer up to the max".

As far as football, their team is good. They have competed in many bowl games and they hav flown their team around the country to compete with some of the best. They are committed to winning. I've seen them play and they have some dogs. They put out MANY D1 and D2 kids each year. Of course this will change now as they need the NCAA qualifiers, but they do have a reputation in the region and out of state. Also, there is virtually no college football in the Scranton area (Keystone added it 7 years ago but they are about to close their campus. That was a last ditch effort to bring in more bodies for money).

Lackawanna does have money. They tried to purchase Clarks Summit University when that closed a few years ago, and were ready to purcahse Keystone college until they received their life preserver to stay open.

From a football standpoint Coach Duda has been there for over 20 years. He played in the NFL and is very experienced. In the last month or so, since rumor of them joining the PSAC has been around up here, there has been some positive buzz. In the Scranton area we have roughly 75,000 people and when you look at the surrounding counties you have iver half a million. What does this all mean? I do not knoiw. I can't speak on St. Vincent's, but from one posters thoughts they don;t measure up to Lackawanna. I am also sure that Mr. Murray is aware of Lackawanna's future plans, and wouldn't have given them an invitation if he didn't think they were worthy. If I hear of anything else I will share as I know each individual coach/team has their AD meetings next week to discuss the transition.

[Ship69]

Does anyone know what the actual enrollment is at Lackawanna — on and off campus? I'm just curious as Penn State is closing some of its branch campuses that have 600-700 students.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I will try to give you guys some first hand information here.

Lackawanna currently has 3 dorms, 1 main academic building in downtown Scranton, a student union (the old catholic youth center), and a dining hall. Their student union is where their basketballl, wrestling, and volleyball play. They also have branch campuses, In Philadelphia they have Pierce, and north of us here in NEPA they have a campus for the students that want to study fracking.

They own quit a bit of land in the area, and have been sitting on it and waiting for the right time to upgrade (they have been trying to get into the PSAC for a couple of years. All the way back when CU got knocked out). Their footnball program is solid., They are one of the best JUCO's in the nation (last chance U actually waned to do their season 5 on them). Their baseball team just lost in the world series this week.

There was a coaches meeting on Tuesday night to explain this move, and I'll share what I was told. Since it has been in the works they may get the expediated 2 year transition. They will still play a JUCO schedule for 2025, but anticipate them on the schedules the following year.

Yes they share the local high school stadium, but to be honest those locker rooms are bigger and nicer than the ones most PSAC schools offer to their visitors. They are also planning on putting in their own turf field right near Memorial stadium as they own a bunch of the old warehouses in the area. They are also in negotiationis to purchase RIverfront Sports complex (its a indoor turfed facility with 3 soccer fields. Many of the local high school teams rent it out during inclement weather. There is also 3 indoor basketball courts, and a gym, so their sports teams can have their own "bubble" to use year round). They also own a giant medical building across the street from their main academic building, which houses their dining hall. Word is that is going to be possibly built into a big dormitory. They do acknowledged that their facilites do need upgrades, and they do have plans to build a new athletic faciltiy too (where I do not know).

As far as scholarships; I was told "they want to compete and offer up to the max".

As far as football, their team is good. They have competed in many bowl games and they hav flown their team around the country to compete with some of the best. They are committed to winning. I've seen them play and they have some dogs. They put out MANY D1 and D2 kids each year. Of course this will change now as they need the NCAA qualifiers, but they do have a reputation in the region and out of state. Also, there is virtually no college football in the Scranton area (Keystone added it 7 years ago but they are about to close their campus. That was a last ditch effort to bring in more bodies for money).

Lackawanna does have money. They tried to purchase Clarks Summit University when that closed a few years ago, and were ready to purcahse Keystone college until they received their life preserver to stay open.

From a football standpoint Coach Duda has been there for over 20 years. He played in the NFL and is very experienced. In the last month or so, since rumor of them joining the PSAC has been around up here, there has been some positive buzz. In the Scranton area we have roughly 75,000 people and when you look at the surrounding counties you have iver half a million. What does this all mean? I do not knoiw. I can't speak on St. Vincent's, but from one posters thoughts they don;t measure up to Lackawanna. I am also sure that Mr. Murray is aware of Lackawanna's future plans, and wouldn't have given them an invitation if he didn't think they were worthy. If I hear of anything else I will share as I know each individual coach/team has their AD meetings next week to discuss the transition.

The interesting item to watch unfold is how the 'NCAA Qualifiers' changes everything. I mean, BIG time.

Lackawanna types are easy to sell when there is (essentially) no academic requirement and the players have very few choices. They essentially were known as a powerhouse 'Last Chance U'.

They won't be able to sniff most of those guys now. If some of those players qualified, they sure as hell wouldn't be in D2.

No doubt there is potential there. But, it's not going to happen overnight.

[iupgroundhog]

The interesting item to watch unfold is how the 'NCAA Qualifiers' changes everything. I mean, BIG time.

Lackawanna types are easy to sell when there is (essentially) no academic requirement and the players have very few choices. They essentially were known as a powerhouse 'Last Chance U'.

They won't be able to sniff most of those guys now. If some of those players qualified, they sure as hell wouldn't be in D2.

No doubt there is potential there. But, it's not going to happen overnight.

It is interesting because most of their JUCO players go there BECAUSE they are not NCAA-eligible. It may not happen overnight. But it could happen overnight. That would be a concern for me if I'm in the PSAC East. They will recruit some of their JUCO players to continue on with the team so they won't be starting from scratch. Plus, i assume the connections the coach and program have nationwide will help them to recruit.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It is interesting because most of their JUCO players go there BECAUSE they are not NCAA-eligible. It may not happen overnight. But it could happen overnight. That would be a concern for me if I'm in the PSAC East. They will recruit some of their JUCO players to continue on with the team so they won't be starting from scratch. Plus, i assume the connections the coach and program have nationwide will help them to recruit.

I do question where all the $$ is allegedly coming from?

[Fightingscot82]

Does anyone know what the actual enrollment is at Lackawanna — on and off campus? I'm just curious as Penn State is closing some of its branch campuses that have 600-700 students.

This is all what the federal department of education has on file.

Lackawanna reports 1,939 students. 1/3 are age 25 or older. Open admissions profile (usually means complete admissions packet and furnish proof of HS diploma or GED). Their total housing has a capacity of 313 students. That's not missing a digit.

Lackawanna is in the process of merging with Peirce College, 125 miles South. Peirce reports 872 students. 91% of students are age 25 or older. No housing.

In total, 2,811 students and about the enrollment size of Lock Haven.