I think the average NESCAC president attends at least a smattering of athletic events (though there's a wide range for sure). Michael Roth at Wesleyan goes to quite a few games of various sports and often mentions athletic successes on his blog.

A nice write-up on Andrus Field's history from the Wes Athletics Dept. Didn't realize Wes was so highly ranked in D3 attendance (do they count all passers-by?) - numbers are given about ¾ through the article.
https://spark.adobe.com/page/GFoLCrTHjwU1z/

I would argue that Andrus Field at Wesleyan is a recruiting advantage, if anything. It's the oldest football field in the country and you're surrounded by the original campus buildings. Wes has a turf field behind the athletic center where football practices, but it's like every other turf field in existence. Wes has a gorgeous athletic center, so the school isn't going to lose recruits because of facilities, certainly not vs the rest of NESCAC. And Wes is doing just fine with recruiting flexibility, certainly since Roth has been president. The one knock on the school, in my opinion, is lack of a winning tradition. There's the history with the Little 3 and all that, but Amherst, Williams, and Trinity have the winning tradition that Wes would need decades to make up.

Wesleyan's highlight video from the OT win at Amherst (pretty nice production quality!): https://youtu.be/PNQLqmoFNYo

Wesleyan's preview of Wes-Colby is up: https://athletics.wesleyan.edu/sports/fball/2019-20/releases/20190913pnrg5i

One other NESCAC alum working in/with the NBA that hasn't been mentioned thus far: Michele Roberts (Wesleyan): executive director of the NBA Players Association

The Wesleyan turf practice field (Citrin) does still have stands for fans to watch  (it is the men's lacrosse field when Jackson Field is covered in snow/before the ground softens). When I was at Wes, the Cardinals played Bowdoin on Andrus in a torrential downpour... there were deep puddles on the playing surface. However, that was before Citrin. I think the decision may partially be based on expected attendance. Citrin can seat maybe a few hundred - it'll be raining and Bowdoin will have less traveling fans than Trinity would, for comparison.

I don't see why Wes doesn't play on Andrus, the field won't be used again until the spring (after the Trin game). I believe there is endowment money carved out specifically to maintain the "oldest continuously used football field in the nation."

amh63: http://www.middlebury.edu/newsroom/archive/2018-news/node/591348

Middlebury finally posted news of their first-years' arrival. 660 fall enrollees and another 104 in February. Middlebury's 764 is about Wesleyan's normal class size (Wes over-enrolled this year like some other NESCAC schools).

One week to go until the first slate of games:

Williams @ Bowdoin - is this the year Williams makes the jump back up to the upper echelon of the league?
Middlebury @ Wesleyan - quarterback duel; the losing team has a tough climb for a title
Tufts @ Hamilton - can the Jumbos continue their recent winning ways?
Amherst @ Bates - new coach hosting perennial power
Trinity @ Colby - new coach hosting perennial power

amh63: For comparison, Tufts has 1,544 incoming students (about 1,200 in their arts/sciences plus a few hundred in engineering and art schools). Wesleyan is next in size with just over 800, and Middlebury after that with somewhere between 600-700. Interesting that Tufts is as large as the next two largest NESCAC schools combined.

Quote from: Nescacman on September 27, 2017, 10:58:24 PM

Quote from: PolarCat on September 27, 2017, 10:41:47 PM

Quote from: Nescacman on September 27, 2017, 09:47:44 PM
We haven't been able to find Bowdoin's or Colby's highlight reel from last week...

Oh come on, you should know that cute, cisgender cheerleaders are illegal in Maine.  And thanks for not including Bates in your comment, but the truth of the matter is there were no highlights last Saturday.

In all seriousness, what a fantastic job.  Reminds me of NFL films when I was a kid.  The quality of the cameras (those lenses are incredible), the mixing, the editing, the play-by-play call, and just the right amount of Whale.  It's unfortunate that the only CAC schools that can put out a highlight reel like this are the universities, (the Jumbocast is also uniformly excellent) and their live broadcasts blow away the crap the rest of us get from NSN.  Is there a broadcast or sports journalism program at Wes that feeds graduates into ESPN?

Come to think of it...

http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/king_rob/

Of course, we have Wes experts among our Team...thanks for the softball Polar.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/field-yates/

Quote from: PolarCat on March 30, 2017, 07:40:19 AMAs polbear73 and lumbercat know, our daughter is a WLAX player at Bowdoin.  I have mixed feelings about moving Men's Lacrosse to Whittier, but leaving WLAX at old, tired Ryan Field.  On the plus side, maybe having multiple sports at the venue will encourage Clayton Rose to actually show up at Whittier.  But the move will make Bowdoin one of the few CAC schools (maybe the only CAC school?) to have the men and women play at different venues.  Would love to know the thinking behind that call.

Wesleyan also separates its men's and women's lacrosse teams across different fields - men on Citrin Field (turf)/Jackson Field "the Birdcage" (grass), while women play solely on Smith Field (turf and also used for field hockey). The Wes soccer teams (the analogous fall sport) have no such separation and share Jackson's grass field.

Big test for the Cardinals tomorrow in Daytona Beach as they face #4 Marietta... after squeaking by 1-7 Washington & Lee. Wes looked good against the Ephs, but most of their wins have been against "lesser" competition. Hopefully the Cards' depth keeps them in it.

Wesleyan's highlight film from the win over Amherst: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1389640661060352&id=216547155036381&_rdr

Also, regarding Hamilton and the Liberty League, I'd peg the chances of the Continentals leaving the NESCAC at approximately zero. Hamilton would have done so 5 years ago when they made the decision to move all sports to a single conference. They chose the NESCAC, despite longer bus rides and more expense, likely for multiple reasons, including both athletic and academic competition. NESCAC dominates the Director's Cup and academic rankings, and being in the league is a recruiting asset (though the Liberty League is a great league as well, and has many fine institutions under its banner).

Quote from: westcoastDad on October 23, 2016, 10:40:50 PM
Wow!  I must say that I walked right by the soccer game at the start.  Our game had ended.  The rain was coming down pretty good.  I thought to myself....these guys don't even have on raincoats....the ones not playing.  They were so into the game.  It had just started.  I watched for 10 minutes.  Glad to hear we came back and won.  But, also glad to see some of it in person. 

Still doesn't make sense to me tho that it was their Homecoming yet students were on break.

And I don't understand why NESCAC has so many activities at the same time of day? 

Hard to get student support. Smh.

Wesleyan usually has a combined Family + Homecoming Weekend that is scheduled for the home Little 3 game. The break schedule is generated separately, and rarely, fall break falls on that game. In that case, Homecoming is kept on weekend of the Little 3 game, and family weekend is pushed to another home game.

Wesleyan has been putting together highlight videos as well (though not in-house like Tufts)...

https://vimeo.com/186993791