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RPI 2024 Off-Season: Was 2023 – 2024 Just a Bad Dream?

Wicked Slappaahs said:
FWIW -- Colgate's '65 rink seats 2,000 for hockey -- it was very tastefully done and fits in very well on the campus. Also, Union's new rink will seat 2,200 for hockey -- these are smart decisions in not over building a facility given historic attendance patterns.
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The Colgate rink is very nice, indeed. My main criticism of it is that it appears 3/4th empty on most game nights for the men. The women's hockey team seems to draw better. Basketball draws better and with some recent NCAA tournament appearances, there might have been some momentum for a gift like this.
 
jericho said:
we could hire Shirley’s bodyguards to knock people over if they try to get in!
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Might be a bit on the dangerous side. The guns they carried may have gone off like Plaxico Burris's did back when.

Almost seems unimaginable now, but, it was transported to events including athletics by a supposedly (never verified) bullet proof limo, accompanied by an armed security force with the limo left running for the entirety of an event to maintain the internal cab temperature at a specified level. Guess the organization's green initiative was nothing but rules for thee but not for me!!!

Fast forward to these days and when turning on to Sunset Terrace to go to a football game at ECAV Stadium you sometimes drive right by the couple currently occupying the mansion as they walk from it to the stadium by themselves with no detail in sight and without what was once the "required and necessary" protection.

Seeing stuff change like that first hand at least give you some modicum of hope that things at the D1 level may start showing some signs of things getting a little more competitive and relevant.

Sure hope so, if for no other reason, than the technology challenged occupant of this house finally turned in the cable box, replaced it with Wi Fi and Zumo and actually figured out how to watch some of the NCAA baseball tournament on computer (a ten year old desktop) via ESPN+. Hopefully by next fall, things get better enough on the hockey front around here to provide enough incentive to figure out how to actually send the damned signal to the TV!!! Based on the postings here throughout last season, it did not appear that people who already had this service derived a whole lot of enjoyment from it!!! In fact, they seemed outright miserable thanks to ESPN+.
 
Today is 5 June 2024. There are 122 days (4 months) until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 5 October 2024 for the start of next season.
 
Tony/Troy- There was a time when Jenny and I were going to subscribe to ESPN+. Not for the RPI games, but to get all the NHL games they supposedly broadcast. But as we found out, we are in a blackout zone for certain games! Those include all NY Ranger games (the entire reason to subscribe for us), all NJ Devils games, all NY Islander games and all Philadelphia Flyer games!! Apparently, NHL network has the same blackout rules so we could not get to see any of those 4 teams (home or away games are all included in the blackout). We are included in the overlapping blackout restriction area for all 4 of those teams.
 
DrDemento said:
We would make areas available for rental to anyone who has an interest. Since Ralph is like a founding father around here he would get a rather large discount of course! Seriously, right at this time I feel the school needs a new modern facility but that it might be unwise to do this in the very near term. Interest rates, inflation, etc. are just not stable enough and might not be until some time after the upcoming election. Perhaps what happens in November will not make any difference but personally I am not willing to place that bet and would withhold any major financial commitment or taking on any major debt until I see how things work out. Just my opinion and I freely admit that my expertise is mostly medical in nature but I am not sure we have enough information that we can trust to make major financial judgements at this time.
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All great points Doc. Many projects have been tabled due to inflation which contrary to what the media tell us, is rampant. They wouldn't need to start buildng now, but the campaign to raise $$$ should start now....if that was the direction they decide on.
 
Wicked Slappaahs said:
All great points Doc. Many projects have been tabled due to inflation which contrary to what the media tell us, is rampant. They wouldn't need to start buildng now, but the campaign to raise $$$ should start now....if that was the direction they decide on.
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Raising money is never a bad idea! Spending it is not always wise. I have listened and watched as we have been told inflation was now down to about 3%. All I can say is that I wish they would tell that to my car insurance company, my home owner's insurance company, my local real estate tax collector, and each and every restaurant that we have been out to for dinner in the past months. We are still living a comfortable life and paying our bills but only because we are at a stage in life that we have reached after making many of the right decisions earlier. I do not like to pissed upon and told that it is raining.
As you indicated, a great time to begin accumulating with secure investments like CD's at 5% or better. I have no clue how much would be needed or how many would contribute but we only stopped helping out once the SAJ era took hold and we became aware of what was happening.
 
In an era when it seems like all we hear about in regard to college hockey players is transfer portals, NIL payments, and just about anything except academic achievement, I'd like to offer congratulations to Jack Brackett, Jakob Lee, and Nick Strom, all of whom achieved 4.0 GPAs for the spring semester.
 
Today is 6 June 2024. There are 121 days until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 5 October 2024 for the start of next season.
 
Waite21 said:
In an era when it seems like all we hear about in regard to college hockey players is transfer portals, NIL payments, and just about anything except academic achievement, I'd like to offer congratulations to Jack Brackett, Jakob Lee, and Nick Strom, all of whom achieved 4.0 GPAs for the spring semester.
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Congratulations to those player/students. RPI is not an easy place to score 4.0. Well done.
 
Today is 7 June 2024. There are 120 days until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 5 October 2024 for the start of next season.
 
For those interested, the Business Review did an article (there is a pay wall) featuring Schmidt and his efforts to jump start an RPI / Rensselaer County / Capital Region business incubator efforts in downtown Troy, after the previous operation was mothballed about ten years ago. He is modeling the effort after MIT's extremely successful Kendall Square in Cambridge which he was closely involved in.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/...y-startup-incubator-quackenbush-building.html
 
Ralph Baer said:
and even motor cars which run by electricity
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Not anything I would be interested in. Far too many negatives and unanswered questions yet for me. Was thinking about what the market will be for a used EV about 5-10 years down the road and what you could expect to either sell one for or trade in. Not sure many folks want to take on an old battery that costs quite a bit to replace and one that may not be readily available if needed.
 
Today is 8 June 2024. There are 119 days (17 weeks) until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 5 October 2024 for the start of next season.
 
Per Ralph's request
There is no mention of RPI in the article. Given the arc of Pres. Jackson's tenure, many of us on this board were critical of how RPI was being managed. Pres. Schmidt has earned praise in his brief time in office. Many (most?) colleges will face problems (declining enrollment, relevance of courses, online alternatives, parents/students pushing back on cost of college degree, etc) like the ones Union is beginning to address. How has RPI positioned themselves to address this challenge? And what will it mean for RPI (endowment between $850-900 million)?

Overview of Article (it's end of the day for me... hope I'm doing this justice)
Moody's Investors Services 'has downgraded Union College to a "negative" financial outlook' predicting a 'multiyear budget deficit, criticizing the college for offering too much financial aid to fill its classes.' The Times Union article did not report when Moody's issued this assessment.

Union College administrators met with their faculty last week to recommend starting a curriculum task force to consider two to three new majors, which would likely be interdisciplinary majors that included engineering. Only 70 of 192 faculty voted to support the task force. Arts and humanities professors are feeling this proposal undervalues their fields. Administrators said there was 'no budget for new positions', so faculty were wondering how many current positions would be cut to accommodate new interdisciplinary majors. And where would the cuts be?

Union identifies itself as a liberal arts and engineering college. The problem described in this article will put new stresses on that balance.

This task force is not in response to declining enrollment which has been steady around 2,000 undergrads. There was no mention in the article of increasing enrollment or the size of college. It's thought that new majors would be in emerging fields that were in demand which would draw more applicants. They "seek more students who would not require hefty financial aid to attend." "In order to be able to cut back on financial aid, you need to have the demand... you need the curriculum the students clamor for."

Union administrators say this is not like St. Rose or Wells, two other private New York colleges that closed this month. Union's endowment: about $500 million. "This is not some desperate effort to stave off the inevitable by gutting programs." Administrators want to begin the discussion now, "the world's not going to wait for it to take five years."
 
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Today is 9 June 2024. There are 118 days until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 5 October 2024 for the start of next season.
 
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