FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[Teamski]

Yes, it is St. Leo's, and the agreement being discussed will allow Wesley to continue to operate as an independent entity, athletics preserved.

Yes!    If things work out, this is an awesome result.  Thanks Pat!  What is in it for St. Leo's I wonder?  Only time will tell...  Perhaps it is simply a case of these private colleges circling the wagons and trying to combine resources to fight the closing trend.  If so, it is a good thing.

-Ski

[thewaterboy]

If true it's a better outcome than I expected!

[Oline89]

This is great for the whole Eastern region.  Hopefully they can fill an OOC schedule

[Bartman]

Yes, it is St. Leo's, and the agreement being discussed will allow Wesley to continue to operate as an independent entity, athletics preserved.

Yes!    If things work out, this is an awesome result.  Thanks Pat!  What is in it for St. Leo's I wonder?  Only time will tell...  Perhaps it is simply a case of these private colleges circling the wagons and trying to combine resources to fight the closing trend.  If so, it is a good thing.

-Ski

This will be interesting since St. Leo is a D2 school with a very significant online curriculum. I have no specific insight, but the brick and mortar of Wesley gives them a presence in another region but also allows for the expansion of the online programs ......the current virus scare has many online schools getting a lot more interest. The combination of residential and online options for students could be a savior for Wesley. The sports can be run separately at each campus even if the NCAA forces the elimination of D2 sports and  schools have to choose between D1 and D3, which has been rumored. Good luck to Wesley going forward.

[Teamski]

I didn't know about the possible elimination of D2.  The consequences of that are huge   Thanks for the input.

-Ski

[Jonny Utah]

Yes, it is St. Leo's, and the agreement being discussed will allow Wesley to continue to operate as an independent entity, athletics preserved.

Yes!    If things work out, this is an awesome result.  Thanks Pat!  What is in it for St. Leo's I wonder?  Only time will tell...  Perhaps it is simply a case of these private colleges circling the wagons and trying to combine resources to fight the closing trend.  If so, it is a good thing.

-Ski

This will be interesting since St. Leo is a D2 school with a very significant online curriculum. I have no specific insight, but the brick and mortar of Wesley gives them a presence in another region but also allows for the expansion of the online programs ......the current virus scare has many online schools getting a lot more interest. The combination of residential and online options for students could be a savior for Wesley. The sports can be run separately at each campus even if the NCAA forces the elimination of D2 sports and  schools have to choose between D1 and D3, which has been rumored. Good luck to Wesley going forward.

Now I'm confused.  St. Leo is a d2 school in Tampa, Florida which has been there a while and has a pretty solid athletic program as far as d2 programs go.  (I remember Ithaca randomly playing then in baseball when I went there).   A google search comes up empty for me for any St. Leo's in Delaware or anywhere around there.......

[Jonny Utah]

I wouldn't say they were "great" every year. They were competitive every year. Mostly they were in Rowan or Montclair's shadow, but for much of the 80's, 90's, and a few years in the 00's, they had a few excellent teams. It always took a lot for them to have an NJAC championship year though. From 1977-1998 the TCNJ/Trenton State athletics department was given a large amount of support by the administration. In 1998 the President of the college retired and the new President was, shall we say, laissez faire regarding athletics and their importance... as evidenced by the fact she chose to celebrate a field hockey national championship by having a little on-campus conference room luncheon during school and business hours where players and parents had difficulty even attending.

Another problem is that the academic standards are higher than any of the other NJAC colleges, and despite it being a state school, the cost to attend is higher than any of the other New Jersey state colleges. That kind of narrows things down when you're more expensive – and harder to get into than your peers. It's also relevant that TCNJ's decline in football coincides with the rise of Delaware Valley's program – which used to be pretty bad. Today, DelVal is an eastern power, is geographically the closest DIII school to TCNJ, and has 31 kids from NJ on their roster.

However, the #1 reason TCNJ's program slipped is this one: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=laissez+faire&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Faced with the obstacles stated above you better have a pretty damn good head coach who can play the hand he's been dealt – which TCNJ had up until 2013. Since then, it's been rather difficult – although in all fairness, TCNJ has done fairly well against the old NJAC teams consisting of WPU, Montclair, Kean, Rowan and Montclair. Wesley, Salisbury, CNU... not so much.

Maybe a dumb question, but I always thought a "laissez faire" administration is better for football and sports programs in general.  Unless you mean it's like MIT where the administration basically says admissions and athletics have nothing to do with each other and if you get into MIT, you are welcome to play sports there (Basically schools telling their coaches they are on their own in terms of recruiting).

I can see how higher academic standards and cost can be an issue, but with the right coach and support it can be helpful as well (see the top schools in the Learfield Cup d3 rankings).

I guess in general I thought they should be doing better than they have been.  Solid academic schools like TCNJ usually do.

[Teamski]

Saint Leo must be in the process of creating a network of schools.  Wesley isn't the only one. Looks like Iowa Wesleyan did the same thing last year.

-Ski

[Jonny Utah]

Saint Leo must be in the process of creating a network of schools.  Wesley isn't the only one. Looks like Iowa Wesleyan did the same thing last year.

-Ski

Got it. 

Assuming there is some financial incentive for St. Leo's do be doing this.

[Teamski]

Disregard.  Saint Leo and Iowa Wesleyan did not finalize the deal for various reasons, so Saint Leo was still looking for another school to partner with.

-Ski

[Pat Coleman]

I have never heard anything about eliminating D2. To do so would be a major undertaking involving amending or probably just rewriting the NCAA constitution, and any such effort to change the constitution would probably implode the entire association.

[thewaterboy]

Yes, it is St. Leo's, and the agreement being discussed will allow Wesley to continue to operate as an independent entity, athletics preserved.

Yes!    If things work out, this is an awesome result.  Thanks Pat!  What is in it for St. Leo's I wonder?  Only time will tell...  Perhaps it is simply a case of these private colleges circling the wagons and trying to combine resources to fight the closing trend.  If so, it is a good thing.

-Ski

This will be interesting since St. Leo is a D2 school with a very significant online curriculum. I have no specific insight, but the brick and mortar of Wesley gives them a presence in another region but also allows for the expansion of the online programs ......the current virus scare has many online schools getting a lot more interest. The combination of residential and online options for students could be a savior for Wesley. The sports can be run separately at each campus even if the NCAA forces the elimination of D2 sports and  schools have to choose between D1 and D3, which has been rumored. Good luck to Wesley going forward.

St. Leo's doesn't have a football team.... would this help Wesley on the recruiting end?

[phil]

Maybe a dumb question, but I always thought a "laissez faire" administration is better for football and sports programs in general.  Unless you mean it's like MIT where the administration basically says admissions and athletics have nothing to do with each other and if you get into MIT, you are welcome to play sports there (Basically schools telling their coaches they are on their own in terms of recruiting).

I can see how higher academic standards and cost can be an issue, but with the right coach and support it can be helpful as well (see the top schools in the Learfield Cup d3 rankings).

I guess in general I thought they should be doing better than they have been.  Solid academic schools like TCNJ usually do.

In this case, the previous administration viewed athletics as a "window into the institution" (that's a quote directly from former TCNJ President Eickhoff). Take a look at how TCNJ did in the Learfield Cup rankings from '95-'05 and you'll see a shift from finishing second or third every year (usually to Williams), to where they are now... sitting at #48 after the Fall season. From 1980-2000 TCNJ/Trenton State won 38 national championships. From 2001-2020 they won 4. Obviously, there's more at play here than TCNJ's football team (which hopefully, finally has the right coach since their former "right" coach of 37 years left in 2013).

And while TCNJ IS solid academically – it's still a state school with almost all students from NJ, and little ability to recruit outside NJ. There is a new President by way of Johns Hopkins, Cal Berkeley, and Princeton. Fingers crossed.

[CNU85]

St. Leo has numerous "education centers". There are 6 in Virginia. 4 of those are probably a 5-15 minute drive from CNU. One is only 4 miles from CNU. They have numerous centers on military bases. I've seen a few different statistics....16,000 students with 2,000 on campus. and another set of stats.....11,000 students with 7,000 on line.

219 full time faculty and over 1,100 adjuncts.

It will be interesting to see what the plan is with Wesley. St. Leo is a Catholic school.

For now, it seems, this is a good thing for Wesley, their alums, and for athletics. I wish them well!

[RowanPhan]

Any NJAC recruiting news?  Can't find anything related to Rowan at the moment.

The only player I see committed to Rowan is DL Phoenix Gilder (North Hunterdon, 6'3" 240lbs)

First Team All Conference Player, 2018 state champ

I almost read that as Phoenix Glider... but still a cool name.

Congratulations to Anthony DiTorrice on his commitment to play for Rowan University next season.  Same HS as Rowan's NJAC rushing leader, Messiah Divine.

Montgomery High School
Positions: TE, DE
Height & Weight: 5'10" 185lbs

Another Rowan commitment. Chose Rowan over a number of other D3 schools including Montclair State.

Matt DeSarno
#24 Senior RB SS
Wall Township High School
Wall, NJ