MBB: NESCAC

[Bucket]

Here's the full Bowdoin statement on athletics—no fall sports and no winter sports before January 1, at the earliest:

Athletics is an important part of the Bowdoin experience for so many of our students. Unfortunately, given that we will not have all students on campus in the fall, we will not be participating in fall and winter varsity sports during the fall semester. The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is developing plans for fall, winter, and spring sports regarding the ways in which coaches will be permitted to engage with their teams, and we anticipate providing opportunities for our coaches to work with their student-athletes from each sport season in the fall. The conference's most recent statement can be found later in this message. As I have already noted, I am hopeful that there will be an opportunity for the winter, spring, and possibly fall varsity athletes to participate and compete in some form after January 1.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Couple of notes from a number of at-length conversations I have had today - very unexpected. These are different topics completely.

Per the Amherst hire of Marlon Sears ... I am told the Amherst Athletics Director made the call on this. It was not necessarily up to the committee, though they made their recommendations of course. Apparently, this fact isn't exactly shocking at least to those who know and it is "public" as it where (I am told I am not exactly breaking any news here). I do not know if Don Faulstick got advise or guidance from any other entities on campus, I simply can't speak to that, but the decision was ultimately his on the hire. I was told the committee, or at least some of those on the committee, felt they had a very good finalists list.

Per the Bowdoin decision ... I am told that while other NESCAC schools are likely to follow suit sometime in the near future (one rumor was two more would announce today, though as of this moment that hasn't happened) the entire conference is NOT in agreement that the Bowdoin direction is the right direction to go in. The sense I have is there are at least a handful of schools that are still planning to have fall sports and such. Those institutions could obviously chance their minds in the future, but I think this time the NESCAC will not speak as one on the topic and a couple of some of the schools will go about things differently.

Time will tell.

[gordonmann]

Are those still-playing NESCAC institutions going to play non-conference games or just play each other multiple times?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Are those still-playing NESCAC institutions going to play non-conference games or just play each other multiple times?

As I understand it ... depends on who is left and what restrictions each state has in place. Talking to one, without naming them, who discussed that they would be able to visit two states with their teams (meaning three states including their own), but other states may be out if the current restrictions remain unchanged.

So there could be multiple games against their conference and non-conference opponents.

Also, the idea of Team A playing Team B means that Team A is also playing whomever Team B played and whomever those teams played ... that is cause for consideration.

[gordonmann]

Sure. I was just trying to understand how a schedule might come together for football if, say, five schools decide to can sports. I guess the other six or so could play each other but that's a small schedule.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Sure. I was just trying to understand how a schedule might come together for football if, say, five schools decide to can sports. I guess the other six or so could play each other but that's a small schedule.

Yeah - more complicated. One thing I heard floated (I'm not in the football boards for a LOT of reasons LOL) is that some think they can float football, but not the rest of the fall sports, to the spring and then just play those in your geographical area.

There are a lot of reasons I don't understand why they would treat football different compared to the national championship winning sports in the fall... but I don't want to jump down that rabbit hole right now. LOL

[JEFFFAN]

Yes, sir, the Amherst AD made the call on Sears so that he could keep his job.   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Are those still-playing NESCAC institutions going to play non-conference games or just play each other multiple times?

As I understand it ... depends on who is left and what restrictions each state has in place. Talking to one, without naming them, who discussed that they would be able to visit two states with their teams (meaning three states including their own), but other states may be out if the current restrictions remain unchanged.

So there could be multiple games against their conference and non-conference opponents.

Also, the idea of Team A playing Team B means that Team A is also playing whomever Team B played and whomever those teams played ... that is cause for consideration.

Testing is actually a little easier for football, given the time between games.  You'd be able to figure out if there were any infections before potentially infecting another team.  If you're playing three volleyball matches a week, that's going to be much more difficult.

[ThumannsOwn]

Couple of notes from a number of at-length conversations I have had today - very unexpected. These are different topics completely.

Per the Amherst hire of Marlon Sears ... I am told the Amherst Athletics Director made the call on this. It was not necessarily up to the committee, though they made their recommendations of course. Apparently, this fact isn't exactly shocking at least to those who know and it is "public" as it where (I am told I am not exactly breaking any news here). I do not know if Don Faulstick got advise or guidance from any other entities on campus, I simply can't speak to that, but the decision was ultimately his on the hire. I was told the committee, or at least some of those on the committee, felt they had a very good finalists list.

Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that Don Faulstick made this hiring decision without pretty specific marching orders from the committee. This "public fact" is indeed not breaking news and most likely something that Faulstick himself imparted on his candidates (particularly those from Coach Hixon's tree that made the final list) throughout the process. I would imagine that some of these candidates can/will confirm this at some point.

[nescac1]

One thought on hoops, I wonder if the entire NCAA (NESCAC couldn't act unilaterally, of course, given the NCAA tourney) might consider pushing indoor winter sports back a bit.  There is at least a fighting chance that there will be an effective vaccine by January, or maybe far more effective treatment options.  I don't think many spring sports utilize swimming pools, hockey rinks, or basketball arenas, right?  Why not make the "winter" sports season go from say late February or March through May?  Is this being talked about at all?  At least that increases the odds of those sports getting close to a full season in.

[JEFFFAN]

Good point, NESCAC1.   It looks like schools that are going in session during the Fall are, in general, starting earlier than normal and almost all ending around Thanksgiving in order to reduce exposure during the early part of the winter months.  Have to believe that what you said might be accurate ... that they will try to start winter sports in the beginning of the new year.

[SpringSt7]

Agree with both of you---with the start of basketball season occuring during the fall semester, it would be unfortunate if it ended up being an unintended casualty of schools' decisions to cancel or modify the fall semester. Pushing it back to a winter term or the spring semester gives them more leeway.

In a perfect world, athletics can return in some sort of capacity in the fall, if not at the D3 level, then the D1 level, so we can have a good baseline for what will work and what won't, for testing capacity, quarantine/isolation protocols, or anything else that comes with it.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Couple of notes from a number of at-length conversations I have had today - very unexpected. These are different topics completely.

Per the Amherst hire of Marlon Sears ... I am told the Amherst Athletics Director made the call on this. It was not necessarily up to the committee, though they made their recommendations of course. Apparently, this fact isn't exactly shocking at least to those who know and it is "public" as it where (I am told I am not exactly breaking any news here). I do not know if Don Faulstick got advise or guidance from any other entities on campus, I simply can't speak to that, but the decision was ultimately his on the hire. I was told the committee, or at least some of those on the committee, felt they had a very good finalists list.

Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that Don Faulstick made this hiring decision without pretty specific marching orders from the committee. This "public fact" is indeed not breaking news and most likely something that Faulstick himself imparted on his candidates (particularly those from Coach Hixon's tree that made the final list) throughout the process. I would imagine that some of these candidates can/will confirm this at some point.

I am telling you bluntly from discussions I have had in the know ... the AD made the decision without getting any marching orders from the committee. That doesn't mean he may not have heard something from above him - I can't speak to that. I just know what I was told and there is no reason to doubt the information I gathered. I cannot speak more on it without giving away some details (as I was given the information specifically to provide here, but without giving away sources or other information), but you can bet damn well I've got this down pat.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

As I have been told at this point, there is no discussions about moving championships or dates. Sure, there are likely scenarios on the desks of everyone because they have to think about it all, but there is no intent to move dates in the fall, winter, or spring.

But keep something in mind ... moving seasons impacts other seasons even if they are not outdoors. You have training staffs that are designed and hired based on the seasons and sports. You move the hockeys, basketballs, swimming, diving, and wrestling even a month and you greatly impact the training staffs with an even longer and more brutal cross over season (fall to winter is usually brutal with the sheer number of sports, but winter to spring is brutal due to the length of time - January to March or longer).

There are also athletic communications offices. You are now asking them not to focus on, say six winter sports and cross over a bit to spring sports... but you are now asking them to focus on 12-15 sports simultaneously starting in January (remember, most of the spring sports are spinning up in January now).

We haven't even gotten to facilities. Not everyone has a stadium with locker rooms where lacrosse teams can change. Many have them using locker rooms that may have been used by other teams. Sure, it may not seem like a big deal and some schools this may not even be a concern (more on that in a minute), but it still can be problematic for a lot of schools ... and that isn't going to be a good way to appease staffs.

Now let's add in the challenges of dealing with Covid-19 in general. Cleaning of facilities, locker rooms (if used, mind you), keeping students distant and only to their teams, training rooms that now need to be in larger facilities (I know of one school considering taking over it's two biggest locker rooms - aka lacrosse and football) for training room space), having enough water bottles and towels available for every practice and game, dealing with transportation (even for short trips; many teams will be using twice as many busses for distancing reasons) for teams, etc., etc., etc. Now let's not keep sports spaced out, but double-up and on top of one another.

BTW - how do you handle indoor and outdoor track for those who have it?!

I just don't think shifting sports is really an ideal solution. The idea of shifting fall to spring is challenging enough since many are outdoor sports ... but that doesn't mean the staff requirements and demands, the cleaning and other logistics, plus other issues go away just because most are indoor sports.

[ThumannsOwn]

Couple of notes from a number of at-length conversations I have had today - very unexpected. These are different topics completely.

Per the Amherst hire of Marlon Sears ... I am told the Amherst Athletics Director made the call on this. It was not necessarily up to the committee, though they made their recommendations of course. Apparently, this fact isn't exactly shocking at least to those who know and it is "public" as it where (I am told I am not exactly breaking any news here). I do not know if Don Faulstick got advise or guidance from any other entities on campus, I simply can't speak to that, but the decision was ultimately his on the hire. I was told the committee, or at least some of those on the committee, felt they had a very good finalists list.

Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that Don Faulstick made this hiring decision without pretty specific marching orders from the committee. This "public fact" is indeed not breaking news and most likely something that Faulstick himself imparted on his candidates (particularly those from Coach Hixon's tree that made the final list) throughout the process. I would imagine that some of these candidates can/will confirm this at some point.

I am telling you bluntly from discussions I have had in the know ... the AD made the decision without getting any marching orders from the committee. That doesn't mean he may not have heard something from above him - I can't speak to that. I just know what I was told and there is no reason to doubt the information I gathered. I cannot speak more on it without giving away some details (as I was given the information specifically to provide here, but without giving away sources or other information), but you can bet damn well I've got this down pat.

I am curious to know what you would consider to be the difference between "hearing something from above" and acting on that or getting that something in the form of a marching order from the committee. Sounds like you have better sources than me. I heard that Sears was not even in the top 3 on the list that the committee provided to Faulstick before they let him make the call.