FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Not to rain on everyone's parade but according to Bob Quillman Rose Hulman will not be joining the NCAC.

https://x.com/IWUhoopscom/status/1743353034569076932

As my famous boss at Pillsbury/Gen Mills used to say, "Not defending, just reporting".

FWIW - that was 8 months ago. Take it with a grain of salt at this point.

Yes, we will see.

Agreed that RHIT is out on the western edge of the conference's footprint, but it's the best academic profile available in the area, in my opinion, and the conference's easternmost flank is leaving. Earlham has already been in the conference and left and I wouldn't expect the NCAC is in a hurry to bring them back, especially now without football. The geography can be mitigated by the conference aligning in divisions, as it did in baseball not that long ago.

[SPECIAL TEAMS STARTER]

Well this will certainly be interesting as we continue to approach the college age enrollment cliff. Hiram is leaving the NCAC, Oberlin has 7 freshman coming in so who knows where they will be at in several years, Wittenberg is having financial issues so the NCAC is very fortunate to have John Carroll coming in. The thought of Wittenberg no longer existing would be crushing to me as I came within a hair of going to college there but instead went elsewhere. Everyone seems to think that it's in RHIT's best interest to jump ship but they may feel different. As my supervising Professor used to say when I was finishing up my graduate degree, "would you rather be a little fish in a big pond or a big fish in a little pond?" RHIT is currently a big fish in their conference. They may feel completely different about becoming a "small fish" in a big pond. As Pat has said time will tell.   

[CollegeGolf18]

Except for Hiram, OWU, and Wittenberg, the NCAC schools have posted their 2024 rosters.  An earlier account I read from the Springfield newspaper had WIT announcing it would bring in 108 freshmen. 
     Oberlin's roster lists a total of 48 players, with only 7 (yes, that's what the roster shows) freshmen  Could this be true? If so, what does this bode for the future of OBI football?

I feel like only bringing in 7 FR falls solely on the coaching staff. You can get more than 7 players.

[wally_wabash]

Well this will certainly be interesting as we continue to approach the college age enrollment cliff. Hiram is leaving the NCAC, Oberlin has 7 freshman coming in so who knows where they will be at in several years, Wittenberg is having financial issues so the NCAC is very fortunate to have John Carroll coming in. The thought of Wittenberg no longer existing would be crushing to me as I came within a hair of going to college there but instead went elsewhere. Everyone seems to think that it's in RHIT's best interest to jump ship but they may feel different. As my supervising Professor used to say when I was finishing up my graduate degree, "would you rather be a little fish in a big pond or a big fish in a little pond?" RHIT is currently a big fish in their conference. They may feel completely different about becoming a "small fish" in a big pond. As Pat has said time will tell.   

I think the priority as a fish of any size would be to have a pond to swim in at all. 

[sigma one]

Oberlin has 7 FY on the football roster, and 10FY on the soccer roster. 

[Whitecarrera]

FWIW - Oberlin's issues have been a topic on a different msg board that is lacrosse's equivalent of this board. This was a recent post:

Hasn't that been the general struggle at Oberlin for about 40 years?

Wabash is an example of the opposite. When 50% of the college pool can't attend, and 1/3 of males won't even consider it, that leaves a pretty small pool, but they've done a great job of owning the uniqueness and recruiting to strengths. Translation: decades of success on and off the field, where Oberlin has never completed that package. (I'm not knocking OC, or trying to stick my chest out -- just making an interesting comparison)

A couple examples:
In the last 50 years, Oberlin has zero winning football seasons where Wabash has 49 (even Kenyon has 10),
Since the formation of the NCAC, Oberlin has one winning conference lacrosse record,
For men's team sports, Oberlin has one NCAC championship (baseball), while their women have five,
All sports - Wabash and DePauw have 10-20 more NCAC championships in half the time (and in Wabash's case, half the sports).

That's a big hill that Oberlin has been trying to climb for a really long time.

[WAF-WDE]

Oberlin's endowment is $1.2 billion.  They can afford a different student recruitment strategy than Wabash.

[sigma one]

Yes, they don't "need" football, although they have persisted with it.  With a squad size usually under 50, the football team makes up a tiny percentage of the student body.  They have a really nice stadium, and football completes their athletic program.  I've read that the players think that no one on campus cares about them or the sport.  Oberlin is just not that kind of place.  And, as you mention, their endowment is over a billion dollars.

[LG67]

Oberlin endowment is just over $333K per student.  That is not really a high number compared to other colleges.  In the NCAC, Denison, Wabash, and DePauw are considerably higher.

[sigma one]

But as WAF-WDE points out, their recruiting strategy is very different from those three schools.  With the possible exception of Denison, which is devoted to athletics success, they do not need football with 100+ players.  Wabash certainly does and for a few years also DePauw as their enrollment has declined.   Football is and has for a long time been a big deal at Denison, DePauw, and Wabash.   

[LG67]

I agree with sigma one regarding the relative emphasis on football at D, W, and D vs. Obe emphasis.  But endowment-per-student is a measure of resources for all students.

[WAF-WDE]

So, I used public data to calculate endowment-per-student for the institutions in question:

Oberlin: $418K
Wabash: $469K
Denison: $431K
DePauw: $411K

While collecting these data, I was surprised that Oberlin (2986 students) is bigger than Denison (2400 students) and DePauw (1749 students).  So, it appears that Oberlin's student recruitment strategy is working.  I bet that their music conservatory program provides them with a recruiting hook that sports provides Wabash, Denison, and DePauw.

I was also surprised that Wabash's enrollment (822 students) has shrunk by more than 10% from its peak in 2014-15 (926 students).  In contrast, Oberlin's enrollment is close to its decade-long peak (2992 in 2022-23) and significantly larger than its recent nadir (2812 in 2018-19).  Note that I have ignored enrollment in 2020-21 because of COVID effects.

Links:
Endowments at NCAC Schools
Oberlin enrollment
Wabash enrollment
Denison enrollment
DePauw enrollment
Enrollment trend at Wabash
Enrollment trend at Oberlin

[Kuiper]

So, I used public data to calculate endowment-per-student for the institutions in question:

Oberlin: $418K
Wabash: $469K
Denison: $431K
DePauw: $411K

While collecting these data, I was surprised that Oberlin (2986 students) is bigger than Denison (2400 students) and DePauw (1749 students).  So, it appears that Oberlin's student recruitment strategy is working.  I bet that their music conservatory program provides them with a recruiting hook that sports provides Wabash, Denison, and DePauw.

I was also surprised that Wabash's enrollment (822 students) has shrunk by more than 10% from its peak in 2014-15 (926 students).  In contrast, Oberlin's enrollment is close to its decade-long peak (2992 in 2022-23) and significantly larger than its recent nadir (2812 in 2018-19).  Note that I have ignored enrollment in 2020-21 because of COVID effects.

Links:
Endowments at NCAC Schools
Oberlin enrollment
Wabash enrollment
Denison enrollment
DePauw enrollment
Enrollment trend at Wabash
Enrollment trend at Oberlin

I don't know much about Oberlin's endowment, football team, or athletics recruitment strategy generally, but the part in the above post about relying upon its music conservatory program as a recruiting hook reminded me of the following news item that gives some insight into the priority Oberlin places in music:

"Oberlin Conservatory Launches Program in Musical Theater"

Beginning in the fall of 2025, Oberlin College and Conservatory will launch a music theater program, building on the storied legacy of our legendary graduates and training future music theater stars for decades to come.

The program is a natural next step for an institution that has operated at the forefront of pre-professional music training for more than 150 years.

"Music theater is one of America's great artistic traditions," says William Quillen, Dean of the Conservatory of Music. "It's also a distinctive Oberlin tradition, as evidenced by the numerous Oberlin alumni over the years—conservatory and college alike—who have helped shape this art form while enjoying distinguished careers on Broadway and stages around the globe."

Not only is Oberlin launching a musical theater program next year, but it has hired the founding director and two professors from Baldwin Wallace's top-ranked program to start it.  My understanding from those in the musical theater world (i.e., my spouse and daughter) is that this is the equivalent of hiring away a Big 10 football coaching staff to start a school's brand new football team, especially given that musical theater is one of the few programs at Baldwin Wallace that has a national reputation and recruiting pull.

So, it's not like Oberlin doesn't play the game of investing in areas that have recruiting advantages.  It's just that its brand is differently focused.

[sigma one]

Worth noting is that the 926 students a decade ago was a sharp increase in the size of  the college.  This year's freshmen number is about 265, up significantly from the last few years, and better than last year's number of about 230/240.  When you look at the uptick in a class that has to number 250+ for Wabash to maintain a student body that it needs to be successful, this year is encouraging.  The ? is whether they can repeat this number for several more years.
     In terms of endowment, Wabash has for many years had an alumni giving rate of above 40%  Not the best in the country, but very good.  And for a school with only 800+ students shows that alums support the college as the endowment grows. 

[Whitecarrera]

When people who are unfamiliar with Wabash ask me what it's like and why it's so successful, one thing I always mention is the school's mindset that if something is worth having, they will do it right. Whether that's the football program, or the immersion opportunities to all, or the glee club touring Europe.

Certain programs may struggle at times, but nothing is just admittedly half-assed.