FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

HSCTiger fan · February 13, 2016, 10:30:54 PM

Quote from: jknezek on February 12, 2016, 01:30:53 PM
Quote from: hasanova on February 12, 2016, 12:52:50 PM
I still keep hoping Roanoke, Lynchburg or perhaps VWC will start a football program ... and I bet there's work behind the scenes to encourage one to do so.

I agree. This is what I would like to see most as well. Time will tell.

I totally agree but if they don't (start a program) then IMO G'boro, Ferrum. and Averett are better options than Southern VA.

tigerFanAlso2 · February 15, 2016, 09:14:56 AM

I'd like to have a nine team league with only 2 ooc games. Quality OOC games are difficult to schedule, bad ones are difficult to watch and even more difficult to get excited about.

hasanova · February 15, 2016, 12:48:53 PM

Sad news from eastern NC, as two seniors, both football captains at West Craven HS (New Bern), were killed in an automobile accident late last week. Isaiah Yates, a linebacker, and C. J. Elliot, a center, had signed with Guilford College and UNC-Pembroke, respectively, on National Signing day, Feb. 3. Once a Quaker and a Brave, always a Quaker and a Brave. Peace.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiml9rhqPrKAhUBLyYKHTJSBH8QqQIIHTAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wral.com%2F2-north-carolina-prep-football-players-die-in-wreck%2F15366564%2F&usg=AFQjCNHPQakvfH9U8UjVq4Z4VyFLqRzlRQ&bvm=bv.114195076,d.eWE

tigerFanAlso2 · February 15, 2016, 03:30:36 PM

horrible news. prayers to the families.

tigerFanAlso2 · February 16, 2016, 11:28:45 AM

Interesting Facts about Virginia D3's:

Winning %

2011-15 2002-15

HSC 70% 77%
CNU 66% 68%
W&L 66% 60%
RMC 62% 54%
E&H 60% 49%
BC 54% 70%
Ferrum 38% 49%
Shenandoah 38% 38%
Averett 18% 39%

enjoyable stats for those that care. other odac (Va schools only) specific info:

2011-15 1st team all odac selections 2011-2015 odac championships

HSC 30 3
W&L 16 2
RMC 20 0
BC 17 0
E&H 9 0
Shenandoah 8 0

jknezek · February 16, 2016, 01:39:43 PM

These kinds of things always leave me completely flabbergasted about Bridgewater. What the heck? They came from a truly middling program, they had 2 cycles of great players, and then they returned to nothing more than middling. For those two cycles it was the same head coach, same facilities, same everything EXCEPT some turnover in the admissions area. What were they doing and why were they doing it? And why did they all of a sudden cut it off at the knees?

It's one of the stranger moments in college football that I can remember. Good teams at the conference level come and go, but they were nationally good coming from nowhere and returning to it. But not on the strength of an Alex Tanney type player, because it lasted more than one career.

tigerFanAlso2 · February 16, 2016, 02:13:32 PM

I think the admissions thing is the key. My memory is several football players were arrested after the Stagg Bowl appearance and from that point forward, quality of talent disappeared and quickly. I certainly remember watching those BC teams, talent never seen before in the odac and not since. as you said, same school, same coach, basically same facilities, but loss the desire to play at the national level, for the right reasons evidently. My memory is no longer, but I do know some kids got in trouble and the plug was pulled by the administration. Details I have forgotten.

jknezek · February 16, 2016, 03:38:41 PM

I kind of get it, but at the same time it still doesn't really make sense. There are plenty of schools with low admissions standards, it doesn't get them to the top of DIII. Something attracted some seriously good football players to a school that had almost no history of doing so before, and then pulled the plug on after. And it wasn't just low standards.

It's just one of those things that I wish I knew more about.

tigerFanAlso2 · February 16, 2016, 05:09:37 PM

my memory is they were getting some D1 guys that did not qualify academically to play D1. Don't know the source of those players being directed towards to BC, but it happened for awhile and stopped very quickly after the incident i previously mentioned.
they were damn good for about six years, that i do remember. gave umu all they could handle

jknezek · February 17, 2016, 10:39:46 AM

Which brings up the question of why they did it in the first place. What did Bridgewater College have to gain by being an elite football team at the expense of it's admissions integrity (if that is what they did) and why they so quickly killed the experiment? Was it all driven by one person who showed up one day, got buy in, and then left or was forced out when issues arose? Clearly the plan was working in one respect.

Just so very strange. Thanks for the info though.

tigerFanAlso2 · February 17, 2016, 03:57:10 PM

Don't know the answers. I guess the larger question is why would any D3 school place an emphasis on any sports program ? (can't wait to hear this response)

jknezek · February 17, 2016, 04:15:46 PM

That I think there is at least a partial answer to. For one, facilities. Sometimes a facility gets donated and it only makes sense to recruit a team to match. I know that seems backward, but in the early 90s W&L got a donation for an indoor tennis center. Both tennis teams were good before that donation, with the men winning a national title in the late 80s, but they have been consistently top 25 nationally both men and women since. And the women won a national title in the naughts I believe.

For another, especially in the higher academic schools, I think it is definitely a selling point to recruits that might go other places. I know W&L gets more than a handful of kids that get into Ivy type schools but want to play sports and either won't make the cut at the Ivy, or don't want to put in the FCS time but still want to play.

In the schools scrabbling for admissions I think sports play a different role. They simply put butts in seats. Easier to do if you are winning than losing. Sports are also good connectors with alumni. There is a well known correlation between alumni that played sports and more consistent donors.

All that being said, I'm not sure Bridgewater in the late 90s, early naughts qualifies for many of these. I don't remember a substantial facility lift, Bridgewater is pretty run of the mill for admissions in small liberal arts schools (around 50% of applicants admitted), and I don't remember them having an admissions issue in that time, but maybe they did.

CMR · February 17, 2016, 04:50:02 PM

Here's what I remember about BC. It wasn't just letting kids into the school for football, it was letting kids into school in general. Just prior to the run-up in football, BC was struggling at all levels, with about 800 students or less. I think academic quality of Football was just a microcosm for the school in general. I'd even heard that BC was struggling to stay open at the time. So, they needed to grow to stay open, so they let a lot of students in, including football players. Their strategy was to grow the numbers at any cost (ie football benefitted in the short term), get financially stable, and once enrollment was up, then work on upping admission standards. So, it wasn't a football decision, but an overall strategy to save the school, and football reaped the benefit in the six years or so that it took to implement the strategy.

jknezek · February 17, 2016, 06:56:16 PM

Didn't know they were having administration issues. I suppose football could have been the beneficiary. I'd just be shocked if that was all there was to it. Lots of schools are poor academically but still suck at sports.

tigerFanAlso2 · February 23, 2016, 10:10:48 AM

shame the old BC posters are not engaged to explain in more detail how the football program got so good, so quickly, and return to the same old BC soon after the glory days of the Stagg Bowl.

FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

CMR