Union College hockey 2025-26 thread

Wicked Slappaahs said:

I've been inside and have tickets to the RPI-Union tilt... which were not hard to come by BTW (for those critical of the size of the joint.)

You don't seem to realize what a miracle Union having a new rink really is. Celebrate it !! Schools like Union are an endangered species in the northeast....the very existence of the institution as a whole is not a given -- with declining enrollment and demographic headwinds. The T/U article discreetly details the challenges Union is facing for its future. Including a hiring freeze, slashed retirement contributions, etc.

"...This year’s admissions results provide an even greater sense of urgency around the need to accelerate the difficult, change-making work needed to secure a strong future for Union,” Harris wrote.

Union College falls short on enrollment with big loss of international students

Union College has fallen short in filling its freshman class for two years, and is now pulling millions of dollars from its endowment to balance its budget, college President David Harris said.

www.timesunion.com

The hockey programs have been, and thanks to the new barn, will continue to be a stellar promotional tool for the school.

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I spoke with Harris and his team on a conference call with Alumni shortly after he took office. I pointed him at research by Christianson at HBS, suggesting that unsustainable business models would cause 50% of all 4-year colleges to be out of business (or merged with other schools) by 2030. I also tried to emphasize the importance of the hockey program and hoped that he would focus on strategy and our survival. Are the school's assumptions about itself correct? Arrogance builds barriers. Does our board recruit heavyweight new members outside of the Union Family that can help us? Union also has a "Governance Problem," which is going to prevent a strong strategic leader from ever being hired or ever being allowed to prevent it from going off a cliff. I look at RPI's new president and board of directors with great envy.

Dutchman said:

I spoke with Harris and his team on a conference call with Alumni shortly after he took office. I pointed him at research by Christianson at HBS, suggesting that unsustainable business models would cause 50% of all 4-year colleges to be out of business (or merged with other schools) by 2030. I also tried to emphasize the importance of the hockey program and hoped that he would focus on strategy and our survival. Are the school's assumptions about itself correct? Arrogance builds barriers. Does our board recruit heavyweight new members outside of the Union Family that can help us? Union also has a "Governance Problem," which is going to prevent a strong strategic leader from ever being hired or ever being allowed to prevent it from going off a cliff. I look at RPI's new president and board of directors with great envy.

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Dutchman and I sometimes disagree on things, but on this I couldn’t agree with this more. Harris lacked anything resembling a vision, and the board is no better. The faculty is worse - ossified, short-sighted, and self-interested. I am hoping market forces will ultimately give Union no choice but to adapt and evolve; I think at least the new president understands that the status quo is simply not an option, but it remains to be seen whether she can get the board and faculty to do anything other than the college governance equivalent of smelling their own farts.

If anyone made it on Saturday, any impressions of the new facility on an actual men's hockey gamenight?

I never understood why Union dedicated a larger section to students at the new rink, when student support was often spotty at best at Messa. Students turned out for the first game against Army, but their section was almost embarrassingly empty tonight.

ecachawkeyfan said:

I never understood why Union dedicated a larger section to students at the new rink, when student support was often spotty at best at Messa. Students turned out for the first game against Army, but their section was almost embarrassingly empty tonight.

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It was not exams. The Fall semester runs from August 19 to December 12, 2025. Going forward, it will be interesting to see what attendance looks like.

Dutchman said:

It was not exams. The Fall semester runs from August 19 to December 12, 2025. Going forward, it will be interesting to see what attendance looks like.

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Watching this evening's game it looks like the new building is a nice facility. However, I've rarely seen a new rink that has such an awkward camera position. The main play-by-play cam is at center ice but absurdly high for such a small facility. Is it mounted on top of the press box? When play is along the near boards the downward angle is almost uncomfortable.

As for the student section it again appears embarrassingly empty. However, the opponent is Niagara. I expect they will turn out in better numbers for RPI, Cornell, Q, etc.

The students generally don’t show up for October out of conference games, even when the team is expected to be very good. Student attendance only picks up in the winter when the team is winning. And it’s never a ton - the student body is now under 2000. In any event, I think it made sense giving the students the entire end - the situations where the building sells out are the same situations where the students will be there; it’s not like those seats are going to empty for games where people can’t otherwise get a ticket.

Thomas Kaine said:

It’s a 30-year trend. Union’s endowment relative to its preferred “peers” (lower end of NESCAC, etc.) has lagged over time due to a mix of weak alumni giving and investment performance. But it’s mostly a function of location - strong/affluent students have become MUCH more location sensitive than they used to be, with a preference for wealthy urban environments or cute small town locations. In the 90s, Union, BC, BU, and Skidmore all had about the same acceptance rates (mid-40s); Union’s remain there, while Skidmore is now at 22%, BC at 16%, and BU at 11%. Most smart rich kids don’t want to have anything to do with Schenectady. It’s sad, because there’s not much Union can do. In reality, their best bet is to become less selective and expand their offerings, with a model closer to Siena or Quinnipiac (both of which are thriving), but the faculty’s ego would never tolerate that.

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You are quite correct. It is a long term trend.... In no particular order these factors weigh heavily:

- Shrinking northeast population: Sustained outward migration from northeastern states....taking their family wealth with them.

- The families that remain in the northeast are having fewer children.

- Of that smaller pool of potential applicants, only a fraction of those students are interested in staying in the NE. (There's a reason the southern /southwestern / western schools are booming -- kids want to go to warmer climates, or proximity to vibrant regions, cities , big time athletics, etc. etc. )

- Uncontrolled tuition increases: Something like a 65% increase in higher ed tuition in the last decade alone. Families are simply priced out of many institutions.
Schools attempt to cover declining enrollment with tuition increases only hastening their financial struggles, as students stay away.

- Unwilling or unable to cut programs or personnel, reluctance to innovate with new degree programs, it's a death spiral for many small independents.

- With many family incomes not keeping pace, they are simply priced out of many institutions.