FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[sigma one]

Knowing both Jake and Don, I believe they will tag team and feed off one another.  I don't see any problems with their chemistry.  And I'm reasonably sure the conversations leading to Jake's hiring included how they will work together. 
     I mentioned in an earlier post that most of the Wabash D will return.  I recently learned that two D-linemen who were seniors last year will come back.  Both have received all-NCAC recognition. If my count is correct, as many as 10 D starters will then return, as well a solid number of reserves who were in last year's rotation.
     This will be last COVID year.  I'm eager to see who will return for a "5th" year among the other NCAC teams.

[Crawford]

Welcome back to Wabash Coach Gilbert.  Love all the positivity from those who know him and who are more in-touch with Indiana football.  Looking forward to following Wabash football again.

[Crawford]

I loved this comment from Morrel, "... and he knows every high school coach in the state. We're going to continue to do things the right way by recruiting the absolute best scholar-athletes.".

[Crawford]

First day of spring and only 170 days until D3 football games !

[Little Giant 89]

D3Football Podcast

Great interviews with Morel, Gilbert, and Dietz in the most recent edition of the D3Football podcast.

[Little Giant 89]

Hiram's leaving the North Coast!

https://pacathletics.org/news/2024/4/23/general-hiram-college-to-return-to-pac.aspx

[Pat Coleman]

With perspective:
https://d3sports.com/notables/2024/04/hiram-comes-back-to-pac

[sigma one]

The Hiram move is hardly surprising.  And the NCAC's acceptance of JCU was proactive because the new the Terriers were on the move.  Geographically and financially the move makes sense for them.  It's been reported in a number of outlets that Hiram has been struggling recently.  As a counter, over the last 10 years or so, it has revised curriculum, laid of a few tenured faculty, (usually a move that comes after the school has declared a financial crisis, which Hiram has not done), and made several other moves to try to become more financially secure.  As a supporter of various kinds of liberal arts education, I wish them well.
     This probably for several conferences is another step in reimagining themselves.  It will be interesting to see where the NCAC and the OAC go from here--and throw the Heartland conference into that mix as well.  Will we see more attention paid to greater geographical alignment?  The NCAC travel distances could be a strong factor in determining who ends up where.  Will one of the mid-pack OAC teams also jump to the NCAC?  Will the NCAC begin to have a different view of traveling to west central Indiana if they can make an arrangement that would add more schools from Ohio?  If the OAC shrinks, what will be their response?  These, and other
questions, have the possibility of making the next few years surprising and perhaps consequential as schools deal with the  demographic cliff in high school graduation rates and the attendant financial consequences of higher operating expenses and lower enrollment at a number of member schools in the HCAC, NCAC, and OAC. 

[Pat Coleman]

The Hiram move is hardly surprising.  And the NCAC's acceptance of JCU was proactive because the new the Terriers were on the move.  Geographically and financially the move makes sense for them.  It's been reported in a number of outlets that Hiram has been struggling recently.  As a counter, over the last 10 years or so, it has revised curriculum, laid of a few tenured faculty, (usually a move that comes after the school has declared a financial crisis, which Hiram has not done), and made several other moves to try to become more financially secure.  As a supporter of various kinds of liberal arts education, I wish them well.
     This probably for several conferences is another step in reimagining themselves.  It will be interesting to see where the NCAC and the OAC go from here--and throw the Heartland conference into that mix as well.  Will we see more attention paid to greater geographical alignment?  The NCAC travel distances could be a strong factor in determining who ends up where.  Will one of the mid-pack OAC teams also jump to the NCAC?  Will the NCAC begin to have a different view of traveling to west central Indiana if they can make an arrangement that would add more schools from Ohio?  If the OAC shrinks, what will be their response?  These, and other
questions, have the possibility of making the next few years surprising and perhaps consequential as schools deal with the  demographic cliff in high school graduation rates and the attendant financial consequences of higher operating expenses and lower enrollment at a number of members schools in the HCAC, NCAC, and OAC. 

I don't know that we'll have the luxury of considering greater geographical alignment. We are going to lose schools and I don't know that there will be enough schools to populate the HCAC, NCAC and OAC a few years from now.

I suspect we will see more conferences merge the way the UEC and the CSAC did, or that we may even see a conference or two in D-III melt down the way the Pac-12 (and NECC) did.

[sigma one]

Yes, right now it's a guessing game.  How many schools close over the next few years will determine a lot of how sports reconfigure in the three conferences.  I hope that there will not be so many closures that the situation becomes too drastic--then again, um.  I have been an advocate recently for Wabash (and DePauw for that matter) getting closer to home  I don't, however, see that happening unless forces overwhelm the desire to be part of a conference in which so many schools have so much in common academically.  Or unless other factors, like reduced ability and/or the desire of the Ohio schools to fund travel for their men's and women's teams if they have to do some belt tightening.  We have to remember that football is only one sport and that the whole athletic program of all the conference schools may determine what finally happens if enrollments continue to decline.  Some schools already have lower enrollments that they did pre-COVID.  The situation is almost certainly to worsen over the next handful of years.         

[D3fanboy]

The Hiram move is hardly surprising.  And the NCAC's acceptance of JCU was proactive because the new the Terriers were on the move.  Geographically and financially the move makes sense for them.  It's been reported in a number of outlets that Hiram has been struggling recently.  As a counter, over the last 10 years or so, it has revised curriculum, laid of a few tenured faculty, (usually a move that comes after the school has declared a financial crisis, which Hiram has not done), and made several other moves to try to become more financially secure.  As a supporter of various kinds of liberal arts education, I wish them well.
     This probably for several conferences is another step in reimagining themselves.  It will be interesting to see where the NCAC and the OAC go from here--and throw the Heartland conference into that mix as well.  Will we see more attention paid to greater geographical alignment?  The NCAC travel distances could be a strong factor in determining who ends up where.  Will one of the mid-pack OAC teams also jump to the NCAC?  Will the NCAC begin to have a different view of traveling to west central Indiana if they can make an arrangement that would add more schools from Ohio?  If the OAC shrinks, what will be their response?  These, and other
questions, have the possibility of making the next few years surprising and perhaps consequential as schools deal with the  demographic cliff in high school graduation rates and the attendant financial consequences of higher operating expenses and lower enrollment at a number of members schools in the HCAC, NCAC, and OAC. 

I don't know that we'll have the luxury of considering greater geographical alignment. We are going to lose schools and I don't know that there will be enough schools to populate the HCAC, NCAC and OAC a few years from now.

I suspect we will see more conferences merge the way the UEC and the CSAC did, or that we may even see a conference or two in D-III melt down the way the Pac-12 (and NECC) did.

JCU getting back into a conference with Mount would be high level comedy

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

With perspective:
https://d3sports.com/notables/2024/04/hiram-comes-back-to-pac

Who is the next Rumored School to join the NCAC with Hiram leaving?

[HCAlum86]

The Hiram move is hardly surprising.  And the NCAC's acceptance of JCU was proactive because the new the Terriers were on the move.  Geographically and financially the move makes sense for them.  It's been reported in a number of outlets that Hiram has been struggling recently.  As a counter, over the last 10 years or so, it has revised curriculum, laid of a few tenured faculty, (usually a move that comes after the school has declared a financial crisis, which Hiram has not done), and made several other moves to try to become more financially secure.  As a supporter of various kinds of liberal arts education, I wish them well.
     This probably for several conferences is another step in reimagining themselves.  It will be interesting to see where the NCAC and the OAC go from here--and throw the Heartland conference into that mix as well.  Will we see more attention paid to greater geographical alignment?  The NCAC travel distances could be a strong factor in determining who ends up where.  Will one of the mid-pack OAC teams also jump to the NCAC?  Will the NCAC begin to have a different view of traveling to west central Indiana if they can make an arrangement that would add more schools from Ohio?  If the OAC shrinks, what will be their response?  These, and other
questions, have the possibility of making the next few years surprising and perhaps consequential as schools deal with the  demographic cliff in high school graduation rates and the attendant financial consequences of higher operating expenses and lower enrollment at a number of member schools in the HCAC, NCAC, and OAC. 

As someone who was in the room for some of these decisions, I can tell you that the school's finances (insofar as worrying about the future health of the school) were not a factor. It was, in short, a move that made sense historically and from a competitive standpoint. While the PAC has some great programs in football, across the board, Hiram is on better footing with the PAC's competition.

[Pat Coleman]

With perspective:
https://d3sports.com/notables/2024/04/hiram-comes-back-to-pac

Who is the next Rumored School to join the NCAC with Hiram leaving?

We mentioned this in the podcast last week but the talk has been about Rose-Hulman.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

With perspective:
https://d3sports.com/notables/2024/04/hiram-comes-back-to-pac

Who is the next Rumored School to join the NCAC with Hiram leaving?

We mentioned this in the podcast last week but the talk has been about Rose-Hulman.

Thank you.  I listened but didn't remember.