Union Was Considering Dropping Hockey Down To DIII

[Scott_TG]

According to this article from local paper The Daily Gazette, Union was considering giving up its play-up status and dropping their hockey programs to DIII with the rest of their programs when the provision to allow them and RIT to offer scholarships was passed by the NCAA. The school is now turning its focus to talks with the nearby Mohawk Harbor development about a new arena which Union Hockey would help occupy.

The article focuses on the men's program but mentions the women would have dropped down with them.

I'm not sure where Union would fit in DIII. Geographically they could be a member of the NEHC, CCC, or even the UCHC as it would give Manhattanville a relatively close neighbor. That said I'm glad they are still making a go of it at DI.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

I'm not sure where Union would fit in DIII. Geographically they could be a member of the NEHC, CCC, or even the UCHC as it would give Manhattanville a relatively close neighbor. That said I'm glad they are still making a go of it at DI.

FWIW, Union was a member of NESCAC until 1977. Union's goals for its hockey program were not compatible with NESCAC recruiting rules: http://www.hockeyinthecac.com/2014/0...-you-well.html

 

[shelfit]

How do I put this politely? Union should never have gone to D1 for women's hockey to begin with. They should have remained as a D3 program all these years. They really were never even close to being competitive at the D1 level on the whole. Any competitive games were a result of their goalies keeping scores fairly reasonable at one end of the ice while their offense was mostly futile at the other end of the ice. It seemed like a waste of time for them to try to be a legit D1 program for so many many years, and coaching changes never really improved their lot in life too much in the grand scheme of things. Now that they've hung in there for so long as D1 bottom feeders, maybe now they'll slowly start to compete because of having athletic scholarships to offer recruits. Their coaching staff can no longer use the excuse of not having scholarships as the reason behind the team's competitive problems.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

How do I put this politely? Union should never have gone to D1 for women's hockey to begin with. They should have remained as a D3 program all these years. They really were never even close to being competitive at the D1 level on the whole. Any competitive games were a result of their goalies keeping scores fairly reasonable at one end of the ice while their offense was mostly futile at the other end of the ice. It seemed like a waste of time for them to try to be a legit D1 program for so many many years, and coaching changes never really improved their lot in life too much in the grand scheme of things. Now that they've hung in there for so long as D1 bottom feeders, maybe now they'll slowly start to compete because of having athletic scholarships to offer recruits. Their coaching staff can no longer use the excuse of not having scholarships as the reason behind the team's competitive problems.

They essentially had to move one women's team up to D1 to satisfy Title IX, since they had a men's team at D1. It didn't have to be the same sport, but it had to be something. Otherwise, they would have had to somehow show equal opportunity between the genders in some other way.