Quote from: npbaseball40 on September 09, 2021, 01:56:24 AM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on September 09, 2021, 12:51:31 AM
Speaking of the visiting Duhawks faithful, I was not impressed with their behavior. They booed when it was announced over the P.A. that Olsen had tied the NPU school goals record. That was totally uncool.

And it wasn't traveling students/rowdy college kids... it was parents doing this. Silliness and embarassing to the highest degree.

Yikes. That is embarrassing.  What would possess parents to do that?  I haven't been to a Loras game for a while or paid much attention (due to lots of reasons) but I'll add this to my list of reasons to not go to a game next time I'm debating whether or not to go watch. 

American Rivers Conference finally caved and "postponed" most fall sports, including soccer, to the spring.  https://rollrivers.com/news/2020/8/11/american-rivers-conference-a-r-c-makes-announcement-regarding-fall-sports.aspx

I think we all know the likelihood of fall sports actually happening in the spring.

The ARC announcement firmly blames the NCAA's testing requirements for the decision.

My wife is a chair of a science department at a small liberal arts college and I work as director of a division of academic affairs at a mid-size D3 public university.  Both are institutions are VERY dependent on tuition dollars.  Pre-Covid it was well known that the next 10 years were going to be rough in higher education as demographically there are just a lot fewer students coming up the pipeline, especially in certain parts of the country like the upper Midwest, but all the challenges that higher ed was going to face in that time have been compressed into 6 months and a lot of institutions are hanging on for dear life right now.  I think you can talk to any of the older faculty who have served on hiring committees and they will tell you that demand for faculty positions 10-20 years ago was way higher and, as Greg stated, the quality of current applicants is nowhere near what it once was.  I've heard this repeatedly.  Instead of 100+ applicants, most of whom had teaching experience, now you might see 20, most of whom are post-docs or even grad students who haven't yet finished up their dissertations.  You're seeing a lot more failed searched because the applicant pool simply isn't good enough and the few good applicants out there are snatched up by institutions with the money to do so.  The shift Greg described away from liberal arts and the sorts of broad-based educations is not just hurting students (IMO) but it's demoralizing faculty.  Is there administrative bloat at colleges and universities?  Heck yes, but a lot of places have really trimmed that fat already and the only thing left to go are faculty lines.  Once that happens institutions enter the downward spiral.  Do students (and their parents) want to invest in 4+ years at an institution that is struggling?  Some certainly don't, which only furthers the process.  I will fully admit that there are too many universities (does Wisconsin really need 13 public 4 year universities when Iowa only has 3?) and some probably should go by the wayside.  The problem is that all colleges offer so much to their students and are woven into the fabric of the communities they inhabit.  Their decline hurts everyone in those communities.  All I can say is that, barring some massive aid package from the feds, a lot of colleges are going to emerge from this pandemic a lot weaker, if they emerge at all.

WIAC pulls the plug on fall sports: https://wiacsports.com/news/2020/7/27/general-wiac-fall-statement-on-covid-19.aspx

The ARC, however, chooses to move forward: https://rollrivers.com/news/2020/7/27/football-american-rivers-conference-to-proceed-with-conference-competition-for-fall-2020.aspx

We will see if they are able to pull that off.

I'm not sure how big an impact a season or year of canceled sports would have on enrollment.  That remains to be seen.  I would hope that student athletes are emphasizing the "student" side of the equation, but students are social and if classes are all online and they can't socialize with teammates or other students in person then I have to think that there will be more than a handful that choose to take the semester or year off (although given the job situation and inability to travel that seems unlikely) or, what I think is more likely, the first- and second-year students will choose to go to community colleges or larger, cheaper state schools rather than pay the higher tuition at smaller private schools.  Junior and seniors may have enough invested in their chosen school that they will stay enrolled and take the classes online.  I think the at-risk schools are afraid that they can not afford to be in front of the curve and have to be pitching the line that they will be open for face to face instruction and sports.  Even a modest enrollment decline puts them at risk.  We will see what happens.  I hope I'm wrong and small schools can make this all work out and the 21-22 academic year is business as usual!

Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on July 02, 2020, 01:18:03 PM
Here is what can be an easy determination ... look at endowments.

So far many of the schools (15?) who have decided to forgo fall/first semester sports have pretty healthy endowments. Those who need enrollment, especially from athletics, to keep strong as an institution aren't going to make the same decisions unless there is absolutely no other choice.

I think Dave hit the nail on the head with this one.  Not having fall sports could be an existential crisis for private schools with small enrollments, small endowments and large (and/or successful) athletic departments. If you're a school with 50% of your students participating in athletics and sports are canceled some of those students are not going to enroll - they may take a year off, or take classes at their local CC or transfer to a big state school.  If half of the athletes choose that option (which I think is probably high, but it might be in the realm of possibility) then that school is suddenly down 25% in enrollment.  That's enough to necessitate the drastic cuts that begin the rapid downward spiral of an institution.

Another thing to note is that a lot of colleges in the midwest are in rural small towns that don't have a lot of medical resources to begin with.  And these rural communities generally skew older than average so the residents are more likely to feel the wrath of COVID-19.  Bringing a bunch of kids from all over the country or all over the region practically guarantees that COVID-19 will begin circulating in those communities if it isn't already.

It's a really bad situation all around.  Many colleges and universities were struggling before the virus.  I don't envy college administrators trying to figure out what to do amidst all the uncertainty and trying to balance the livelihoods of students, employees, their communities and their institutions.

Loras coach announced today. https://duhawks.com/news/2020/3/17/mccarthy-tabbed-to-lead-mens-soccer-program.aspx

The mention of program culture in the "coaching carousel" thread reminded me that I've had a couple conversations with colleagues and my wife recently about organizational culture, conversations driven by changes in higher education, particularly in higher education leadership (we both work in Academia).  Mr Right's mention of culture got me thinking about how this applies to D3 sports teams.  Clearly every organization, every campus and every team has their own unique culture; some are more unique than others, and some are positive while others can be pretty toxic. I recognize that just defining an organizational or team culture can be hard! But... What are the key elements it takes to develop a positive, lasting culture in a D3 sports team program?  How long does it (or should it) take for a new coach to make their stamp on the culture of a program and make it "theirs?" (Should a coach make it a priority to make a team culture their own? Or should the players drive the team culture?) How important is a strong, positive culture to a team's success?  Who is most responsible for a team's culture - the coach? the captains? the players as a whole?  What are things that might cause a significant cultural shift within a team (short of changing coaches or major roster changes)?  How receptive are players, coaches, alums, etc. to purposeful attempts to change team cultures?  Are there D3 soccer programs you can point to that have especially strong, positive team cultures?

Sorry for the abundance of questions here but I'm genuinely interested in any thoughts you might have and thought this might be an interesting topic of off-season conversation...  And, go.

There will be a national search for the Loras position, I'm sure.

Sam Koenig is the only former Loras player with a head coaching position that I'm aware of and he's currently 20 miles down the road leading UW-Platteville.

Quotes from the Dubuque Telegraph Herald newspaper today (subscription required so I'm pasting them here).

"My kids are getting to that sports age," he said. "I have a seventh-grader and he's getting into different school sports and their games are at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and guess what? That's when I'm seeing a high school kid play, or that's when I have practice and it's become challenging to do that. As I told my kids, the next 10 years is all I got left. Then they're gone and they're off in college doing their thing, and I don't want to miss those years."

"Trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle we had for 10 to 15 years became a strain on me personally and my family," Rothert said. "Although it's a surprise to a lot of people, it's something that's been nagging at me for quite a bit."

"I'll be Loras' biggest fan. I'm actually looking forward to that side of it, just to watch it and enjoy it and see it from a different perspective," he said. "I think that's going to be exciting."

Quote from: Flying Weasel on January 22, 2020, 12:04:37 PM

Quote from: Dubuquer on January 22, 2020, 09:15:35 AM
Loras announced that Dan Rothert has stepped down as coach and assistant AD.  The stated reason was that Rothert wanted to spend more time with his family and that the stress of trying to replicate the success of a few seasons back wasn't good for him or his family.

Curious where you found this info on the reasons why he resigned.  The article on the Loras athletic website (https://duhawks.com/news/2020/1/21/loras-college-athletics-rothert-steps-down-as-head-mens-soccer-coach.aspx) makes no mention of these reasons. Rather, it says "he indicated a desire to pursue new opportunities."

Quote from: PaulNewman on January 22, 2020, 10:14:11 AM
Really sorry to hear about Rothert although hopefully the change is good for him and his family.

Loras was super-hot when I started paying attention around 2010/2011.  Tremendous success and almost like Tufts for a handful of years minus the final, final breakthrough (while noting that Loras played some monster squads in their Final Four losses and had a bit of bad luck like against Camden in 2013). 

Loved me some Kevin Cavers back in the day.

That Camden loss has to haunt those Loras players.  I just re-watched that final goal and was reminded how gut-wrenching that was.  How often does a 70 yard floating direct kick end up in the back of the net and end a team's season?

Cavers was a spectacular player, indeed.

Loras announced that Dan Rothert has stepped down as coach and assistant AD.  The stated reason was that Rothert wanted to spend more time with his family and that the stress of trying to replicate the success of a few seasons back wasn't good for him or his family.

Given the past success of the soccer program and the current success of the athletic department as a whole (women's b'ball, both indoor track teams, and wrestling all currently ranked in top 10; outdoor track coming off national championship) this would have to be a pretty desirable job and it will be interesting to see who they choose to take the helm.

I was and still am a non-believer but I chose to go to a religious-affiliated school (Luther) in part because there was just something about the atmosphere that I liked and didn't feel at all at the other schools that interested me (Macalester, Carleton, Oberlin) as a high school junior and senior.  I was a little taken aback when I moved to Dubuque and began going to Loras games and they started out every game with a prayer before the national anthem.  That's not something I was used to and it made me a little uncomfortable but I very much respect it and I think that the unquantifiable "feel" of the college is in many respects similar to Luther and I attribute that in part to the faith that is shared by a high percentage of the student body.

...And Luther takes it in PKs.  Nice announcing, Greg!  I could tell during the replay that you wanted to say something about Davenport's full-body wiggle prior to the final PK that he stopped, or maybe you were just trying to suppress a laugh.

As a Luther grad I've definitely got a favorite.  Keller is an impressive striker and has been fun to watch whenever the Norse come to Dubuque for games. He deserves his gaudy numbers. He's not (usually) flashy but he's always dangerous, especially with that height.  I haven't been as impressed with Luther overall this year but they will put up a fight.

Quote from: Mr.Right on November 22, 2019, 09:30:30 AM

Quote from: rudy on November 22, 2019, 08:58:58 AM
a couple of very interesting games today for sweet 16. Calvin and NP could be a final 4 level game.

I agree both these games today are great matchups especially for the neutral. I have not seen any of these teams yet this season. Anyone know which team has the 6'6 striker with 20 goals? Luther...can this kid be the difference maker in this pod this weekend? On paper everything looks good.