Quote from: awadelewis on April 30, 2024, 04:09:21 PM

Quote from: cush on April 30, 2024, 11:45:34 AMWould it be crazy for Alabama A&M to just move to Birmingham and for University of Alabama at Huntsville take over the current Alabama A&M campus ?

Not something they would do... this is an expansion play on AA&M's part.    Wouldn't surprise me to hear them start describing themselves as Alabama's flagship HBCU with campuses in Huntsville and Birmingham.   Would be another tweak at their friends at Alabama State down in Montgomery. 

I'll admit to some surprise hearing they would like to buy B-SC's campus... working in higher education in the HSV region, I would have never thought their administration was the sort willing to take on that kind of risk.  Good on them, and hope they are able to pull it off.

AA&M has less then a $50 million endowment.  For them to buy the campus, they will need the state to come up with the finances. Also, AA&M says it will be its own school.  Of the state was going to do that, why did they not just take over BSC and make it a public school?  Instead they are going around the block to ultimately do the exact same thing.  And the result may be the end for Miles College at the same time. There will now be two HBCUs less then a mile apart, one public and one private. 

Miles has got to be going crazy about this. I know I saw some articles talking about a "joint campus", but that would be real complicated and I just can't imagine how that would work. Or why you would do it. As I put above, I still hope this is the kick UAB needs to figure it out.

Trinity has posted their incoming class on Xitter and other social media:

OL: 6
WR: 5
TE: 5
RB: 2
QB: 2

DL: 5
LB: 2
DB: 6

K: 2
LS: 1

Total: 36 (was 35, missed the LS), a typical class size in the Urban era.

https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2024/05/alabama-am-university-makes-52-million-offer-to-buy-birmingham-southern-college.html

Alabama A&M is making quite a push. Miles must be panicking.

Sewanee's 2024 schedule now available:

09/07 @Maryville
09/14 Westminster
09/21 @Guilford
09/28 Millsaps
10/12 @Trinity
10/19 @Berry
10/26 Rhodes
11/02 Southwestern
11/09 Hendrix
11/16 @Centre

Quote from: awadelewis on May 16, 2024, 11:07:04 AMSewanee's 2024 schedule now available:

09/07 @Maryville
09/14 Westminster
09/21 @Guilford
09/28 Millsaps
10/12 @Trinity
10/19 @Berry
10/26 Rhodes
11/02 Southwestern
11/09 Hendrix
11/16 @Centre

That is a good schedule.

SAA and ODAC have a larger scheduling agreement.
https://d3football.com/notables/2024/05/saa-odac-schedule

Good news.  Now maybe we can get schedules from the teams that still haven't announced.

I spent a couple hours on campus yesterday and I really need to vent for moment. The state decided not to loan BSC $30mil for the school to attempt to right the ship and have time to rebuild the endowment.  So now BSC will cease to exist come midnight May 31 2024. 

Now Alabama A&M has made a $52 million offer to buy the campus.  So the state chose not to loan $30 million, but is going to pay $52 million to put another school in charge. We go from a highly recognized college with one of the most diverse student bodies in the state and a graduation rate of 69% and replace it with a school that has a graduation rate of 28%.  Only in Alabama does this make sense.

The end result is the state is paying an extra $22mil to have a lower product then what was originally there.  And I believe if A&M gets the campus, Miles College will go the way of BSC in the next 5 years. 

I had really hoped that Miles and BSC could have combined to become Miles Southern College, that might have been the best result that didn't include a healthy BSC. 

Rant over. 

Loaning money to a private college vs having a public college finance it's own expansion isn't exactly the same thing, but I understand your frustration. Miles College must be shaking in their boots. I don't love this tie-up, as I've said several times, but it's better than letting the campus sit empty and decay.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on May 17, 2024, 10:02:00 AMSAA and ODAC have a larger scheduling agreement.
https://d3football.com/notables/2024/05/saa-odac-schedule

Super excited about this. Love the way the matchups were done, which seems intentional to make good games. I posted on the ODAC board a bit more, but I think the Berry-RMC matchup is going to be a great game and I suspect a few of the others will be interesting as well from a competitive point of view. Bridgewater should be better than Millsaps, but that's a long trip. Centre vs H-SC seems like a very competitive matchup. Harder to tell with Shenandoah/Rhodes (lean Shenandoah) and Guilford/Sewanee (lean Sewanee).

Not sure if W&L/Trinity will be competitive. That's a long trip, and a lot will depend on how Trinity can deal with the option. I suspect W&L is going to struggle, but I'm still very interested in the game.

Quote from: jknezek on May 17, 2024, 11:40:14 AMLoaning money to a private college vs having a public college finance it's own expansion isn't exactly the same thing, but I understand your frustration. Miles College must be shaking in their boots. I don't love this tie-up, as I've said several times, but it's better than letting the campus sit empty and decay.

Alabama A&M does not have the money to purchase BSC and will be asking the state(which owns A&M) to give them the money to buy BSC.  It's all state money, doesn't matter how they package it. 

Sort of. Loaning to A&M, if that is what happens, keeps the money within the state. Loaning to B-SC moves the money into a private institution. It is different. Plus, given the short-shift Alabama has paid to the state HBCU's over the last 30-50 years, Alabama owes them a ton of money. I forget what the analysis was, but I think the U.S. Justice Department found Alabama owed A&M almost half a billion dollars over the last 25 years or so based on funding formulas they violated.

Quote from: jknezek on May 17, 2024, 11:44:21 AM[...]

Not sure if W&L/Trinity will be competitive. That's a long trip, and a lot will depend on how Trinity can deal with the option. I suspect W&L is going to struggle, but I'm still very interested in the game.

Trinity loses a lot on both sides of the ball; according to Logan Hansen on Xitter, only 24% of their defensive production returns (third lowest among all D3 teams), and on offense, 31% (tenth lowest).  W&L returns 73% and 72%.  There may be a few seniors returning for the final COVID year, but Coach Urban has his work cut out for him this season. 

Agreed. I know Hansen's ratings place a lot of stock in a schools historical re-load strength/speed, but Trinity is going into the season with a lot of unknowns. In fairness, Urban will be trotting out a decent number of juniors/seniors who likely would have been starters but for some super-seniors. So, we may not be as bad off as it appears at first blush. The first two games against TLU and Belhaven (assuming that schedule has held), should give us some insight into where the team is.

Anyone have insight into any transfers Trinity picked up, if any? I know we don't historically get that much as compared to UMHB, for example, which apparently picked up a former 4-star D-lineman. Insane.