The ODAC SAA arrangement makes for "games against regionally ranked" opponents.

Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 18, 2024, 02:50:17 PMThe ODAC SAA arrangement makes for "games against regionally ranked" opponents.

Not sure how much that's going to matter anymore with the new playoff decision system.

RMC is the only DIII school in the country to have won NCAA playoff games in football, basketball and baseball this academic year.

Congrats to AD Coach Burns and all the coaches.

Go Jackets!

Quote from: Macon on May 19, 2024, 09:45:20 AMRMC is the only DIII school in the country to have won NCAA playoff games in football, basketball and baseball this academic year.

Congrats to AD Coach Burns and all the coaches.

Go Jackets!

And yet, once again, W&L sweeps all 3 ODAC Commissioner's Cups.

https://generalssports.com/news/2024/5/17/General-w-l-sweeps-odac-commissioners-cups.aspx

Seriously though, great season for the YellowJackets in the big news sports.

Congrats to WLU in winning the Cup.

But, I'll take RMC's NCAA runs any day over winning the ODAC Cup.  RMC has final 16 NCAA teams in all three major men's sports, with baseball still playing.

Keep the Cup, and we'll keep playing NCAA games.

Quote from: Macon on May 22, 2024, 04:58:50 PMCongrats to WLU in winning the Cup.

But, I'll take RMC's NCAA runs any day over winning the ODAC Cup.  RMC has final 16 NCAA teams in all three major men's sports, with baseball still playing.

Keep the Cup, and we'll keep playing NCAA games.

I mean, W&L went to the final 4 in men's soccer and men's and women's lacrosse this year. Plus an elite 8 in women's basketball. The men's golf team finished 6th in the ncaa tournament, women's was inside the top 15 and made the cut (still ongoing). A multitude of other W&L teams made the NCAA playoffs on autobids including women's volleyball, both tennis teams, both swimming teams. Men's wrestling was an at-large, and I think both cross-country teams were as well.

Looking at the Learfield Cup standings, W&L was well clear of R-MC after the winter season and, I suspect short of R-MC winning the baseball tournament, will finish well above R-MC after the spring season.

R-MC is very good at a select few sports, but there is a reason they have never won an ODAC overall, men's or women's Commissioner's Cup. Despite winning or sharing championship points in 4 different sports, R-MC finished 4th overall, 4th on the men's side, and 3rd on the women's. In the sports the Yellowjackets are good, they are very good, in the other sports they are generally average in the ODAC.

^^^ W&L is a bit of an outlier in the ODAC with its academic reputation and much more geographically diverse student body. The ODAC is fortunate to have W&L and I'd say W&L is fortunate to be in the ODAC.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on May 22, 2024, 07:26:08 PM^^^ W&L is a bit of an outlier in the ODAC with its academic reputation and much more geographically diverse student body. The ODAC is fortunate to have W&L and I'd say W&L is fortunate to be in the ODAC.

It is true that it seems a marriage of convenience. It will be interesting to see if it continues to hold. I know W&L has cast eyes elsewhere before and not found a suitor. I suspect, other than the problems of football scheduling, much of the ODAC wouldn't be too sad to see the Generals depart.

On the other hand, it is very convenient for travel purposes and I've long said I'd prefer that as opposed to moving to an SAA type conference.

I think having W&L challenges other ODAC schools to seek to "up their game", especially in many of the lower profile sports. It would probably help W&L fit with another conference by adding softball.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on May 23, 2024, 08:58:03 AMI think having W&L challenges other ODAC schools to seek to "up their game", especially in many of the lower profile sports. It would probably help W&L fit with another conference by adding softball.

There have been a couple attempts. It's been in the masterplan for 20+ years with land set aside for a facility. Currently they are trying again. I think I saw they were looking for 75% of the facility construction cost to be covered by donations.

The last time, there was limited interest from both a donor and student perspective. But yeah, it's the only ODAC sport we don't participate in.

It's super interesting to me that W&L started admitting undergraduate women about 40 years ago, and added basketball less than a decade after that, but softball has had to wait this long.

Quote from: jknezek on May 23, 2024, 08:22:01 AMIt is true that it seems a marriage of convenience. It will be interesting to see if it continues to hold. I know W&L has cast eyes elsewhere before and not found a suitor. I suspect, other than the problems of football scheduling, much of the ODAC wouldn't be too sad to see the Generals depart.

On the other hand, it is very convenient for travel purposes and I've long said I'd prefer that as opposed to moving to an SAA type conference.

But you know the SAA would just love to have a school with W&L's bona fides, and they're looking to add someone on the eastern side of the conference.  Maybe the football team will have such a good time in San Antonio come September that they'll consider it. 

Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 23, 2024, 10:04:47 AM

Quote from: jknezek on May 23, 2024, 08:22:01 AMIt is true that it seems a marriage of convenience. It will be interesting to see if it continues to hold. I know W&L has cast eyes elsewhere before and not found a suitor. I suspect, other than the problems of football scheduling, much of the ODAC wouldn't be too sad to see the Generals depart.

On the other hand, it is very convenient for travel purposes and I've long said I'd prefer that as opposed to moving to an SAA type conference.

But you know the SAA would just love to have a school with W&L's bona fides, and they're looking to add someone on the eastern side of the conference.  Maybe the football team will have such a good time in San Antonio come September that they'll consider it. 

Possible but I'm not sure. My understanding is W&L and the SAA went a few rounds at one point and neither much liked the outcome. W&L has a rep, or at least had one, as being difficult. I don't know details and it's just scuttlebutt so who knows if it is true or not.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on May 23, 2024, 09:50:02 AMIt's super interesting to me that W&L started admitting undergraduate women about 40 years ago, and added basketball less than a decade after that, but softball has had to wait this long.

Well... this goes back 25+ years to when I was in Lexington. But when I arrived in 1996 the male to female ratio was, by design, 60 to 40 as the school continued the decade long plan to become coed. The goal was to move it to 50/50 in the 2000s, and the debate was what sport would be added to help that goal and deal with Title IX.

Field hockey and softball were the big options and I wrote an article about the debate for the school paper. The AD, whose name I have long forgotten or maybe one of the trustees said to me in an interview that he preferred field hockey for one big reason. If you build a softball stadium you've used a lot of land and you have a softball stadium, but nothing else. If you build a field hockey stadium, you have a turf field that can be used for a lot of things.

At the time I thought this was a very good point, and even though, even back then, the land was available for softball, it's a lot of money for only one sport. The school, of course, went with field hockey and that stadium has hosted NCAA events, rainy day practices for men's and women's soccer, men's and women's lacrosse, even some intramurals though I don't know if that's still true, in addition to it's main purpose hosting the field hockey team.

This is the same problem the Olympics has and why they have tried to get rid of both baseball and softball. The facilities are dead elephants for anything but those sports.

So I think, when softball lost that expansion in the 90s, the school went 50/50 on gender without softball, and there has been no requirement or need to spend the money on a big, beautiful, expensive, limited purpose venue.

I think a lot of people feel it should be there and it's missing, so they've tried a few times over the years to add it, but it's kind of an "ok if we do so long as it's mostly paid for since we don't actually need it" kind of thing.

As I said, the space for it is in the masterplan, and a new attempt is on-going so maybe this one will succeed.

Quote from: jknezek on May 23, 2024, 11:11:27 AM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 23, 2024, 10:04:47 AMBut you know the SAA would just love to have a school with W&L's bona fides, and they're looking to add someone on the eastern side of the conference.  Maybe the football team will have such a good time in San Antonio come September that they'll consider it. 

Possible but I'm not sure. My understanding is W&L and the SAA went a few rounds at one point and neither much liked the outcome. W&L has a rep, or at least had one, as being difficult. I don't know details and it's just scuttlebutt so who knows if it is true or not.

I was mostly kidding.  With a 17% acceptance rate, W&L is almost certainly secure enough in where it sees itself that it doesn't need any kind of bump, actual or imagined, by associating with a different athletic conference.  Barring that, the additional costs and additional travel time offers little (if any) ROI.