University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

[Star2City]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Pegula paid for the arena and the startup costs and funded all initial recruiting and staffing and everything else in an already-mature athletics department. A rink would be great [I want one here!], but you've got to have a quality organization. Would it cost less at Akron than at Penn State, who has to promise to be competitive in the BI6 right away? Yep. Is that small? Nope.

GFM

Jim Tressel was hired on in February by Akron to become V.P. of Strategic Engagement. He's not the type that will sit around and not have new goals for either academics or athletics.

 

[Star2City]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

The WCHA will be in Huntsville in October. I know when, but I'm not allowed to say.

GFM

Sounds like awesome news is coming! Conferences almost always extend an invite after a campus visit.

 

[Dirty]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Jim Tressel was hired on in February by Akron to become V.P. of Strategic Engagement. He's not the type that will sit around and not have new goals for either academics or athletics.

I bet one of his initial goals will be to start an annual fundraiser where Akron student-athletes sell their uniforms/other equipment and give people Zips related tattoos.

 

[sbkbghockey]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

I hope Akron gets things rolling, I think a MAC hockey conference could be the future. With the current climate of college athletics and the shakeups in hockey, schools like BG, Miami, and Western Michigan may get tired of added travel expenses. For a team like Miami, joining a MACHC/CCHA 2.0 would almost be a sure auto-bid for the awhile, something that will be extremely hard to get in the NCHC. Ohio and Kent State still have some high level club teams, particularly OU, they could be interested in the MAC too. On the football side of things, there continues to be a big separation intra-FBS, schools in the MAC could look to hockey to boost interest in their athletic programs as a whole and increase visibility and in-tern enrollment and media money into their schools.

A conference in the MAC footprint could spark expansion in the Ohio valley. UAH could get a home, RMU and Mercyhurst could up schollies and leave Atlantic Hockey and it could pave the way for new programs like Lindenwood, Univ. of Evansville, or others. Holes left by teams leaving to the MAC could open up spots in the WCHA and NCHC for new programs like Iowa State, Minnesota-Moorehead, or Minot State.

 

[MUhawks628]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

I hope Akron gets things rolling, I think a MAC hockey conference could be the future. With the current climate of college athletics and the shakeups in hockey, schools like BG, Miami, and Western Michigan may get tired of added travel expenses. For a team like Miami, joining a MACHC/CCHA 2.0 would almost be a sure auto-bid for the awhile, something that will be extremely hard to get in the NCHC. Ohio and Kent State still have some high level club teams, particularly OU, they could be interested in the MAC too. On the football side of things, there continues to be a big separation intra-FBS, schools in the MAC could look to hockey to boost interest in their athletic programs as a whole and increase visibility and in-tern enrollment and media money into their schools.

A conference in the MAC footprint could spark expansion in the Ohio valley. UAH could get a home, RMU and Mercyhurst could up schollies and leave Atlantic Hockey and it could pave the way for new programs like Lindenwood, Univ. of Evansville, or others. Holes left by teams leaving to the MAC could open up spots in the WCHA and NCHC for new programs like Iowa State, Minnesota-Moorehead, or Minot State.

If Miami and Western wanted to be in a "CCHA 2.0" they would have stayed and tried to salvage the "CCHA 1.0". Maybe attitudes will change, but it was made abundantly clear that the powers to be at both schools wanted no part of nW/CCHA type leagues.

As for media money tied to college hockey in Ohio, there is none. FS Ohio has no intrest in showing the sport (the Blue Jackets aren't even on every night outside the Columbus market). For the last few seasons Miami payed a now-defunct network to broadcast home games, and tOSU is only televised on BTN.

MAC schools are no different from any other mid-major programs. If the team wins, fans show up. While the folks in Athens, OH are going to have no trouble filling up their basketball arena this winter, Bowling Green hasn't been able to give away hockey tickets for the last ten years. Sports are a minimal consideration, at best, for prospective students.

 

[MGoBlueHockey]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

I think the future of college hockey is eventually the standard Division I structure. I think we will see SEC hockey, PAC-12 etc. I'm not talking anytime soon, but someday.


It'll look D1 Lacrosse. The smaller schools are powers and bigger schools are starting to add programs (Michigan, florida, south carolina in lax and etc.)

 

[Rtn2GoldCountry]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Smoke another one.

 

[bronconick]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Haha. No.

If someone showed up at Alabama-Tuscaloosa with $80 million to start a hockey team, Nick Saban would beat him up, take the money and sign some recruits with it. He would be rewarded by the alumni and boosters for such a wise decision. They're likely trying to kill the UAH program still so they can suck the pennies that have been funding it back and pay their linebackers coach another 50k a year.

In the west and south, there is already a 3rd "major" sport at those schools, and it's significantly more popular and money making than hockey will ever be there. It's called baseball. You may have heard of it.

 

[MGoBlueHockey]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Haha. No.

If someone showed up at Alabama-Tuscaloosa with $80 million to start a hockey team, Nick Saban would beat him up, take the money and sign some recruits with it. He would be rewarded by the alumni and boosters for such a wise decision. They're likely trying to kill the UAH program still so they can suck the pennies that have been funding it back and pay their linebackers coach another 50k a year.

In the west and south, there is already a 3rd "major" sport at those schools, and it's significantly more popular and money making than hockey will ever be there. It's called baseball. You may have heard of it.

I have heard of it. My team has had a pretty good *** program on that field as well.

I think you're underestimating two things. Time and money. Go find how many programs there were back in the 1960s. Now? There are at least twice as more than there were back then. alabama is full of a bunch of freaks. Honestly. Those people aren't all there. They poison trees when they lose football games....

People down there love their schools athletic programs. Every one of them. I'm not including auburn and alabama because they are freaks. But florida, LSU, texas a&m, tennessee all have massive support for all of their programs.

 

[fr joe]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Step One: Oust Faust!

 

[gfmorris]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

They're likely trying to kill the UAH program still so they can suck the pennies that have been funding it back and pay their linebackers coach another 50k a year.

The savings from killing the hockey program were going to go to capitalize the other sports on our campus. We're relatively loosely affiliated with those ********s in Tuscaloosa, and our budget is largely separate from theirs. We all get state support, but some of us get a different percentage than others. It will surprise no one that, UAH being a research institution, we get less by % per head than most of the other schools in the state. Troy used to get less than we did, which is why they dropped the "State" from their name. [Alabama politics trivia point of the day. I think they made the change by the time that Osi Umenyiora was a student-athlete.]

GFM

 

[bronconick]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Huh. Good to know.

I figured they had more influence from that whole UAB trying to hire Jimbo Fisher and a bunch of tools from UAT told them "Nah, how about you hire this other crappy coach for half that cost, even though you raised the money yourself."

 

[fangers]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

The WCHA will be in Huntsville in October. I know when, but I'm not allowed to say.

GFM

Can we say now? Got an email talking about it.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Can we say now? Got an email talking about it.

From whom? Not me.

The WCHA will be in town late the week of October 8th, and they will take in the Friday night game against Mankato. It's nice that Akron wants to consider moving to varsity, but ...

GFM

 

[joecct]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Step One: Oust Faust!

Didn't Marlowe do that?

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

From whom? Not me.

The WCHA will be in town late the week of October 8th, and they will take in the Friday night game against Mankato. It's nice that Akron wants to consider moving to varsity, but ...

GFM

Well, having a few new schools coming online that would lead to a more positive breakup of a hockey league would be a good thing. If a CCHA 2.0 could start up and thin out the WCHA 2.0, Atlantic Hockey, and the NACHO, that would leave a lot of the country covered by the footprints of college hockey leagues. The NACHO could look at about any school in the Pacific Northwest, would think they would seriously entertain UBC coming in there if only to keep the Thunderbirds out of the WCHA 2.0. The WCHA 2.0 would have a few others schools near them that would give them another warm body to play. Iowa State comes to mind, but I would think they would have to fend off the NACHO to get them in. A school like Oakland University could be fought over by the NACHO, CCHA 2.0, and WCHA 2.0. Would be a little bit of a reach for the NACHO, but they might like to help keep schools from the other two leagues from recuiting in the Oakland County area.

 

[MavsFan]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

...The WCHA will be in town late the week of October 8th, and they will take in the Friday night game against Mankato. It's nice that Akron wants to consider moving to varsity, but ...

GFM

Note that Mankato is making the trip to Huntsville. It's my understanding that we're the only D-I program that is doing so. The rest of their home schedule is filled with exhibitions against foreign teams, D-III and club programs. No other school would even step up to give them games.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Note that Mankato is making the trip to Huntsville. It's my understanding that we're the only D-I program that is doing so. The rest of their home schedule is filled with exhibitions against foreign teams, D-III and club programs. No other school would even step up to give them games.

Others did but rescheduled when UAH abandoned their program. They couldn't get them back when the program was reinstated.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Others did but rescheduled when UAH abandoned their program. They couldn't get them back when the program was reinstated.

UAH didn't abandon their program, they had some idiot in Tuscaloosa try to cancel it against their wishes. If anything, that should speak volumes to UAH's Commitment to hockey.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: University of Akron possibly in discussions to move to D1 varsity

Others did but rescheduled when UAH abandoned their program. They couldn't get them back when the program was reinstated.

This is true. There was another WCHA opponent (the one our top AC played at) coming to UAH before Portera's decision came down, at which point Coach Luongo and Dr. Brophy released all the contracts. When the relegation was reversed six weeks later, Mankato was the only team that hadn't picked up games in place of a visit to Huntsville. As such, I will call them the Mavericks forevermore (or at least for five years) and not use a two-word nickname.

The home schedule is ... sparse.

GFM