FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[amh63]

Surprise?...no surprise.  Nescac site announces update wrt recruiting.....no on campus recruiting before June 30.

[amh63]

Some latest Amherst opening info that I came upon....on the Amherst website....via a June 2 announcement.
Amherst is planning to open up in Late August...somewhat earlier than the normal Sept, after Labor Day start.  It is built around two 13 week semesters...the first ending around Thanksgiving.  Suggested three courses/semester with an intense one course "mid-term" period.  Plans to have more out door courses in tents, etc.  Courses that have large enrollment will become on-line type corses, etc.  Dining will become more take-out food initially.  Key here are sports/practice/training, etc.  Work in progress/planning.
Financial support to students, town businesses, etc. underway.
On the Amherst athletic website, there is a nice video with many athletic dept.  employees congratulating the class of 2020.  Nice touch, IMO.
Amherst's long term Head coach of Squash is retiring...interim HC in place presently.
That's All Folks!...for now

[SpringSt7]

Teams returning the greatest % of production for 2020:

Total Rushing:

1. Williams (100.04%--not a typo!)
2. Middlebury (99.7%)
3. Trinity (99.4%)
4. Wesleyan (98.0%)
5. Bates (89.1%)
6. Tufts (76.6%)
7. Amherst (64.9%)
8. Hamilton (25.2%)
9. Bowdoin (20.7%)
10. Colby (4.6%)

Total Receiving:

1. Bates (98.9%)
2. Williams (94.9%)
3. Wesleyan (86.2%)
4. Bowdoin (77.0%)
5. Trinity (62.7%)
6. Colby (57.3%)
7. Tufts (45.0%)
8. Amherst (37.2%)
9. Hamilton (34.8%)
10. Middlebury (27.1%)

Total Offense:

1. Williams (98.0%)
2. Bates (94.6%)
3. Wesleyan (90.7%)
4. Trinity (76.1%)
5. Middlebury (59.5%)
6. Tufts (54.1%)
7. Bowdoin (53.9%)
8. Amherst (49.8%)
9. Colby (41.6%)
10. Hamilton (30.6%)

[Trin9-0]

In an email today from Wesleyan president Michael Roth he outlined the University's initial plans on reopening campus for the fall semester. Three noteworthy points that are relevant for this board include:

• Our current expectation is that University-funded travel will remain suspended for the fall semester, and members of the campus community who have personal travel scheduled may be asked to take additional precautions before returning to campus.
  
• We will implement thorough protocols to limit and document visitors to campus.
• We expect to offer our athletes on-campus programs.

Roth notes that all plans are preliminary and subject to change with circumstances, but to me this clearly indicates it's unlikely that Wesleyan will be participating in intercollegiate athletics this fall.

[ITH radio]

I disagree.

The Wesleyan PR explicitly states "[Wesleyan] expect [ s ] to offer our athletes on-campus programs."

I suppose a glass-half-empty thought is that this just means practices and training, but I think it also could / does mean actual games / competitions. Probably kept intentionally vague for now to preserve a wait and see approach (which Amherst has also publicly stated).

Anyway, just my .02.

[nescac1]

How can there be intercollegiate competition if there is (a) no university-funded travel (wouldn't that include travel to away games) and (b) strict limitations on off-campus visitors?  Hard to imagine (if those limitations are indeed very strict) Wesleyan saying, sure, bring your 100-person football team and coaching staff to campus, no problem.  People who could not, say, invite a speaker to campus would absolutely flip out. 

[ITH radio]

I think that refers to travel abroad programs, but could be wrong. The common theme in all of these communications is nothing is really explicitly stated or clear. Gives Roth a chance to pivot should things in CT change.

[Bucket]

From a story about Bates's plans:

Spencer did not mention anything about the college's fall sports programs, but several officials have said that events that require close, repeated contact are unlikely to pass muster. That leaves open the possibility that some sports may be possible.

[Trin9-0]

I disagree.

The Wesleyan PR explicitly states "[Wesleyan] expect [ s ] to offer our athletes on-campus programs."

I suppose a glass-half-empty thought is that this just means practices and training, but I think it also could / does mean actual games / competitions. Probably kept intentionally vague for now to preserve a wait and see approach (which Amherst has also publicly stated).

Anyway, just my .02.

I can't fathom an interpretation where offering athletes "on campus programs" means playing intercollegiate contests. Especially with a ban on travel from campus and restrictions on visitors. I agree the announcement is intentionally vague, and for good reason as you correctly state since things are certain to change over time, but for now I think this looks very bleak for NESCAC football (at least for Wesleyan) this fall.

I think that refers to travel abroad programs, but could be wrong. The common theme in all of these communications is nothing is really explicitly stated or clear. Gives Roth a chance to pivot should things in CT change.

The travel ban is not just for abroad programs.

How can there be intercollegiate competition if there is (a) no university-funded travel (wouldn't that include travel to away games) and (b) strict limitations on off-campus visitors?  Hard to imagine (if those limitations are indeed very strict) Wesleyan saying, sure, bring your 100-person football team and coaching staff to campus, no problem.  People who could not, say, invite a speaker to campus would absolutely flip out. 

Completely agree with this. Exceptions for athletics won't be made, and policies will be enforced across the board.


I want to be optimistic, but this is bad news. Hopefully, things improve and athletics can safely continue this fall.

[Trin9-0]

More bad news... on a Wesleyan faculty and staff Zoom meeting this morning president Roth addressed a question from coach Dicenzo about the likelihood of fall sports seasons and Roth stated it was "unlikely".

He spoke specifically about the efforts to reduce travel to and from campus. However, he did note that rigorous testing procedures by competing schools could provide hope.

Roth noted that on-campus offerings such as "practice, skill development and coaching" would still be available for athletes.

Finally, he mentioned that a decision by the conference could come as early as next week but possibly not until early July.

[SpringSt7]

It's not hard to see a world in which they could pull it off--all the travel is by bus, it's outdoors, and the NE numbers continue to look very good. Who knows how much they will have dropped by the fall, and who knows how much more testing we will have at our fingertips.

But then the unfortunate flip side becomes, why bother? It's not a revenue driver for the schools by any means, and how can you justify a player or coach contracting Corona and bringing it back to a campus that is either situated in or around a larger city like Hartford or Boston, or an area such as Williamstown or Middlebury with a higher concentration of the at-risk age group and a smaller health care system?

I just hope that whatever decision is made is made by taking as much time as possible to gather as much information as they can, to assess and reassess all of the potential risk, and ideally, that decision can be made as late as possible. I would hate for the season to be effectively cancelled on July 1st and for September to roll around with virtually no Corona in the area. But realistically, how could you fault them for cancelling?

[ITH radio]

FWIW Frank did predict the Nescac wouldn't play in the fall back in April. I remain optimistic but assuming Roth is publicly saying it's "unlikely" isn't a good sign.

[ITH radio]

Have to assume Tufts and others may follow their lead:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/17/metro/mit-wont-allow-all-students-return-campus-fall/

[Hawk196]

I was thinking of calling the coach and see whats up. My son is not doing online classes (I signed him up for the college experience) and I don't want him to miss his sophomore year. So maybe he takes the year off and gets an internship or job

[ITH radio]

Update (sort of):

https://www.nescac.com/news/2019-20/Athletics_Update